Category: Speeches

  • Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liz McInnes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many visits fire and rescue services made to schools in 2013-14.

    Mike Penning

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

    Fire and rescue services reported that they undertook around 627,000 Home Fire Safety checks during 2013-14.

    Data are also collected on fire safety campaigns and initiatives. These include, but do not separate out, schools visits.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many British Transport Police officers in London were contracted to work night shifts as at 1 October (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015.

    Claire Perry

    The table below sets out the number of British Transport Police (BTP) officers working in Greater London (all London boroughs) on 1 October in each year between 2010 and 2015:

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    1,715

    1,638

    1,643

    1,608

    1,592

    1,732

    The table below sets out the number of officers in Greater London (all London boroughs) which were contracted to work night shifts as at 1 October in each year between 2010 and 2015:

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    46

    49

    53

    55

    52

    57

    All BTP officers could potentially be rostered on to night shifts if necessary.

    The table below sets out the number of BTP officers that were working night shifts in Greater London (all London Boroughs) on each day of September 2015:

    01 September 2015

    49

    02 September 2015

    62

    03 September 2015

    64

    04 September 2015

    61

    05 September 2015

    62

    06 September 2015

    59

    07 September 2015

    62

    08 September 2015

    61

    09 September 2015

    59

    10 September 2015

    57

    11 September 2015

    60

    12 September 2015

    61

    13 September 2015

    61

    14 September 2015

    57

    15 September 2015

    50

    16 September 2015

    60

    17 September 2015

    59

    18 September 2015

    59

    19 September 2015

    58

    20 September 2015

    57

    21 September 2015

    58

    22 September 2015

    57

    23 September 2015

    61

    24 September 2015

    62

    25 September 2015

    63

    26 September 2015

    60

    27 September 2015

    61

    28 September 2015

    58

    29 September 2015

    61

    30 September 2015

    55

    It is important to note that the number of officers contracted and due to work night shifts would have increased if the night tube had not been deferred.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to encourage Saudi Arabia to destroy its stock of cluster munitions.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Convention on Cluster Munitions obliges States Parties to promote adherence to the Convention, and to encourage non-States Parties to accede to it. The UK, in line with these Convention commitments, encourages all states not party to accede to the Convention as soon as possible to further prevent the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and transfer of cluster munitions. The UK continues to encourage Saudi Arabia to accede to the Convention both bilaterally and in multinational fora.

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what hospitality was provided to (a) Ministers and officials of his Department and (b) members of the armed forces by Raytheon in the last 12 months.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I attended a dinner hosted by Raytheon on 21 January 2015. No further Ministers, Senior Military personnel or Ministry of Defence officials have received any other form of hospitality.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the railway is able to accommodate the transport of full-sized lorry trailers on trains.

    Claire Perry

    The only railway infrastructure in Britain that can accommodate a rail freight service carrying lorry trailers is HS1 between the Channel Tunnel and Barking, which can carry the standard international 4 metres semi-trailer. It represents 0.75% per cent of Britain’s rail route mileage.

    The 80% of the UK domestic semi-trailer fleet with a height of 4.25 metres or greater cannot be accommodated on trains in Britain. However, container goods can be accepted across the freight network, which carries some 1 million containers – 30% of total container freight in the UK – a year.

  • Earl Attlee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Earl Attlee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 22 October (HL2256), why 150 Recovery Company, part of 103 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, relocated from the Army Reserve Centre at Redhill to the one at Croydon, in the light of the fact that the related infrastructure developments had not progressed past the initial assessment phase.

    Earl Howe

    The relocation of 150 Company from Redhill to Croydon was part of the redesign of the Army Reserve as part of Future Reserves 2020 and Army 2020. In this case the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers were realigned to better integrate the Reserve component with their Regular Army partners. It also sought to maximise the potential for future recruitment, which in some cases necessitated the relocation of smaller units and sub-units.

    While it was recognised that the infrastructure of the Croydon Army Reserve Centre required some improvement, it was deemed no worse than that at Redhill Army Reserve Centre. Therefore, an early move was agreed to realise the wider benefit of an increased recruiting footprint, thus ensuring that 103 Battalion REME could grow in strength and maintain the critical mass necessary for effective training and therefore operational capability

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of development land with planning consent is controlled by central government departments.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst the Government does not hold this information centrally, it is committed to releasing surplus public sector land and property to deliver savings, and support economic growth, in particular housing. We are working with Departments to review and accelerate release of sites with capacity for up to 150,000 homes by 2020. We have also set up the Government Property Finder website which allows members of the public to map and search the Government Estate, including land and buildings for sale and rent.

  • Dr Julian Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Dr Julian Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Lewis on 2014-02-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any records relating to the loss of the escort aircraft carrier HMS Dasher in March 1943 have (a) been retained from transfer to and (b) remain closed in the National Archives; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Francis Maude

    Cabinet Office holds no records relating to HMS Dasher.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants have been transferred from London and the South-East of England to the West Midlands since May 2010.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    Relocation of Government staff outside of London and the South East continues to be considered, amongst other options, to deliver the savings set out at the Spending Review and increase the efficiency of the Government’s estate. Reducing and rationalising the estate could result in relocations, although there is no centrally driven relocation target to this effect. Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each individual Department to determine.

  • Dr Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dr Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Matthew Offord on 2014-02-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to increase the average hours a week of contracted education provided for 15 to 17 year olds in custody.

    Jeremy Wright

    At present 15-17 year olds in young offender institutions (YOIs) receive an average of only 12 hours contracted education a week. We have recently set out our plans for transforming youth custody and putting education at the heart of detention, and at the same time launched a competition for new education contracts in public sector YOIs which will more than double the time spend young people spend in education. In addition, we are seeking to put education at the heart of the YOI regime by bringing the head teacher overseeing education into the senior management team of the establishment.