Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people (a) applied for and (b) were granted divorce in each of the last five years.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Details of the number of applications for divorce and the number of decrees issued by the courts are published in Table 7 of the Family Court Statistics Quarterly and the December 2015 report is at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015

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  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much central government expenditure on small and medium-sized enterprises in 2014-15 was spent in the North West.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Crown Commercial Service only collects regional spend data for direct spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so the following figures, which are taken from the Governments Spend Analytical tool, Bravo, do not incorporate spend through the supply chain.

    Direct spend with SMEs of £205,978,657.91 was reported in 2014-15 for the North West of England.

    During the same period, the following amounts were reported as going to small businesses in the requested locations:

    OL1 – £2,706,290.86

    OL2 – £18,611.30

    OL3 – £54,984.10

    OL4 – £66,325.40

    OL8 – £83,737.93

    OL9 – £566,399.25

    M35 – £76,074.91

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement recommendation 12 in the executive summary of Public Health England’s March 2015 report entitled, Public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, on supporting increased access to a range of mental health promotion training for frontline public health practitioners.

    Alistair Burt

    Public Health England (PHE) has been collating practice examples of mental health promotion training available for frontline public health practitioners. Information will help inform the commissioning of training locally. PHE is working with the Royal Society for Public Health and other partners to identify gaps in mental health promotion training provision and opportunities to fill these gaps, such as developing e-learning training modules.

    At a local level, PHE centres are working with Health Education England (HEE) colleagues to identify and co-ordinate provision of training to practitioners and identify needs and training opportunities.

    PHE contributed to the Mental Health Task Force report and has integrated the priority of increasing the training within the Taskforce’s recommendations. Work will be led by HEE, supported by PHE.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve hospital standards in Essex.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England are working together to improve hospital standards in Essex. Three hospital trusts – Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – are part of the Success Regime and are working closely together with the aim of improving outcomes for patients.

    At Colchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a long-term partnership has been agreed with Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust to bring about sustainable improvement for patients.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons TV Licensing is not included in the Tell Us Once service.

    Priti Patel

    Consideration was given to include TV licencing in the Tell Us Once Service, however as the Department for Work and Pensions already provides this information to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, it is not necessary to also include it in the Tell Us Once Service.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why citizens of the Irish Republic resident in the UK were allowed to vote in the referendum on 23 June when passport holders from other EU countries resident in the UK were not.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    The franchise for the EU referendum was based on the UK Parliamentary franchise and this was debated, voted on and agreed by Parliament. As the referendum was an issue of national significance Parliament concluded that the general election franchise was the right one to use. Irish citizens resident in the UK are entitled to vote in Parliamentary elections and so were able to vote in the referendum. Citizens of other EU countries resident in the UK are not eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary elections, with the exception of those from Cyprus and Malta which are also Commonwealth countries.

  • Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken to introduce Education Health Care Plans; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    Special Educational Needs (SEN) advisers within the Department are in regular contact with local authorities, to provide them with support as they implement our reforms to the system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

    These reforms were introduced in September 2014. Since October 2013, local authorities and parents have taken part in termly surveys, to provide their views on the preparation and implementation of these reforms. These surveys asked for feedback on various issues, such as the transition of children and young people with SEN statements; learning difficulty assessments (LDAs); Education, Health, and Care Plans; and the introduction of EHC Plans more generally.

    In response to this feedback, the Department announced a change to the transition arrangements on 10 July 2015. From 1 September 2015, a local authority has 18 weeks, following a notice period of two weeks, to conclude a transfer review, when considering whether to replace an SEN statement with an EHC Plan. This maximum time limit has been extended from 14 weeks. The Department has also provided support for local areas in managing this transition process: this support includes a series of regional workshops in September and October 2015, led by DfE SEN advisers.

    Local authorities have until 1 April 2018 to conclude transitions from SEN statements to EHC plans for all children in their area. Young people in further education and training who receive support as a result of an LDA can choose to request an EHC needs assessment. All young people who receive support as a result of an LDA, who will continue in further education or training beyond 1 September 2016, must have an EHC plan by that date, where one is needed.

    We continue to monitor progress with implementation.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the ratio of students to instructors varies across his Department’s centres which provide force development and adventure training; whether risk assessments have been carried out on the student to instructor ratio in those centres; whether those risk assessments have been changed at any time in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Force Development (FD) and Adventurous Training (AT) are governed separately. AT instructor to student ratios for each approved AT activity are laid out in Joint Service Policy (JSP) 419 (Joint Services Adventurous Training), which can be found at the following website:

    www.raf.mod.uk/rafhpa/rafcms/mediafiles/3033F0D5_5056_A318_A81B12353A721C24.pdf

    FD is a term predominantly utilised by the Royal Air Force and is made up of many delivery mechanisms, including AT, collective training and military exercises. The instructor to student ratio varies according to the activity risk assessment, which is carried out for each activity. Where AT is used as a delivery mechanism for FD, instructor to student ratios within JSP419 will be used.

    The policy for AT student to instructor ratios is regularly reviewed and updated.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of parents with mental illnesses there are in (a) pre-primary, (b) primary and (c) secondary schools in the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department does not collect information on the number of children at any stage of school whose parents are suffering from mental illness.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Leader of the House, when he plans to announce the date of the next State Opening of Parliament.

    Chris Grayling

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 February 2016 to Question UIN 24624.

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