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Category: Speeches

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to enable environmental health officers to assess excessive noise in a neighbourhood on a daily basis.

    Rory Stewart

    Local authorities have a range of powers available to them to assess excessive noise from residential and commercial properties. These are set out in various pieces of legislation, including the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Noise Act 1996.

  • John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the (a) use and (b) prevalence of setting and streaming in schools in England.

    Nick Gibb

    In-school organisation, such as streaming or setting, is a matter for individual schools, and data is not collected or held by the Department on this matter.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take in response to the findings on bullying and harassment in the Care Quality Commission’s report on the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, published on 29 September 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Following the publication of the Care Quality Commission report on 29 September, NHS Improvement placed South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust in Special Measures. The Trust will receive a package of tailored support to address specific issues and drive improvements.

    These measures include: buddying arrangements with South Central Ambulance Service, the appointment of an Improvement Director and publication of the Trust’s recovery plan in November, which will include a detailed programme to specifically address the bullying and harassment culture within the Trust. An oversight group has already been established to be chaired by NHS Improvement and including representatives from NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and the Trust to oversee the delivery of quality improvements.

    There has been a change in leadership following the resignation of the Chair and Chief Executive. NHS Improvement has appointed an interim Chair and continues to support organisational development and cultural change work, including strengthening complaints processes.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department has made for (a) child and adolescent friendly spaces and (b) other psycho-social support for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK is the third largest donor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is providing basic education and protection for over 230,000 children in Gaza.

    As part of the UK’s humanitarian response to the 2014 conflict, DFID activated its £3 million Rapid Response Facility which included support to Handicap International, Plan International and International Medical Corps to provide psycho-social support, child protection and mental health support to children in Gaza.

    DFID also provided support to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who have cleared all UNRWA and 21 Palestinian Authority schools of unexploded ordnance allowing 250,000 students to return to school.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the 26 new Enterprise Zones are which were announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Greg Hands

    The full list of successful Enterprise Zones, which is available to view online at the link below, was published by DCLG following the Spending Review announcement:

    www.gov.uk/government/news/the-new-enterprise-zones

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people of each gender work in his Department.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department had 807 males (48%), and 877 females (52%) working in the Department as at 31 December 2015.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what legal powers the EU has to intervene in the taxation arrangements agreed between HM Treasury and foreign-based firms, including Google, and what assessment they have made of whether HMRC could legally co-operate in any such EU action.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    While corporate taxation is a matter for Member States, under the EU Treaties the European Commission has competence to conduct State aid investigations in order to prevent unlawful distortion of competition and to safeguard the internal market. Member State authorities are required to cooperate with any such investigations.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to improve the representation of employees with a disability in the Senior Civil Service in the Cabinet Office.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Cabinet Office promotes a number of cross Government talent schemes to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and disabled staff, to accelerate their promotion to Senior Civil Service roles. This includes Civil Service wide talent schemes such the Future Leaders Scheme (aimed at G6&7 staff) and the Senior Leaders Scheme (aimed at SCS Pay Band 1). Additionally, it promotes development schemes aimed specifically at BAME and disabled staff including the Accelerate talent programme (for SCS) and the Positive Action Pathway (for staff below SCS).

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been permanently excluded from school during Key stage 1 and 2 in the last three years.

    Nick Gibb

    Information on the number of permanent exclusions in state-funded primary schools is published at national and regional level in the Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England[1] series. Information on the number of permanent exclusions in primary academies from 2010/11 to 2013/14 inclusive can be found in Table 18a of the 2013/14 release and Table 16a of the equivalent release for earlier years.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

    “

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of relations between the UK and Burundi, and of the security situation in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The security situation in Burundi remains fragile with continued abductions, illegal detentions, torture, gang rapes and killings. We are also concerned at the apparent recent increase in the number of targeted assassinations, most recently the assassination of Brigadier General Athanase Kararuza and his wife on 25 April and the attempted assassination of the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, Martin Nivyabandi on 24 April. I join UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in condemning these attacks.

    We continue to make clear our concerns to the Government of Burundi. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) visited the country in December last year where he urged the Burundian government to engage in meaningful, inclusive dialogue with the opposition without preconditions. In January he met Burundian Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe to reiterate this message. Mr Duddridge writes regularly to Mr Nyamitwe to convey our concerns and to urge his government to take the necessary steps to resolve the current situation. Only a genuine and inclusive dialogue, based on the respect of the Arusha Agreement, will enable Burundian stakeholders to find a consensual solution to the situation facing their country.

    Our Ambassador to Burundi in Kigali travels regularly to the country to meet members of the Burundian Government and we will shortly be increasing the British Government’s presence in Bujumbura through the recruitment of a Burundi Coordinator.