Category: Speeches

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations the Government has received from the aviation and aerospace industries on supporting investment in development of cleaner jet fuels.

    Andrew Jones

    Ministers and officials regularly discuss policy options with Her Majesty’s Treasury and colleagues in other government departments.

    I refer the honourable Member to my answer to the honourable Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami), on 2 November 2015 on the subject of sustainable aviation fuels and representations received as part of the work of the Transport Energy Task Force http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-10-23/13225/. I have also met with representatives from industry to discuss the potential of sustainable low carbon fuels in aviation.

    “

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has been approached by (a) Stockport local authority, (b) Tameside local authority and (c) Greater Manchester combined authority to approve the removal of protected school land for development under Schedule 14 of the Education Act 2011 in the last three years.

    Edward Timpson

    Since January 2013, the Secretary of State for Education has received:

    • 1 application from Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, this is currently being considered.
    • 4 applications from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, all have been approved.
    • 19 applications from the Greater Manchester combined authority, 1 is being considered and the other 18 have been approved.

    These figures include applications in those local authorities relating to land held by Academy Trusts under a lease from the local authority.

    The Education Act 2011 requires that the Secretary of State must give consent prior to the disposal of land which has been used for any school or academy in the last eight years. Secretary of State consent is also required under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 where local authorities wish to dispose of playing field land that has been used by a school in the last ten years. A key consideration for the government is whether the land proposed for disposal could be suitable for use by a new school.

    There are a range of reasons for these disposals. Some disposals are leases from the academy trustees back to the local authority, which allow a children’s centre on site to continue or which provide land for another school. A substantial number of consents refer to local authority maintained school sites for outright disposals where the school has closed or relocated to a new build site.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) funding the Government will provide to the Joint Security Fund, (b) funding his Department will receive from that fund, (c) funding Defence Intelligence will receive from that fund and (d) proportion of the funding his Department will so receive will be passed onto the armed forces.

    Michael Fallon

    The Treasury has allocated £3.5 billion to departments over this Parliament to provide joint security funding across government: the Ministry of Defence will benefit from £2.1 billion of that funding to deliver the investment for our Armed Forces set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in considering the future of the Human Rights Act 1998, what regard they will have to the findings of the Scottish Parliament’s European and External Relations Committee as outlined in the letter of 17 March from the Convener of that Committee to the Lord Chancellor on the concept of mission creep” as a characterisation of the European Court on Human Rights’ jurisprudence.”

    Lord Faulks

    This Government was elected with a mandate to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework. We will consider the devolution implications of our reforms and will continue to engage fully with stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and with the devolved administrations, as we develop our proposals.

  • Mark Pawsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pawsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pawsey on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department is offering to local authorities to promote the provision of electric car charging points.

    Andrew Jones

    This Government has committed to spend more than £600 million in this Parliament to support the uptake and manufacturing of electric vehicles in the UK. 61 Local Authorities have already benefitted from £12.8m of funding to deploy chargepoints across the UK. This included 253 rapid chargepoints and 587 fast chargepoints in train stations and public sector workplaces. The UK now has over 11,000 public chargepoints.

    In January Bristol, London, Milton Keynes and Nottingham were awarded funding of £35 million to promote green vehicles, as winners of the Go Ultra Low city scheme. A further £5m was awarded to the North East Combined Authority, Dundee, York and Oxford. We estimate that this scheme will deliver around 750 new publically accessible charge points. Our Local Authority-led schemes for low emission buses and taxis will also contribute towards the cost of new charging infrastructure, and we will shortly announce details of further support for the UK’s growing charging network.

    In addition to public infrastructure provision, grants of £500 are available towards the cost of installing a domestic chargepoint, with over 18,000 now installed.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage UK nationals to take up junior and entry-level positions in the European Commission.

    Mr David Lidington

    UK representation has been falling across EU institutions as UK officials retire and are not replaced by the same number of new UK entrants. The Government is committed to reversing this picture, recognising that this will require a sustained effort. The EU Staffing Unit, established in April 2013, promotes EU careers across the UK and supports candidates through the application process. It has increased secondments in positions of strategic importance to the UK. The European Fast Stream within the Civil Service has also been re-launched.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to mark National Road Victim Month which falls in August of each year.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department supports the purpose of National Road Victim Month. We recognise every death is a tragedy and we regularly attend the Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. We are determined to do more to make our roads safer. That’s why this Government has a Manifesto commitment to reduce road deaths and injuries every year. We are prioritising our efforts on delivering the actions set out in the British Road Safety Statement which we published on 21 December 2015 which is available on gov.uk and copies are in both libraries of the house.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Sussex Area Review of post-16 education and training is planned to be published.

    Robert Halfon

    As confirmed in the Area Review Guidance published in March 2016, we will publish the area review reports once each review has completed. We expect to publish the Sussex area review report in the near future.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to routinely test camelids for bovine tuberculosis before they are moved around the UK.

    George Eustice

    Defra has worked with the British Alpaca and Llama Societies on the design and promotion of a TB testing regime that includes voluntary routine surveillance, pre-movement testing and pre-export testing. A call for views on control of bovine TB in non-bovine farmed animals, including camelids, is currently in progress and will run until 20 November.

  • Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 November (HL3565), in discharging their oversight function, about which care homes the Care Quality Commission has alerted local authorities during 2015 that a provider was likely to fail financially and their services cease.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC has advised that it has not issued any notifications to local authorities under the Market Oversight Scheme to date.