Category: Speeches

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Brighton and Hove City Council on the finalisation of the City Plan for the area; and if he will make a statement.

    Nick Boles

    The Localism Act 2011 has strengthened the role of Local Plans and abolished the last Administration’s top-down Regional Strategies. Our streamlined National Planning Policy Framework strongly encourages areas to get up-to-date Local Plans in place, and we have been actively supporting councils in doing so. Local Plans now set the framework in which decisions on particular applications are taken, whether locally or at appeal, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

    The Brighton and Hove Local Plan is currently at examination before an independent Inspector and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the content of the Plan. However, I understand that the Inspector has agreed a programme of additional work with Brighton and Hove Council.

  • Nia Griffith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nia Griffith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how his Department defines the necessary level of human control for the operation of systems such as the Phalanx system in automatic mode.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Systems such as Phalanx are part of the multi-layered defence for our Units, which are governed by the appropriate Command decision processes employing Rules of Engagement authorised by the Ministry of Defence.

  • David Lammy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Lammy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will name each further education college in Greater London.

    Matthew Hancock

    Further Education Colleges incorporated under section 16 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 in Greater London are as follows:

    Barking and Dagenham College

    Barnet and Southgate College

    Bexley College

    Bromley College of Further and Higher Education

    Capel Manor College

    Carshalton College

    LeSoCo

    City and Islington College

    City of Westminster College

    College of North West London

    Croydon College

    Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College

    Greenwich Community College

    Hackney Community College

    Harrow College

    Havering College of Further and Higher Education

    Kensington and Chelsea College

    Kingston College

    Newham College of Further Education

    Redbridge College

    Richmond Adult and Community College

    Richmond upon Thames College

    South Thames College

    Stanmore College

    The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London

    Tower Hamlets College

    Uxbridge College

    Waltham Forest College

    West Thames College

    Westminster Kingsway College

    Further Education Colleges Designated under section 28 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 in Greater London

    Hillcroft College

    Marine Society College of the Sea

    Morley College

    Workers’ Educational Association

  • Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dobbin on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Drinking Water Inspectorate has conducted any research into the level of psychotropic drugs in UK drinking water.

    Dan Rogerson

    The Drinking Water Inspectorate has published the results of a study looking at the risk of pharmaceuticals and health care products in drinking water. This included consideration of commonly used compounds that might be considered to be "psychotropic".

    These include carbamezapine (an antiepileptic and mood stabilising medicine) and fluoxetine (antidepressant). Additionally, the study considered the illegal drug cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine (sold as a topical analgaesic). Cocaine and fluoxetine were not detected in any samples. Only minute traces of benzoylecgonine and carbamezapine at levels several orders of magnitude below therapeutic doses were found in a few samples. This study has informed water supply monitoring and risk management by water companies.

    The results of the study can be found on the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s website.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reasons the Government received from the Chinese government for the cancellation of the UK-China human rights dialogue in April 2014; and when the Government was informed of that cancellation.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Dialogue was originally scheduled for 15-16 April, but China informed us of its decision to postpone on 7 April. An open exchange of views on human rights is in the interests of both sides, and is an important part of our bilateral relationship. We are working with the Chinese government to reschedule the dialogue as soon as possible.

  • Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of EU state aid rules on the UK feed in tariff policy framework; and if he will make a statement.

    Gregory Barker

    The European Commission adopted new guidelines for Energy and Environmental Aid (EEAG) on 9 April. Existing schemes, such as the Feed-in Tariff scheme (FITs), are not required to be brought into line with these new guidelines for as long as the relevant scheme remains covered by its existing EU state aid approval. It would only need to be brought into line if we were to introduce a change to the scheme that would, in itself, require state aid notification, as this would be outside the existing approval. If, after consultation on any alterations to FITs, we were to propose such a change, we would consider the trade-offs and risks for the scheme as a whole before reaching a final policy decision.

  • Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much solar PV was installed under the 250kW to 5MW feed-in tariff band in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

    Gregory Barker

    The table below shows the total number of 250kW to 5MW solar PV installations accredited under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.

    From April

    Number of installations

    Total installed capacity (kW)

    2010

    0

    0

    2011

    53

    65,002

    2012

    8

    6,428

    2013

    7

    4,594

    2014 [1]

    0

    0

    Installations are grouped into years based on their ‘commissioning date’ i.e. the date the technology was physically installed and deemed to be up and running.

    [1] Includes installations commissioned to the end of March 2014. April 2014 statistics will be published at 09:30am on Thursday 22nd May 2014 on the DECC website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monthly-small-scale-renewable-deployment).

    “

  • Ronnie Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ronnie Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Campbell on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in Northumberland received prison sentences for harassment or stalking in the last two years.

    Jeremy Wright

    A comprehensive framework of civil remedies and criminal offences is available to deal with stalking and harassment. This framework was strengthened by this Government by amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 made by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which introduced new stalking offences. These offences are designed to address specific stalking behaviour as opposed to harassment more generally. The new offence under section 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 covers a course of conduct which causes serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on the day-to-day activities of the victim. This recognises the overall emotional and psychological harm that stalking may cause to victims, even where there is no explicit fear of violence. The maximum penalty for the section 2A offence is six months’ imprisonment and for the section 4A offence the maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment.

    The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants sentenced for criminal offences by Police Force Area in England and Wales. The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences related to harassment and stalking (relating solely to racially or religiously aggravated stalking with or without fear of violence under Section 32 (1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) in the Northumbria Police Force Area from 2008 to 2012 can be viewed in the table. The Northumbria Police Force Area covers Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Sunderland and Northumberland.It has not been possible to separately identify those offenders in the county of Northumberland.

    There were new triable-either-way offences for stalking introduced by Sections 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as inserted by Section 111 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which commenced on 25th November 2012. Between this point and the end of December 2012, there were no defendants proceeded against in England and Wales under this.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with senior management of NHS England about redundancies.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Secretary of State meets regularly with NHS England to discuss a wide variety of issues. The Department is clear on the need to ensure that redundancy payments are made only in circumstances where it is appropriate to do so and has been working with NHS England to ensure that payments are tightly controlled, whilst meeting contractual obligations.

    Redundancies are subject to rigorous scrutiny and challenge before being approved. Additionally, any individual redundancy compensation payment in excess of £100,000 also requires Departmental approval. Where redundancies do occur, NHS England ensures that these are formally subject to national NHS provisions to claw back any redundancy payment received where an individual then goes on to be re-employed within the National Health Service, further ensuring better value for the tax payer.

    NHS England takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure that redundancy is a last resort and has implemented a system to seek to re-deploy any staff affected by such change to retain knowledge, skills and capability within the organisation, where at all possible.

    NHS England has a responsibility for ensuring that maximum value for money for taxpayers is delivered, whilst seeking to improve health outcomes for patients through effective commissioning arrangements. As a direct employer of 6,000 people, NHS England has a responsibility to continually improve the way it delivers both commissioning and the provision of the services for which it is directly accountable, which includes the regular review of its workforce arrangements.

    NHS England has advised that its redundancy costs for 2012-13 were £54,000, which represented 0.1% of total expenditure. For 2013-14 the costs were £1,017,000, which represented 0.003% of total expenditure.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in how many immigration appeal hearings lost by the Government her Department failed to send a presenting officer in each of the last four years.

    James Brokenshire

    I will write to the Rt Hon Member.