Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to promote a whistleblowing culture across the civil service.

    Matthew Hancock

    This Government has taken a number of steps to ensure effective whistleblowing practices are in place across Departments and to raise the profile and awareness of whilstleblowing. Updated and refreshed model whistleblowing policies are in place across all departments, providing information on sources of support available to whistleblowers, including access to employee assistance programmes, and advice on accessing legal support. In addition, we have improved support for Nominated Offices, and Departments have introduced dedicated whistleblowing hotlines and are publishing case studies on departmental intranet sites to build confidence that cases will be heard fairly and appropriately.

    The Cabinet Office has developed a new data collection tool to enable HR Directors to collect information on whistleblowing cases including how cases have been resolved, identification of systemic issues, and lessons learned. Departments are using this tool to report to their Departmental Boards, and to the Cabinet Office, on a 6 monthly basis.

    More details on action taken by specific Departments, including the first set of data collated by Departments, can be found in the Cabinet Office’s recent report to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/whistleblowing-recall/written/31692.html

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  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to contact visa and naturalisation applicants to ask those applicants to submit an up-to-date English Language Certificate if an application is to be refused solely on the grounds of the submission of an expired certificate.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    For visa purposes, it is not Home Office policy to give an applicant the opportunity to submit a further document if they have provided an out of date English language certificate. Knowledge of the English language is a key requirement of the Immigration Rules which applicants are expected to comply with before they apply. The Immigration Rules specify that, where applicable, the test certificate must be within its validity date.

    For naturalisation applications, a person is allowed a period of two weeks to provide any missing information, but they would be expected to have met the language requirement before submitting an application.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to ask the government of France to defer demolition of the Jungle camp at Calais, until all the children there have been moved to places of safety.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The management of the migrant camp in Calais, including any decision to dismantle it, is the responsibility of the French Government. The UK continues to work closely with the French Government at both a political and operational level on every aspect of the migrant situation in northern France.

    Although the primary responsibility for unaccompanied children in France lies with the French authorities, the Home Secretary made clear on 10 October that we will transfer as many minors as possible to the UK who are eligible under the Dublin Regulation before the camp clearance starts. The Home Secretary further emphasised that the remaining children who may be eligible to come to the UK under the Dubs amendment must be moved to safe facilities where there best interests can be properly considered.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that drivers on public transport are trained to assist disabled passengers.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport (DfT) has work closely with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to commission work to evaluate the existing Disabled Awareness Training and to produce some guidelines in best practice.

    Since September 2008 all professional bus and coach drivers have been required to hold a Certificate of Professional Competence as a requirement of the EU Directive 2003/59. Disability Awareness Training is currently available to all drivers as part of the periodic Certificate of Professional Competence training syllabus. The bus industry has reported that virtually all drivers have now undertaken Disability Awareness Training and DfT will continue to work with the industry to encourage the further uptake of disability awareness training by bus and coach drivers.

    The standards that taxi and PHV drivers have to meet is a matter for individual local licensing authorities. DfT Best Practice Guidance for taxi and PHV licensing says that licensing authorities should consider requiring or encouraging their drivers to undertake disability awareness training. According to DfT’s 2015 taxi and PHV statistical survey, 104 licensing authorities in England and Wales require taxi drivers to undergo disability awareness training.

    In the rail industry awareness training is mandatory for all customer facing staff and managers.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to promote racial diversity in the film industry.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    This Government is committed to promoting diversity in the film industry. We support the British Film Institute’s (BFI) newly launched £1 million Diversity Fund, which works to provide professional development opportunities to people from underrepresented groups, as well as funding to organisations that are looking to support diversity projects. The BFI has also recently extended its Diversity Standards to cover all Film Fund Lottery schemes which support film development, production and distribution, and widen access to film in the UK.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether training in celestial navigation is provided for new recruits to the Royal Navy.

    Penny Mordaunt

    For new recruits, celestial navigational training is only undertaken by Royal Marine recruits in weeks eight and 10 of their training as part of the Royal School of Military Survey lessons. However, celestial navigational training (referred to as Astro(navigational) training within the Service) is taught to Naval Officers as part of targeted career training courses at the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood. These include: Initial Warfare Officers, the Fleet Navigation Officers Course and in a Specialist Navigation Course (for those officers undertaking specialist training in navigation at Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander rank with a view to navigating larger vessels such as carriers and amphibious assault ships).

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following his recent visits to France and Italy, whether there are plans for President Rouhani of Iran to visit the UK.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are gradually expanding our bilateral engagement with Iran, and reopened our Embassy in Tehran in August last year. This was a major step towards normalising our relationship with Iran. There are no fixed dates yet for President Rouhani to visit the UK, but we hope that we will be able to welcome him in the future. We welcomed Foreign Minister Zarif’s visit to the UK from 4-5 February, the first bilateral visit of an Iranian Foreign Minister in over ten years.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the prevalence of reckless driving.

    Andrew Jones

    The Road Safety Statement published on 21 December 2015 outlines what the Department is currently doing to improve road safety. For example, we are currently consulting on increasing the penalty points and financial penalty for those who commit the offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving.

    We have previously introduced fixed penalty notices in order to assist the police in dealing more effectively with careless driving. This would enable more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat such behaviour.

    Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March 2015 it has been an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits. I have provided £1million to further increase enforcement during the THINK! campaign that commenced on 29 February and will run through March thus coinciding with the 1st anniversary of the commencement of the new offence.

    Sentencing and enforcement policy issues are matters for the Ministry of Justice and Home Office respectively.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much subsidy was paid to the operators of the Northern rail franchise in each financial year between December 2004 and April 2016.

    Andrew Jones

    Subsidies paid from 2004 to 2008:

    2004/05 – 81.0 million (part year – December 2004 to March 2005)

    2005/06 – 278.2 million

    2006/07 – 168.5 million

    2007/08 – 119.3 million

    Figures from 2008 onwards are published on the Office of Rail and Road’s (‘ORR’) website at: http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/95218cca-408d-4047-83ce-a542c53b59e6. 2015-16 financial information will be made available following publication of Audited Statutory Accounts.

    “

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to promote awareness among cyclists of the importance of wearing helmets and visible clothing.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The safety of vulnerable road users is a priority and we recommend that all cyclists wear clothing that makes them sufficiently visible to other road users.

    Rule 59 of the Highway Code states, “You should wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light; reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark”.

    Government policy is that cycle helmets offer a degree of protection for cyclists in the event of a fall from a bicycle and some types of collisions. In line with the Highway Code rule 59 which states “you should wear a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened” we encourage their use by all cyclists and in particular by children.