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Category: Speeches

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her is taking to monitor the effectiveness of her Department’s aid spending in Nepal.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Across our portfolio in Nepal, monitoring plans are in place for every programme. Our strong focus on results delivery ensures we are well placed to monitor the effectiveness of our programmes in delivering planned development outcomes. Regular monitoring activities include staff undertaking field visits on a mandatory basis to verify progress on the ground, with robust annual review processes in place. We also undertake monitoring approaches that involve the beneficiaries of our programmes having the opportunity to provide feedback on programmes, including public audits and participatory monitoring approaches.

    Since the earthquake, DFID Nepal has set up a regional office in Gorkha district to increase oversight of humanitarian and reconstruction programmes. The Risk Management Office also provides effective on-the-ground monitoring directly from the districts where our programmes are implemented.

    At the bilateral level, DFID Nepal is a core member of the Nepal Portfolio Performance Review led by the government with development partners on an annual and trimester basis.

  • Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cautions have been given for any offence in each police force area in each of the last three years.

    Mike Penning

    The number of cautions recorded in each police force area during 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 are provided in the attached table. These are based on data published by the Home Office which are available by police force area and offence type at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

    Cautions data published by the Home Office are based on the number of offences recorded by the police that resulted in cautions by the police.

    The Ministry of Justice publish caution data based on the number of offenders cautioned which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428954/data-behind-interactive-data-tools.zip

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether any of the UK’s fellow members of NATO are currently using military force against their own citizens.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government has not made any such assessment. Through signature of the Washington Treaty, all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have reaffirmed their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN, and their commitment to the principles of security, democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. The UK expects all our NATO Allies to live up to these commitments.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is taking place on the impact on milk quality of housing cows in large-scale indoor dairy sheds.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    There is no evidence to suggest that increasing the size of herds has any impact on milk quality. Other factors are more relevant such as nutrition and genetics.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what further consultation he plans to hold before a final decision is made on possible resettlement of the Chagos Islanders; whom that consultation will involve; and who will make that final decision.

    James Duddridge

    The public consultation on a potential resettlement of the British Indian Ocean Territory concluded on 27 October 2015, and the summary of its responses was published by the Government on 21 January 2016. The Government is now considering all the relevant material, including these responses, and the recent independent feasibility study published in February 2015. The consultation is now closed and it is for the government to now make a decision.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many jobs in (a) her Department and (b) each of her Department’s non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority by 2020.

    Andrea Leadsom

    It is confirmed that no jobs in (a) the Department for Energy and Climate Change or (b) any of the Department’s accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010 or (ii) will be abolished or relocated from the Authority by 2020.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in the public health grant for local authorities on local smoking cessation services in (a) Manchester, Withington constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    Local authorities will, over the next five years, receive £16 billion through the public health grant. Local authorities have responsibility for protecting public health and meeting the needs of their local population, including tobacco control.

    Public Health England supports local authorities by developing and distributing information and advice for the commissioning of effective regional approaches to tobacco control which maximise value for money at a local level.

  • The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Listowel on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of Discretionary Housing Payments made in each local authority area in England in 2015–16 were paid to care leavers up to the age of 25.

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not available.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the expansion of the Doctaly scheme on patients’ access to GP services.

    David Mowat

    The Department has made no assessment of the potential effect of the expansion of the Doctaly scheme on patients’ access to general practice (GP) services.

    The General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016, announced that an extra £2.4 billion a year will be invested in GP services by 2020/21. As part of overall investment in general practice, NHS England will provide over £500 million of recurrent funding by 2020/21, on top of current primary medical care allocations, to enable clinical commissioning groups to commission and fund extra capacity across England. This is to ensure that by 2020, everyone has access to GP services, including sufficient routine appointments at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many remote sites are operational to enable witnesses to give evidence away from court; in which areas such sites are located; how many such sites are available to children under the age of 18; and how many such sites have been used by children under the age of 18.

    Mike Penning

    The Ministry is committed to supporting all victims and witnesses, including children, when giving evidence in criminal trials. All victims and witnesses are eligible for special measures to relieve stress when giving evidence, including giving evidence by video remotely.

    We have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

    Since March 2015 vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, including child abuse victims, can give evidence from a remote site which is away from the court environment. There is at least one remote site in each of the seven Regions in England and Wales, and twelve sites in total.

    In addition, the court estate is video-enabled so that any victim or witness can give evidence from a court building other than the trial site to ensure they do not come into contact with the defendant, or their family and supporters.

    Whilst HMCTS collates data on the number of witnesses giving evidence by video, the ages of the victims and witnesses are not recorded.