Category: Speeches

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 29759, which paragraphs of the White Paper, The Best of Both Worlds, disclose what data the Government used to assess the effect of its policy (a) to restrict the payment of child benefit to EU nationals resident in the UK in respect of their children resident outside the UK and (b) to restrict entitlement of some EU nationals to tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    I refer my honourable friend to the footnotes in Section D “Welfare and free movement” of the White Paper.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department intends to support and mentor weaker schools as part of the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy.

    Nick Gibb

    Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.

    Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.

    For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.

    Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.

    For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of staff in her Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

    Karen Bradley

    Each Home Office Annual Report and Accounts publication includes information relating to payroll (civil servants) and non-payroll (agency and contractors substituting temporarily in civil servant roles as part of our flexible resourcing strategy) staff. Table 1 includes information for each of the financial years from 2010 – 11 to 2014-15. The percentage of non-payroll staff increased in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 as the Department operated on a lower overall level of permanent civil servants, which was then complemented by more flexible hires to meet seasonal and other temporary demands.

    Information for the 2015-16 period will be published shortly.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to improve the affordability of existing pension schemes for companies.

    Richard Harrington

    The Government is aware of the fact that some parts of the Defined Benefit (DB) pension sector are concerned about the current economic climate, but the situation is very mixed, and the experiences of schemes differ. We do not believe there is a systemic problem but we continually look at ways to improve the affordability of schemes.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax credits claims have been reinstated by HM Revenue and Customs as a result of (a) adjustments and (b) cancellations by Concentrix in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold the data broken down specifically by constituency areas. HMRC is currently focused on resolving the outstanding cases but will be preparing regional analysis, which will be available in due course.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to prevent illegal timber entering Europe.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra is committed to tackling the trade in illegal timber. We implemented the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which makes it an offence to place illegally logged timber on the EU market for the first time, and the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation, which aims to combat illegal logging and improve the supply of legal timber to the EU. The EU FLEGT Regulation establishes Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and timber producing countries. Once VPAs have been agreed, timber producing countries will issue exports with a ‘FLEGT licence’ which verifies the timber’s legality.

    The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.

    Domestic forests provide about 20% of the UK’s timber needs. They are managed in accordance with the UK Forestry Standard, the reference standard for sustainable forest management in the UK. Moreover, about 85% of UK timber production is independently certified, providing additional assurances of sustainability. We are strongly supportive of initiatives such as Grown in Britain, which create new sustainably managed woodland to increase the supply of British timber destined for use by local people and businesses. Timber and wood products labelled with the Grown in Britain logo are from trees and forests assured as compliant with the UK Forestry Standard.

    I welcome the fact that UK companies and other bodies are making similar commitments to trade in both legal and sustainable timber by signing up to WWF’s Forest Campaign.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long it takes for the average claimant to receive a first payment of universal credit from the time they became unemployed in those areas where universal credit has been introduced.

    Priti Patel

    Universal Credit entitlement is assessed and paid in arrears. Payment is made on a fixed date 7 days after the end of the monthly assessment period.

    Where a claimant’s earnings or income is insufficient to meet their living costs and in order to safeguard against financial hardship before the first UC payment, an advance payment of up to 50% of their UC award may be made.

    Personal Budgeting Support advice is also available to all claimants.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 20630, if he will publish the initial findings of the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study covering the establishment of a Brighton Mainline 2.

    Claire Perry

    The Government does not propose to publish the initial findings, which are being more fully developed at present. The Study is expected to be completed early in 2016, and the Government will subsequently consider the timeframe for releasing the study findings, including our response.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice of 26 January 2016, Official Report, column 129, what pay rise in percentage terms, in each salary band in his Department, staff have received in each financial year since 2010-11.

    Dominic Raab

    The Treasury sets public sector pay policy, which includes the 1% cap, in line with wider government priorities. This policy has been subject to agreement with the Prime Minister and consultation within the government at Ministerial level.

    In line with the pay freeze announced by the Government in the June Budget 2010, the pay of staff employed by the Ministry of Justice in 2011-12 and 2012-13 earning a full time equivalent of £21,000 or less received pay increases of up to £250. MoJ exited the pay freeze on 1 August 2013. Since then MOJ staff received pay awards averaging at 1% each year, in line with the Government policy.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when a copy of DCDS(MilCap)/14/06/11, dated 18 June 2014, was presented to the Procurator Fiscal.

    Penny Mordaunt

    A copy of the document was placed in the Library of the house on 20 March 2015 in response to Question 227404. Ministry of Defence (MOD) records suggest that it was not asked for by or provided directly to the Procurator Fiscal. The MOD routinely provides support to the Procurator Fiscal as required in order to support their investigations.