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Category: Speeches

  • 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 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote women’s participation in Afghan democracy and civil society.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Women’s participation in democracy and civil society is a top human rights priority for both the UK and the Government of Afghanistan. We contributed £20 million over the 2014/2015 election cycle. Our election support provided assistance to the Independent Election Commission’s (IEC’s) Gender Unit to improve voter education amongst women and the development of early warning systems at voting centres to reduce the barriers for women voters. In addition, funding was provided to the Asia Foundation, who oversaw training for 300 female provincial council candidates and public outreach work to help broaden support for women’s political participation. I also met with women human rights defenders during my visit to Afghanistan on 10 December.

    We are also supporting women in civil society through programming on education, women’s economic empowerment, and women’s political participation as well as access to justice and tackling gender-based violence.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to introduce a one-month time limit on engagements for (a) small business and (b) other limited company contractors before they are treated as employees for tax purposes.

    Mr David Gauke

    Where people would have been employees if they were providing their services directly, the intermediaries legislation (known as IR35) requires that they pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance as other employees.

    The Government estimates that currently only around 10% of people who should pay tax on at least part of their company’s income under these rules do so. This non-compliance is both unfair and estimated to cost over £400 million a year. The Government is therefore looking to improve the legislation in a way that protects the Exchequer and improves fairness. However, it is not the Government’s intention to widen the scope of the rules.

    The Government published a discussion document on 17 July 2015 that set out the issues in more detail and invited views on options for reform. The discussion period closed on 30 September and the Government will announce next steps in due course.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of benchmarking UKTI’s performance against that of other countries’ export agencies.

    Anna Soubry

    There is considerable merit in understanding how our competitors’ export agencies are structured and the services they offer. This is something the Exports Implementation Taskforce, which the Secretary of State chairs, looked at in some depth in developing a whole-of-Government approach to exports. This included, UK Trade & Investment participating in a formal benchmarking exercise by the International Trade Centre.

    Among the key things found from these comparative reviews is that UKTI employs more people than other countries’ export promotion agencies, but deploys less resource on practical support for exporters (such as interim export managers). Learning from this, UKTI is currently developing some small-scale direct practical support services and products to see what might work in the UK.

  • David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.

    Andrew Jones

    Ministers at the Department for Transport have regular contact with our Welsh Government counterparts which cover a range of transport issues affecting Wales. Transport for the North have also agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Welsh Government that sets out how they will work together to improve transport cross-border transport links, which will help to stimulate the economy of the whole of the UK.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in the South East of England that trade with other EU member states and (b) people employed by those firms.

    Anna Soubry

    HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

    HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which of the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will be represented at the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    Representatives of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have been invited to attend the Summit.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs’ draft report on the proposal for a regulation on securitisation and creating a European framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation; and whether he supports the Committee’s proposal to increase risk retention from five per cent to 20 per cent based on a vertical slice of securitised assets.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government welcomed the development of international and EU standards to revitalise the regulatory framework for securitisation by encouraging the use of simpler and more transparent products. We agree with the Bank of England that a well-functioning and stable securitisation market will benefit financial stability and the wider economy. We support the Basel standards for securitisation, set with the intention of enhancing financial stability, which see features such as tranching and synthetic structures as being legitimate activity. We also support the need for all securitisations to adhere to appropriate rules on transparency and investor due diligence, and that they must be afforded sensibly calibrated capital requirements. Following the financial crisis it was Basel, working with the Financial Stability Board and the International Organization of Securities Commissions which, set the 5 percent risk retention standard.

    In the development and delivery of policy, Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with relevant institutions, regulatory authorities, other governments, industry and other civil society groups including think tanks such as Finance Watch.

  • Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of tobacco use on international development as well as on public health.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government recognises the significant impact of tobacco use on international development.

    Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of disease. If current patterns of use persist, tobacco will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st century. Evidence indicates that by 2030, over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in low and middle income countries.

    Tobacco use is also a major barrier to sustainable development. A major driver of social inequities, tobacco use imposes significant social, economic and environmental harm on individuals, families and national economies.

  • Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much (a) Bolton and (b) Wigan councils received in government grants in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    This information is publically available.

    Bolton Council 14/15 – http://www.bolton.gov.uk/sites/DocumentCentre/Documents/Statement%20of%20Accounts%202014-15.pdf

    Wigan Council 14/15 – https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Docs/PDF/Council/Performance-and-Spending/Statement-Accounts/Statement-of-Accounts-Final-Audited-Version.pdf

    Indicative formula allocations were made through the Final Local Government Finance Settlement for England 2015-16. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2015-to-2016

    My Department does not hold a live list of non-formula grant allocations to local authorities over the current financial year. Both Bolton and Wigan councils will release this information as part of their Statement of Accounts for 2015/16.

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical bodies on ensuring that drug dosages for stroke patients on the basis of the weight of the patient are calculated appropriately.

    Jane Ellison

    The Secretary of State has a wide range of discussions with a number of clinical bodies.

    We understand that this is a matter which will be considered in the review of evidence for the 5th edition of the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party National Clinical Guidelines for stroke, which are due to be published next year.