Category: Speeches

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of paramilitary-linked organised crime in Northern Ireland.

    Lord Dunlop

    The assessment of the structure, roles and purpose of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland, published on 20 October stated that individual members of paramilitary groups are involved in ‘serious criminal activity’. Examples cited in the assessment include: ‘large scale smuggling operations, fuel laundering, drug dealing and extortion of local businesses’.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) funding his Department is undertaking and (b) projects his Department has planned as part of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy.

    Nick Boles

    a) The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) currently funds a programme through the Tinder Foundation with the aim of equipping up to 1m adults with the basic digital skills, motivation and confidence to go online, be digitally capable and to be safe online. The contract was awarded by open competitive tender in October 2014 and has a maximum value of £15m. This addresses Action 2 of the Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014 (to establish a quality cross-government digital capability programme).

    In addition the adult skills budget managed by the Skills Funding Agency continues to support learners to increase skills, competence and knowledge including basic digital skills and capabilities as called for under Action 1 of the Strategy.

    b) There are no other projects currently planned.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2014-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many warrants to undertake surveillance on British nationals were issued by her Department between 1989 and 1992.

    James Brokenshire

    As indicated in the debate on 12th February 2014, Official Report, column 858, both the
    Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal
    provide an avenue for investigating concerns in this area.

    As a matter of long-standing practice, we do not routinely comment on the
    detailed use of interception and surveillance, or provide a breakdown of the
    number of warrants signed in relation to specific circumstances or
    nationalities.

    Figures for the overall number of interception warrants authorised by the Home
    Secretary during the period 1989-1992 were published in the Annual Report to
    the Prime Minister by the Interception Commissioner under the legislation then
    in force (the Interception of Communications Act 1985). The published figures
    are as follows:

    Figures for the overall number of interception warrants authorised by the Home Secretary under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 during the period 1989-1992 are shown in the tables below. They provide separate figures for warrants covering telecommunications (which exclude letters), warrants covering letters (letters were relatively more important as a mode of communication than they would be today), and a total for both categories of these warrants.

    Warrants (a) in force on 31 December 1988 and b) issued during the course of 1988:

    Telecommunications

    Letters

    Total

    Warrants

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    225

    412

    75

    48

    300

    460

    Warrants (a) in force on 31 December 1989 and b) issued during the course of 1989:

    Telecommunications

    Letters

    Total

    Warrants

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    232

    427

    59

    31

    291

    485

    Warrants (a) in force on 31 December 1990 and b) issued during the course of 1990:

    Telecommunications

    Letters

    Total

    Warrants

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    225

    473

    52

    42

    227

    515

    Warrants (a) in force on 31 December 1991 and b) issued during the course of 1991:

    Telecommunications

    Letters

    Total

    Warrants

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    239

    670

    50

    62

    289

    732

    Warrants (a) in force on 31 December 1992 and b) issued during the course of 1992:

    Telecommunications

    Letters

    Total

    Warrants

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    (a)

    (b)

    265

    756

    72

    118

    337

    847

    “

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-02-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many nuclear-qualified Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel have been required by his Department in each of the last three years; and how many such posts were vacant in each such year in each location.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The following tables summarise the number of civilian Nuclear Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (NSQEP) posts and the number of NSQEP vacancies by location:

  • Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2014-01-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the £108 million allocated in the 2010 Spending Review to cover the costs of introducing individual electoral registration, how much was spent in (1) 2010–11, (2) 2011–12, and (3) 2012–13; and how much is planned to be spent in (1) 2013–14, and (2) 2014–15.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The spend to date and budgeted amounts are in the table below. The budget for the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) was set in 2010, based on robust cost projections and included optimism bias in line with best practice. Careful management of budgets, combined with an agile approach to the development of the IT supporting the move to IER has helped to ensure that, to date, the programme has come in under budget.

    The budget for IER has supported three rounds of pilots since 2011 and a complete national test of the IT that will support the automatic confirmation of at least 78% of current electors. It has enabled the allocation of resources to Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and partner organisations (£4.2m in the current financial year) to improve the completeness and accuracy of the Electoral Register.

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Actual:

    £2,369,719

    Actual:

    £5,074,446

    Budget:

    £26,148,664

    Budget:

    £65,478,868

    For financial year 2015/16, £148 million has been set aside for the costs of Individual Electoral Registration, the General Election and the 2015/16 Boundary Commission; specific budgets for each of these areas are yet to be allocated.

  • Mr Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mr Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gareth Thomas on 2013-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funding was allocated from Homes and Community Agency to (a) develop new affordable housing and (b) bring empty homes back into use in Harrow in each of the last five years.

    Kris Hopkins

    [Holding Reply: Thursday 7 November 2013]

    The figures for affordable housing are as follows for the London Borough of Harrow area:

    2008-09

    £22 million

    2009-10

    £45 million

    2010-11

    £26 million

    2011-12

    £15 million

    2012-13

    £13 million

    Since April 2012, allocations from the Affordable Housing Programme have been overseen by the Greater London Authority rather than the Homes and Communities Agency. There have been no specific allocations on empty homes over this period.

    As outlined to the hon. Member in the answer of 7 January 2013, Official Report, Column 121W, I would note that the new Affordable Rent model now allows for more affordable housing to be delivered with lower levels of taxpayer capital subsidy and lever in more private investment.

    As the National Audit Office has observed: “The Department selected the best delivery model open to it for the funds it had available” and “The Department has so far achieved its policy objective to maximise the number of homes delivered within the available grant funding” (National Audit Office, “Financial viability of the social housing sector; introducing the Affordable Homes Programme”, 4 July 2012, HC465, pp.6-7).

    I also note that the Mayor’s proposed Housing Strategy states: “£1.8 billion of public funding has been secured by the Mayor which will unlock an estimated additional £3.7 billion of other investment for London to enable 55,000 affordable homes to be delivered between 2011-15” (Mayor of London, “The Revised London Housing Strategy”, December2011, p.35).

    Across England, 170,000 affordable homes have been delivered so far since April 2010, and a total of £19.5 billion of public and private investment is being spent on affordable housing over the current Spending Review period.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the UN concerning criticism of the United Kingdom’s internal and external policies by UN officials.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government carefully notes all commentary, complimentary and otherwise, from different parts of the UN system and responds in a differentiated way, depending on our assessment of the comments made, and the expertise and mandate of the body or individual concerned, in close coordination with Whitehall departments. We engage all parts of the UN system to ensure that the UK’s policies are clearly explained and understood.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what provision his Department’s procurement guidance makes to ensure contractors to Government departments pay the living wage.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government awards contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer.

    We are the first Government ever to deliver a National Living Wage. Every employer in the country will pay the National Living Wage, including all Government contractors, from April 2016.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on food prices in the UK.

    Anna Soubry

    An independent assessment of the potential economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the UK was carried out for the Government by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). This assessment demonstrated that TTIP offers an enormous economic benefit: in growth, exports, high quality jobs and reduced prices, worth up to £10 billion a year to the UK economy.

    The CEPR study did not look at food prices specifically but it projects that output in our agricultural sector will be largely unaffected by TTIP.

  • Stephen Hammond – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Hammond – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hammond on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by his Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate he has made of the potential liability of his Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.

    Mark Lancaster

    Until the General Data Protection Regulation has been finalised, the Department is not able to prepare for its implementation or make any estimate of the affect that it might have.