Category: Speeches

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many members of staff in (a) his Department and (b) the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have been seconded from the private sector to work on the implementation of the recommendations of the (i) Maritime Growth Study and (ii) UK Ship Register Advisory Panel.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    No members of staff have been seconded from the private sector to work on the implementation of these recommendations at this stage. Both the Department and the MCA engage closely and regularly with industry partners.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18873, what proportion of his Department’s staff were agency workers covering (a) operational uniformed staff and (b) clerical agency staff in each year since 2010.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services, where they can offer a fast, flexible and efficient way of providing skills not currently available in-house.

    The proportion of the department’s staff agency workers either covering operational uniformed staff of clerical agency staff is displayed in the following table. Data prior to 2011/12 is not available.

    Year-end date

    Proportion of Operational Uniformed Staff

    Proportion of Clerical agency staff

    31/03/2012

    1.92%

    0.58%

    31/03/2013

    2.03%

    0.76%

    31/03/2014

    3.17%

    1.14%

    31/03/2015

    4.61%

    1.61%
  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many youth centres have been closed since 2010 and what assessment they have made of the impact of those closures on young people.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services, according to local need. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any changes there have been to the number of youth centres in their local area.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what average time his Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

  • Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for a standard Disclosure and Barring Service check.

    Karen Bradley

    The average time taken to process a standard disclosure and barring service check over the last 12 months for which figures are available (November 2014 – October 2015) is 5.97 calendar days.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on which date his Department announced the creation of each enterprise zone in (a) urban and (b) rural areas of each region; and what plans he has to create new enterprise zones in what (i) rural and (ii) urban areas.

    Greg Hands

    26 new and extended Enterprise Zones were announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement on 25 November, details of which are available on gov.uk. The government has provided feedback to those Local Enterprise Partnerships that were unsuccessful in their applications, and where possible, will work with them to consider how the proposals could be improved.

  • Kevin Barron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevin Barron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Barron on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of removing generic medicines required to have a brand name by the MHRA from the Statutory Scheme of Control the Prices of Branded Health Service Medicines.

    George Freeman

    The Department consulted on options to amend the Statutory Scheme regulations which control the prices of branded health service medicines. Both the voluntary Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme and the statutory scheme include all health service medicines with a brand name, including those required by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to have a brand name. The Department did not propose any changes to the scope of the statutory scheme in this respect and has not made an estimate of the cost of removing those branded medicines from the statutory scheme.

    The Department received responses from a range of organisations including National Health Service, independent bodies and pharmaceutical industry. The Department is currently analysing the responses from a range of organisations including NHS, independent bodies and pharmaceutical industry.

    The consultation and impact assessment can be accessed using the following link.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pricing-of-branded-health-service-medicines

    “

  • Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen McPartland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 23515, what estimate he has made of the total cost to people who pay council tax in (a) Stevenage, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England of the potential increase in council tax; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Council tax rates are completely up to local councils. All local authorities have the power to freeze council tax if they wish. Any council that wants to raise council tax above the referendum principle needs to go to their local area for consent.

    Given the pressures councils face providing adult social care we are giving them the freedom to levy a 2 percent precept to help cover costs. Again, it is up to the responsible authority if they wish to exercise this.

    Even if all authorities increase by the maximum under the referendum principles, council tax will still be lower in 2019-20 in real terms compared to 2010.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department is providing to museums in each region and nation of the UK.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department does not hold information on museums spending broken down by region or nation. Museums funding is devolved to the respective administrations. The total spend on DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries (including the British Library) was £389.7m in 2014-15. The 2015 Spending Review announced DCMS spend on museums and galleries will be maintained in cash terms.

  • Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that the objectives of the hepatitis C improvement framework can still be achieved.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has been rapidly working on their plans for access to treatment during 2016/17 following enactment of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technical appraisal guidance and has committed to produce an operational framework for the treatment of hepatitis C during 2016/17. This will set out NHS England’s commitment to improving outcomes in hepatitis C across England.