Category: Speeches

  • Lord Mawhinney – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Mawhinney – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what date the new trustees of the Royal Palace at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, were announced; and who has been appointed.

    Baroness Randerson

    On 24 March 2014, a press release was issued stating “The Northern Ireland Office and Historic Royal Palaces are pleased to announce that they have today signed a contract confirming that Historic Royal Palaces will take over responsibility for management and presentation of Hillsborough Castle as planned, with effect from 1 April 2014.”

    No new trustees were appointed specifically to Hillsborough Castle, but details of the current trustees of Historic Royal Palaces can be found at:

    http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/whoweare/currenttrustees.

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on agency workers to cover uniformed operational support staff in each month since January 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m. We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our use of contractors and look for further reductions.

    In responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff. As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.

    Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term. Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.

    Uniform operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors and their vehicles.

    1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on clerical agency staff across –

    January 2014 – £2,983,633.14 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)

    June 2014 – £658,700.28 (1 week period)

    2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational support staff –

    January 2014 – £1,082,247 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £1,420,329 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £1,137,834 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £1,249,908 (4 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,282,468 (5 week period)

    The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible workers from 1st April 2014.

    3) The following number of clerical agency staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 1571 (Average headcount)

    February 2014 – 1634 (Average headcount)

    March 2014 – 1624 (Average headcount)

    April 2014 – 1578 (Average headcount)

    May 2014 – 1644 (Average headcount)

    June 2014 – 1674 (Average headcount)

    4) The following number of uniform operational support staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 697 (Peak worker number)

    February 2014 – 845 (Peak worker number)

    March 2014 – 867 (Peak worker number)

    April 2014 – 853 (Peak worker number)

    May 2014 – 855 (Peak worker number)

    June 2014 – Peak worker number not available yet.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much he estimates will have to be spent protecting the High Speed 2 track on phase 1 and phase 2 against the effects of mining subsidence; and whether that sum is included in the overall projected cost.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    On Phase One there are no specific allowances relating to mining subsidence in the cost estimate as there is no active mining below the route, nor any recorded abandoned mining shown in the publically available records that have been researched. Physical ground investigations and desktop studies of existing of records will be undertaken prior to construction of the railway, and allowances have been made in both the cost estimate and the project contingency for any ground treatments that are identified.

    On Phase Two there is an allowance within the cost estimate for the risks around crossing open cast quarries, mines and landfill sites and the current level of design reflects where appropriate the difficulty of crossing these type of areas.

  • Lord Hughes of Woodside – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Hughes of Woodside – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hughes of Woodside on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 11 June (WA 387), whether they will publish in the Official Report the increase or decrease in crime statistics since 2010 for each of the Police Authorities in England and Wales, including London, and for each area covered by Police and Crime Commissioners.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients there are of disability living allowance, by parliamentary constituency.

    Mike Penning

    The information requested is already published and can be found at:

    http://83.244.183.180/100pc/dla/ccparlc/ccsex/a_carate_r_ccparlc_c_ccsex_aug13.html

    “

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they and their allies are able to promote local truces in Syria and to help such truces to become more permanent.

    Baroness Warsi

    Assad’s regime has been using siege tactics against civilian populations, sometimes forcing them into a position where they accept a truce as a way of being allowed food and medicine. We saw this approach in Homs, and elsewhere. We do not believe that this is a model which should be replicated in other places in Syria. UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2139 called for an end to the regime’s use of siege tactics, and for aid to reach those who need it. This is not currently happening, as the UN has made clear in its last three reports on UNSCR 2139. The regime bears primary responsibility for the humanitarian crisis, and Resolution 2139 must be implemented in full. Only a political settlement, based on the principles of the Geneva Communiqué, can bring about a lasting settlement.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the evidential basis was of his decision to withdraw Government support from Cheshire Employer and Skills Development Limited (CE&SDL); what assessment he made of the performance of CE&SDL in (a) developing (i) work-based learning and (ii) any other skills, (b) encouraging apprenticeships and (c) other respects in the period (A) following its founding and (B) at the time it was required to cease its activities; and what representations his Department received for and against its decision to withdraw support.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government did not withdraw funding from CE&SDL. In 2007, at the request of CE&SDL, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) transferred the contract for skills provision from CE&SDL to a successor legal entity, Total People. CE&SDL continued to operate when the contract was transferred to Total People but did not directly receive any further funding nor did it acquire funding as a subcontractor. It was dissolved as a company in April 2014. The Skills Funding Agency, as the LSC’s successor, continued to fund Total People, and still does so today.

    Both the earliest and latest performance data available demonstrate a mixed picture. Prior to 2007 CE&SDL’s performance was below the national average. After 2007, and the transfer of contact to Total People, performance was stronger and sometimes higher than national average.

    Neither the Government nor the Skills Funding Agency has received any representations about this organisation.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the ambulance service 999 response rates have been over the past two years.

    Earl Howe

    The following table shows performance against the response time standards for all ambulance trusts in England in the last two financial years.

    Table: Monthly performance of ambulance trusts in England for category A calls, 2012-13 and 2013-14

    Year

    Month

    Of all Category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes

    2012-13

    April

    76.2%

    –

    –

    96.7%

    2012-13

    May

    74.8%

    –

    –

    96.3%

    2012-13

    June

    –

    75.6%

    77.5%

    96.6%

    2012-13

    July

    –

    75.3%

    77.4%

    96.4%

    2012-13

    August

    –

    75.1%

    78.1%

    96.5%

    2012-13

    September

    –

    75.1%

    75.9%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    October

    –

    74.9%

    76.5%

    96.2%

    2012-13

    November

    –

    73.2%

    76.0%

    96.1%

    2012-13

    December

    –

    70.4%

    70.8%

    94.6%

    2012-13

    January

    –

    73.5%

    75.8%

    95.8%

    2012-13

    February

    –

    74.1%

    75.3%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    March

    –

    73.4%

    73.8%

    95.4%

    2012-13

    Full year

    75.5%

    74.0%

    75.6%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    April

    –

    75.4%

    76.0%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    May

    –

    77.9%

    77.8%

    96.9%

    2013-14

    June

    –

    77.4%

    77.1%

    96.7%

    2013-14

    July

    –

    75.5%

    74.0%

    95.8%

    2013-14

    August

    –

    77.0%

    75.3%

    96.2%

    2013-14

    September

    –

    75.1%

    73.8%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    October

    –

    74.6%

    73.6%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    November

    –

    74.1%

    73.0%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    December

    –

    72.8%

    71.7%

    95.4%

    2013-14

    January

    –

    76.4%

    76.3%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    February

    –

    75.2%

    74.0%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    March

    –

    76.2%

    74.7%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    Full year

    –

    75.6%

    74.8%

    96.1%

    Source: NHS England, ambulance quality indicators

    Notes:

    1. Ambulance service response times were split in June 2012 in to the most time critical (Red 1) and serious but less time critical (Red 2).

    2. Category A Red 1 calls are the most time critical and cover cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse, and other severe conditions.

    3. Category Red 2 calls are serious but less immediately time critical and cover conditions such as stroke and fits, and a new clock start will allow call handlers to get more information about patients.

    4. Category A19 is the total number of Category A calls (Red 1 and Red 2) which resulted in a fully equipped ambulance vehicle (car or ambulance) able to transport the patient in a clinically safe manner arriving at the scene within 19 minutes of the request being made.

    The Government is aware of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services. The Urgent and Emergency Care Review is currently considering whole system change to the delivery of urgent and emergency care, including new models of delivery of care for ambulance services. The first phase of the review was published last November, and we expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.

  • Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Bill Esterson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 81W, on academies, for what reason bodies which run academy chains are not inspected by Ofsted separately from the individual schools run by the academy chains.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Ofsted already inspects academy chains through batched inspections of schools within chains. It has recently undertaken focused inspections of academies within E-ACT multi-academy trust, and has previously inspected a group of academies within the AET chain. This has shown to be an effective approach and there are no plans to widen Ofsted’s legal powers to include the inspection of head offices.

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Department in the last parliamentary Session did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation; and when each such question was first tabled.

    Jenny Willott

    Ministers and officials in this Department attach the highest priority to answering written Parliamentary Questions (PQs) accurately and on time. All PQs tabled in the last session of Parliament received a substantive answer from the Department by the time of the 2014 Prorogation.