Category: Speeches

  • Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will meet staff representatives in HM Land Registry to discuss concerns they have regarding the announcement in the Spending Review Autumn Statement 2015 which stated that the Government would be consulting on options to move operations of the Land Registry to the private sector from 2017.

    Anna Soubry

    PCS representatives have requested to meet with me. I look forward to the meeting which will be organised in the New Year

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what outcomes her Department is working for at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in February 2016.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Through the “Supporting Syria and the Region (London 2016)” Conference we aim to raise significant new funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of all those affected by the crisis within Syria, and to support neighbouring countries who have shown enormous generosity in hosting refugees.

    The Conference will address the longer-term needs of those affected by the crisis through supporting the creation of jobs and providing education in the region, offering those that have been forced to flee their homes greater hope for the future. Specifically, we aim to ensure access to education for all refugee and host community children by the end of the 2016-17 school year.

    The Conference will also maintain pressure on all parties to the conflict to stop the obstruction of humanitarian relief and abuse of civilians that perpetuate the crisis and respect International Humanitarian Law. We aim to agree action to give people inside Syria safer healthcare, safer education, and support for the most vulnerable, especially girls and women. Looking ahead, it will need to ensure the international community is well prepared to support a coordinated stabilisation effort.

  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which body is responsible for enforcement of aircraft noise abatement requirements.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government sets noise abatement procedures at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. These are set out in Noise Abatement Requirements Notice(s) made under section 78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.

    At other airports these are agreed locally often through local planning agreements. Where the Government sets the procedures these are monitored by the airports’ noise and track keeping systems which receives data from National Air Traffic Services (NATS) radars and permanent noise monitors located around the airport.

    Adherence to the noise abatement procedures are reported via the airports flight performance report which will be available on the airports website. Fines are imposed at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airport for breaching noise departure limits.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show a significant rise in the number of dental extractions in children under 10 over the last four years; and what action they are taking to improve dental health in that age group, including access to NHS dental services.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The tables below, provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows 1) the number of admissions for children (aged 0-9 years) to hospitals in England for extractions of one or more decayed primary or permanent teeth; and 2) the numbers of courses of treatment in primary care in England that contained an extraction for a child aged 0-17, both for the years 2011/12 – 2014/15.

    1)

    Age

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    0-4

    19,033

    9,082

    9,585

    10,001

    5-9

    24,524

    25,459

    26,356

    26,956

    Notes:

    Admissions do not represent the number of children, as a child may have more than one admission within the same period.

    2)

    Age

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    0-17

    540,626

    533,694

    539,908

    524,163

    Notes:

    Figures for primary care are not available broken down for under 10s.

    NHS England is working to develop contractual initiatives focussed on improving the oral health of children. This is in addition to the work within the contract reform programme, which is aimed at introducing an National Health Service dental contract with a much clearer focus on preventing future dental disease and increasing access to NHS dentistry.

    Public Health England (PHE) has produced a toolkit to support local authorities in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children and young people in their area. PHE has also developed guidance for dental teams on preventing dental disease in young children. Advice has also recently been published by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.

    The Government will be launching the Childhood Obesity Strategy in the summer. It will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese, including sugar which is a cause of tooth decay.

    In the Budget statement on 16 March, the Chancellor announced a soft drink industry levy. This is a bold step towards protecting our children’s health.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost is of hotel stays in (a) London by policy staff from his Department’s office at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) Sheffield by policy staff from his Department’s office at 1 Victoria Street, London.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Permanent Secretary has recently written to the Chairs of the Public Accounts Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. His letter contains details of the potential maximum savings from a closure of the Department’s Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place, and can be seen at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518244/letter-martin-donnelly-sheffield-office.pdf.

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women who were remanded in custody (i) before conviction and (ii) after conviction did not go on to receive a custodial sentence for each offence type in the last year for which information is available.

    Mike Penning

    The number of sentenced offenders who were remanded in custody at the Crown Court before and after their conviction, and the proportion who did not receive a custodial sentence, by gender and offence group, in 2015, can be viewed in the attached table.

    The number of sentenced offenders who were remanded in custody at magistrates’ courts before their conviction, and the proportion who did not receive a custodial sentence, by gender and offence group, in 2015, can be viewed in the attached table.

    Data for post-conviction remand at magistrates’ courts is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department is doing to help reduce the price of food for people on low incomes.

    George Eustice

    It is not the Government’s role to set retail food prices. The main drivers of food prices are commodity prices, exchange rates and oil prices. Anything that affects these will have an impact on food prices.

    Defra does monitor retail food prices through The Consumer Prices Index. Year on year food prices have continued to fall with an annual rate of inflation of minus 2.8 per cent in the year to May 2016. Following a period of higher food price inflation retail food prices have fallen by 7.0% since their peak in February 2014.

    We also monitor trends in household expenditure on food through the Family Food Survey. This includes monitoring the percentage of household expenditure which is spent on food, including for households with the lowest 20% income, which was 15.4% for 2014 compared with an average of 16.1% over the last 10 years.

  • Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the (1) annual revenue, and (2) annual capital expenditure, of the government of St Helena is provided by them.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    For Financial Year 2016/17 the Government has agreed to provide funding to St Helena Government which makes up 62% of their recurrent budget and 57% of their capital programme.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to communicate to local authorities and developers of onshore wind renewables projects the effect of the time taken to upgrade air defence radars at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    In respect of the upgrade of the Air Defence radar at Remote Radar Head (RRH) Buchan, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is in contact with the developers who proposed the upgrade as mitigation for their wind farm proposal.

    At RRH Benbecula, the MOD is in contact with the Western Isles Council and developers via the Council’s Working Group. In addition, the MOD provided an Air Defence update at the Aviation Management Board meeting on 5 November 2015 at which Scottish Government, the wind industry and RenewableUK representatives were present.

    The MOD continues to undertake full technical and operational assessments of all site specific Air Defence radar mitigation proposals, including those to the upgraded TPS-77 radar systems at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan. It remains the responsibility of developers to submit site specific mitigation proposals. The MOD will determine whether the impact upon the radar is of a permissible level.

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department or NHS England holds on the number and proportion of GP premises that have been refurbished or replaced since May 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    The NHS (General Medical Services – Premises Costs) Directions 2013 set out the circumstances under which NHS England may provide funding for general practitioner (GP) premises. NHS England does not provide funding for all refurbishments and replacements, and in some cases such works may be carried out by third party owners. As such neither the Department nor NHS England hold information on the number or proportion of GP premises that have been refurbished or replaced since May 2010.