Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications of market uncertainty following the EU referendum for progress in meeting her target for creating new apprenticeships.

    Robert Halfon

    Some market and economic volatility can be expected as the process for leaving the EU unfolds. In recent years, however, the UK has been the fastest growing economy in the G7 and one of the strongest major advanced economies in the world. The Government has already outlined how this strength means that we are as well-placed as any economy could be to meet any economic challenges that lie ahead.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many churches from each denomination in each region have applied for funding under the Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme up to close of applications on 20 September 2016.

    Sarah Newton

    The deadline for the Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme was extended from 20 September to 4 October. The responses received are as follows:

    105 applications were received up to 20 September.

    Region

    Denomination and Number

    East Midlands (2)

    Church of England – 1 Miscellaneous – 1

    East of England (3)

    Church of England – 1 Roman Catholic – 2

    London (17)

    Baptist – 3 Church of England – 4 Greek Orthodox – 2 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 6 Roman Catholic – 1

    North East (2)

    Church of England – 1 Methodist – 1

    North West (16)

    Baptist – 1 Church of England – 6 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 4

    South East (15)

    Church of England – 5 Greek Orthodox – 2 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 4

    South West (14)

    Baptist – 2 Church of England – 2 Miscellaneous – 1 Roman Catholic – 9

    Wales (6)

    Church in Wales – 3 Roman Catholic – 3

    West Midlands (18)

    Church of England – 8 Greek Orthodox – 1 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 6 Roman Catholic – 2

    Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (12)

    Church of England – 8 Miscellaneous – 2 Roman Catholic – 2

    Following the deadline extension, between 21 September and 4 October there were a further 118 applications, which are broken down below.

    Region

    Denomination and Number

    East Midlands (2)

    Baptist – 1 Miscellaneous – 1

    East of England (6)

    Church of England – 2 Miscellaneous – 3 Roman Catholic – 1

    London (41)

    Baptist – 2 Church of England – 12 Greek Orthodox – 2 Methodist – 2 Miscellaneous – 19 Roman Catholic – 4

    North East (4)

    Church of England – 3 Methodist – 1

    North West (11)

    Baptist – 1 Church of England – 1 Methodist – 2 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 3

    South East (11)

    Church of England – 5 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 5

    South West (11)

    Church of England – 4 Miscellaneous – 3 Roman Catholic – 4

    Wales (6)

    Church in Wales – 3 Roman Catholic – 3

    West Midlands (12)

    Church of England – 4 Miscellaneous – 5 Roman Catholic – 3

    Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (14)

    Church of England – 4 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 5 Roman Catholic – 4

    Please note, where we have attributed a miscellaneous result this captures Evangelical, Pentecostal, Church Centres and Reform Christian Churches.

    In total 223 applications were received from churches by close of play 4 October.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how he plans to implement his policy on local authority procurement policies in relation to boycotts, divestments and sanctions against other countries and the UK defence industry announced on 3 October 2015.

    Matthew Hancock

    Cabinet Office will shortly issue guidance that reminds public authorities of their international obligations when letting public contracts. Foreign policy is not a matter for local authorities. The guidance will make clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate and may be illegal, outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions that have been put in place by the Government.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent aid agencies, including both UN and voluntary organisations, are working in the Greek islands nearest to Turkey; and whether they plan to encourage those agencies to do further work.

    Baroness Verma

    Meeting the humanitarian needs of the huge numbers of refugees arriving in Greece this year is a major challenge. The UK has so far provided £4.5 million to trusted partners working in Greece in support of the Greek authorities. With our funding, the Red Cross is providing assistance and emergency first aid to refugees and migrants arriving on the beaches. We are also providing assistance through the International Organisation for Migration and UNHCR, who are delivering essential coordination, reception and registration support, direct physical assistance, and protection services for the most vulnerable people. UK support is also being delivered via a consortium of NGOs led by the Start Network, and via the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, through which we have provided in-kind assistance of blankets, sleeping bags and tents.

    The scale of the response by aid agencies has been impressive but we continue to push for greater coordination, both between agencies and with the Greek government. We are holding discussions with major agencies and NGOs to assess the best way to do this and to plan effectively for 2016. We remain committed to responding in the most effective and comprehensive manner. DFID officials have also recently travelled to Greece to assess the current situation on the ground and how to further scale up support. We will consider further support as needs emerge.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the number of spaces which should be available for disabled people in music venues across the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The huge variation in size, type and location of music venues across the UK makes it impractical to require venue operators to make a specific number of spaces available for disabled people. However, we believe that everyone should have access to arts and culture – having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists, and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. Ialso recently held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people. Additionally, provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public (for example music venues), to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” to non-disabled people.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5773, HL5959 and HL5960), why they have not placed in the Library of the House a full copy of the original licence application submitted to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9; why they have not placed in the Library of the House copies of the patient information and consent forms submitted to the HFEA by the person responsible in order to perform such work; how the conditions stipulated under paragraph 13 of Section G in Direction 0008 version 4 as published by HFEA on 29 October 2015 (http://www.hfea.gov.uk/docs/ General_Directions_0008. pdf) regarding Information to be submitted to the HFEA as part of the licensing process” were satisfied in the case of the decision; and why they will not place in the Library of the House a full copy of the responses to peer reviewers by the person responsible.”

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes on its website the inspection report relating to a licence renewal application and the minutes of the Licence Committee’s decision. It does not publish other information associated with a licence application.

    The Licence Committee considering the application to which the noble Lord refers was satisfied that the requirements of General Directions 0008 were met, with the exception of evidence of ethics approval, which must be submitted to the HFEA before any licensed research can begin.

    The HFEA has advised that licence conditions R18-R27 and T97 address any potential conflict between the use of embryos in research and the use of embryos in the provision of treatment services. The person responsible did not give a reason on the application form for requesting that reference to surplus embryos should be removed from the research project title, nor are they required to do so. The removal of ‘surplus’ from the title does not reflect a change in the way embryos will be donated to the research.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many nationals of other EU member states who were (a) originally born outside of the EU and (b) originally born outside of the EU and became a citizen of that EU member state entered the UK in each of the last five years.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Hywel Williams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Hywel Williams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hywel Williams on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with Ministers of the Welsh Government (i) wholly and (ii) primarily about Tata Steel’s intentions for the Welsh steel industry.

    Alun Cairns

    My predecessor, the Rt hon Stephen Crabb MP, and I have, and continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss Tata Steel, and the Welsh Steel Industry with Cabinet colleagues, UK Government Ministers and Welsh Government Ministers.

  • 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 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects his Department’s Propriety and Ethics team’s investigation into the activity of civil servants to report.

    Mike Penning

    As I said to the House on 14 March, the rules around former civil servants taking up employment in the private sector are made very clear when they leave the Department. Under no circumstance should they exploit privileged access to government contracts or sensitive information which could be used to influence the outcome of commercial competitions. The investigation has now reported and found that it was unlikely any intellectual property belonging to, or confidential information relating to, the MoJ or NOMS was compromised as a result of former staff gaining employment with TDPi. Nevertheless, we have strengthened internal procedures and increased awareness of the Business Appointment Rules within the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) so as to make departing civil servants and their new employers aware of their obligations under the Rules. My officials have written to TDPi reminding them of their obligations under the Civil Service Code.

    Over the last six months, we have improved our commercial capability, more than doubling the senior commercial experts monitoring work with the private sector. The investigation found no evidence of improper culture or general lack of professionalism in relation to how NOMS staff interact with suppliers or contractors.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that suitable brownfield sites are prioritised for development over greenbelt sites under the proposed Housing Delivery Test.

    Brandon Lewis

    We are still considering responses to the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, including on the housing delivery test.

    The Government has put in place the strongest protections for the Green Belt. The Framework is clear that inappropriate development will not be allowed unless there are very special circumstances, and that Green Belt boundaries should be adjusted only in exceptional circumstances, through the Local Plan process. The Framework also encourages development of brownfield land, and we have undertaken to ensure that 90 per cent of brownfield land suitable for housing will have planning permissions for new homes in place by the end of this Parliament.