Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what additional funding the Government plans to provide for monitoring and observation of terrorist activities by the Security Service in Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    It would not be appropriate for me to comment on matters which are the responsibility of the security and intelligence agencies.

    The recently published Strategic Defence and Security Review includes a commitment from the UK Government to invest in capabilities needed to keep the people of the UK safe. As part of this, the Government has allocated £160 million of additional security funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland over the next five years in order to tackle the threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism.

  • Baroness Howe of Idlicote – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Howe of Idlicote – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Howe of Idlicote on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 22 December 2015 (HL4641), what assessment they have made of the compatibility of restricting children’s visits to their fathers in prison through the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme with children’s rights under (1) Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and (2) Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    Lord Faulks

    Men and women prisoners have the same entitlements to visits. Both are eligible to family days where relevant, in addition to the normal visits entitlement. Prisons should not treat men and women prisoners differently with respect to visits solely on the basis of their gender.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for the UN Open Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament, taking place from 22 to 26 February, and what expertise the UK can offer on issues of non-proliferation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is not attending the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament in Geneva. The UK, along with the four other Non-Proliferation Treaty Nuclear Weapons States, voted against the resolution establishing the OEWG at the UN General Assembly First Committee. The Government works with international partners and various organisations to ensure that UK experience and expertise helps to tackle the threat of weapons proliferation but believes that productive results can only be ensured through a consensus-based approach that takes into account the wider global security environment.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Government’s recent application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of councils in England that provide doorstep glass collection.

    Rory Stewart

    Estimates on the number of kerbside collections of glass in the dry recycling stream are collated by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Data for 2014/15 shows that in England the number of authorities providing a kerbside collection for glass was 290 (89% of English authorities). This represented 19,768,943 (85%) of all households within England.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department uses to identify how often people with a diagnosis of epilepsy receive treatment from a consultant or nurse.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no national measures or means by which the Department monitors frequency of patients reviews, either by consultants or nurses. Guidance is issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence however this does not replace the skills and knowledge of health professionals in managing patients. The arrangements for the management and follow up of people with epilepsy are a local matter and decisions on the frequency with which patients are seen should be made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.

    NHS England advises that the maximum wait for outpatients to receive a neurology appointment is 12 weeks currently. Additionally 92% of patients are being seen under the specified ‘Referral To Treatment’ waiting times of 18 weeks which is within the national target.

    The information on the number of people with epilepsy in Plymouth is not available in the format requested.

  • 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 how many care leavers under the age of 25 in each local authority area in England received Discretionary Housing Payments in 2015–16.

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not available.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses recruited by the NHS.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The responsibility for recruitment and staffing rests with National Health Service organisations as they are best placed to ensure they have the right staff, in the right place, at the right time to provide safe and effective care for their patients.

    On 4 October 2016 the Secretary of State for Health announced that from September 2018, the Government will fund up to 1,500 additional undergraduate medical places through university medical schools each year.

    In November 2015 reforms to nursing, midwifery and allied health pre-registration training was announced, the reforms aim to increase the number of training places by up to 10,000 by the end of the Parliament.

    As outlined in its Workforce Plan for 2016-17, Health Education England has increased the overall volume of education and training with, in excess of, 38,000 new training places in 2016-17 for nurses, scientists, and therapists, and there are now over 50,000 doctors and dentists currently in training.

    The latest workforce statistics published by NHS Digital for June 2016 show that since May 2010, there are now almost 22,700 more professionally qualified clinical staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups, including over 8,500 more doctors and 4,600 more nurses and midwives.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she took steps to mark Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Remembrance Day.

    Caroline Dinenage

    M​any transgender people face discrimination in the workplace, as well as in their day-to-day lives. That is why I will publish guidance for employers and service providers on 26 November 2015, to improve knowledge and understanding.

    I want to continue to raise awareness of the issues and discrimination facing many transgender and non-binary people.

    On Transgender Day of Remembrance, 20 November 2015, my department became the first to fly the transgender flag, remembering all those who have lost their lives and faced discrimination.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the fitness-for-purpose of the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Nuclear Installations) Regulations 2007 and their applicability to technical developments for unmanned aerial vehicles since their coming into force in 2007.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The airspace over UK nuclear licensed sites is restricted by the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Nuclear Installations) regulations 2007. These impose restricted airspace of a radius between 0.5 and 2 miles to a height of between 1000 and 2400 feet around the centre of all nuclear sites. Airspace usage in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Therefore it is a criminal offence to fly in the vicinity of nuclear sites without the permission of the CAA. The CAA and nuclear sites work closely together on this.

    All of Britain’s nuclear power stations are robust and designed with safety in mind and are stress-tested to withstand a vast range of potential incidents. The independent regulator continuously monitors and evaluates the safety of each plant alongside the operator to protect it from outside threats.