UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to extend schemes of shared ownership for existing housing stock.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Autumn Statement announced measures to double the number of first time buyers and confirmed £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts including £4 billion for 135,000 new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2020. This will build on the 41,000 new Shared Ownership homes we have delivered since 2010.

    We believe that shared ownership has an important role to play, as part of a diverse and thriving housing market, in helping those who aspire to home ownership but may be otherwise unable to afford it. The Government is also committed to working with housing associations to help to develop flexible tenure models and savings vehicles. This could include tenants converting their rented properties into shared ownership, overpaying on their rent in order to take an equity share in their property.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what contingency planning his Department is undertaking to prepare for the possibility of a leave vote in the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

    Dominic Raab

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of the UK’s EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain in order to get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. The Government is confident that the right agreement can be reached.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children and young people in need of specialist mental health support as a result of (a) experiences of sexual abuse, (b) non-sexual physical abuse or neglect, (c) emotional abuse or neglect, (d) bereavement or (e) other trauma have been (i) granted and (ii) not granted access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    Alistair Burt

    The information needed to link individuals who have experienced various forms of trauma with those who have experienced mental health problems is not collected centrally.

    We are committed to improving child and adolescent mental health services, which is why we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in services for children and young people with mental health problems over the course of this Parliament. The guidance issued by NHS England in August last year on Local Transformation Plans for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing specified that the plans should address the full spectrum of need including those with particular vulnerability to mental health problems such as those who have been sexually abused or exploited. The bespoke assurance process that was undertaken by NHS England will therefore have addressed the extent to which this has been addressed in local plans.

    NHS England has commissioned a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans, in order to support policy makers, local commissioners and services to understand and use the data that is contained within the plans to drive further improvements. Local Transformation Plans will be reviewed from a narrative, analytical and financial perspective, with thematic reviews carried out in key focus areas that align with Future in Mind principles.

    Sensitive and routine enquiry will be introduced in targeted health services, such as sexual health clinics and mental health services, to help identify those children who have been subjected to abuse and other traumatic experiences.

    NHS England also published a Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Services in August 2015 which outlines the core services in SARCs and referral pathways to other services. These are now being rolled out throughout England and should lead to improved services for those who have experienced sexual assault, including children and young people.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many complaints his Department has received on the sale of electoral roll data by credit reference firms.

    John Penrose

    Available records show that in the last calendar year the Cabinet Office received one letter of complaint about access to the electoral register by credit reference agencies, and nine letters of complaint about the sale of the edited electoral register.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish (a) the criteria used to select organisations invited to attend and (b) the organisations that attended personal independence payments consultation stakeholder events in January 2016.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department held stakeholder events in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and London. These were public meetings open to anyone who wished to attend; this was publicised on Gov.uk. Representatives of the following organisations requested to do so:

    Aberdeen City Council

    Action for Blind People

    The Action Group

    Carers Support (Bexley)

    Cheshire Centre for Independent Living

    Citizens Advice Bureau

    Coventry Law Centre

    Child Poverty Action Group Scotland

    Community Navigator Services

    Crohn’s and Colitis UK

    Deaf Sector Partnership/Scottish Council on Deafness

    DeafBlind Scotland

    DeafBlind UK

    Deafconnect

    Elcena Jeffers Foundation

    Enable Scotland

    Enfield Disability Action

    Gateway Housing

    Glasgow City Council

    Housing Options Scotland

    Inclusion Scotland

    Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living

    Macmillan Cancer Support

    Maggie’s Centres

    Motor Neurone Disease Association

    Multiple Sclerosis Scotland

    Multiple Sclerosis Society

    National AIDS Trust

    Royal National Institute of Blind People

    Scope

    The Scottish Government

    Sense

    South Lanarkshire Council

    Spinal Injuries Association

    Social Security Advisory Committee

    Swansea Council

    Welfare Benefits Unit

    Welsh Government

    West Lothian Council

    Wolverhampton City Council

    Departmental officials also held one-to-one meetings with Scope, RNIB, Disability Rights UK, the Disability Benefits Consortium (an umbrella group of over 60 organisations), and Scottish and Welsh government officials. A meeting was also held specifically for members of the PIP Implementation Stakeholder Forum Working Group. Meetings were also held with both assessment providers, Atos and Capita, to discuss the impact of any policy change on the delivery of assessments.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many adult learners participated in government-funded further education courses in each of the last three years.

    Nick Boles

    Information on the number of adult learners participating in government-funded further education, and specifically English and maths, in each of the last three years is published as part of a Statistical First Release.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

    Information on Skills Funding Agency spending on the Adult Skills Budget is outlined in their Annual Report and Accounts which can be found at the following links:

    2014-15: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-agency-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

    2013-14: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-agency-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014

    2012-13: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-skills-funding-agency-annual-report-and-accounts-for-2012-to-2013

    “

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the (a) issuing and (b) geographical extent of abatement notices to homes affected by noise nuisance.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government does not consider it appropriate to provide best practice guidance to local authorities on abatement notices. Noise nuisance is best dealt with at a local level. Local authorities should therefore be free to take account of local circumstances when determining how best to apply the powers available to them in relevant noise and nuisance legislation.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Leader of the House, what steps his Office has taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps his Office plans to take in the remainder of 2016.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and conducting these withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working very closely with other government departments, including the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, and a wide range of other interested parties.

  • Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Inglewood on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to reintroduce exchange controls following Brexit.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and Her Majesty’s Government does not express a view on the level of exchange rates. Instead, the exchange rate is allowed to adjust flexibly in response to economic conditions and movements in sterling are determined by market forces.

    This framework means we do not need to introduce exchange rate controls.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish their response to the report of the coroner David Hinchcliff, Inquests Touching the deaths of Christianne Shepherd and Robert Shepherd(Deceased), published on 18 September.

    Lord Faulks

    The decision whether or not to publish any responses is a matter for the Chief Coroner.