Category: Speeches

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral Answer of 12 January 2016, Official Report, column 697, on how many occasions the Government has used personnel who are present as a quick check when a report has been received of a potential breach of international humanitarian law in Yemen.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We have a very small number of staff working in Saudi headquarters in a liaison capacity only to provide insight into Saudi operations. These liaison officers are not involved in the targeting process – whether it be the selection, decision making or directing. They remain under UK command and control.

    The role of the liaison officers is to maintain an information flow with the Saudi authorities. When concerns are raised by non-governmental organisations, or in the media, liaison officers pass all available information back to the UK. This will help inform our assessment of compliance with international humanitarian law which is taken in Whitehall.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of students enrolled in the English Baccalaureate in each year since its inception; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Information on the percentage of pupils entered for the components of the English Baccalaureate between 2009/10 and 2014/15 is published in the Statistical First Release “Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015”. [1]

    [1] 2014/15 revised table can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/494052/SFR01_2016_National_Tables.xlsx. (Table 1b)

    “

  • Lord Horam – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Horam – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Horam on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homes were completed in each London Borough in the latest year for which figures are available; and how many homes were sold under the Right to Buy in each of those London Boroughs in the same year.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The figures requested are provided in the table below:

    London Borough

    Dwellings completed in 20151

    Right to Buy sales in 20152

    Barking and Dagenham

    649

    216

    Barnet

    1,500

    89

    Bexley

    603

    ..

    Brent

    708

    60

    Bromley

    676

    ..

    Camden

    711

    140

    City of London

    10

    5

    Croydon

    1,687

    160

    Ealing

    756

    105

    Enfield

    610

    144

    Greenwich

    1,874

    240

    Hackney

    623

    241

    Hammersmith and Fulham

    290

    82

    Haringey

    651

    177

    Harrow

    561

    28

    Havering

    1,084

    86

    Hillingdon

    537

    136

    Hounslow

    1,043

    183

    Islington

    189

    176

    Kensington and Chelsea

    1,119

    36

    Kingston upon Thames

    46

    37

    Lambeth

    1,302

    228

    Lewisham

    1,118

    111

    Merton

    158

    ..

    Newham

    691

    330

    Redbridge

    492

    46

    Richmond upon Thames

    121

    ..

    Southwark

    1,466

    278

    Sutton

    194

    52

    Tower Hamlets

    1,138

    264

    Waltham Forest

    1,081

    100

    Wandsworth

    761

    47

    Westminster

    166

    51

    1 source: Live Table 253a https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

    2 source: Live Table 691 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales

    Figures exclude Preserved Right to Buy

    .. Local Authority owns no dwelling stock.

    “

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the cost of establishing the Green Deal Finance Company in (a) payments to consultants and (b) other costs.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC has made no payments to consultants in establishing the Green Deal Finance Company, but in other costs payments of £10,294.26 in legal support were made in 2014/15.

    The Green Deal Finance Company has not been closed. It is not currently issuing new loans, but continues to collect repayments from its existing loan book. In July 2015, DECC took the decision that the case for further investment was not strong enough in terms of value for money. This decision has no impact on existing Green Deal Finance Plans or existing Green Deal Home Improvement Fund applications and vouchers.

    The Green Deal Finance Company is a private company and has its own internal costs which are not included in this estimate.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when NHS England plans to publish its response to its consultation on developing a method to assist investment decisions in specialised services.

    George Freeman

    The proposed prioritisation methodology which went out to consultation was signed off by the Specialised Commissioning Committee at its meeting on 31 May 2016 – for use in 2016/17.

    The consultation outcome document will now be published on the website imminently.

    There will be further work undertaken on the methodology in due course to refine and improve it for use in future years.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what account his Department takes of the short and long-term economic effect of the number of births in a household in setting the level of welfare benefits.

    Damian Hinds

    The law relating to the annual increases to certain social security benefits, known as up-rating, is set out in the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many civil servants who work for his Department work in each EU member state other than the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Jones

    All departments are equipping themselves with the resources they need to get the best deal for the UK. The Department for Exiting the European Union now has over 250 staff all based in the UK plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and we are still growing rapidly.

  • Alex Chalk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alex Chalk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of the average electricity bill was attributable to the levy imposed by the Levy Control Framework to meet the cost of feed-in tariffs in 2014-15.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The costs of the small scale Feed-in Tariffs scheme in 2014/15 are estimated to have accounted for around 2 percent, on average, of the household electricity bill.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether his Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether his Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the United Kingdom – so we can 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.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been extradited from Bangladesh to the UK in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015 the UK has extradited two people from Bangladesh. These extraditions occurred in 2010 and in 2011.