Category: Speeches

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) maximum and (b) average recorded waiting time was for an EU passport holder at customs at London Stansted airport on each day of September 2015; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    The maximum and average queuing times for EU passport holders at Stansted during the month of September 2015 are given in the attached table. Passenger waiting times at passport control are influenced by a number of factors. These include so called ‘flight bunching’, where a large number of flights arrive within a short period of time, and passengers using non-machine readable documents, which inevitably take longer for Border Force Officers to process. Such documents, which do not have a biometric reader and have a long history of being abused by imposters, need to be manually checked by Border Force Officers.

    Border Force and Stansted Airport have jointly invested in 15 new generation E-Gates which are helping to reduce passenger waiting times. Both organisations continue to work together to further improve the passenger experience at Stansted.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people on whom the police used tasers were (a) BAME, (b) women and (c) under the age of 18 in each London borough in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    Accurate, consistent data on police use of force is essential to improve transparency around how the police are using their sensitive powers. That is why the Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to carry out an in depth review of Taser data and other use of force, and present options for collecting, collating and publishing data on how force including Taser is being used, who it is being used on and what the outcomes are.

    Data is not recorded centrally on how many and what proportion of incidents in which Tasers were used by the police in London in each of the last five years resulted in an arrest, a charge and a conviction.

    Existing data on the police use of Taser by sex, age and ethnicity from 2010 to 2014, including that released under Freedom of Information, is not of a quality standard suitable for publication as Official or National statistics, and this data is not broken down by London borough.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pregnant women are detained at Yarl’s Wood.

    James Brokenshire

    Although we are now recording management information on the number of women who have disclosed their pregnancy to the Home Office, collection of data about the detention of pregnant women will be limited.

    We will not necessarily be aware that a woman is pregnant unless she chooses to make this known to us and a woman may not know herself that she is pregnant when she enters detention. It may not always be appropriate for healthcare professionals to disclose information that the patient has asked not to be disclosed.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has carried out of the ability of road infrastructure to meet future demand; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Jones

    The Road Investment Strategy (RIS) published in December 2014 sets out how £15.2 billion is being invested between 2015 and 2021 to improve the Strategic Road Network (SRN) – motorways and major ‘A’ roads in England. The RIS takes into account a range of possible outcomes for the future, underpinned by broad evidence which the Department will continue to build on and review. This includes an assessment of the trends that are likely to have a significant impact on road use and what these trends mean for traffic volumes on the SRN.

    On the local road network it is for local highway authorities to make assessments of need and consider improvements.

  • Ian Murray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Ian Murray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent representations he has received on measures to rehabilitate land which has been defaced by opencast mining; and what steps he plans to take in response to those representations.

    David Mundell

    I have had a number of meetings and discussions on the important issue of opencast restoration over recent months, including with Local Authorities affected and colleagues from HM Treasury, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Scottish Government.

  • Lord Paddick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Paddick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Paddick on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to push for a global standard for mission-critical voice functionality over commercial 4G networks.

    Lord Bates

    The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is the international body that writes standards for 4G technology (http://www.3gpp.org/) . The Home Office has been attending a number of working groups within 3GPP since November 2012.

    In January 2015 a new working group within 3GPP, SA6 Mission-critical applications was created specifically to standardise mission-critical voice functionality over 4G networks. The Home Office supported the creation of SA6, currently funds the chairman of that working group, and sends other attendees to this, as well as related meetings within 3GPP.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the level of staff turnover was in (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s digital team in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.

    Joseph Johnson

    The turnover rate for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), including UKTI for each of the 12 months from September 2014 – August 2015, is set out in the table below.

    Month

    Turnover rate

    Sep-14

    14.3%

    Oct-14

    15.1%

    Nov-14

    15.6%

    Dec-14

    15.6%

    Jan-15

    15.1%

    Feb-15

    14.9%

    Mar-15

    15.0%

    Apr-15

    15.0%

    May-15

    15.1%

    Jun-15

    14.7%

    Jul-15

    14.8%

    Aug-15

    14.8%

    The digital capability within BIS is not limited to a single team and is not recorded separately.

  • Pete Wishart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Pete Wishart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pete Wishart on 2014-02-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much in public duty costs allowance has been paid to each former Prime Minister in each year since 2010; what the limit is of the public duty costs allowance for former Prime Ministers; when that limit was last reviewed; whether the public duty costs allowance is payable in addition to their parliamentary allowances to former Prime Ministers who remain Members of Parliament; what audit is undertaken of claims made under the public duty costs allowance by former Prime Ministers; what checks are made to ensure that claims against the allowance meet the criteria for funding from the allowance; what guidance is provided to former Prime Ministers on claiming from the public duty costs allowance; and if he will place in the Library a copy of that guidance.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The amounts paid in 2011-12 and 2012-13 are as follows:

    2011/12

    Gordon Brown

    £114,998.17

    Baroness Thatcher

    £109,191.00

    John Major

    £115,000.00

    Tony Blair

    £115,000.00

    2012/13

    John Major

    £114,996.00

    Gordon Brown

    £100,315.68

    Baroness Thatcher

    £74,087.76

    Tony Blair

    £115,000.00

    The current limit for the PDCA is £115,000. The limit is reviewed on an annual basis.

    Former Prime Ministers will continue to receive the PDCA if they are a sitting MP, provided they are not serving as Leader of the Opposition.

    Claims are processed by the Cabinet Office and form part of the annual audit of Cabinet Office expenditure.

    All former Prime Ministers are provided with guidance on the PDCA. A copy of this has been placed in the Library of the House.

  • Sir Bob Russell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Sir Bob Russell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Bob Russell on 2014-02-24.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what progress he has made on identifying areas not included in the first or second wave of the City Deals programme as eligible for subsequent initiatives.

    Greg Clark

    Building on the successes of City Deals, all 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been invited to develop Strategic Economic Plans to set out what needs to be done to boost growth in their area.

    As part of each Strategic Economic Plan, a Growth Deal bid is being developed for negotiation with central government for the allocation of the Local Growth Fund.

    The Local Growth Fund will be at least £2 billion a year from 2015/16. As a result of this, all parts of England are able to access and benefit from this initiative.

  • Mr Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mr Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Simon Burns on 2014-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many families were based in temporary accommodation in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex in each quarter of the last five years.

    Kris Hopkins

    [Holding Reply: Monday 27 January 2014]

    The Department does not collect constituency level data. A table has been placed in the Library of the House with data for Chelmsford City Council and Essex. To assist my rt. hon. Friend, I have provided quarterly data back for the last ten years; the table illustrates how there are fewer households in temporary accommodation than the average under the last Administration.

    This Government has retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current Spending Review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We are seeing this investment making an impact with households now spending on average 7 months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.

    We have also made some changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to end the main homelessness duty by arranging an offer of suitable accommodation in the private rented sector. This means households are likely to spend less time in temporary accommodation waiting for social housing to become available.