Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on whether there may be a connection between passive smoking and the menopause.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department’s Tobacco Control team has not held any discussions with the Royal College of Nursing on the connection between passive smoking and the menopause.

    The Department does, however, regularly review the impacts of smoking as part of its tobacco control strategy.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they propose to cap the rates paid by NHS bodies to management consultancies, similar to their policy with regard to staff agencies.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Cabinet Office have published guidance on the use of management consultants Cabinet Office controls guidance: version 4.0 which government departments and their arms length bodies are required to follow. A copy of the guidance is attached.

    National Health Service providers follow a similar consultancy spending approvals process as defined by Monitor and the Trust Development Authority (TDA). Monitor has published the following guidance for foundation trusts Consultancy spending approval process: Initial guidance to NHS foundation trusts, with TDA publishing similar for NHS trusts Consultancy spending controls: Initial Guidance to NHS Trusts. Copies of the guidance are attached.

    At this time, these do not include any directive to set caps on rates paid to management consultancies.

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-03-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 2 March (HL Deb, col 928), how many of those families of EU migrants in the UK that are supported by the benefits system, and which include at least one member who has arrived in the last four years, include (1) an adult member recorded for these purposes as of UK nationality, and (2) an adult member recorded for these purposes as a non-UK national who has not arrived in the last four years, where recorded for these purposes” relates to nationality at the time the person was first issued with a National Insurance Number.”

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many investigations have been undertaken by the Financial Investigation Unit of the Child Maintenance Group in each of the financial years since April 2012 to March 2013.

    Priti Patel

    Child Maintenance Group’s Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) was established on 1 April 2014.

    For the financial year 2014 – 2015 the FIU conducted 3,749 investigations resulting in both civil and criminal investigations.

    For the financial year 2015 – 2016 the FIU conducted 3,186 investigations resulting in both civil and criminal investigations.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-05-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of which of the 27 other EU member states have not legalised same-sex marriage.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Seven EU Member States have not legalised same sex marriage. These States are: Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia in October 2016 related to Japan’s resumption of its whaling programme in the South Atlantic.

    George Eustice

    The UK Government raises its opposition to Japan’s continued whaling at every appropriate opportunity, including at meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Most recently, I raised the issue with the Japanese Fisheries Minister during an official visit to Japan.

    We will continue to work closely with countries opposing Japan’s programme of whaling in the build-up to the next IWC meeting in October this year, and will ensure that the UK’s strong opposition is reiterated. Parliamentary business permitting, the UK will again be represented at the Ministerial level, as has been the case at previous IWC meetings.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by Siegfried Hecker, published on 12 September, concluding that North Korea will have enough material for about 20 nuclear bombs by the end of this year, that it has expanded uranium enrichment facilities, and that it has stockpiled plutonium.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have made clear our deep concern at and condemnation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear programme. We take into account all sources of information when assessing it. As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) made clear in his remarks to the UN Security Council on 23 September, that the United Kingdom condemns the recent nuclear test conducted by the DPRK, which is a direct violation of binding Security Council Resolutions. The DPRK must comply with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, including abandoning all nuclear weapons and nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

  • Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will assess the costs and benefits of classifying parentally-agreed child support as income for means-tested benefits.

    Priti Patel

    In order to help encourage parents to take financial responsibility for their children and maximise the amount of maintenance that flows from the non-resident parent to the child, child maintenance payments made under the statutory scheme or through a family based arrangement are not treated as income for means tested benefits.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what local authorities are permitted to spend profits from parking enforcement after covering enforcement costs; and what assessment they have made of how much such profit local authorities make from such enforcement.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Unfair parking fines push up the cost of living and undermine the high street. Local authorities should be making it easier to park to support local shops, local jobs and tourism by increasing footfall. Making parking more difficult stifles local trade, driving motorists into the arms of internet retailers and out of town superstores.

    Existing legislation clearly restricts the purposes for which monies generated from parking may be spent by local authorities to off-street parking, transport and environmental improvements.

    The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities to publish a breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority’s parking account. This includes details of revenue collected from on-street parking, off-street parking and Penalty Charge Notices and a breakdown of how the authority has spent a surplus on its parking account.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions her Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials in each of the last two years.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office has no recorded breaches of material classified as ‘confidential’ or ‘official sensitive’ or above for contractors during the period from January 2014 to date. During this period, in April 2014, the Government Security Classification markings changed from a six-tier protective marking system (unclassified, protect, restricted, confidential, secret and top secret) to a three-tier system (official, secret and top secret). Official – Sensitive is a handling caveat of the ‘Official’ tier in the Government Security Classifications (GSC) Policy. Official-Sensitive is not a separate classification.