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Category: Speeches

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent election in Argentina and its implications for British-Argentinian relations.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We made no secret of our desire for a more constructive bilateral relationship with whomever succeeded former President Kirchner. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has spoken to President Macri to congratulate him on his election win and both leaders – whilst acknowledging our differences – agreed that this was an opportunity to build on the historic ties and shared interests of our people and develop existing trade and investment links.

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

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21330, what estimate his Department has made of its spend on mental health specialists in each of the next five years.

    Mark Lancaster

    As previously reported, the Defence Medical Services’ average annual staff costs for military, reserves and civilian mental health personnel across the last three years was £20.39 million. Our current intention is to maintain the numbers of mental health specialists at broadly the same level over the next five years.

    A recent study (the Defence Mental Health Services Review) recommended the civilianisation of 40 military posts. Overall, there will be a net increase of two posts and minor changes to the mix of specialisms. It is anticipated that this will result in a minor decrease in overall annual staff costs. This cannot yet be quantified as the detailed timing of implementation is yet to be determined.

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government’s funding for community projects to tackle female genital mutilation has been spent.

    Karen Bradley

    Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

    In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s FGM Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.

    The 29 projects all included prevention work with a focus on building the confidence of women and communities to speak out against these practices and raising awareness of the serious consequences they can have.

    Evaluations show that over 25,000 people were reached and feedback from participants demonstrates increased awareness of the context, manifestation and harm caused by FGM and forced marriage.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the value to the economy of the technology sector.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Digital is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors. It currently supports 1.4 million jobs in the UK and according to the DCMS Digital Sector Economic Estimates, published in January 2016, contributed £118.3 billion to the UK economy in 2014 – up 7.2% on the previous year – accounting for 7.3% of the UK economy. Total UK digital exports came to £43 billion in 2013, equalling 8.2 per cent of all UK exports (goods and services).

  • 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 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement recommendation 12 in the executive summary of Public Health England’s March 2015 report entitled, Public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, on supporting increased access to a range of mental health promotion training for frontline public health practitioners.

    Alistair Burt

    Public Health England (PHE) has been collating practice examples of mental health promotion training available for frontline public health practitioners. Information will help inform the commissioning of training locally. PHE is working with the Royal Society for Public Health and other partners to identify gaps in mental health promotion training provision and opportunities to fill these gaps, such as developing e-learning training modules.

    At a local level, PHE centres are working with Health Education England (HEE) colleagues to identify and co-ordinate provision of training to practitioners and identify needs and training opportunities.

    PHE contributed to the Mental Health Task Force report and has integrated the priority of increasing the training within the Taskforce’s recommendations. Work will be led by HEE, supported by PHE.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether (a) the Government will be able to bring cases to Investor State Dispute Settlements tribunals and (b) UK companies will be able to instigate actions against the US administration through such tribunals under the current terms of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

    Anna Soubry

    Investment protection provisions in trade and investment treaties such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aim to protect international investors from discriminatory or unfair treatment by a state. Their investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions allow international investors to bring claims if they think the obligations set out in the treaty have been breached by the host state. As such, Governments cannot initiate claims against investors. Under the European Commission’s proposals for TTIP, in line with normal investment treaty practice, UK investors would be able to bring ISDS claims against the US Government.

    The jurisdiction of any ISDS tribunal established in TTIP will be set out in the investment protection and ISDS provisions of the agreement. The aim of the European Commission’s proposals for investment protection provisions in TTIP is to clearly define the scope for ISDS claims and tribunal jurisdiction, including protecting the right of governments to regulate lawfully in the public interest. If an ISDS tribunal did exceed its jurisdiction in making an award, typically those elements of the resulting award would not be enforceable.

  • Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mark Prisk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Prisk on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in which month the Pye Tait Review of retentions in the construction industry will be published.

    Anna Soubry

    The main aim of the Pye Tait research is to provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the costs and benefits of the contractual practice of holding retentions in construction.

    My Department is currently working with Pye Tait to finalise this research. It will be published alongside a consultation document later this year.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the continued demolition of Palestinian homes.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to raise our serious concerns over this issue with the Israeli Government at all levels. On 07 September, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood) emphasised our concerns about demolitions with Israeli Defence Minister Lieberman during their meeting.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role armed militias play in enforcing Sudan’s commitments under the Khartoum Process; whether they are being used to enforce border controls and to capture migrants; and what action the regime took, under its commitments in the Doha Document for Peace, 2012, to disarm militias.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are concerned by the reported use of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to tackle migration in Sudan and have raised these concerns with the government of Sudan, most recently during the visit of the UK Special Representative to Sudan and South Sudan in September. We have also made clear that our cooperation on migration will necessarily be guided by our human rights principles. The EU has also raised the role of the RSF with the government of Sudan and has made absolutely clear that no funding aligned with the Khartoum Process will be provided to them.

    The government of Sudan has undertaken some of its disarmament commitments under the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), but together with our international partners we continue to urge them to do more. The UK is a member of the DDPD’s Implementation Follow-Up Commission (IFC), which we use to press for progress on disarmament and other areas of the DDPD’s implementation. The most recent meeting of the IFC was in May 2016.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost of establishing and running her extended ministerial office has been since its introduction.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Neither my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor other ministers in the Department have Extended Ministerial Offices (EMO).