Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress he has made on reducing the number of robocalls received by consumers.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    It is unacceptable for consumers to be harassed by nuisance calls, and this Government continues to make progress tackling this issue. The latest figures from the ICO show that reported automated calls accounted for approximately 42% of total calls reported to them – a drop of 3% since the start of the year. This is thanks to tougher enforcement against organisations making automated calls. The ICO recently imposed its largest fine ever of £350,000 on Prodial Ltd for making over 46 million automated nuisance calls. This is 70 times the amount of the maximum possible penalty issued before 2010 – when fines were capped at £5,000, and average fines were considerably less.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make representations to the Office for National Statistics on including a separate ethnicity box for Sikh in the (a) 2021 census and (b) 2017 test questionnaire.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what date his Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 9 June 2016, reference ZA4209, on delayed correspondence received by NHS Improvement.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement replied to the email of 13 May that it received from the hon. Member on 28 June 2016.

    In April 2016 NHS Improvement brought together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England’s Patient Safety team, the National Reporting and Learning System, NHS England’s Advancing Change team and its Intensive Support Teams.

    NHS Improvement advise that they are strengthening their regional presence and refining their processes, including how they respond to queries. Their aim is to respond to letters and other correspondence from hon. Members within the Whitehall standard of 18 working days.

    The Department has no record of having received an email from the hon. Member on 9 June 2016.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army Reserves successfully passed the annual mandatory training test in 2015.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Military Annual Training Tests (MATTs) are a series of 10 tests which members of the Army undertake to ensure that individuals remain competent and proficient in basic military skills and attitudes. The number of MATTs individual members of the Army are required to take varies depending on the role or specialism they are in, whether Reserve or Regular. For example those working in HQ or specialist/professional roles are not required to undertake all MATTs. Those Reserves failing to pass the MATTs they are required to take risk not qualifying for their annual training bounty.

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many specialist mental health centres for those with drug and alcohol addiction were funded by NHS England in each of the last three years; and how many people each such centre supported.

    Alistair Burt

    Drug and alcohol addiction services are not commissioned by NHS England. These services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups and local authorities.

  • Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people who died by suicide were social security claimants in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    The data requested is not collected centrally.

  • Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Leader of the House whether she will set up a working party to consider the combining of the contents of the Companion to the Standing Orders with those parts of Erskine May that refer to the House of Lords in order to produce a single reference volume reflecting the law, privilege, proceedings and usage of Parliament as applicable to the House.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Companion to the Standing Orders is the single authoritative statement of practice and procedure of the House, issued with the authority of the Procedure Committee.


    Erskine May is edited by the Clerk of the House of Commons. It contains some additional information about the history and privileges of Parliament, including the House of Lords, and Lords Clerks contribute to its production, but for the House of Lords the resulting text does not have the authoritative status that it does in the House of Commons. For this reason, and in order to keep the Companion a manageable length, I do not propose to pursue amalgamation of the texts into a single volume.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the financial implications of removing the quality and outcomes framework indicator for seizure freedom (EP002) in 2014.

    Alistair Burt

    When the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicator EP002 was retired, all of the funding in relation to it was reinvested back into general practitioner (GP) contract core funding (global sum) payments and into new enhanced services to be delivered in general practice. The reduction in the number of QOF indicators was intended to reduce bureaucracy, unnecessary patient testing and unnecessary frequency of patient recall and recording. It was also to allow GPs to use their professional judgement to treat their patients according to best practice guidelines.

  • 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 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what public information leaflets and literature have been published by (a) his Department and (b) NHS England on mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has published a number of information leaflets and other literature, as have NHS England. These documents are available on the Government and NHS England websites:

    https://www.gov.uk/search?q=mental+health

    and

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/?s=mental+health

    “

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that Ofsted is able to assess the effectiveness of schools under proposals for all schools to become academies.

    Nick Gibb

    Academies are already subject to inspection by Ofsted under the same framework that applies to maintained schools. The White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, sets out the intention that the Department will also publish new performance tables to show how well multi-academy trusts are leading their schools. This will be in addition to school-level inspection results and performance data. The White Paper is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere

    “