Category: Speeches

  • Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what arrangements she is planning for the publication of indicators relating to her Department’s strategic framework for economic development; and when she plans to publish such indicators.

    Justine Greening

    Building on initial work, DFID is continuing to develop further results indicators to reflect economic development priorities and an update on progress is due by July 2015.

  • Zac Goldsmith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Zac Goldsmith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2015-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had on the ring-fencing of slots for domestic air services to Heathrow Airport in the event of a third runway being opened at that airport with (a) Heathrow Airport, (b) the Airports Commission, (c) ACL and (d) devolved and regional bodies.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Secretary of State for Transport has had no discussions with Heathrow Airport, the Airports Commission, the slot co-ordinator ACL, or devolved or regional bodies concerning the ring-fencing of slots for domestic air services to London Heathrow Airport in the event of a third runway being opened at the airport.

  • Lord Framlingham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Framlingham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Framlingham on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the incidence of ash dieback in the United Kingdom in the last year as compared with earlier years.

    Lord De Mauley

    The total aggregate number of sites with confirmed findings of Chalara at the end of calendar year 2014 was 949. This includes wider environment findings, recently planted trees and nursery sites.

    This had increased from a total of 615 at the end of calendar year 2013, and 323 at the end of calendar year 2012. The first findings of Chalara in the UK were during 2012.

    An interactive map showing the geographical distribution of Chalara in the UK is available on the Forestry Commission website and is updated on a monthly basis.

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent humanitarian trade between Iran and the United Kingdom is exempt from sanctions; to what extent the Joint Plan of Action has facilitated this trade, if at all; and what humanitarian and cultural trade is taking place.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    EU sanctions against Iran do not prevent Iran from purchasing humanitarian goods such as food and medicines. The UK issues as a priority licenses for transactions for these goods. Furthermore, the Joint Plan of Action includes provisions to make humanitarian trade with Iran easier. Medicinal and pharmaceutical exports from the UK to Iran in 2014 were £16,551,536.

  • Lord Greaves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Greaves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the rate and extent of the spread of Lyme disease in (1) the United Kingdom, (2) other parts of the European Union, and (3) other parts of the world.

    Earl Howe

    Public Health England monitors laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease (also known as Lyme borreliosis) in England and Wales, devolved administrations of Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate local arrangements in place.

    The rate of laboratory-confirmed Lyme borreliosis and its regional distribution in England and Wales has not changed significantly in recent years, data for 2013 will be published shortly.

    Assessment of Lyme borreliosis in other European Union (EU) countries is co-ordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Reporting systems and criteria are not standardised throughout EU countries and this data is not routinely collected by ECDC. Therefore as an assessment of Lyme borreliosis using routinely collected data across the EU is not available.

    Reporting of Lyme borreliosis worldwide is co-ordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) based on the heterogeneous reporting systems and criteria adopted by individual countries.

  • Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what future plans they have to increase the provisions for free training linked to the Employer Skills Fund to eligible small and medium-sized businesses.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Employer Skills Fund is a project run in the Liverpool City Region under a consortium led by Wirral Metropolitan College co-funded by the Skills Funding Agency and the European Social Fund. Support will come to an end on 31 July 2015 when the current European Structural and Innovation Funds programme expires.

    The new European Structural and Innovation Funds programme which will run to 2020 is currently being finalised. The Skills Funding Agency is working with Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership to determine whether any programmes similar to the Employer Skills Fund will be established depending on local priorities.

    More generally, we are reforming the skills system so that it is increasingly responsive to local communities and businesses. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), through initiatives such as City Deals and Local Growth Deals, have increasing influence over the delivery of skills that support the priorities described in their Strategic Economic Plans. This includes LEPs taking the lead role in determining the use of European Social Fund allocations in the next round (2014-2020).

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Whitaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report by the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups, Civil Society Monitoring on the Implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategy in the United Kingdom in 2012 and 2013, and the report Overcoming barriers by Ofsted, what plans they have to encourage local authorities to appoint leaders to drive forward strategies to improve outcomes for Roma school students.

    Lord Nash

    Local authorities have an important role to play in promoting better outcomes for Roma pupils. They are best placed to determine how to organise their local arrangements to support these pupils and should consider issues highlighted in the reports referred to by the noble Lady.

    To support local authorities, the Department for Education funded two local authorities to trial a ‘virtual headteacher’ for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, with responsibility for supporting schools to promote better outcomes for this group. The effective practice identified has been circulated to every local authority.

    The Department will work with its Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Education Stakeholder Group, chaired by the noble Lady, to discuss ways for all the parties to encourage local action to improve provision and pupils’ outcomes.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average (a) output in number of units per annum and (b) annual turnover is of the firms that have been allocated funds through the Builders Finance Fund.

    Brandon Lewis

    The fund will make investments over two years from 2015/16 to 2016/17. The funds must be drawn down by 31 March 2017.

    The shortlisted bids to the Builders Finance Fund are currently undergoing due diligence and have the ability to deliver over 10,000 new homes. We have recently expanded the scope of the fund to enable smaller builders with schemes between 5 and 15 units to access this funding and the Homes and Communities Agency are currently engaging with the market to seek further bids for such schemes. The first contracts are due to be completed in the Spring with the first homes expected to be started in the first half of 2015.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Seema Malhotra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funding his Department has provided for refuges for women fleeing domestic violence in each year since 2010.

    Kris Hopkins

    Decisions on the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic abuse are for local authorities. We expect local authorities to commission services based on the needs of their communities, taking account of locally available data sources.

    Government does not directly fund domestic abuse refuges, however, this Government has invested £6.5 billion to help vulnerable people through housing related support. A proportion of this money will be used by local authorities to commission refuge services. In addition we have made over £500 million available since 2010 to local authorities and the voluntary sector to prevent and tackle homelessness and rough sleeping including support for victims of domestic abuse.

    In November 2014 we made available £10 million (2014-16) for local authorities, working with specialist domestic abuse service providers, to stop the closure of refuges and improve and grow existing provision. We also issued new statutory guidance that makes clear the practice of providing refuge to support only to local victims is unacceptable and it also set out clear standards that refuge services should meet.

    The dynamics of domestic abuse mean that accommodation can play an important role in the resolution of interpersonal abuse and conflict. This is why the homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and for vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own.

    We also fund UKRefugesOnline a UK wide database of domestic violence services which supports the national 24 hour free phone domestic violence helpline. This service enables those working with victims of domestic violence to identify appropriate services and potential refuge vacancies around the country so that victims can get the help they need as quickly as possible.

    In addition, this Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of funding for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services until 2015. This funding is used to part-fund 54 multi-agency risk assessment conference co-ordinators and 144 independent domestic violence advisers. We have piloted and rolled out Clare’s Law and domestic violence protection orders; extended the definition of domestic abuse to cover controlling behaviour and teenage relationships; run two successful campaigns to challenge perceptions of abuse; and placed Domestic Homicide Reviews on a statutory footing to make sure lessons are learned from individual tragedies. More recently the Home Secretary announced our intention to table an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill at Commons Committee stage to create a new offence of domestic abuse. The amendment was tabled on 8 January and closes the gap in the current legal framework to capture repeated or continuous coercive and controlling behaviour, specifically where that behaviour takes place in an ongoing intimate partner or inter-familial relationship.

  • Stephen Barclay – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Barclay – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Barclay on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 4.2 of the report of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism, published in December 2013, in how many areas of the country delivery of Prevent has been made a legal requirement.

    James Brokenshire

    The report from the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism committed the Government to ‘make delivery of Prevent a legal requirement in those areas of the country where extremism is of particular concern’. Chapter 1 of Part 5 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill places a duty on specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. These proposals will make the delivery of Prevent a legal requirement across England, Scotland, and Wales.