Category: Speeches

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the closure of the competition for carbon capture and storage projects was announced on a Stock Market news website on 25 November 2015, in advance of the Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015.

    Damian Hinds

    Following the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, it was announced on the London Stock Exchange at 2:57pm on 25 November 2015 that HMG is not providing £1bn capital grant funding.

    We have not taken this decision lightly. However, this was a tight financial settlement and difficult decisions have had to be made. Support for the CCS competition projects has always been conditional on affordability and value for money.

    This decision means that the CCS Competition cannot proceed on its current basis. CCS has a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK and the government is engaging closely with the bidders on the implications of this decision for them.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans the Government has to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The Northern Ireland Office has a co-ordinating role as part of the Government’s overall efforts to commemorate the centenaries of World War One events. Our aim is to ensure that these events, including for the Battle of the Somme, are commemorated in Northern Ireland in a manner which promotes reconciliation and enhances prospects for a peaceful, shared future.

    Officials from my Department sit on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Programme Board for First World War Centenary Commemorations. They also have regular contact with officials in the Northern Ireland Executive and sit on the Northern Ireland First World War Centenary Committee chaired by Jeffrey Donaldson MP.

    I receive regular updates on this work and both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and I will be in attendance at a number of events being planned to mark the Battle of the Somme centenary. These events will take place in Northern Ireland and France.

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on reducing the stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals; and if he will make a statement.

    David Evennett

    On 21 January the Government published its evaluation of the £50 regulations introduced in April 2015. You can find it here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493714/Evaluation_of_Gaming_Machine__Circumstances_of_Use___Amendment__Regulations_2015.pdf

    The evaluation indicates that a large proportion of players of FOBTs may now be making a more conscious choice to control their playing behaviour and their stake level. We will now consider the findings of the evaluation before deciding if there is a need for further action.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the £570 million referred to in paragraph 0.5 of his Department’s paper, Infected blood: reform of financial and other support, published in January 2016, will be spent in each year of the programme; what the average spend per recipient will be in each such year; and in what categories of spending that funding will fall in each such year.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department estimates that it would pay out £570 million over the next 45 years, based on the existing unreformed scheme. The Department currently anticipates that it will disburse the same sum under a reformed scheme plus the additional £125 million over the current spending review period of five years. We are currently consulting on the reformed scheme and are unable to estimate the future average annual spend beyond the current spending review or the categories of spend for the period. For the current spending review period the planned expenditure is £47.5 million for each of the next five years.

  • Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carol Monaghan on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her French counterpart on that country’s current policy of dismantling the refugee camp in Calais.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK Government is in regular contact with French counterparts on the migrant situation in Calais.

    Steps taken by French authorities to clear sections of the migrant camp in Calais are consistent with the shared strategy to encourage those in need of protection to claim asylum in France and to return those not in need to their home country. The French Government, with support from the UK, has made huge efforts to provide decent accommodation in France for all those that need it, including for women and children.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Executive Remuneration Working Group’s conclusions, and whether they have any plans either by statutory means or by Ministerial engagement to ensure greater transparency in relation to executive pay, clearer alignment of shareholder, company and executive interests, more accountability on the part of remuneration committees and greater engagement with and control by shareholders working through company boards.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government welcomes the interim conclusions of the Executive Remuneration Working Group. They represent a valuable source of ideas for ensuring more effective engagement between investors and directors and ensuring that executive pay policies are tailored to the needs of individual businesses. We also welcome the Working Group’s plans to consult interested stakeholders on practical ways of improving the current approach to executive pay. Departmental officials will be engaging with the roundtables that are being planned.

    The Government made significant reforms to the governance of executive pay in 2013. Under these reforms, companies are required to put their pay policies to shareholders at least every three years. These policies have to include information on how each director will be paid and how that is linked to different levels of performance. This is subject to a binding vote. Companies also have to provide shareholders with an Annual Remuneration Report which reports the pay of each director in a single figure and again has to set out clearly how the actual payments relate to performance. Shareholders have an advisory vote on this report, but if they reject the report, the company must submit a revised pay policy to a binding vote at the next AGM.

    These reforms give shareholders effective powers to challenge excessive pay and hold boards to account on executive pay policies. There is strong evidence from the current AGM season that shareholders are willing to use these powers, particularly where levels of pay are out of line with performance.

    The Government has no current plans for further legislation or regulation, but is looking for firm evidence that companies are liaising effectively with shareholders and adjusting pay policies where there is shareholder dissatisfaction.

  • Lord Lexden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lexden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to require applicants for jobs in the public sector to state whether they went to an independent school.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Appointments should always be made on merit. Her Majesty’s Government do not have plans to require applicants for jobs to state whether they went to an independent school. We are engaging on proposals to develop a set of potential measures for employers to understand the socio-economic backgrounds of their workforces and applicant pools. Type of school attended (primary and secondary) make up two of twenty-six measures which employers and organisations have been asked to consider

    Over the past few years’ real effort has been put into broadening access to the Civil Service. It is important to be able to measure, overall, the success and impact of these policies. Any background measures would be collected on an entirely voluntary basis and used anonymously. They will not form the basis of any individual recruitment decision.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of when the UK will lose EU funding previously allocated to the UK for carbon capture and storage programmes.

    Jesse Norman

    Two UK carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects have been allocated funding by the European Commission (Don Valley and White Rose); the status of this funding is subject to further discussions with the European Commission. The UK is also participating in a European Research Area Network (ERA-NET) on CCS under the Horizon 2020 programme. On 13 August 2016, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) confirmed that the Government will underwrite certain EU funding, including approved Horizon 2020 research and development and innovation projects, regardless of the UK’s relationship with the EU.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2016 to Question 44352, for what contracts the largest three total payments were made to (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG in the last three years.

    Rory Stewart

    Detail on all DFID spend is available via our departmental website.

  • Phil Boswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Phil Boswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in its report, Is Britain Fairer, published in October 2015, that (a) there are persistent gender pay gaps among graduates and (b) employment and earnings premiums among graduates are lower for women than for men.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The EHRC is an independent body, and its report ‘Is Britain Fairer?’ covers a five-year period 2008-13 across both the Labour and coalition governments. We welcome the positive areas of progress it refers to and note the challenges it raises. The information in the report will be used by the EHRC to help develop its next strategic plan, covering the period 2016-19.