Category: Speeches

Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding has been provided to the (a) Kurdistan Regional Government Peshmerga, (b) Kurdish government in Northern Syria and (c) Yazidi community to (i) gather evidence of alleged acts of genocide and (ii) support displaced persons in refugee camps.

James Wharton

Since June 2014, DFID has committed £129.5 million in humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable internally displaced people in Iraq, including Yezidis and those living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. To date, the UK has pledged over £2.3 billion in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the region. Our support is reaching vulnerable and displaced Syrians, including those living in areas controlled by Kurdish groups.

On 21 July the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK will lead a global campaign to hold Daesh to account for its crimes. In Iraq, the Foreign Office has funded projects to support the documentation of Daesh crimes and preservation of evidence. In Syria, UK funding supports a range of NGO partners to compile case files of evidence of atrocities approximating to International Criminal Court (ICC) standards.

DFID has not provided funding to the Peshmerga, or to the governing authorities in Kurdish-dominated parts of Syria.

01/01/2023

Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what level of funding his Department has provided for mental health services in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) England in the last three years.

Alistair Burt

NHS England does not split the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) programme allocation across service categories. CCGs receive an annual allocation calculated by reference to the size of population they commission for, and it is up to the CCG to decide how to spend it, taking into account national policy considerations and a local assessment of need.

CCGs are required to submit their spending plans and their annual accounts to NHS England. NHS England reviews spending, including for mental health (MH), through the CCG assurance process.

NHS England has made a requirement of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the planning guidance for 2015/16, The Forward View Into Action: Planning Guidance for 2015/16, that each CCG’s spending on MH services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s overall funding allocation increase.

CCG actual and planned spend (not funding) can be split between MH and other categories of expenditure. The table below shows CCG MH spend for Liverpool CCG, for Merseyside CCGs and nationally for all CCGs. These figures are actual spend for 2013/14 and 2014/15 and planned spend for 2015/16:

	2013/14 Outturn £k	2014/15 Outturn £k	2015/16 Outturn £k
Liverpool CCG Total	76,335	85,500	89,609
Merseyside CCGTotal	181,521	209,004	217,948
EnglandCCGsTotal	7,818,924	8,289,153	8,602,990

Specialised health services, primary care and other directly commissioned services includes some spend on MH services. This direct commissioning spend on MH services is not routinely split into the different categories of expenditure and is not included in the figures in the table above.

01/01/2023

Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of aid provided by the UK following the earthquake in Nepal last year.

Baroness Verma

DFID gave £70 million to the Nepal earthquake response to support humanitarian and early recovery efforts, making us one of the major donors. The Department for International Development’s expenditure in Nepal is assessed in a number of different and complementary ways. Across the portfolio, monitoring plans are in place for every programme including our response to the 2015 earthquake. This places emphasis on results delivery, ensuring we are well placed to monitor the effectiveness of our programmes. Our strong focus on evaluation, both globally and in our country programmes, ensures we can evaluate performance and impact across the sectors in which we work.

In addition to regular monitoring and evaluation, since the earthquake DFID Nepal has set up a regional office in Gorkha district to increase oversight of humanitarian and reconstruction programmes.

01/01/2023
Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2016-01-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to improve the monitoring of late payments by insurance companies to claims made by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government recognises the importance of prompt payment by insurers and has taken steps in the Enterprise Bill to introduce a requirement for insurers to pay all claims within a reasonable time and entitle policyholders, including small and medium sized enterprises, to damages where claims are paid late.

01/01/2023
Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

Mr Philip Hammond

The Government is committed to the success of the nuclear deal and we welcome the steps taken by Iran to comply – including decommissioning centrifuges and removing the core from Arak and exporting 90+% of its stock of enriched uranium – leading to Implementation Day on 16 January. We fully support expanding our trade relationship with Iran and are encouraging businesses to take advantage of the new opportunities that are available. Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent visit to London marked a significant step in our relationship with Iran.

01/01/2023
Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-03-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 17 February (HL5889), whether they intend to collect data on the payments made to EU immigrants for their children living in their home countries.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

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”. This publication is available on Gov.uk

01/01/2023
Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent young people obtaining knives online.

Karen Bradley

Reducing violence including knife crime is a priority for this Government. In addition to our work with the police and other partners we are working closely with retailers to encourage the responsible sale of knives both in-store and online.

There are already strict laws on the sale of knives and on how knives can be marketed. It is illegal to sell knives to anyone under 18 (except for folding knives with a blade that does not exceed 7.62cm). The Home Secretary chaired a roundtable with major retailers and the British Retail Consortium on 14 March to encourage them to sell knives more responsibly and discuss what steps they can take to ensure that they have strong age verification processes in place.

On 23 March the Home Secretary announced agreement of a new set of principles with major retailers to prevent the underage sales of knives both in-store and online, together with commitments on staff training, safe displays, and sales in online marketplaces.

The agreement is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sale-of-knives-voluntary-agreement-by-retailers

We will be working with the British Retail Consortium to promote and extend the principles to other retailers.

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01/01/2023
Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the original projected in-service date was for the first Type 26 Global Combat Ship; and what the current projected in-service date is for first such ship.

Mr Philip Dunne

For equipment procurement programmes, the cost and schedule is set at the main investment decision, however, the Type 26 Global Combat Ship (GCS) programme has not yet reached that stage.

As is normal practice for equipment procurement programmes, we have developed a planning assumption that the first Type 26 GCS would come into service in 2022.

We are working with industry to develop an optimised schedule for the Type 26 GCS programme to implement the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. This work is ongoing and will inform the main investment decision.

01/01/2023
Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-06-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the rate of VAT levied on over-the-counter medicines; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

VAT is a broad based tax on consumption, with the twenty per cent standard rate applying to most goods and services.

A zero rate of VAT is applied to drugs provided on prescription and dispensed by a dispensing chemist.

The Chancellor keeps all tax policy under review but has no plans to change the VAT treatment of medicines.

01/01/2023
Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) local authorities and (b) other organisations on which (i) key net roads and (ii) highway responsibilities could be devolved to the proposed Solent combined authority.

Mr John Hayes

DfT officials have had some early conversations with local authorities about the possibilities for coordinating/improving transport delivery across the Solent area as part of potential combined authority proposals. Discussions across Government are still ongoing.

01/01/2023