Category: Speeches

  • Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the exposure of children to alcohol marketing.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department is not responsible for alcohol marketing.

    In 2014, 8% of pupils had drunk alcohol in the last week, which is less than half the level in 2003 when this was 25%. There has been a consistent decrease the percentage children and young people drinking in the last week since 2003.

    The survey data can be found at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?productid=18273&q=Smoking+drinking+Drug+use+survey+2013&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1&area=both#top

    “

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to the student opportunity fund on the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education.

    Joseph Johnson

    We have taken significant steps to widen participation in higher education. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers, enabling more people than ever before to benefit from higher education. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up from £404m in 2009/10.

    The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

    We will work with the Higher Education Funding Council for England to target the Student Opportunity Fund in the most effective way and with the Director of Fair Access to ensure that universities take more responsibility for widening access, prioritising activities that demonstrate the greatest value for money.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the reply of 17 March 2011, Official Report, column 514W, on radioactive materials transport, whether the practice of displaying radioactive materials hazard warning signs on vehicles carrying special nuclear materials will continue following the retirement from service of High Security Vehicles.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    It is not current Ministry of Defence policy to display radioactive material hazard signs on the Truck Cargo Heavy Duty (TCHD) Mk3 when transporting special nuclear materials. Adequate safety arrangements, as required by legislation, are in place to ensure the necessary information is available to emergency services in the event of an incident.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of trends in the overall size of the under-10 metres fishing fleet in (a) England, (b) the South West of England and (c) Devon.

    George Eustice

    The Department publishes details on the structure of the UK fishing fleet, including vessels of 10 metres and under, annually in the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics. Data on the change in number of vessels and engine size from 2010 to 2014 is shown in the table below.

    England

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    No. of Vessels

    2569

    2573

    2562

    2602

    2573

    Engine power (kW)

    141524

    141164

    141855

    144863

    144045

    South West*

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    No. of Vessels

    982

    994

    982

    1004

    1002

    Engine power (kW)

    49914

    49925

    49262

    51073

    51256

    Devon**

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    No. of Vessels

    438

    447

    446

    473

    465

    Engine power (kW)

    27836

    27835

    27854

    29651

    29289

    *using the administration ports of Brixham, Newlyn and Plymouth

    **using the administration ports of Brixham and Plymouth

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training front line officers will receive to ensure they record all forms of religiously motivated hate crime.

    Karen Bradley

    The police have made great strides in responding to hate crime in recent years. New hate crime guidance, which includes information on dealing with and recording all forms of hate crime was issued to all police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the College of Policing in May 2014.

    The Government is working closely with the police on the development of the new requirement to record data on religiously motivated hate crime by faith. The National Policing Lead for hate crime will provide guidance and support to forces to ensure there is consistent data collection for religious hate crimes from 1 April this year.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the reasons are for the government policy not to support the progress of the European Commission’s proposed reforms to (a) trade and defence instruments and (b) the lesser duty rule.

    Anna Soubry

    The UK fully supports modernisation of the European Union’s/Commission’s trade defence instruments but believes that effective trade defence measures should be proportionate, not protectionist, and set tariffs only as high as necessary to remove the injury inflicted on EU industry without being punitive, which would hurt users of products, including downstream manufacturers, and consumers.

    The Government’s response to the Commission’s public consultation on the modernisation of trade defence instruments (TDI), in June 2012, stated:

    “The strongly held UK view is that the EU’s use of the lesser duty rule is one of the elements of the TDI regime which contributes to its being recognised as one of the most progressive global trade defence systems. Furthermore, it enhances the economic coherence of European TD actions as imposing tariffs no higher than that level needed to offset the injury caused by dumping / subsidy is entirely consistent with restoring fair competition. We have fully supported the Commission’s efforts to encourage FTA partners to adopt the lesser duty rule in their regimes. It would be a retrograde step to remove its position as a central part of the EU regime (2.3.3).”

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

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teaching assistants who speak a language other than English to a native level of proficiency have a specific responsibility to provide support to pupils whose first language is not English.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department does not hold data on languages spoken by Teaching Assistants.

    The deployment of Teaching Assistants, including any responsibilities for supporting pupils whose first language is not English, is a matter for schools to decide.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on which organisations have offered mental health support to veterans in (a) England, (b) Merseyside and (c) Liverpool in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    In the UK, primary responsibility for the provision of healthcare, including mental healthcare, for veterans rests with the NHS in England and the Devolved Administrations. Funding of mental healthcare for veterans is a matter for the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups in England and their equivalents in the Devolved Administrations. These bodies will hold information on the organisations providing mental healthcare to veterans in the UK.

    The Ministry of Defence provides advice, information and signposting to support services for veterans though its Veterans UK web pages and free telephone helpline service and we encourage veterans wishing to seek help with mental health problems to visit: www.gov.uk/mental-health-support-for-the-uk-armed-forces or call the 24-hour veterans’ mental health helpline on 0800 138 1619.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the conclusions of the report led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology published in Nature Communications on 16 August 2016, entitled Impacts of neonicotinoid use on long-term population change in wild bees in England; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    We consider new studies on neonicotinoids, including the recent study led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, carefully, drawing on advice from the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides as well as from government experts. The Government remains committed to ensuring that pesticides are not authorised if the scientific evidence shows they pose unacceptable risks to the environment.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has received representations from Northern Ireland authorities on potential human rights, reputational implications and other concerns for the Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas Ltd undertaking a contract to work for the Bahraini prison system.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government continues to assist Bahrain in their reform agenda including by working with the Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas programme whose aims are to assist the Government of Bahrain to bring its justice system into compliance with international standards. We enjoy a close relationship with the Devolved Administrations and would certainly work with the Northern Ireland authorities on any issue.

    The UK Government continues to have frank discussions with the Government of Bahrain at all levels about our concerns on some cases brought against political opposition members and human rights activists.