Category: Speeches

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the year 7 catch-up premium in raising pupil attainment at GCSE level.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Since 2012 we have provided £500 per pupil funding to secondary schools for year 7 pupils who did not meet the expected standard in reading or mathematics at primary school. This funding enables schools to deliver additional support, such as individual tuition or intensive support in small groups, for those pupils that most need it.

    It is not possible to make an assessment of the effectiveness of the year 7 catch-up premium in raising pupil attainment at GCSE level, as the first cohort of pupils to benefit from this funding in 2012 will now be in year 10 and have not yet entered GCSEs.

    We provide advice and guidance to schools on how they should use their funding and have published guidance on literacy and numeracy catch-up strategies which schools can consult when making decisions on how to spend their funding. Schools must publish details of how they spend their year 7 catch-up premium funding on the school website.

  • Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Prisk on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the exemption for the railway sector from the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 has been extended until October 2016.

    Claire Perry

    Last year we consulted on an exemption from certain provisions of the Consumer Rights Act for rail, aviation and maritime transport. We have listened to the views we have received, and have decided not to seek a permanent exemption for these sectors.

    The temporary exemption for rail only, which will last for one year until October 2017, will allow the industry time to move to a more consistent compensation scheme.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for brain tumour research were made to the National Institute for Health Research in the last 24 months; and how many of those applications were successful.

    George Freeman

    In the last 24 months, 12 brain tumour research applications have been submitted to National Institute for Health Research programmes and fellowship schemes. Three are under review and nine have been rejected.

    I am convening a Task and Finish Working Group on Brain Tumour Research to bring together clinicians, charities and officials to discuss how, working together with research funding partners, we can address the need to increase the level and impact of brain tumour research.

  • Marion Fellows – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Marion Fellows – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marion Fellows on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with the International Olympic Committee and the British Olympic Association on ensuring that British athletes who placed behind athletes found guilty of doping in competitions have their medals and awards upgraded.

    Tracey Crouch

    The Government is supportive of the International Olympic Committee’s Agenda approach that honours clean athletes by awarding an Olympic medal following a positive doping case. Formal medal ceremonies are arranged for medal-winners who receive their Olympic medal following the disqualification of a competitor. There is absolutely no place for drug cheats in sport and it is completely right that clean athletes receive medals when tests have proven doping violations.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a visitor’s visa have been (a) received and (b) refused in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The information requested for the last 5 calendar years is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April – June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables#visas

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people aged 18 to 21 in receipt of housing benefit also received tax credits in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of the effect on those people of planned reforms to tax credit.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government is committed to achieving a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare economy. That means more emphasis on support to working families on low incomes through reducing tax and increasing wages, than on topping up low wages through tax credits.

    The Chancellor is listening to concerns raised by colleagues and will announce in his Autumn Statement how he plans to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits and saving the money we need to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average response time to dwelling fires was for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Mike Penning

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

    Information on average response times to dwelling fires for each fire and rescue service and for each year is available in Table 3b of the Department’s Fire incidents response times: England publication at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2014-to-2015

    “

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of attempted suicide there were in prisons in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    The national statistics on safety in custody use the category of self-harm incidents, defined as “any act where a prisoner deliberately harms themselves irrespective of the method, intent or severity of any injury”. They do not include a separate category of “attempted suicide”, because the intent of the prisoner is often unknown. Some incidents are more likely to result in a fatality than others, but the point at which a self-harm incident becomes an attempted suicide is unclear.

    Summary statistics on self-harm in prison custody are published quarterly, and the latest annual figures, for the ten years to June 2015, can be found in Table 3 of the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472712/Safety-in-custody-summary-q2-2015.xls

    “

  • Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Grey-Thompson on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much NHS England spent on the purchase of wheelchairs in England in the last year for which figures are available.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Information on the cost of operating wheelchair services in England is not available centrally. Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services to patients. The total cost of operating wheelchair services reported in 2014-15 reference costs was £143.4 million.

    NHS England advises that as clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning wheelchair services, it does not collect data on how much is spent on the purchase of wheelchairs. NHS England is however supporting improvement in wheelchair services and has just established a new national data collection. This will enable tracking at local and national levels of issues such as the number of wheelchair users, the costs of services and the length of time people have to wait.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Rapid Review Panel process can be extended to medical device technology, and if not, why not.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Rapid Review Panel’s (RRP) primary remit is the evaluation of products for potential use in the National Health Service, to support claims of improved efficiency or efficacy of infection prevention and control interventions i.e. products that could reduce healthcare associated infections. The RRP, however, does not have the remit to regulate the safety of therapeutic products such as medical devices.

    Due to the requirements of safety assurance and regulation of therapeutic products, which are verified through Notified Bodies applying a Conformité Européenne (CE) marking, medical device technology falls within the remit of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA’s Innovation Office is set up to assist companies in the regulation of novel medical devices.