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 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants are employed for the purposes of working in the Office of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

    Ben Gummer

    Further to the question asked by the Hon Member of 7 September 2016, Official Report, Column 321, I would add that my Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Derbyshire Dales, is a Minister of the Crown and a member of the Cabinet. He will attend a number of Cabinet Committees, which will be published in due course, and has duties directly related to the Duchy of Lancaster. The List of Ministerial Responsibilities will also be published in due course. He does not receive a Ministerial salary from public funds. Details of Private Office staff will be accounted for as part of the regular transparency data on gov.uk. The Government publishes on a quarterly basis details of Ministerial visits overseas. All Ministers have access to the Government Car Service for official travel.

    My Rt Hon Friend also serves as the Party Chairman of the Conservative Party. Such arrangements are no different from the likes of Charles Clarke, Ian McCartney and Hazel Blears, all of whom held the posts of Minister Without Portfolio and Labour Party Chair under the last Labour Government.

    I would also observe that under the Thatcher and Major Governments, senior figures such as Norman Tebbit, Kenneth Baker and Chris Patten served as both Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

  • Lord Fearn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Fearn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Fearn on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government who took the decision to disband the mounted section connected to Merseyside Police.

    Lord Bates

    The deployment and use of police animals are operational decisions for chief constables which are rightly made by local forces.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to bring equalities legislation in Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Equal opportunities is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and therefore the Government has no legislative competence in this area.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many full-time equivalent Environment Agency staff were employed on maintenance of flood defences on 1 April (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Government has committed to protect flood maintenance funding in real terms over the course of this Parliament.

    The Environment Agency does not record the number of personnel working solely on maintaining flood defences, as the relevant staff undertake a number of activities, including both operating and maintaining defences. Maintenance may also be performed by third parties.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the average salary is for employees of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

    Mr Charles Walker

    The average basic salary for IPSA employees in £36,625 and the median figure is £29,652, as at December 2015. IPSA publishes details of salary bands paid to its employees on its website.

  • 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 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hostage situations have arisen in each prison and youth facility in each month since March 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    The vast majority of incidents are minor in nature and resolved quickly and professionally without injury, damage or disruption to the running of the prison. Each incident is investigated fully to ensure lessons are learnt and best practice in managing incidents is shared across NOMS.

    Many incidents at height are relatively short in duration, lasting less than 15 minutes, and take place on netting or over railings. Hostage incidents are relatively rare and in many cases of hostage taking collusion between the perpetrator and victim is suspected. We do not tolerate violence or disorder in our prisons. Prisoners who take part in violent incidents can be referred to the police for prosecution or receive additional time on their sentences following internal adjudication.

    The tables attached provide numbers of incidents at height and hostage incidents in each month between March 2014 and December 2015 and broken down by establishment.

    Note: These figures have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 29571, on prescriptions: learning disability, if he will make it his policy to collect that information.

    Alistair Burt

    A prescription does not record whether someone has a learning disability so a collection of the requested information would require a change in the prescribing process.

    As part of the Government’s commitment to improve care for people with learning disabilities NHS England is planning a programme of work to reduce inappropriate prescribing.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP appointments were available in (a) Calderdale and (b) England in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    The number of general practitioner (GP) appointments that are available in Calderdale and England is not held.

    The number of GP appointments that are missed is not collected centrally, however, figures from NHS England suggest that more than 12 million GP appointments are missed each year in the United Kingdom (there is no individual breakdown for Calderdale or England separately), which costs in excess of £162 million per year.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from care home operators about their financial viability.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government continues to engage with the care sector, including care providers, to understand their concerns about their financial viability and the sustainability of services.

    The trade bodies Care England and the United Kingdom Home Care Association have convened a provider Taskforce, with membership from the larger care home and home care operators and representatives from the Care Providers Alliance. Officials from the Department of Health, and other Government departments attend the taskforce meetings as observers. The most recent meeting was held on 9 May 2016, where discussions were held about risks to financial viability, local authority commissioning and the impact of the introduction of the National Living Wage.

    The Department is working closely with the Local Government Association to consider targeted action to address the issues.

    The Department is not aware of any specific representations from care home providers in West Sussex about their future financial viability.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support the Government plans to provide to communities in (a) West Cumbria and (b) Somerset (i) during and (ii) after the construction of new nuclear development in those areas.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government aims to maximise the supply chain, skills and infrastructure opportunities from new nuclear development for host communities. DECC chairs fora in both West Cumbria and Somerset that bring together senior stakeholders, including local and central Government. During construction of a nuclear plant, local communities receive funding from the developer through a mechanism in the Development Consent Order. We also encourage communities to bid for Government funding to capitalise on new nuclear opportunities, such as the upcoming Growth Deal 3. In 2013 the Government announced a Community Benefit package for new nuclear host communities once a plant begins operating. This totals £1000 per megawatt of capacity for each year of the plant’s initial life.