Category: Speeches

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what aspects of policy on (a) farming and (b) other issues within her remit are under discussion in the UK’s negotiations with other EU member states on the terms of UK membership of the EU; and what her role has been in those negotiations.

    George Eustice

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the UK – so we get a better deal for the UK and secure our future. The Government is focused on delivering a successful renegotiation; it believes it can and will succeed in reforming and renegotiating our relationship with the EU.

    Separately, the UK continues to make the case for improvement to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) so that it is simpler and more effective. Reducing the administrative burden of the CAP on farmers is a necessary part of increasing the competitiveness of our food and farming industries.

  • Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the minimum required number of trained special educational needs support staff within a school.

    Lord Nash

    In order to be awarded qualified teacher status (QTS), all teacher trainees must satisfy the Teachers’ Standards, which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEN, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

    Schools are responsible for deciding what external support to seek and for setting their own priorities for the continuous professional development of their staff. The SEN and Disability code of practice makes it clear that high quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Schools should review, and, where necessary, improve teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable pupils and their knowledge of the SEN more frequently encountered.

    The SEN and disability local offer, published by each local authority, must include arrangements in schools for securing expertise among teachers and other professionals to support pupils with SEN or disabilities. This should include professional development to secure that expertise.

    All mainstream schools, including Academies and free schools, and mainstream nursery schools are required to designate a member of staff, a SENCO, to co-ordinate provision for pupils with special educational needs. That person must be a qualified teacher. If that person has been a SENCO for less than twelve months, he or she must achieve a National Award in Special Educational Needs Co-ordination within three years of appointment.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Prime Minister, on 7 March in Brussels, described those fleeing across the Aegean Sea as illegally crossing, in the light of the fact that Turkey is not a party to the UN Convention on Refugees, which Greece and other EU member states are.

    Lord Bates

    Migrants travelling across the Aegean Sea may be referred to as illegally crossing if they have no permission (such as a visa) to enter Greece or another Member State. The same would apply if someone applied for asylum in the UK: if they have entered the UK illegally, then they would be treated as an illegal entrant, irrespective of whether they make a claim for asylum or not.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions between 2006 and 2011 HM Revenue and Customs officials (a) met and (b) communicated with Peter Twiddy, a consultant who worked at Bircham Dyson Bell.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs officials meet with and receive representations from a wide variety of organisations as part of the policy formulation and delivery process. As has been the practice of successive administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to give details of any such discussion.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure electric car charging points are accessible across the UK.

    Andrew Jones

    Plug-in vehicles are generally charged at home and overnight, and so the Government provides grants of up to £500 for the installation of domestic chargepoints. More than 60,000 have been installed to date. The UK also has over 11,000 publicly accessible chargepoints; in streets, car parks and motorway service areas. This includes almost 900 rapid chargepoints that can charge a car in 20-30 minutes – the largest network in Europe.

    The Department’s Roads Investment Strategy includes funding of £15m to improve the network of chargepoints on the strategic road network, and the Go Ultra Low city scheme is expected to deliver around 750 more publicly accessible chargepoints in UK towns and cities by 2020. We will announce further targeted support for plug-in vehicle chargepoints in due course.

    Government-funded chargepoints must meet a minimum common standard for chargepoint outlets, and include ‘pay as you go’ functionality.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much (a) public, (b) private and (c) third sector money was spent on the care.data programme prior to the decision being taken to close that programme; and what estimate he has made of how much of that money is recoverable.

    Nicola Blackwood

    NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre are not in a position to provide a final statement of expenditure at the present time.

    However, NHS England has been clear that the evidence and groundwork from the care.data programme will be incorporated into the health and care system’s Paperless 2020 programme on technology and improving patient care, as overseen by the National Information Board, in close collaboration with the primary care community, in order to retain public confidence and drive better care for patients.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the recommendations of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report of 25 February 2016, what assessment her Department has made of introducing a two-year probationary period for continued self-regulation of greyhound industry.

    George Eustice

    Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 made an assessment of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s (GBGB) enforcement of the standards contained in the 2010 Regulations at GBGB affiliated tracks. The Review found that the standards at GBGB affiliated tracks were being maintained in an effective manner by the GBGB. However, the GBGB’s ability to self-regulate track standards is dependent on them maintaining their United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation as a certification body for those standards. Should GBGB lose its UKAS accreditation then, under the 2010 Regulations, it would immediately lose the right to self-regulate standards at GBGB affiliated tracks. Therefore, for regulating conditions at tracks, the Government would not support extending to two years such a probationary period. For other areas of GBGB’s self-regulatory work, prior to EFRA’s Greyhound Welfare report, the GBGB had already agreed with Defra a period of two years, up to 2018, to: develop a consensus standard for trainers’ kennels and to extend its current UKAS accreditation to cover the enforcement of these new standards; and begin publishing annually aggregate figures for dogs injured or euthanized at GBGB affiliated tracks, as well as dogs leaving GBGB racing.

  • Caroline Nokes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Caroline Nokes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Nokes on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of increasing free childcare provision to 30 hours per week on (a) the number of childcare places, (b) child to adult ratios in nursery settings and (c) the number of nurseries which offer free childcare provision.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Introducing the new entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for working parents will require growth in the childcare market which the Government is confident can be achieved. We know that many working families with three- and four-year-olds already use more than 15 hours of childcare so many of the required childcare places already exist. We also believe that there is some existing spare capacity in the system to help deliver the new entitlement. The Government is committed to keeping the existing child to adult ratios and has no plans to change them to deliver the extended entitlement.

    We have already made significant progress in ensuring that there are more childcare places available with an increase of 230,000 places since 2009. Furthermore, data from the Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2013) showed that 97% of full day care settings that took three and four-year-olds offered funded places. The childcare sector is healthy, vibrant and growing. During the last Parliament, it demonstrated its ability to respond to the extension of the free entitlement to disadvantaged two-year-olds.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps each Anglican church in the Diocese of Blackburn is taking to assist Syrian refugees.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Diocese of Blackburn is working alongside other dioceses of the Church of England and local faith communities to coordinate their response to assist Syrian refugees. Churches in the diocese have been advised of the type of assistance that can most usefully be offered, working in conjunction with local authorities and other faith communities.

    The three bishops of the Diocese of Blackburn were amongst the signatories to the letter from Church of England bishops to the Prime Minister, which welcomed the commitment of the Government to provide aid and resettlement, while calling on it to resettle substantially more than 20,000, and made clear the Church’s commitment to help in that task.

  • Lord Naseby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Naseby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions between 2013 and 2015 the Department of Health received representations from Action on Smoking and Health regarding the standardised packaging of tobacco products.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    To identify what representations the Department has received about standardised packaging between 2013 and 2015 would require extensive searching of Departmental records to identify which representations were relevant and would result in disproportionate cost.