Category: Speeches

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which government department is responsible for surveillance, production of a reorganised surface picture, and security, of the UK territorial seas.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The responsibility for the security and surveillance of the UK territorial seas is shared across a number of Government departments and agencies including the Department for Transport, Border Force, and Ministry of Defence.

    The National Maritime Information Centre provides the platform for the cross-government understanding of maritime activity. It brings together information and intelligence provided by the various Government departments and agencies and supported by international partnerships provides the UK with unified situational awareness of maritime activity in the UK and international waters.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential trends in the cost of tuition fees to students over the next 10 years.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) will allow institutions offering high quality teaching to access tuition fees up to an RPI(X) inflation linked maximum fee cap.

    Students on courses starting from August 2017 will be affected if the successful institutions choose to increase their fees towards the higher fee cap. These students will not be affected in real terms as tuition fees will not increase by more than inflation.

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to match the commitment made by the EU to fully deploy 5G by 2025.

    Matt Hancock

    Government has committed to ensuring that the UK seizes the chance to be a world leader in the development of 5G. We have actively participated in the global process for setting 5G standards., and we will continue to engage with international partners, including in the EU, to ensure that the UK is able to maximise the opportunities from 5G leading to widespread deployment as soon as it is commercially viable.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what targets he has set for the creation of numbers of apprenticeships between now and 2020.

    Nick Boles

    We are committed to 3 million apprenticeship starts in England and will ensure they deliver the skills employers and the economy need for growth.

    The locations and sectors where apprenticeships are available are determined by employers choosing to offer opportunities – so our aim is to create the conditions for employers to offer more apprenticeships. So that the public sector plays a full part in delivering more apprenticeships, we are taking forward legislation on targets for public bodies in relation to apprenticeships in England.

    Through the Welfare Reform and Work Bill we are legislating to report annually on progress towards meeting the 3 million. This duty will be a clear statement to reconfirm Government’s commitment to that policy ambition, as well as ensuring transparency on progress.

    Apprenticeships policy is a devolved matter and it is for the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to determine how they manage their own programmes. However, we recognise the value of an aligned approach to apprenticeships across the United Kingdom, particularly for employers with staff in more than one area.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has assessed or commissioned on potential links between prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and maintaining positive thinking into later life.

    Jane Ellison

    Reducing the incidence of dementia, improving dementia research, raising awareness and improving the treatment and care of people with dementia is a key priority for the Government. That is why in February 2015, the Prime Minister launched his Challenge on Dementia 2020 as a successor to the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2012-15. Under the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020, we set an ambition for:

    – improved public awareness and understanding of the factors, which increase the risk of developing dementia and how people can reduce their risk by living more healthily. This should include a new healthy ageing campaign and access to tools such as a personalised risk assessment calculator as part of the NHS Health Check;

    – increased identification of effective ways in which people can reduce their personal risk of developing dementia, including cardio-vascular and cognitive strategies, and ways of encouraging these approaches to improve public health and wellbeing; and

    – overall spending for dementia research from all sectors to double by 2025.

    Research funding for dementia research doubled under the last Government and will be maintained to total over £300 million over the period of the current government.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions vehicle owners have been fined for failing to pay for their vehicle tax since October 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    Since October 2014, 916,558 fines and penalties have been issued to keepers of vehicles that have been identified as being unlicensed.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

    Joseph Johnson

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 29 February 2016 to Question UIN 27946.

    “

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure that NHS maternity units improve their safety records.

    Ben Gummer

    In November 2015 the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth.

    To support the National Health Service in achieving this ambition more than 90 trusts have received additional funding as part of a £2.24 million fund to spend on equipment to improve safety, over £1 million to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care, and £500,000 to develop, a new online system that can be used consistently across the NHS to enable staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.

    The announcement also committed to publishing an annual report to update the public, health professionals, providers and commissioners on the progress we are making towards achieving the ambition. We also welcome the publication of the NHS England Independent Review of Maternity Services. The recommendations will have an important role in shaping the system to drive ambitious improvements in quality and safety.

    On 7 March we launched Sign up to Safety – ‘Spotlight on Maternity,’ a guidance document that asks all trusts with maternity services to commit publically to placing a spotlight on maternity and to contributing towards achieving the Government’s national ambition.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Government has spent during Public Law Project v The Lord Chancellor [2015] EWCA Civ 1193, 25 November 2015.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is disappointed with the decision of the Supreme Court in the judicial review of the civil legal aid residence test. We will now wait for the full written judgement to consider.

    To date, the Ministry of Justice has spent £152,196.50 (excluding VAT) in legal fees in proceedings in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in Public Law Project v The Lord Chancellor.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total cost, including legal fees, of converting a school to an academy.

    Lord Nash

    The costs of becoming an academy vary from school to school. Schools that become academies each receive a standard pre-opening grant relative to their particular circumstances.

    Currently, these tariffed grants contribute towards the costs of conversion incurred by schools in establishing the academy. These may include legal fees, as well as costs associated with transfer of land, transfer of software licences, Human Resources and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations advice, setting up an Academy Trust and paying for school improvement capacity.