Category: Speeches

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-04-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of road vehicles in Great Britain are fitted with efficient particulate filters; and what assessment they have made of the potential benefit from fitting such devices.

    Baroness Kramer

    We have no firm information, but our best current estimate is that about seventeen percent of cars currently in use are fitted with wall-flow diesel particulate filters. We have made no estimate of the proportion of lorries, buses, and coaches that are fitted with diesel particulate filters. Reduction in airborne particulate has clear public health benefits. Some 29,000 premature deaths are estimated to occur each year as a result of airborne particulate, and poor air quality has health costs estimated at £15 billion annually for the UK.

  • Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries were open at least five hours per week outside 9am to 5pm on weekdays in each of the years (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The detail requested is not held centrally by this Department and nor is it collected by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy as part of the annual public library statistics provided by individual library authorities.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the (a) median and (b) mean (i) annual and (ii) hourly salary is for (A) men and (B) women in Government-sponsored apprenticeship schemes; and what those figures were in each of the last five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    In 2012, the median gross hourly wage for an Apprentice in England was £6.09. The mean was £6.21. In 2011, the equivalent gross hourly wages were £5.83 and £5.80.

    For females, in 2011, the median gross hourly wage was £5.96 and the mean £5.88. In 2012, these were £6.19 and £6.23 respectively.

    For males, in 2011, the median gross hourly wage was £5.43 and the mean £5.71. In 2012, these were £5.93 and £6.19 respectively.

    Please note that the only available data we have for Apprenticeship Pay is for 2012 and 2011, from the two Apprenticeship Pay Surveys (APS). These surveys do not calculate an annual wage from the survey responses as the hours Apprentices work are variable. There was a pay survey conducted in 2007, but this is not considered to be comparable with the two later years.

    Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012

    “

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the near cash projected spending on the Equipment Plan and Equipment Support Plan is for each year to 2018.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Projected spending on the Equipment Plan and Equipment Support Plan is detailed in the annual Defence Equipment Plan. The most recent edition was published on 12 February 2014.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279440/defence_equipment_plan_2013.pdf

  • Toby Perkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Toby Perkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when Ministers in his Department met officials from the Insolvency Service to discuss insolvency practitioner (a) fees and (b) partial licences in the last 12 months.

    Jenny Willott

    Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills meet with officials from the Insolvency Service on a regular basis to discuss a wide variety of insolvency issues.

  • Steve Baker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve Baker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Baker on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) feasibility and (b) cost to the public purse of enabling supply teachers to contribute to the teachers’ pension scheme.

    Mr David Laws

    Supply teachers are able to participate in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) where they are employed by an ‘accepted employer’. In the main, these are local authorities (LAs), academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the accepted employer. The LA, academy or further education college is responsible for meeting a number of obligations that fall to employers under the teachers’ pensions regulations, not least of which is to pay the employer contribution to the TPS.

    However, where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by the supply agency, and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS. This is because the Department for Education cannot mandate that private sector employers participate in the scheme.

    It is for LAs, academies and further education colleges to determine how supply teachers are employed – which can in turn enable access to the TPS under the current arrangements.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to which local authorities he has written about their compliance with the Publicity Code asking them to take steps to ensure complete compliance with that Code; and whether each of these letters was copied to the Leader of the Opposition of the local authority.

    Brandon Lewis

    [Holding Reply: Monday 7 April 2014]

    On 25 March, Departmental officials wrote to the Chief Executives of every principal local authority in England, advising how the Secretary of State is minded to exercise his powers to direct compliance with the Code of Recommended Practice on local Authority Publicity. On the same day, I wrote individually to the Leaders of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London Borough of Hackney, Newham Council, Nottingham City Council, Tower Hamlets Council and the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Without prejudicing any formal consideration by the Secretary of State, I observed that there were suggestions that those councils in particular might not be complying with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity. I suggested that prior to the Secretary of State’s new powers for directing compliance with the Code on publicity coming on-stream at the end of March, they take steps to ensure that their council is in complete compliance with the provisions of the Code. Those letters were copied where applicable to the Leaders of the opposition in those authorities.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings he has had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser in the last 12 months.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I have regular meetings with the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser in my capacity as Foreign and Commonwealth Office Science Champion. However, as was the case under previous administrations, details of these internal meetings are not normally disclosed.

  • David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Blunkett on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Written Statement of 27 March 2014, Official Report, columns 35-6WS, on primary and 16-to-19 assessment and accountability, what account will be taken of the progress made by children who have entered the school beyond the baseline reception assessment procedure, but who do not warrant exemption under the final two years prior to Key Stage 2 exams.

    Mr David Laws

    Schools will continue to be expected to assess all of their pupils upon entering school and track their progress. Ofsted will expect to see evidence that pupils are making appropriate progress, with inspections informed by the school’s data on pupil progress. Assessment at key stage 1 will remain a statutory requirement.

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people received funding through the Cancer Drugs Fund in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.

    Norman Lamb

    Prior to April 2013, information on the Cancer Drugs Fund was administered through clinical panels based in each strategic health authority (SHA) and data on the number of patients who received funding in each constituency and city was not collected. Information on the number of patients funded in West Midlands SHA and England in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 is shown as follows:

    Number of patients funded in 2010-11

    Number of patients funded in 2011-12

    Number of patients funded in 2012-13

    Total number of patients funded since Oct 20101

    West Midlands SHA

    292

    1,658

    1,534

    3,484

    England

    2,780

    11,798

    15,456

    30,034

    1 Some individual patients may be double-counted where a patient has received more than one drug treatment through the Cancer Drugs Fund

    Source: Information provided to the Department by SHAs

    NHS England has had oversight of the Fund since April 2013 and publishes information on patient numbers routinely on its website at:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/

    In 2013-14, 5,695 patients in the Midlands and East region and 19,282 patients in England received funding through the Fund. In addition, 28 individual cancer drugs fund request applications were approved by the Cancer Drugs Fund panel in the Midlands and East region with 278 applications approved nationally.