Category: Speeches

Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will introduce post-mortem TB testing of badgers culled as part of the Government’s bovine TB strategy.

George Eustice

Badgers culled under licence have not been routinely tested for tuberculosis (TB), since previous testing between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) and Road Traffic Accident surveys provided evidence of the typical prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle. TB was found in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of introducing an import tax on coal and gas imported from outside the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

The UK is part of the EU Single market which has a common EU tariff policy which applies to all imports. Import tariffs are set by the EU. The UK has no legal ability to set its own import tariffs.

EU tariffs rates form part of our World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments and apply to all WTO member countries. Under WTO rules increases to EU tariffs above the level committed to, or ‘bound’ rate, require us to give compensation to affected countries (in the form of lower tariffs on other products). Any potential benefit of an import tariff increase may therefore harm another UK sector.

The latest version of the EU tariff was published in Official Journal to the EU L285 on 30 October 2015 (Council implementing Regulation EU No 1101/2014 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC|) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff). Chapter 27 covers the import of fuel including coal and gas. The import of coal has a 0% import duty and the import of gas ranges from 0% to 8% depending on the type and usage.

WTO rules, do however allow countries to impose import tariffs when goods are being “dumped” e.g. sold on our market at below manufacturing cost price. If there is evidence that imports of coal and gas are being dumped the European Commission could propose imposing anti-dumping duties.

01/01/2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 88 of the Equality Analysis in the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS, published in March 2016, if he will implement the recommendation that flexible pay premia should apply where a doctor needs to change speciality because of a disability or the need to care for a person with a disability.

Ben Gummer

Yes. This is explicit in paragraphs 50-52 of Schedule 2 of the Terms and Conditions of Service published by NHS Employers on 31 March 2016.

01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to require the Financial Conduct Authority to require credit rating agencies to improve their reporting of an individual’s credit record; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin

When consumer credit regulation transferred from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014, the Government decided that, given their central role in helping to inform responsible lending decisions, CRAs should be directly regulated by the FCA. As such, every credit reference agency’s fitness to trade is being assessed as part of the FCA’s robust authorisation process

Information on a credit report should be purely factual; for example, if arrears were incurred, those lenders who share data through the credit reference agencies will have recorded them.

A credit reference agency is able to correct factually inaccurate information. However, it is the original lender or organisation that supplies credit to a consumer that provides the agencies with the information held on a credit report. Where inaccurate information has been reported to a credit reference agency, a consumer must contact the lender in the first instance.

If a problem with inaccurate data is not resolved satisfactorily with a lender, consumers are able to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is able to investigate and take action where necessary. The ICO is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights, and it enforces the Data Protection Act.

01/01/2023
Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to launch his Department’s public consultation on new Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Practice Guidance.

Andrew Jones

The Department is currently updating the existing guidance on local authority licensing functions for taxi and private hire vehicles. We will consult on a draft once the Policing and Crime Bill, which provides a new power for statutory guidance, has received Royal Assent.

01/01/2023
Vicky Foxcroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to sick pay and state benefits for women who suffer from severe endometriosis.

Penny Mordaunt

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) provides a measure of earnings replacement for employees unable to work because of short-term sickness if they satisfy the qualifying conditions, which are not related to specific medical conditions.

Those who are not entitled to SSP or are still unwell at the end of the maximum payment period (28 weeks) may, provided they satisfy the conditions of entitlement, be entitled to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

As two people with the same condition can be affected in different ways, there is no condition-based entitlement to ESA. The Work Capability Assessment recognises that conditions can vary in their severity and therefore people with the same condition could be placed in the Work Related Activity Group, the Support Group or found fit for work.

01/01/2023
Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 October (HL2528), why it was possible to vote daily in the Great British High Street of the Year competition for up to 30 days, and from multiple email addresses; who decided that voting should be allowed to take place in that way; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that decision on the outcome of the competition.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Great British High Street Competition was an initiative launched by the Future High Street Forum, a group bringing together retailers and sector experts to lead work to support high streets. The Great British High Street Competition, now in its second year, is overseen by a sub-group of the Forum.

The results of the Great British High Street Competition will be decided on by the combination of two scoring mechanisms. The first element will be based on scoring from a visit from our independent panel of judges which includes expert senior representatives from Boots, Costa, Google and the Post Office.

The second part of the scoring is based on the outcome of a public vote which allows people to vote every day but from a single email address. The decision was based on advice from analysts and social media experts, which included Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo, and was introduced in order to allow the finalists to build local campaigns which generate interest across the course of the campaign and not just on one day. It was also designed to allow towns with varying populations to compete. Ministers had no role in this decision.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the team in Colne and their competitors, every luck. We received 230 entries of an excellent standard so to reach the final is a huge achievement. The competition is shining a light on all the wonderful, hard work going on around the country and, once the competition is over, we look forward to continuing to work with all of the finalists to share and publicise their great work.

01/01/2023

Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 17021, what the number of methicillin resistant (a) staphylococcus aureus, (b) clostridium difficile and (c) E.coli infections were in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

Public Health England (PHE) has surveillance data on meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia, E. coli bacteraemia and on C. difficile Infection (CDI). The reported numbers for both MRSA and E. coli bacteraemia cover bloodstream infections only. C. difficile data covers all infections. The totals, shown in the table below, are the number of infections reported to PHE each financial year, extracted from the Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) data capture system. Mandatory surveillance data covers England only.

Total Number of MRSA, C. difficile and E. coli infections in England (April 2010 to March 2015)

Year:	April 2010 – March 2011	April 2011 – March 2012	April 2012 – March 2013	April 2013- March 2014	April 2014 – March 2015
Total reported MRSA bacteraemia episodes	1,481	1,116	924	862	801
Total reported C. difficile episodes	21,707	18,022	14,694	13,361	14,165
Total reported E. coli bacteraemia episodes	*	*	32,309	34,275	35,676

* Mandatory surveillance of E. coli bacteraemia was introduced in July 2011.

Source: PHE.

01/01/2023

Lord Rennard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the annual effect of the planned reductions to Policy Development Grants on political parties’ funding for policy development.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The total amount available for policy development grants is to be reduced by 19 per cent. This is in line with the savings asked of non protected departments as part of the Spending Review and will ensure that political parties in receipt of taxpayer funding contribute to the savings that are also being asked of local and central government.

The Electoral Commission determines the grant available to each eligible political party as part of the scheme.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy regarding presidents and others who perpetuate their power and authority in the Commonwealth; and whether the Commonwealth as a whole has a policy on that matter.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government expects all Commonwealth states to uphold the standards enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter; which makes clear that governments, political parties and civil society are responsible for upholding and promoting democratic culture and practices and are accountable to the public in this regard.

In supporting greater adherence to Commonwealth political values and principles, the Commonwealth Secretariat, under its Strategic Plan (2014/15), has engaged with the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and the services of the Secretary General’s Good Offices. The Secretariat has also carried out election management and promoted the values of respect and understanding. This resulted in CMAG’s decision to restore Fiji to full Commonwealth membership and involved the deployment of election observation teams to 13 elections in 11 countries. All election missions reported credible results in accordance with Commonwealth norms.

01/01/2023