Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of success of the planned peace talks between the Yemeni government and Houthis in that country; and what steps the Government is taking to support agreement on an immediate ceasefire at those talks.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We welcome the commitment by President Hadi that the Government of Yemen will participate in UN negotiations, and the commitment by the Houthis, conveyed to UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, of their willingness to discuss Yemen’s return to sustainable peace and long-term stability. We encourage all parties to get behind the UN political process to achieving a lasting peace, and to enter peace talks in good faith and with no pre-conditions. We welcome the announcement by the UN Special Envoy that these talks are forthcoming. I discussed the importance of making progress in these talks with President Hadi on 25 November. We fully and actively support the UN’s efforts, in accordance with Security Council Resolution (SCR) 2216, which remains the framework to achieving lasting ceasefire and a mechanism for the withdrawal of forces, release of political prisoners and the resumption of an inclusive political process.

  • John Mann – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    John Mann – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to meeting the UN targets on family planning; and in which countries such funding has been allocated.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    In 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, UK spending on Family Planning was £203 million, exceeding our 2012 London Summit commitment to double our yearly spend in this area. We are currently developing our plans for the new spending review period, but in the past the majority of our country offices have had family planning programmes.

    Multilateral, regional and civil society funding reaches many more countries. As well as a large commitment to the UNFPA Supplies programme (£356m until 2020), DFID also supports the FP2020 Secretariat, work on shaping reproductive health markets through the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the expenditure on the provision of English courses for speakers of other languages (1) in further education colleges and other public sector bodies, and (2) in other ways, in each of the last 10 years, including the current academic year; which bodies will deliver the extra language tuition to be provided from the £20 million announced by the Prime Minister; and when that extra tuition will commence.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The table below shows estimated funding for adult skills budget ESOL provision from 2009/10 onwards. We do not hold data before 2009/10 or collect data by the status of the providers.

    BIS funding for ESOL is allocated by the Skills Funding Agency as part of a provider’s adult skills budget. In addition, there are a number of ESOL courses funded through the Agency’s community learning budget, but we do not collect data which enables us to provide a breakdown of the expenditure on these. SFA-funded providers which deliver ESOL include Further Education colleges, local authorities and a few other providers. The Department for Communities and Local Government funds a range of organisations contracted to deliver their current community-based English language projects.

    Our new £20 million community-based English language training offer will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey’s Review and the learning from the six community projects we have funded as part of our current integration programme. In particular, we will work with Louise Casey to identify the most isolated communities in England to make sure this programme is targeted at those women who need it most and on the detail of how it will be delivered. We are working towards as early a launch date as possible for the programme in 2016-17.

    YEAR

    BIS ACADEMIC YEAR ESTIMATED FUNDING* (Adult Skills Budget)

    DCLG FINANCIAL YEAR FUNDING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROJECTS

    09/10

    £203m

    10/11

    £169m

    11/12

    £117m

    12/13

    £128m

    £0.12m

    13/14

    £120m

    £2.14m

    14/15

    £104m

    £3.66m

    *Funding values are estimated using data from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Estimated funding provides an indication of the level of government funding and should not be treated as actual spend.

  • The Countess of Mar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Countess of Mar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Countess of Mar on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many NHS and Public Health England laboratories that carry out Lyme borreliosis testing (1) are, and (2) are not, ISO 15189 accredited; and when they expect the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory to be so accredited.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department of Health, Public Health England (PHE) or NHS England do not hold information about which laboratories are and are not International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189 accredited. A list of accredited laboratories is held on the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) website and is the definitive list of accredited laboratories to which the Department, PHE and the NHS refer. Accreditation is covered by the Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) company until recently, and is now part of the UKAS scheme.

    There is no intention to transfer the Lyme disease testing service from the Rare & Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) to another laboratory. RIPL as a department will move from the Porton site as part of the PHE relocation scheduled to commence in 2018 but no decision on the exact date has been made. RIPL is scheduled to transfer to ISO 15189 in late summer 2016, when the ISO inspection team review the tests offered by the laboratory under ISO 15189. Until that time, the laboratory is operating under CPA in accordance with the transition process laid down by ISO.

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether relatives of foreign nationals murdered in the UK are entitled to compensation from them, and if so, how much compensation they have paid since 2010.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government provides two compensation schemes for victims of crime, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (the Scheme) 2012 and the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme (VOTCS) 2012. Both schemes are administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

    The Scheme is designed to compensate blameless victims of violent crime where the incident took place in Great Britain or a “relevant place” as outlined in Annex C of the scheme. Close relatives of a British citizen may also be eligible for compensation under the scheme. Under the Scheme compensation is only available to those who can demonstrate they are ordinarily resident in the UK at the time of the incident or have another defined connection to the UK.

    In fatal cases, compensation may be awarded to qualifying relatives who also satisfy the Scheme’s residency criteria. The meaning of qualifying relative is outlined in paragraph 59 of the Scheme. The CICA does not keep information on the nationality of the deceased in fatal applications, so we cannot identify the amount of compensation paid.

    Compensation for relatives of British nationals murdered abroad is not available under the two schemes provided by the Government. UK residents injured as a result of a crime of violence in another country within the European Union (EU) or outside the EU may be able to apply for compensation from that country. The CICA can assist with applications to other EU countries.

    The VOTCS was introduced to compensate victims of terrorism injured in incidents outside the UK on or after 27 November 2012. A person may be eligible for an award under VOTCS if they sustain a qualifying injury, which is directly attributable to their being a direct victim of a designated terrorist act. Close relatives bereaved as a result of a designated act may also be eligible for an award. The VOTCS applies to the whole of the United Kingdom.

    Claims under the VOTCS can be made by those who have a clear and sufficient connection to the UK, as evidenced by their residence and citizenship. British, European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss citizens who have been resident in the UK for three years immediately before the designated act may be eligible for an award. Data on the value of awards made under VOTCS from 2013 to 2016 are set in the table below.

    Year

    Amount of awards

    2013

    £206,607

    2014

    £11,200

    2015

    £309,541

    2016

    £11,000

    Total

    £538,348
  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the net earnings were from direct investment in UK companies in each year since 2010.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35188, if he will estimate the cost of collecting information on the number of personal independence payment assessment appointments which are cancelled.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Information on cancelled appointments, and the reasons for them, is not held centrally within the Department. In order to obtain this information we would need to ask our providers to clerically collate, prepare and quality assure this information. We estimate this would take in excess of 5 days to complete and the cost would be disproportionately excessive.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-07-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, what steps they are taking to reassure young pupils from European backgrounds who fear that they may be forced to leave the UK.

    Lord Nash

    As a matter of principle all children resident in the UK receive a free state-school education. We want to reassure European citizens living in the UK that there will be no immediate changes in their circumstances.

  • Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ramsbotham on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people who are deafblind, and those with complex needs, benefit from plans to halve the disability employment gap.

    Lord Freud

    The Government is committed to enabling all disabled people to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. Work is an important part of this, which is why the Government has committed itself to halving the disability employment gap.

    We will soon publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation to understand how every individual can have the opportunity to work and share in the economic and health benefits that work brings, regardless of their health condition or disability. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders that support deaf blind people as part of the Green Paper consultation.

    The feedback from the consultation and the work that we are doing to build and test the evidence base will help us to find out what really works to remove the barriers disabled people and people with health conditions face in getting and staying in work.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on recoverable costs in medical negligence cases.

    Ben Gummer

    The fixed recoverable cost regime is seeking to streamline claims for clinical negligence, focusing on what is required for a fair and proportionate resolution and encouraging a process that is more resource efficient and that incentivises the right behaviours by all parties. It extends the benefits of fixed cost regimes already realised in other areas of personal injury, as recommended by Lord Justice Jackson,and is not about the number of claims being brought.