Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the urgent call from UN agencies for respect for health premises and the right to health care in Jerusalem for Palestinians after Israeli security forces stormed an East Jerusalem medical facility on 29 October.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not responded to this issue specifically, we are clear that medical staff should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv met Physicians for Human Rights on 9 November to discuss trends in human rights violations against medical staff. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the urgent need to de-escalate the tensions.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials within the Department for Transport they expect to be working on the HS2 project in 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The High Speed Rail headcount for permanent staff for years 2016/17 – 2018/19 will be determined by future business planning rounds and set within the Spending Review 2015 overall resource funding envelope for the Department for Transport as announced by the Chancellor on 25 November 2015.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they provided financial support to the exhibition Sand in My Eyes: Sudanese Moments at the Brunei Gallery, and what assessment they have made of whether that exhibition received funding from the government of Sudan or the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    We did not provide financial support to the exhibition Sand in My Eyes: Sudanese Moments at the Brunei Gallery, which is co-presented by the Brunei Gallery, SOAS and the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan.

    We are aware that the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs are supporting the exhibition, however no formal assessment has been made whether the exhibition has received funding from the Government of Sudan or the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services.

    The human rights situation in Sudan remains of serious concern; HMG consistently raise our concerns with the Government of Sudan and armed opposition groups and, where relevant, in the UN.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the rental income generated for investors in his Department’s sukuk bond scheme is equivalent to that of the coupon paid from a June 2014 Government five-year gilt.

    Harriett Baldwin

    In the Sukuk structure, rental payments provide the income for investors. When the Sovereign Sukuk were issued in July 2014 the profit rate was set at 2.036% in line with the yield on gilts of similar maturity, making the investor return on the Sukuk broadly equivalent to that on conventional gilts of similar maturity.

    Three central government properties form the underlying assets which underpin the Sukuk.

    The Government was clear at the time of issuance that the Sukuk issuance was not for debt financing purposes. Instead, it was issued to deliver on the government’s commitment to become the western hub for Islamic finance. The issuance showed that the UK is open for business with all parts of the world and provided high quality capital to UK-based Islamic banks.

    UK based institutions that offer Islamic finance services are contributing to jobs and growth with assets totalling $4.5bn at the end of 2014.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department takes to monitor and assess allegations of human rights abuses by UK-listed companies.

    Anna Soubry

    Where allegations are made against companies (listed or otherwise) about breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, including the guidelines on human rights, these breaches are assessed by the UK’s National Contact Point in accordance with the framework set out in the Guidelines.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what sites are under consideration for the shore-based testing facilities for the power and propulsion systems for the T26 Global Combat Ship.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Shore-based testing facilities for the Type 26 Global Combat Ship power and propulsion system will be established at General Electric’s site at Whetstone, Leicester, and David Brown Gears Systems’ in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

    General Electric will supply the propulsion motor and drive system and David Brown Gears Systems will supply the propulsion gearbox.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what average proportion Care Quality Commission registration fees have changed in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC’s income is made up of both fees paid by providers and grant in aid from the Department. Government policy requires that the CQC must increase the fees it charges registered providers so that it can move towards fully recovering the chargeable costs of regulating health and adult social care in England.

    The CQC has set a two-year trajectory to reach full cost recovery for all sectors with the exception of the adult social care domiciliary care sector, which will be subject to a four year trajectory and dentists who are already at full cost recovery. The Government has made available £15 million extra funding for general practice (GP) from April 2016 to reflect a number of increasing cost pressures, of which increased CQC fees are a part.

    The CQC has provided the following information. The CQC has revised the fees that providers will have to pay from April 2016. The table shows how close each sector is to full cost recovery in 2016-17.

    Average fee increase by sector inspected by the CQC1

    Sector

    2012-13 to 2013-14

    2013-14 to 2014-15

    2014-15 to 2015-16

    2015-16 to 2016-17

    Percentage of CQC costs recovered through fees in 2016-17

    NHS Trusts

    0%

    3%

    9%

    75%

    67%

    Adult social care – residential

    0%

    0%

    9%

    12%

    96%

    Adult social care – community

    0%

    1%

    9%

    72%

    44%

    Independent healthcare – hospitals

    0%

    3%

    9%

    12%

    96%

    Independent healthcare – community

    0%

    12%

    0%

    5%

    98%

    Independent healthcare – single specialty

    0%

    3%

    9%

    0%

    96%

    Dentists

    6%

    9%

    0%

    0%

    100%

    National Health Service GPs

    n/a

    2%

    9%

    255%

    56%

    ¹To establish the average percentage increase the CQC has compared the fees in each fee band by category and then taken the average increase per category. In most cases the increase is consistent for each band within the category.

  • Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the budget is of the Mk4A upgrade programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK currently fields the Trident Mk4 warhead as part of the Trident Strategic Weapons System. In order to ensure continuity of the Mk4-based capability, the Mk4A Arming, Fuzing and Firing system is a non-nuclear component being introduced into the UK Trident warhead to replace a similar component. The Mk4A programme will not increase the destructive power of the warhead.

    Approval to procure the new Arming, Firing and Fuzing mechanisms, to manage obsolescence in Mk4 and to adopt a Mk4A component was given in January 2006. I am withholding further details of the date of the Mk4A component’s entry into service, the cost of the Mk4A programme and the extension in operational life expected for the purposes of safeguarding national security.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32920, where the allegations of fraudulent benefit claims are collected.

    Caroline Nokes

    There are a variety of ways that allegations of Benefit Fraud are received by the DWP including telephone calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH), online and letter. Once an allegation has been received and, if it meets the required criteria containing enough information, a Fraud Referral Form (FRF) is completed which is then entered into the internal Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS).

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with EU Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas on potential discrimination against UK academics who bid for EU funding.

    Joseph Johnson

    I am in close contact with Commissioner Moedas, who has responsibility for EU science, research and innovation and we have both publicly emphasised the importance of continuing to work together to produce high quality research. In addition, the European Commission has made it clear that while the UK remains a member of the EU, proposals from, or including, UK applicants must be treated in the same way as applications from other Member States. The Department remains vigilant and open to evidence of problems in this area. Specific instances of these problems can be fed back to the email address research@beis.gov.uk.

    “