Category: Speeches

  • George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release of 28 December 2015, Insurers vow to pass on whiplash reform saving, what the evidential basis is for the Government’s statement that whiplash claims cost the country £2 billion a year.

    Dominic Raab

    As noted in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the figure of £2 billion a year is an insurance industry estimate of the cost of dealing with road traffic related personal injury claims.

    The Government will be publishing an impact assessment alongside its consultation on the whiplash reforms announced in the Autumn Statement in due course.

  • Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Graham Stuart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Stuart on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time between application to initial decision was for awards issued by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Mike Penning

    The average time taken for CICA to reach an initial decision in the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 were as follows. Note that this time includes cases where no compensation was payable within the terms of the Scheme. Comparable data going back to financial year 2010-11 is included.

    2010-11

    7.2 months

    2011-12

    7.8 months

    2012-13

    8.8 months

    2013-14

    10.4 months

    2014-15

    10.9 months

    The average time taken for CICA to reach an initial decision where compensation was offered, during the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 were as follows. Comparable data for the average time taken to make a decision where a monetary award was offered is not held.

    2013-14

    14 months

    2014-15

    16 months

    In the last year, CICA have focused on clearing the older cases from its caseload, which has allowed CICA to reduce the proportion of cases which are more than two years old. However, this has contributed to longer average clearance times.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her financial statement of 16 March 2016, Official Report, column 963, how the £500 million funding will be used to speed up the introduction of a fair national school funding formula.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Chancellor announced at the Budget that £540 million would be provided to the Department for Education to support the school reform agenda. This will supplement the department’s Spending Review settlement.

    We will spend around £500 million over the Spending Review period, over and above the per pupil protection of the core school budget, to accelerate the introduction of a fair national funding formula. All of this funding will be provided to support children’s education.

    The funding means that the government will be able to accelerate gains for schools that are due to see funding increases under the formula, while continuing to offer a minimum funding guarantee for all schools. We are currently consulting on the principles and funding factors that should define the national funding formula for schools. A second consultation, later this year, will address the weighting attached to those factors and transitional arrangements, including the use of this funding.

    A link to the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/schools-national-funding-formula.

    “

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any aerial surveys have been carried out in Eddisbury constituency in relation to the High Speed 2 project in 2015 and 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Aerial surveys were undertaken in this area in 2015 to capture photography, video and topographical information. Additional surveys will be undertaken in 2016 to capture hyperspectral data.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-05-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend specifically to look at providing funding to make the North a testbed for experimental technology, as recommended in the recent report The Digital Powerhouse: The innovation potential of tech clusters in the North.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government funding is already being used to develop and trial innovative new technology in the North. £170 million has been invested in the Hartree Centre to broaden and deepen the use of High Performance Computing in industry and academia – and has since attracted inward investment of over £200m from IBM and other high-tech industry. Government has also confirmed £45 million of research funding for six new Next Generation Digital Economy Centres – including one led by Newcastle University – to drive the development of new digital technologies. The centres have secured over £22 million additional funding and support in kind that will boost the impact of these centres. In addition, £9 million has been invested in the CityVerve Internet of Things Smart City demonstrator in Manchester to trial "Internet of Things" applications on a large scale.

  • Peter Bottomley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Bottomley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bottomley on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for how many months Mr Aditya Agrawal was (a) employed and (b) not suspended by East Lancashire Hospitals Trust.

    Mr Jeremy Hunt

    This is an employer and employee matter between the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Mr Aditya Agrawal respectively. The Department cannot comment on individual employment matters that are the responsibility of independent organisations, and that are subject to ongoing legal proceedings or on matters relating to individual clinical cases or other personal information. We understand that the cost to East Lancashire Trust of legal proceedings concerning Mr Agrawal is £296,848.42 to date, and that the Trust does not have insurance costs for legal awards in the event of the Trust or one of its employees being subject to legal action for defamation.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his UN counterparts on invoking UN Resolution 337A, Uniting for Peace, in order to convene an emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK regularly discusses with UN partners the appropriate forums to discuss this appalling and deteriorating situation in Syria. The UK has requested and co-sponsored a number of Emergency Sessions in the Security Council on different events in Syria, to ensure the Council is fully appraised of the intensity of violence and indiscriminate attacks in Aleppo and across Syria, as well as the consequences of Asad’s ‘starve and surrender’ tactics and use of chemical weapons. We will continue to consider UN General Assembly action, including an Emergency Session.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people are currently on an NHS referral to treatment waiting list.

    Jane Ellison

    The latest referral to treatment waiting times published by NHS England on 8 October 2015 shows there were just over 3.3 million people waiting to start consultant-led treatment at the end of August 2015.

    In 2013/14, there were 1.3 million more operations compared with 2009/10.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they give local authorities on (1) the minimum desirable frequency of waste collections for (a) recyclates, (b) food waste, and (c) other residual waste, and (2) the criteria that they should use when deciding such frequencies.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Decisions on collection arrangements and frequency are for each Local Authority to make, taking into account local circumstances including the practicalities, characteristics of the area, providing the service that local residents want, and the need to protect public health and the environment.

    Defra has funded the Waste and Resources Action Programme to provide advice and support to Local Authorities on good practice for waste and recycling, and to help Local Authorities promote their services more effectively and make them convenient. We are also encouraging greater harmonisation of waste collection and recycling services across different local authority areas.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Saudi Arabian counterpart on prisoners sentenced to death in that country; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The British Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and firmly supports freedom of expression in every country. We continue to communicate to the Saudi authorities, our stance on the death penalty at every suitable opportunity. I refer the hon. Member to my statement of 5 January on Saudi Arabia (Official Report, Column 93).