Category: Speeches

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences have been deported in the last year for which figures are available.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on the number of foreign national offenders that have been removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=uk-visas-and-immigration&publication_type=transparency-data.

    Please note that the data is published on a quarterly basis. The link provides access to historical data for each quarter for the financial year 2015 / 2016

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) frail elderly people, (b) young people leaving care, (c) women fleeing domestic violence, (d) people recovering from alcohol and substance misuse, (e) people with mental health issues and (f) people with physical or learning disabilities live in supported housing and are eligible for housing benefit.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Work and Pensions have jointly commissioned the Supported Accommodation Review to better understand the scale, shape and cost of supported accommodation. The Review will provide more robust and up-to-date information relating to supported housing, including the principal user groups. The Review will report later this year.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 22794, how many beneficiaries of the Student Opportunity Fund there were in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates the Student Opportunity Fund to Higher Education providers as part of the teaching grant. Although the different elements of the fund are calculated on the basis of the number of students within an institution with particular characteristics, institutions have been able to use the funding in whichever way they feel is most appropriate for their students. Therefore, there is no centrally collected data on the numbers of students supported by the fund.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Prime Minister, which Government Ministers have had use of Chevening House since May 2015.

    Mr David Cameron

    The Foreign Secretary has use of Chevening.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they set a five per cent exit charge for early closure of a lifetime ISA.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Whilst the Lifetime ISA is a product aimed at encouraging saving for the long term, the government understands that circumstances change so wants to ensure that people can access their own money if they need it whilst also keeping an incentive to leave funds invested for the long term or to help purchase a first home. The government proposes that savers can make withdrawals at any time for other purposes, but with the bonus element of the fund plus any interest or growth on it returned to the government, and a 5% charge applied.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support will be provided to parents should they have difficulties accessing support through the tax-free childcare scheme; and if he will make a statement.

    Damian Hinds

    Tax-Free Childcare is being designed to be as straightforward as possible for parents. It will be quick and easy to apply online for the vast majority who are able to do so. However, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will ensure that assistance is provided to families who cannot access the internet so that they do not miss out on the support available via Tax-Free Childcare.

    Once the scheme is fully open, we estimate that up to 1 million families may take up the scheme in ‘steady state’.

    The Tax-Free Childcare system will be extensively tested before the scheme is launched.

  • – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to require Ofsted inspectors to judge whether the work of mainstream Christian churches with young people, either directly or through approved Christian organisations which specialise in working with young people, in activities such as holiday Bible clubs, church weekends, and summer camps, is in accordance with a British Values” test; and if so

    Lord Nash

    The Government is committed to safeguarding all children and protecting them from the risk of harm and extremism, including in out-of-school settings.

    The Prime Minister announced plans to introduce a new system of oversight for out-of-school education settings – such as supplementary schools and tuition centres – which teach children intensively, on 7 October 2015. These were confirmed in the Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy which was published on 19 October. These plans to regulate out-of-school settings which teach children intensively were set out in the call for evidence which ran for 6 and a half weeks between 26 November and 11 January.

    We are not proposing to regulate settings teaching children for a short period every week, such as Sunday schools or the Scouts, or one-off residential activities, such as a week-long summer camp. We are looking specifically at settings providing intensive education outside school where children could be spending more than six hours a week.

    The call for evidence sought views on the appropriateness of seeking to prohibit teaching which undermines or is incompatible with fundamental British values. Now that the call for evidence has closed, we are considering carefully the responses received as we develop the proposals further.

    We will be publishing our response to the call for evidence and setting out the next steps on the proposals in due course.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the use of mechanical thrombectomy in treatment of stroke on length of stay in hospital and bed occupancy rates.

    David Mowat

    As yet, there are insufficient patients being treated with mechanical thrombectomy to assess its impact on processes, such as length of hospital stay and bed occupancy rates, outcomes of care and the effect on post stroke rehabilitation.

    However, the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme is now collecting data on patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy and the results will be reported as soon as it is feasible. Sufficient cases will need to be undertaken before conducting the necessary statistical analyses and reporting the data.

    NHS England is considering whether mechanical thrombectomy should be an area covered by its specialised commissioning portfolio and work is underway on this.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the re-conviction rate is of offenders supervised by Working Links in Wales during the first 12 months following such supervision.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    One year reoffending rates for the first cohort managed under our probation reforms will be published in the quarterly proven reoffending statistics bulletin in autumn 2017, available on gov.uk. This will include those for Wales.

    “

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect on Syrian refugees of fluctuations in the value of food vouchers provided by the World Food Programme.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK is at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region and has pledged over £1.1 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. By the end of June 2015, our support in Syria and the region had delivered almost 20 million food rations, over 2.5 million medical consultations and relief items for 4.6 million people.

    Recent UN food security assessments have shown that fluctuations in assistance by the World Food Programme (WFP), as well as other agencies, has had an impact on refugee’s ability to provide for their basic needs. The UK is closely monitoring the situation across the region, alongside other key donors, to understand how this reduction in support will further impact the lives of Syrian refugees.

    UN appeals for Syria and the region remain severely underfunded. We continue to lobby other partners to step up to the plate and match our commitment.