Category: Speeches

Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to distribute the £20 million funding for English lessons for women speakers of other languages; which bodies will be responsible for delivering the new provision; on what basis it will be allocated; how much will be made available in each year of this Parliament, and what kind of learning provision the money will be used for.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Our new English language training offer, worth £20 million over this Parliament, will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and the learning from the six community-based 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 and on the detail of how the programme will be delivered, to ensure it is targeted at those women who need it most. We are working towards as early a launch date as possible for the programme in 2016-17.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) conducted on the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on (a) relationships between his Department and its counterparts in other EU member states and (b) the effectiveness of pan-European justice mechanisms; and what assessment his Department has made of the results of that research.

Dominic Raab

On 19 February, the Prime Minister set out the Government position on remaining in the European Union.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that victims and witnesses are not subject to increased fear of intimidation from alleged perpetrators when travelling to court.

Mike Penning

We have a range of special measures in place to support vulnerable witnesses and victims when they are giving evidence. These include the option of giving evidence from a remote location away from the court via live link, which significantly limits the risk of a witness coming into contact with a defendant or their supporters. This will mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

The Ministry of Justice also funds the delivery of the court-based Witness Service, delivered by Citizens Advice at all criminal courts in England and Wales. The Service has developed an enhanced package of support to vulnerable and intimidated witnesses (including victims). This enhanced level of support includes both support at court and pre-trial support and an outreach service offering home visits or meetings, in advance of trial, at Citizens Advice offices or another neutral and appropriate location, and meeting the witness outside the court and accompanying them inside. This enhanced service is being rolled out nationally and will be available in all areas by end of April 2016.

The court can impose any bail condition necessary to ensure that a defendant does not interfere with a witness. If a bail condition is broken, this will have consequences for the offender, including the possibility of a remand into custody.

01/01/2023
Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on the proportion of women with fibroadenoma who went onto develop breast cancer in 2015.

Jane Ellison

The number of women who were diagnosed with fibroadenomas in each of the last five years, and the proportion of women with fribroadenomas who went on to develop breast cancer in 2015, is not held.

In addition, information on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years is not held.

There are several types of benign breast lump, including fibroadenomas. Although most lumps are not breast cancer, any unusual changes to the breasts should be checked by a general practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. If a GP finds a lump on examination, they will routinely refer the patient to be seen by a hospital specialist.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent progress has been made on Public Health England’s study into the health impact of incinerators.

Jane Ellison

The Public Health England funded study by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) at Imperial College and the Environmental Research Group at King’s College, London, investigating the potential link between emissions from municipal waste incinerators and health outcomes is ongoing. It is expected that papers from the project will be submitted by SAHSU to peer reviewed journals later in 2016.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they now recognise that a genocide is underway against minorities in Syria and Iraq; and whether the opinion set out in The Sunday Telegraph on 27 March that ISIS are engaged in what can only be called genocide of the poor Yazidis” by the new Foreign Secretary reflects their official position.”

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

This Government shares the House of Commons’ condemnation of Daesh atrocities against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yazidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population in Iraq and Syria who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality.

It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations, and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes.

We are fully committed to working internationally to ensure Daesh is held to account for its crimes. Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology. That is why the UK is playing a leading role in the Global Coalition of more than 66 countries and international organisations united to defeat Daesh.

01/01/2023
Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average Fire and Rescue response times were to incidents in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Redcar and Cleveland and (d) Middlesbrough in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis

National Statistics on Fire and Rescue response times are published annually, including response times for other types of fire incident. The most recent publication, for 2014/15, was published in 2015 and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2014-to-2015

Accompanying data tables can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables

The next publication on fire and rescue response times for 2015/16 is due for release in late 2016.

01/01/2023
Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total value of criminal courts charges (1) issued by the courts, and (2) collected to date; and what estimate they have made of the total cost of enforcement to date.

Lord Faulks

Information on the enforcement of financial impositions is contained within an annex to Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly statistical bulletin published quarterly by the Ministry of Justice.

Data relating to the criminal courts charge for the period April to September 2015 will be published on 17 December 2015. This will separately identify the monetary values of the criminal courts charge imposed and collected since 13 April 2015.

The cost of enforcing the criminal courts charge cannot be separated from the total cost of enforcing all types of court ordered financial impositions. Enforcement action is taken against the total amount an offender owes and offenders are often ordered to pay more than one type of financial imposition.

01/01/2023
Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is giving to strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services in countries affected by Ebola.

Mr Nick Hurd

Prior to, during and following the Ebola outbreak, DFID has provided funding and technical assistance to increase access to water, sanitation services and hygiene education (WASH) in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Between 2012-2016, DFID has committed through our country programmes up to £71.3m for WASH programmes in Sierra Leone and £4.75m for Liberia. We have no bilateral programme in Guinea.

During the Ebola outbreak our existing WASH programmes were adapted to help Sierra Leone and Liberia respond to the crisis. The above figure includes DFID assistance to improve water and sanitation facilities in schools and health facilities as part of our support to the post-Ebola recovery.

The President of Sierra Leone has identified water as one of his top six priorities for the post Ebola recovery period. DFID has committed to support delivery of this agenda and we are working with them to define high quality programmes that will increase access to clean water.

01/01/2023

Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the Defence Electronics and Components Agency, (c) the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, (d) the UK Hydrographic Office, (e) the National Army Museum, (f) the National Museum of the Royal Navy, (g) the Royal Air Force Museum, (h) the Single Source Regulations Office and (i) the Oil and Pipelines Agency; how many of these employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mark Lancaster

The following table outlines the number of civilian and military press and public relations staff posts in Defence (including vacant posts) and press and public relations expenditure in the financial year 2014-15. This expenditure includes £30 million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12 million for staff costs.

Annual salaries are dependent upon grade/rank. Of those in press and public relations staff posts, there are:

No civil servants or military personnel with salaries of more than £100,000.

10 civil servants with salaries of more than £50,000.

24 military personnel with salaries of more than £50,000.

Department/Agency	Press and Public Relations Staff Posts	Salary £50,000 and above	Salary £100,000 and above	Press and Public Relations Expenditure Financial Year (FY)2014-15 (£000)[1]
Ministry of Defence[2]	49	9 Civilian 3 Military	0	5,772
Armed Forces (Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Joint Forces Command)	122	0 Civilian 21 Military	0	41,437 (Including advertising and marketing for Armed Forces recruitment campaigns)
Defence Electronics and Components Agency (DECA)	0	0	0	N/A[3]
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)	2	1 Civilian	0	76
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO)	3	0	0	1,436
National Army Museum	4	0	0	550
National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN)	1	0	0	339
Royal Air Force Museum (RAF Museum)	2	0	0	429
Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO)	0	0	0	0
The Oil and Pipelines Agency (OPA)	0	0	0	0
Total	183	34	0	50,038[4]

[1] All figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000, therefore the total may not be equal to the sum of rounded values.

[2] Including Directorate of Defence Communications, Defence Business Services, Ministry of Defence Police, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and Defence Equipment and Support.

[3] DECA was formed on 1 April 2015 as a Trading Agency following the Sale of the Defence Support Group therefore separate communications outturn for FY2014-15 is not available.

[4] This figure includes £30million for Armed Forces advertising and marketing – the vast majority of which is advertising and marketing in direct support of Armed Forces recruitment campaigns. It also includes £12million for staff costs.

01/01/2023