Category: Speeches

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the proportion of people in London who will be able to afford to (a) rent and (b) buy a home in 2016.

    Brandon Lewis

    My Department does not produce estimates on the proportion of people who will be able to afford to rent or to buy a home in London.

    The Spending Review doubled investment in housing to more than £20 billion over the next five years to support the largest housing programme by any Government since the 1970’s, including:

    • £4 billion for 135,000 Help to Buy: Shared Ownership homes, which will allow people to buy a share in their home and increase that equity over time;
    • £2.3 billion towards delivering 200,000 new Starter Homes, which will be available at 20 per cent discount to young first time buyers;
    • £1.6 billion for 100,000 affordable homes for rent;
    • £12 billion of additional housing investment to provide thousands more homes, including expanding Help to Buy in London where the scheme will increase equity loans up to 40% instead of the standard 20% to support thousands of aspiring homeowners in the capital.
  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) funding and (b) other support for global mental healthcare.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Last year the World Health Organisation (WHO), in their Mental Health Atlas 2014, indicated that levels of public expenditure on mental health are very low in low and middle-income countries (US$2 per head of population) and falls far below levels estimated for high-income countries (over US$50 per head of population). A large proportion of funds in low and middle-income countries go to inpatient care, especially mental hospitals.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider suspending their consultation on how to implement grants and tuition fees for nursing, midwives and allied health professional healthcare students, and instead consult fully on a range of proposals that would best deliver a sustainable future workforce with access to high quality education and clinical training.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In the Spending Review 2015 the Government announced that from 1 August 2017, new nursing, midwifery and allied health professional students will no longer receive National Health Service bursaries and will move onto the standard student loans system.

    The Government has set out its intention for these changes to be implemented in August 2017. Ahead of this, the Government will issue a public consultation on how we most successfully implement these reforms. The consultation will welcome a range of views from stakeholders, which the Government will consider before publishing its consultation response later in the year.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of approved planning applications for housing that have yet to be built.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    As at 1 March 2016, data provided to the department by Glenigan indicate that there were full planning permissions for 658,000 homes in England on sites on which work had either not yet started or completed. Of these around 55,000 (8 per cent) were on unstarted sites granted permission more than three years ago. Typically permissions for these homes will have expired.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what definition the Government uses of productivity.

    Greg Hands

    The government uses a number of measures to examine productivity, looking at output per hour, output per worker and output per job. While the measure used will depend upon the circumstances, output per hour is generally regarded as the best measure.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the tasks and role of the UK military personnel committed to service in Somalia.

    Earl Howe

    The UK currently has 27 military personnel deployed in Somalia. Of those, 25 personnel are supporting the UN and EU Missions, providing training, mentoring, and logistical support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and developing the Somali National Army. The purpose of those Missions is to counter the terrorist threat from Al Shabaab and to help strengthen security and stability within Somalia and the wider East Africa region. The 25 includes the first eight personnel committed by the Prime Minister to the UN in Somalia at the UN General Assembly session in September 2015. The total current UK deployment of 27 military personnel is completed by a Defence Attaché and Assistant Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in Mogadishu.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2016 to Question 42775, what assessment he has made of progress to date towards meeting the target of 50 per cent of applicants for senior Civil Service posts being female.

    Ben Gummer

    Work is currently underway to monitor the diversity of applicants for SCS posts, including the male/female ratio. An analysis of this information will take place later in the year to help the department to understand what the barriers are for applicants what actions can be taken to overcome them.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the contractual agreement between her Department and G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Limited at HM Prison (a) Birmingham and (b) Oakwood for what reason financial remedies have been levied in (i) failure to comply with procedures, (ii) incidents and (iii) failure to comply with prison regime in each year from 2012-13 to date.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Privately Managed prison contracts contain provisions which allow financial remedies to be applied for non-performance.

    Performance points are awarded according to the severity of failure. If the total number of points exceeds the agreed baseline for the performance quarter or year, financial remedies are applied against the Contractor in accordance with the Contract.

    As financial remedies are only applied if baseline targets are exceeded it is not, possible to link individual incidents to the value of remedies that have been applied due to this cumulative effect.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people earn below the living wage.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department has provided to support trades union and workers’ rights in Guatemala in each of the last five years.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Our support to trade unions and workers’ rights in Guatemala over the past five years has included direct approaches to the Guatemalan government, meetings between British officials and trade union representatives and approaches to the International Labour Organisation, through the European Union.