Category: Speeches

Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what meetings he has had with the European Commissioner for Competition on EU state aid rules and support for energy-intensive industries.

Anna Soubry

Over the past year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has met and called several times with Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, to discuss EU state aid rules and energy-intensive industries. I as Minister of State for Business, Industry and Enterprise attended the energy intensive industries high level stakeholder conference in Brussels in February. Senior officials from the Department have also had regular meetings with Commission Competition officials to discuss these issues.

01/01/2023
Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that small villages and towns have sufficient housing to meet demand.

Brandon Lewis

We believe that meeting the housing needs of rural communities is vitally important.

The National Planning Policy Framework rightly asks local planning authorities to identify and plan to meet the needs of their communities. It is for local planning authorities, in consultation with local people, to use their evidence base to ensure they plan to meet their housing need, shaping where development should and shouldn’t go, through an up to date Local Plan. Over 85,000 affordable homes have been provided in rural local authorities in England between April 2010 and March 2015.

Budget 2016 announced a £60 million fund to help bring forward community-led housing developments in rural and coastal communities. This fund will target those areas which are particularly affected by the impact of second homes. We will be announcing further details on how the fund will be allocated shortly.

The Homes and Communities Agency and my officials meet regularly with those working to deliver homes in rural communities to discuss the provision of affordable rural housing.

01/01/2023
Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of those provisions in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which relate to rail passengers claiming compensation.

Paul Maynard

We want to strengthen the rights of rail passengers to get compensation for poor service. The Consumer Rights Act will allow rail passengers to challenge compensation amounts awarded for delays and cancellations where the train operator is at fault.

Train operators’ existing compensation schemes will continue to provide the main means of redress for passengers after 1 October 2016, when the Act comes into force for all transport providers. We will continue to work with train operators to improve their compensation schemes.

01/01/2023
Alison Thewliss – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that universal credit claimants are not sanctioned in the period between accepting an offer of employment and starting employment.

Priti Patel

Universal Credit claimants, who are expected to look for work, must take all reasonable action they can to become employed. Any requirements placed on the claimant will be based on a discussion with their work coach, taking into account the individual’s circumstances, including any offer of employment they may have received.

01/01/2023
Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Pet Travel Scheme Regulations.

George Eustice

The pets checkers (carriers or agents) which carry out checks to ensure pets animals are compliant with Pet Travel Scheme rules are audited by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the results show that they are performing satisfactorily. In 2014, APHA audited close to 6,000 pets. Of these only 0.9% of the pets were found not to comply with the entry rules. These pets were either detained until their compliance could be established, re-exported or placed into quarantine.

01/01/2023
Baroness Pinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the necessity to ensure that private finance initiative hospitals retain maximum use is distorting the siting of full accident and emergency and consultant-led maternity units.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Decisions on reconfiguration are for local commissioners based on identification of local need. NHS England published Planning, assuring and delivering service change for patients on 29 October 2015, a copy of which is attached, providing refreshed guidance for those considering, and involved in, service reconfiguration.

The guidance makes clear that any proposal for service reconfiguration must satisfy the Government’s four tests for change:

(i) strong public and patient engagement;

(ii) consistency with current and prospective need for patient choice;

(iii) a clear clinical evidence base; and

(iv) support for proposals from clinical commissioners.

The guidance includes that commissioners should build proposals by identifying the range of service change options that could improve outcomes within available resources; and that proposals should be clear about the impact of the proposed changes on outcomes for patients.

01/01/2023

Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 25004, (a) for how many days (a) HMS Daring, (b) HMS Dauntless, (c) HMS Diamond, (d) HMS Dragon, (e) HMS Defender and (f) HMS Duncan were deployed on operations and (b) in which theatre they were so deployed in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2013 and (iv) 2014.

Penny Mordaunt

The information requested is provided below. In answering this question, I have defined ‘deployed on operations’ as times away from UK waters for extended periods.

In 2011, the Type 42 Destroyers were deployed on operations. No Type 45 Destroyer was deployed away from the UK.

2012

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DARING	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	210
HMS DAUNTLESS	Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)	209
HMS DIAMOND	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	191

2013

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DRAGON	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	254
HMS DARING	Global Deployment	277

2014

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DIAMOND	Operation Recsyr: protecting and escorting ships transporting chemicals from Syria	163
HMS DEFENDER	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	193
HMS DRAGON	Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)	198

When not deployed on operations, all Type 45 ships would have undertaken activities such as sea trials, training, engagement, provisioning or been in a maintenance period.

01/01/2023

Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that all supply agencies offer supply teachers’ pay and conditions at the same rate as national teachers’ pay.

Nick Gibb

Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers which includes deciding whether to use private agencies to recruit and manage them. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency, this is a private commercial arrangement between the school and the agency, and the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) does not apply. The agency can also decide the rate of pay and conditions of employment.

If agencies do not appear to be complying with legislation they can be investigated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI). The EASI is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and has powers to investigate agencies for possible breaches of the law and to prosecute them where there is sufficient evidence. The EASI works with agencies, employers and workers to make sure that employment rights are complied with, particularly for vulnerable workers.

Conditions for agency workers have been improved through the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and supply teachers are entitled to the same pay and employment conditions they would be entitled to receive if they were employed directly by a maintained school or academy. This is subject to a qualifying period of 12 continuous calendar weeks working in the same role with the same school or local authority. The Regulations can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employing-agency-supply-teachers

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01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s discussion paper on options for supporting English regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution, published in July 2015, what advice he has received from the European Commission on the compliance of the options in that paper with state aid rules; and whether he plans to issue an update to that discussion paper.

Damian Hinds

The Government is carefully considering the responses received to the discussion paper on options to support English regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution and will respond in due course.

The options contained in the discussion paper could each be taken forward in a variety of ways. Any proposals brought forward will be compliant with EU law and the European Commission will be consulted, if required.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Pakistan on increasing trade between the UK and (a) Pakistan and (b) Azad Kashmir.

Anna Soubry

I have held no discussions with the Federal Minister for Commerce of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, about increasing trade between the UK and Pakistan or Pakistan Administered Kashmir.

01/01/2023