Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23481, of the 57 breaches in handling secure materials there identified, how many breaches concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable prior to April 2014, namely (a) top secret, (b) secret, (c) confidential, (d) restricted, (e) protected and (f) unclassified; and how many breaches concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable from April 2014, namely (i) top secret, (ii) secret and (iii) official-sensitive or official.

    Mr David Lidington

    The figures quoted in my answer of 28 January to written question 23481 referred only to the period since April 2014. The information on breaches prior to April 2014 are not held centrally and could be collated only at disproportionate cost. The number of breaches from April 2014 onwards are as follows:

    Classification:
    Top Secret

    Number:
    1

    Comment:
    There was no loss of data related to this breach.

    Classification:
    Secret

    Number:
    0

    Classification:
    Confidential

    Number:
    12

    Comment:
    The Confidential classification pre-dates the introduction of the Government Security Classifications (GSCs).

    Classification:
    Official-Sensitive

    Number:
    43

    Comment:
    Official – Sensitive is not a classification under GSC and is a caveat. Materials designated Official or Official-Sensitive does have a level of protection; however loss of its control does not warrant a breach as per existing Cabinet Office guidelines.

    Classification:
    Official

    Number:
    1

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many responses his Department received to the devolving Sunday trading rules consultation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department received 7,171 responses to that consultation.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer to Question 31603, from which funding stream the additional £130 million funding for repair of roads and bridges damaged by Storms Desmond and Eva will be taken.

    Andrew Jones

    The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 16 March 2016 as part of the Budget 2016 that the Government will be allocating a further £130 million to those authorities affected by this winter’s Storms. This funding is on top of the £49 million already committed to repair transport infrastructure damaged by Storms Desmond and Eva. This funding is being met by savings made by the Department for Transport in other transport programmes during the 2015/16 financial year.

    This funding is in addition to the £6.1 billion we are providing to local highway authorities in England for local highways maintenance between now and 2021.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether there is still a development case for bilateral aid for India and Turkey; and whether they have plans to end bilateral aid to those, and similar, countries.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK does not have a bilateral aid programme in Turkey. We help Turkey address the consequences of the Syria crisis and migration challenges as the country hosts the highest number of refugees in the world, by providing support to refugees in Turkey, jointly with international partners.

    The UK’s bilateral aid programme in India has changed with India’s development. A middle-income country and major trading partner, India is still home to one third of the world’s poorest people. The UK ceased its traditional aid programme to India in 2015, and our support now focuses on promoting inclusive economic development, both reducing poverty and strengthening UK trade and investment opportunities.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to close attainment gaps within schools in the north of England that are rated good or outstanding.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department’s recent White Paper, Educational excellence everywhere, sets out the action we are taking to support all pupils to reach their full potential and close the gaps in attainment that exist between different groups.

    The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is closing at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4. Our protection of the pupil premium at current rates for the remainder of the Parliament will help schools to build on this success. In 2015-16 we provided schools in the north of England with £768 million of pupil premium funding. We are supporting schools to make more effective use of the pupil premium, including by appointing a teaching school in each region to champion the use of the pupil premium. These schools will train successful school leaders to review the way schools are using the pupil premium and to act as regional hubs for effective practice.

    Schools will continue to be held to account for the standard of education they provide for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, through performance tables and Ofsted inspection. Our new headline measure of school performance, Progress 8, will encourage schools to push every child to achieve their best. The results of disadvantaged pupils will be reported separately in the school performance tables, ensuring a focus on the attainment of this group. In line with our high expectations for all pupils, performance data will emphasise the difference between disadvantaged pupils in the school and other pupils nationally, rather than focussing on gaps within the school. Data on the performance of disadvantaged pupils will feed into the risk assessment process that Ofsted uses to assess whether good and outstanding providers have declined since their last inspection. This will inform Ofsted’s prioritisation of short inspections for good schools and the identification of any concerns about outstanding schools.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) Approved Premises have been operational and (b) people have resided in each of those premises in each year since 2010.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    100 Approved Premises have been operational since 2010. Figures on the number of individuals who have resided in each of the Approved Premises are not held centrally.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the drop in the value of sterling in recent months reflects the markets’ view of the likely future health of the UK economy.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and Her Majesty’s Government does not express a view on the level of exchange rates. Instead, the exchange rate is allowed to adjust flexibly in response to economic conditions and movements in sterling are determined by market forces.

    This framework means we do not need to introduce exchange rate controls.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for the introduction of a 50 mile per hour speed limit on single-carriageway rural roads, and whether they plan to consult on such a proposal.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There are no plans to decrease the speed limit to 50 mph on single carriageway rural roads.

    The Department for Transport has provided guidance to traffic authorities in the Speed Limit Circular 01/2013 – Setting Local Speed Limits. This encourages traffic authorities to keep speed limits under review, and to consider lower speed limits than the default, especially where there may be a relatively high number of bends, junctions or accesses.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Brandon Lewis

    The 2015 Spending Review set out settlements for departments and showed how the Government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.

    Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contingency planning her Department is undertaking to prepare for the possibility of a leave vote in the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain – so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.