Category: Speeches

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department’s officials in each of the last five financial years.

    David Mundell

    The following provides information on the number and total value of Instant Rewards given to officials in each of the last five years.

    Year

    Instant Rewards

    Total Value

    2014-15

    0

    0

    2013-14

    0

    0

    2012-13

    0

    0

    2011-12

    4

    £115

    2010-11

    14

    £670

  • Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will carry out an assessment of the potential (a) health, (b) economic and (c) social effects of its proposals to reduce community pharmacy funding.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and others, including patient and public representatives, on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.

    An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to review the rating system for fibre networks in order to remove disadvantages for new operators.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    All properties including new and existing fibre telecom networks are valued for business rates to the same standard of annual rental value. Rateable values are assessed independently by the Valuation Office Agency and may be challenged in the courts. The Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the European Commission have all supported the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation method for telecom networks.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-06-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the provision of mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department accepted the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations to transform mental health services and will set out later this year how it is implementing them.

    The Department announced additional investment of £1 billion for mental health on top of the £1.4 billion for children and young people’s mental health.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require manufacturers of household appliances to make publicly available the risk assessments they carry out on their appliances.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    We have no plans to do so.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she received the final report of the Lead Ammunition Group; and what discussions she has had with the Chair and other members of that Group since that date.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government is considering the independent Lead Ammunition Group’s report on the effect of lead shot on human and wildlife health and will respond as soon as possible.

    The Food Standards Agency has produced advice on the consumption of lead shot game which can be accessed at https://www.food.gov.uk/science/advice-to-frequent-eaters-of-game-shot-with-lead.

    “

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of green belt land in Mid Dorset and North Poole has been redesignated in the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does not hold information centrally on the amount or type of land held by community land trusts.

    The Department’s annual Green Belt statistics monitor the amount of land designated as Green Belt in England and any changes to the designated area since the previous year. The statistics record the change by local planning authority.

    Of the local planning authorities for which information was requested, the following have made changes to the Green Belt in the last five years:

    East Dorset reduced the area of designated Green Belt in 2014-15 by 160 hectares to 16,720 hectares, a reduction of 1 per cent; and

    Purbeck increased the area of designated Green Belt in 2012-13 by 460 hectares to 8,200 hectares, an increase of 6 per cent.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Leader of the House, what progress the Government is making on reform of the Estimates process.

    Chris Grayling

    Estimates are formal requests for authorisation of expenditure proposed to the House by the Government. Scrutiny of these, which are effectively departmental budgets, is undertaken in a variety of ways including debates selected by the Liaison Committee and it is open to select committees to examine these budgets.

    The Procedure Committee has recently announced that it will examine the House’s procedures for examining the Estimates and the passing of legislation which authorises this expenditure through the Supply and Consideration Bill.

    The Committee is accepting written submissions until 25 March 2016.

  • David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Warburton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Warburton on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has conducted an impact assessment of (a) the proposed changes to the dividend tax system and (b) other measures in the Finance Bill 2016 on lower-earning micro-business owners.

    Mr David Gauke

    At the Summer Budget 2015 the Chancellor announced that the dividend tax credit will be replaced by a new £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance from April 2016. A Tax Information and Impact Note setting out expected impacts was published on 9 December on GOV.UK. Impact assessments have been produced for all measures in the Finance Bill 2016.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will uprate the income threshold for carer’s allowance in line with the forthcoming increase in the minimum wage.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance which is not linked to the number of hours worked is currently £110 per week (net of certain expenses). It was increased to £110 in April 2015 – an increase of nearly 8%, which far outstripped the growth in earnings.

    The Government keeps the earnings limit under review and keeps under consideration whether an increase in the threshold is warranted and affordable.