Category: Speeches

  • Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many complaints were received by each ombudsman service in England in each of the last five years.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Government is considering recent reports of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) into how complaints about public services are handled. As part of this, the Cabinet Office is working to investigate further how public services can make best use of complaints and also to take a wider look at the role and powers of the Public Sector Ombudsmen. The Government will respond to the PASC in due course. I am happy to discuss this matter further with my Hon. Friend.

    The annual reports and accounts of the public service ombudsmen in the UK provide details of their performance over the past 12 months including information about complaints received.

  • Sir Edward Leigh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sir Edward Leigh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Edward Leigh on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to reform faith-based admissions to free schools.

    Michael Gove

    Faith designated free schools can use faith as a criterion for admitting up to 50% of their pupils, when oversubscribed. I have no plans to change this rule.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of export of refuse-derived fuel and solid recovered fuel for use in energy from waste plants overseas on the availability of such fuel for similar plants in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Dan Rogerson

    We published a call for evidence on the refuse-derived fuel market in England on 12 March. This included a request for evidence on the effect that exports of refuse-derived fuel had on its availability on the domestic market. The call for evidence closed on 9 May. We are currently analysing the evidence submitted, which will aid our understanding of the situation, help us to determine whether there is a need for some form of intervention and, if so, help us to develop policy options.

  • Clive Efford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Clive Efford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy trusts account returns remain outstanding.

    Edward Timpson

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Coventry South, Mr Jim Cunningham, on 18 March, Official Report Column 555W.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of revenue accruing to the Exchequer from air passenger duty in respect of (a) domestic and (b) international flights from each airport in Scotland in 2013-14.

    Nicky Morgan

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not collect information on the contribution to air passenger duty (APD) revenues made from flights to or from specific airports or countries.

    HMRC has published a set of statistics presenting estimates of the disaggregation of tax receipts between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disaggregation-of-hmrc-tax-receipts

    The estimate for the total amount of APD revenues attributable to Scotland in 2012/13 was £227 million. This estimate is not broken down by revenues from domestic and international flights.

    Information on APD revenues and passenger numbers by band is available at:

    https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutyBulletins.aspx

    Information on the number of passengers flying to and from UK airports is available at:

    http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=80&pagetype=88&pageid=3&sglid=3#Data

    “

  • Mr Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mr Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Tom Watson on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 325W, on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, how many NCA employees who work in Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command have arrest powers.

    Damian Green

    [holding answer 20 March 2014]

    I refer the Honourable Member to my reply of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 326W.

    The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command is fully integrated within the National Crime Agency (NCA). As part of the NCA, the CEOP Command is able to draw on the whole of the NCA’s resources. The NCA works as a flexible organisation and as such there will be NCA officers whose work covers a range of serious and organised crime threats.

    In total the NCA has 1,900 officers who currently hold arrest powers who can be called upon to tackle child exploitation. This number is for NCA permanent officers and does not include secondees or those attached to the NCA.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for passports have been made by residents in Kilmarnock and Loudoun in each of the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    Expected service standards for passport applications are given at
    www.gov.uk.

    Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the
    cost of collating it would be disproportionate.

    The table below shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of
    the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service
    standards.

    2013

    % straightforward applications processed within the published timescales

    % non-straightforward applications processed within the published timescales

    June

    100%

    97.8%

    July

    100%

    96.9%

    August

    100%

    96.4%

    September

    100%

    96.0%

    October

    100%

    95.9%

    November

    99.99%

    96.5%

    December

    99.99%

    96.3%

    2014

    January

    99.99%

    96.8%

    February

    99.98%

    98.1%

    March

    99.95%

    96.8%

    April

    98.59%

    99.6%

    May

    92.26%

    93.9%

  • Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has any plans to reduce the number of trains per hour on the East Coast Main Line from London to Newcastle following the opening of High Speed 2.

    Stephen Hammond

    It is too early to set the service pattern for the GB rail network in the 2020s and beyond. However, one of the key principles that will guide future service patterns is that all towns or cities which currently have a direct service to London will retain broadly comparable or better services once HS2 is complete. The future design, calling pattern and frequency of network services once HS2 opens will be developed openly, and in partnership.

  • Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what preliminary hearings in the case of Huber Ballesteros officals from the British Embassy in Bogota have attended.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UK cannot interfere in Colombia’s judicial process but will continue to raise any concerns regarding due process and conditions with the Colombian authorities.

    The Embassy is currently awaiting authorisation from the Municipal Criminal Court to visit Huber Ballesteros in prison.

    To date, the British Embassy has not yet been authorised to visit Huber Ballesteros in prison, this is despite requesting permission on six different occasions.

    No representatives of the British Embassy were able to attend the preliminary hearings in the case of Huber Ballesteros due to unrelated security concerns. His trial will take place on 26 and 27 of June and the British Embassy intends to send Officials to observe this.

  • Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of workplace nurseries available to staff in (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies in (i) 2010, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Department for Education, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not provide workplace nurseries for staff.

    The Department’s approach to childcare support focuses on providing flexibility for staff in arranging childcare provision. As part of the overall benefits package, the Department provides a childcare voucher scheme to help cover the cost of nursery and pre-school for children under school age and forms of out of school care for school age children. This enables staff with childcare responsibilities to be more flexible as to when and where they access childcare support.