Category: Speeches

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 29775, in what format information is held on the value of child benefit claims in respect of children living in another EEA country or Switzerland.

    Damian Hinds

    Around 7m people are receiving Child Benefit. To extract and collate the value of all payments made to EU migrants for children living outside the UK in the format requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Information relating to the number of Child Benefit claims paid to families with children living overseas is available in the Government publication , “The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom’s special status in a reformed European Union”. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-of-both-worlds-the-united-kingdoms-special-status-in-a-reformed-european-union

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  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to facilitate new academy sponsors in the North as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

    Nick Gibb

    Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.

    Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.

    For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.

    Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.

    For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department and its executive agencies spent on the publications (a) Who’s Who, (b) Burke’s Peerage and (c) Debrett’s in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    This information is not available, except at disproportionate costs.

  • Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of working parents and carers receiving universal credit who will be required to work increased hours under in-work conditionality that (a) are unable to work full-time hours and (b) will require flexible working arrangements.

    Damian Hinds

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect families paying debts over time from bailiff fees, court charges and interest rates; and if he will consider a statutory breathing space for families in debt.

    Simon Kirby

    The Government noted the report with interest and is grateful for the important work that The Children’s Society does. The Government is committed to supporting individuals in problem debt.

    The Government is exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders and the Government will report back this autumn.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-10-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Department for Transport figures showing a rise in the number of drivers failing a breath test.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Our assessment of Home Office figures on breath tests is that the proportion of drivers providing a positive or refused to provide a sample over recent years has remained constant, with only a slight rise in 2014 to 11% compared to 10.5% in 2013. By contrast, it was 20% in 2003.

    With Malta due to change their drink drive limit, all other European countries will have a lower alcohol limit, but they do not necessarily have a better record on reducing drink drive casualties. The TRL Report ‘PPR 796’ prepared for the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Transport Safety (PACTS) shows that Britain, rather than having a higher level of road casualties in collisions involving alcohol than other European countries, has a comparable level despite the higher limit. Harmonisation with other countries’ limits is not a reason on its own for lowering the limit.

    We therefore have no plans to lower the drink drive limit in England and Wales. Our approach in tackling drink driving is through rigorous enforcement, tough penalties, and changing the social acceptability of drink driving – including through our award-winning THINK! campaigns.

  • 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 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11306, what the cost of commissioning NHS Employers to help trusts improve staff mental health and wellbeing was in the last year for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not collect information on the cost of commissioning individual work programmes or projects from NHS Employers. Each year, the Department agrees a contract price for the work it commissions from them, which NHS Employers then allocate across their teams.

    The contract price the Department agreed with NHS Employers for 2014-15, the latest full year figure available, which included the work helping trusts to improve staff mental health and wellbeing, was £8,664,876.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the assessment procedure to close (a) MOD Fairbourne and (b) MOD Llanrwst followed investment appraisal on project evaluation policy JSP507; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    The review was a study undertaken to understand how best to deliver Adventurous Training to meet the future needs of the RAF and not a financially driven initiative, therefore the principles of JSP 507 were followed although a formal Investment Appraisal was not undertaken.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the five most common causes of deaths were in (a) England and Wales and (b) each London borough in (i) 2014, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2005 and (iv) 2000.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in which prisons the 4,568 assaults on staff took place, set out in the Safety in Custody Summary Statistics, England and Wales, deaths to 12 months ending December 2015, assaults and self-harm to 12 months ending September 2015, published in January 2016.

    Andrew Selous

    Statistics for assaults on staff by prison are published on an annual basis by calendar year in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin annual assaults tables (see table 3.15 at the link below). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/495430/safety-in-custody-assaults-dec-2014.xls. Figures for 2015 are due for publication in April 2016.

    Statistics for serious assaults on staff by prison are due for release on in April 2016 as part of the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin annual assaults tables. This publication will include breakdowns of serious assaults on staff by prison in each calendar year.

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