Category: Speeches

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of allegations that the Saudi-led coalition is impeding and preventing commercial vessels from docking at the port of Hodeidah in Yemen.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Intense fighting and insecurity on the ground in Yemen has resulted in restrictions being placed on commercial and humanitarian shipping. This is exacerbating the difficulty of distributing food and fuel to those who need it, making the humanitarian situation even worse.

    The most important action to address the humanitarian situation, beyond a ceasefire, is to open up access for commercial and humanitarian goods. All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to ensure that any restrictions do not impede humanitarian access, and to facilitate immediate access to life-saving supplies, both into and within Yemen. The UK supports the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, which is now being established to address commercial shipping needs and we urge that this is implemented as soon as possible.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of ambulances responding to the most serious calls failed to respond within eight minutes in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Denton and Reddish constituency in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The information requested is not available in the format requested.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce excess winter deaths.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) publishes the Cold Weather Plan for England to avoid preventable illness and deaths in winter by setting out a series of actions for organisations, communities and individuals, to take throughout the year as well as in response to episodes of severe winter weather. The national annual flu plan aims to minimise the health impact of flu through effective monitoring, prevention and treatment, including the immunisation of groups eligible to receive the flu vaccine.

    PHE and NHS England have also developed an integrated marketing campaign, Stay Well This Winter. This campaign aims to help those with long-term health conditions (particularly respiratory conditions), those who are 65 or over, pregnant women and parents of under-5s stay well and keep their loved ones well this winter.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many estate agents have been prosecuted for money laundering in the last five years.

    Robert Buckland

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of the occupations of defendants prosecuted. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking at UN summits to ensure strong commitments are made to eradicating gender inequality.

    Justine Greening

    Promoting the rights of girls and women is a top priority for my Department, including at UN Summits. The UK was a leading voice in international negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a strong stand-alone goal on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, as well as gender-sensitive targets throughout the SDG framework.

    My Department and I will continue to make every effort to push for gender equality at other global events, such as the African Union Girl Summit in November 2015 and the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2016.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will increase the speed limit on motorways to 80 mph; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Jones

    There are no plans to increase the motorway speed limit to 80 mph or to increase national speed limits by 10mph. There are no available estimates of the effect such increases would have on fuel consumption or tax receipts.

    The focus of government policy on our road network is the delivery of a step change in investment.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-10-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to categorise bookmakers as high risk in the draft regulations transposing the fourth Money Laundering Directive into UK law.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Fourth Money Laundering Directive extends its scope to cover all gambling providers. However, the Government can exempt providers of certain gambling services from the requirements laid down in the Directive on the basis of proven low risk.

    We will be publishing a consultation towards the end of the year asking stakeholders to submit evidence on which sectors of the gambling sector can be proven to be low risk as part of the transposition process and will legislate accordingly.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS 111 service.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has seen successes with the NHS 111 service since its launch, with over a million calls offered to the NHS 111 service in August, of which 93.6% were answered within 60 seconds.

    The Government expects all NHS 111 centres to be appropriately staffed to offer people safe care and advice and treatment at all times and has asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission has announced it will inspect and rate NHS 111 services by September 2016 to give additional assurances that minimum levels of quality are attained.

    New Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care were published last week by NHS England. Developed jointly with commissioners and providers, the Commissioning Standards will support the transformation of urgent care services; introducing the clinical hub employing a broader range of clinical skills, direct booking into general practitioner appointments, improved clinical governance and staff development amongst other developments. Commissioners will now complete their plans to achieve the Commissioning Standards. A copy is attached.

    The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local Clinical Commissioning Groups and the safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by local commissioners, monitoring performance and investigating complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Individual Funding Requests NHS England received in (1) 2013–14, (2) 2014–15, and (3) 2015–16 to date, and how many of those requests were accepted in each year.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has advised the following:

    ‒ In 2013-14, 1,283 Individual Funding Requests were received, of which 280 were accepted.

    ‒ In 2014-15, 1,436 Individual Funding Requests were received of which 535 were accepted.

    ‒ In 2015-16 (up to September 2015), 560 Individual Funding Requests were received of which 163 were accepted.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much surplus land owned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its agencies they estimate is suitable for building new houses on; how much has been released in each year since 2010–11; and how much they expect to release in (1) the current year, and (2) each year to 2020–21.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    During the last Parliament, the Government exceeded its ambition to release surplus land with capacity for 100,000 homes. The housing capacity of the land released by Government Departments and their arms length bodies is set out in the attached table.

    Over this Parliament, the Government is committed to releasing surplus public sector land with capacity for up to 150,000 homes by 2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is working with Departments to review their land holdings in order to identify suitable surplus public sector and finalise disposal plans for this Parliament.