Category: Speeches

Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 December 2015 (HL4413), whether passengers are involved in developing schemes for the railway between Salisbury and Exeter to meet their needs and support economic growth; and if so, how.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Network Rail’s Route Studies are part of the rail industry’s Long Term Planning Process. They look at the period from 2019 to 2043. They interpret the outputs from the previous market studies to determine the specific aspirations in terms of capacity and connectivity for the geographical area based on detailed demand analysis to forecast growth tailored to create specific forecasts for geographical areas.

The analysis identifies where forecast demand is likely to be mismatched with anticipated capacity and indicates where interventions such as train lengthening or additional services may be required.

Network Rail set up regional and wider stakeholder groups for both the Wessex and the Western Route Studies. Passenger representatives were involved in all these groups and the 90 day public consultations on the draft route studies received responses from a wide range of parties including individual members of public, campaign and user groups, MPs and local authorities which are summarised in the final Route Study documents . Copies of both Route Studies have been placed in the Library of the House.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24211, what account she takes of the recreational benefit of maintaining school playing fields when considering a school disposal request.

Edward Timpson

The Education Funding Agency and the Independent School Playing Fields Panel who advise on playing field disposals will look at a range of factors before advising the Secretary of State on disposals, including any reduction in access to playing fields for the school, other local schools and the local community.

01/01/2023

Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what annual rent his Department paid at (a) 1 Victoria Street, London and (b) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Joseph Johnson

We have committed to making changes to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) by 2020 that will result in a more flexible Department, reduced headcount and far fewer delivery bodies.

Our business needs to be designed in a way that works for this smaller workforce and more streamlined structures.

To support this direction of travel, we are moving towards seven or so centres by 2020, supported by a regional footprint for those whose work needs to be at a local level.

We want each of these centres to focus on a key business activity so that we can bring the relevant expertise together.

We are proposing that one of these centres will be a combined BIS headquarters and policy centre in London, close to our Ministers.

The average cost of floor space at each of the Department’s offices is:

a) £483.64 per sqm at St Paul’s Place

b) £686.20 per sqm at 1 Victoria Street

The annual rent paid by BIS over the last 5 years is:

Year	(a) 1 Victoria Street	(b) St Paul’s Place
2015-16	£11,004,000	£209,304
2014-15	£11,004,000	£209,304
2013-14	£11,004,000	£209,304
2012-13	£11,004,000	£209,304
2011-12	£11,004,000	£209,304

By the end of this reform programme in 2020, we will have fewer employees in London and BIS as a whole, and aim to save £350million in operating expenditure overall. The vast majority of employees within the BIS Group will continue to be based outside London.

01/01/2023

Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-03-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 March (HL6926), on what date the Department of Health was informed that NHS England was going to introduce a sugar tax in NHS premises by 2020.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have a range of conversations about key issues at Ministerial and official level with NHS England. NHS England is independent and the decision on a sugar levy on the National Health Service estate is a matter for them operationally. We are interested to see the results of their consultation on a sugar levy.

The announcement of a soft drinks industry levy by the Chancellor in the Budget is the first step in our comprehensive Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, and gives companies strong incentives to reformulate their products.

01/01/2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what missions HMS Protector is currently undertaking; and how many missions that ship has undertaken in the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt

HMS PROTECTOR, the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, provides a United Kingdom Sovereign presence in the British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime areas.

PROTECTOR is currently in the South Atlantic and is focussed on the provision of support to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including Antarctic Treaty inspections and station visits in support of the British Antarctic Survey, and survey activity, primarily to increase charting coverage of Antarctic shipping routes and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. She recently successfully deployed unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time to assist with navigating through the Antarctic.

Since entering service in 2011, PROTECTOR has been deployed to the South Atlantic from December 2011 to May 2013; and from October 2013 to April 2015. In October 2015, she again deployed from the United Kingdom, arriving in the region this spring, having conducted a circumnavigation of the globe.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of common coverage planning for mobile services similar to that undertaken by the broadcast industry.

Mr Edward Vaizey

As part of the Government’s wider work to improve digital connectivity the Government announced a package of planning reforms on 17 March to support the rollout of digital infrastructure so that UK consumers can continue to benefit from the opportunities offered by digital economy. We would encourage mobile infrastructure providers to consider sharing infrastructure wherever possible.

01/01/2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to encourage more young people to take A-level language subjects.

Nick Gibb

Modern foreign languages are one of the Russell Group’s facilitating subjects – A levels which open doors to more degrees and professions than other subjects. We are incentivising the take-up of these A levels in the 16-19 performance tables through the facilitating subject measure, and are encouraging the best language graduates to enter the teaching profession, through financial incentives such as a bursary of £25,000 for trainees with a first class or 2:1 relevant degree.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has held with his counterparts in Qatar on the human rights situation and working conditions for foreign workers building stadia for the 2022 World Cup.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We continue to support Qatar’s efforts in preparing for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, including ensuring UK businesses involved adhere to international and Qatari labour laws, and we support the steps that the Qatari government has taken to respond to concerns about the treatment of migrant workers. We continue to discuss implementation with the Qatari government and we welcome the Government of Qatar’s commitment to the ongoing, systematic reform of Qatar’s labour laws.

01/01/2023
Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the exposure of children to alcohol marketing.

Jane Ellison

The Department is not responsible for alcohol marketing.

In 2014, 8% of pupils had drunk alcohol in the last week, which is less than half the level in 2003 when this was 25%. There has been a consistent decrease the percentage children and young people drinking in the last week since 2003.

The survey data can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?productid=18273&q=Smoking+drinking+Drug+use+survey+2013&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1&area=both#top

“

01/01/2023
Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to the student opportunity fund on the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education.

Joseph Johnson

We have taken significant steps to widen participation in higher education. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers, enabling more people than ever before to benefit from higher education. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up from £404m in 2009/10.

The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

We will work with the Higher Education Funding Council for England to target the Student Opportunity Fund in the most effective way and with the Director of Fair Access to ensure that universities take more responsibility for widening access, prioritising activities that demonstrate the greatest value for money.

01/01/2023