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Category: Speeches

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the appropriateness of the application of the CITES Annex 1 listing to elephants; and what assessment she has made of the potential effect of that listing on the domestic trade in ivory.

    Rory Stewart

    All proposals for the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are currently being assessed against the established scientific criteria for listings set out in the Convention. Where justified by the scientific evidence, the UK will advocate further protection to support the survival of endangered species. This includes in negotiations with the Member States of the EU to ensure that our positions on proposals are taken into account before the final negotiating position for the EU and its Member States is agreed.

    If the elephant uplisting proposal is successful at CoP17, it will prohibit international, commercial trade in ivory apart from in exceptional circumstances. The commercial use of ivory would generally be prohibited domestically, subject to certain exemptions, such as for worked, older pre-Convention items.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of agricultural produce imported from the Republic of Ireland in the last year for which figures are available.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    In 2015, according to the latest HMRC data, the UK imported approximately £4 billion of goods relating to food, animal feed and drinks, as detailed in the table below:

    UK imports of food, feed and drink from Republic of Ireland, 2015.

    SITC

    Division

    Code

    Description

    £ million

    01

    Meat

    1 384

    02

    Dairy

    648

    03

    Fish

    38

    04

    Cereals

    285

    05

    Fruit and Veg

    250

    06

    Sugar

    41

    07

    Coffee, tea, etc.

    184

    08

    Animal feed

    188

    09

    Misc.

    653

    11

    Drink

    273

    22+S4

    Oils

    39

    Total

    3 983

    Defra’s aggregate ‘Food, Feed and Drink’ is composed of the following divisions from the Standard International Trade Classification:

    01 Meat: meat from cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry, horses etc.

    02 Dairy: includes milk, milk products, and all types of eggs.

    03 Fish: All types of edible marine life excluding mammals.

    04 Cereals: includes rice, wheat, barley, oats, maize etc.

    05 Fruit and vegetables: includes fruit and vegetables, nuts (exc. groundnuts), juices, jams, marmalades etc.

    06 Sugar: includes sugar and sugar confectionery (exc. chocolate or cocoa), honey and liquorice.

    07 Coffee, tea, etc.: includes all types of coffee and tea, cocoa, chocolate and spices.

    08 Animal feed: includes hay, fodder, bran, sharps, and all types of pet or animal food.

    09 Miscellaneous: includes margarine, sauces, vinegar, soups, yeasts, cooked/stuffed pasta and baby food.

    11 Drink: includes alcoholic drinks of all kinds and natural or artificial waters.

    22+S4 Oils: includes animal/vegetable oils, fats and waxes; groundnuts (peanuts), soya beans and seeds.

    Source: HMRC

    © Crown copyright, 2016

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times the National Grid has used the demand side balancing reserve in each of the last 10 years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) was introduced by National Grid ahead of winter 14/15 to help manage electricity margins ahead of the introduction of the Capacity Market in 2018/19. Since its introduction, the DSBR has only been despatched on one occasion.

    Both last year and this year, National Grid will have instructed units within the DSBR as part of testing their capability to ensure they are able to achieve the level and speed of turn-down for which they are contracted.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the personal fitness and health of police officers.

    Mike Penning

    The Winsor review of police officer and staff pay and conditions, which the Home Secretary commissioned, recommended in March 2012 that fitness testing should be introduced. Following consideration by the Police Advisory Board, mandatory fitness testing was implemented on 1 September 2014.

    The management of initiatives that support officers to improve fitness is a matter for individual police forces and the College of Policing has issued guidance in this area.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many beds are (a) funded for and (b) provided by the Youth Justice Board at Medway Secure Training College.

    Andrew Selous

    The Youth Justice Board funds all 76 beds at Medway Secure Training Centre. The beds are provided by the contractor, G4S.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on extension of their remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations.

    Ben Gummer

    In 2015-16, Health Ministers have not met the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) specifically to discuss extending its remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations. However, Ministers do keep the issue of professional regulation under regular review and the Department has frequent discussions with professional regulators, including the NMC. Such discussions can cover a range of subjects including complaints handling and fitness to practise (FtP) processes.

    The NMC has a statutory duty to investigate if an allegation is made that a nurse or midwife does not meet its professional standards and, where necessary, to take action to safeguard the health and well-being of the public. Such investigations do not extend to investigating concerns, or their root cause, beyond determining the FtP of the individual registered nurse or midwife involved.

    The NMC reports that it works closely with other regulatory bodies, such as the Care Quality Commission and shares information that raises systemic concerns. As part of its 2015-20 strategy the NMC committed to sharing its data with other bodies responsible for quality and safety and to make anonymised data available to third parties where appropriate.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current average waiting time is for a decision on a naturalisation application in (a) the UK and (b) Leeds.

    James Brokenshire

    The average length of time taken to consider naturalisation applications in the UK is 135.12 days. In Leeds postal code area the average length of time is 167 days. Both of these figures relate to the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, which is the most recent period for which statistics on the number of applications considered have been published.

    For straightforward applications where the customer has met all their obligations, the service standard is that 98.5% of cases will be processed within 6 months (183 calendar days).

  • Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 23 March (HL7048) about the change of use of the Peers’ TV Room, what happened to the armchairs that used to be in that room.

    Lord Laming

    The chairs are in existing storage facilities.

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what treatments are commissioned by specialist centres for severe asthma.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England commissions severe asthma services in line with national specifications to ensure that patient numbers are sufficient to support safe, quality service provision. It is revising the severe asthma service specification which is expected to be published later in 2016.

    Nationally there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services.

    NHS England does not specify travel distances for patients attending treatment for severe asthma.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make representations to the relevant French authorities to ensure that humanitarian convoys destined for Calais refugee camps are not impeded.

    James Brokenshire

    The decision to allow entry to France is a matter for the French authorities.