Category: Speeches

Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the additional national insurance contributions that will be made in the first year of the introduction of the National Living Wage; and what assessment they have made of whether that source of revenue could be used to fund the extra cost of publicly-funded social care.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

As set out in Table B.3 in of their July 2015 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility estimate that, by 2020-21, the National Living Wage will increase income tax and NICs receipts by around £0.1bn. They assume that, by 2020-21, the overall impact of the policy on the public finances is to reduce public sector net borrowing by £0.2bn.

The Chancellor will set out full plans for public expenditure at the Spending Review on 25th November.

01/01/2023
Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as part of their counter-terrorism strategy, they will encourage a national debate about the nature of Islam, including whether the Muslim tenets of Al Hijra, Taqiya, and Abrogation remain valid today.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

On 19 October, the Prime Minister announced the launch of the Government’s new comprehensive Counter Extremism Strategy, a core element of which is a programme of work to support those communities who are opposed to extremism in all its forms.

It is only by building a stronger Britain together, across all communities, that we will win the fight against terrorists and extremists.

01/01/2023

Lord Moonie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Hellfire missiles were fired (1) in training, and (2) on operations, in each year from 2008 to 2015, and what platforms they were mounted on.

Earl Howe

Hellfire missiles are used by RAF Reaper Remotely Piloted Air Systems and Army Air Corps Apache helicopters.

For the Reaper Force, the Air Vehicles have been continuously deployed on Operations over the requested timescale. Consequently, there have been no missile rounds fired in Training from RAF Reaper. The following table details Hellfire missile firings from RAF Reaper on Operations in Afghanistan
(2008-14) Iraq (2014-15) and Syria (2015).

Year (Jan-Dec)	UK Reaper Hellfire rounds fired on Operations
2008	16
2009	32
2010	58
2011	100
2012	104
2013	94
2014	93
2015	258

For the Apache Force the following table details Hellfire missile rounds fired by Financial Year from Apache Helicopters in Training.

Year (Jan-Dec)	UK Apache Hellfire consumption in Training
Apr 07 – Mar 08	14
Apr 08 – Mar 09	18
Apr 09 – Mar 10	32
Apr 10 – Apr 11	48
Apr 11 – Mar 12	26
Apr 12 – Mar 13	37
Apr 13 – Mar 14	16
Apr 14 – Mar 15	29

The Apache Force have fired a total 1578 Hellfire missiles on Operations in Afghanistan (FY 07-08 to 14-15) and Libya (FY11-12). However, the nature of the records held means that this total number cannot be accurately broken down by Financial Year.

01/01/2023

Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the police take to ensure the safety of people sleeping rough.

Karen Bradley

The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. One person without a home is one too many, which is why we will increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

We also want to help local authorities provide advice and assistance to those at risk of homelessness which is why we have protected the homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the provisional local government finance settlement, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. We have seen forces make significant changes to frontline policing to reflect the priorities of local people, including the most vulnerable. For example, several forces have established multi- agency teams to work collaboratively with other local public and voluntary sector services to tackle rough sleeping.

01/01/2023
Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.1 of The process for withdrawing from the European Union, CM9216, what procedure will be adopted in the event of votes to remain and to leave being identical during the oncoming referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

Mr David Lidington

The procedure in the unlikely eventuality of a tied vote is not provided for under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, or the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.

01/01/2023
Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that a home is built to replace every house sold through the Right to Buy scheme.

Brandon Lewis

Over 2 million tenants in England have already realised their aspiration of owning their own home, and the voluntary agreement between the Government and the housing association sector will extend this opportunity to a further 1.3 million families the chance to purchase their home at Right to Buy level discounts – unlike Scottish residents who will not be able to benefit at all thanks to the Scottish government’s decision to put an end to Right to Buy as of August this year. Under the terms of the agreement for every home sold housing associations will deliver an additional home nationally, through new supply.

Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By March 2013 after the first year of reinvigoration there had been 3,054 additional sales and by December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, meaning councils are delivering within this 3 year profile.

01/01/2023
David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 21 April 2016 on Refugees and Resettlement, HCWS687, how many of the 75 expert personnel will be working to identify and process individuals who are eligible for family reunification transfers to other EU countries under the Dublin III Regulation.

James Brokenshire

Pursuant to my statement of 21 April, HCWS687, the 75 UK expert personnel deployed to Greece to support implementation of the EU-Turkey Migration Agreement will conduct a number of duties. A proportion of the UK expert personnel will work closely with European Asylum Support Officer (EASO) coordinators and the Greek Asylum Service to process cases through the admissibility process and provide expert support to the Greek authorities and other EU partners on overall co-ordination of the response. Supporting the operation of the Greek asylum service is a fundamental part of this Government’s approach to identifying children in need of protection at the earliest possible opportunity and ensuring children are identified as eligible for family reunification consideration under the terms of Dublin Regulation.

This of course is in addition to the support that we are already providing to European partner Dublin Units. Following calls from EASO we have already deployed two UK experts to support the Greek Dublin Unit and a third is due to be deployed in May. We are also deploying an expert to the Italian Dublin Unit in May under the hotspot operation mission. This deployment is in addition to the long term support we are providing to the Italian Dublin through a bilateral agreement. We are confident that through our concerted joint efforts we can identify and facilitate the swift transfers of cases through our national systems and make effective use of the Dublin Regulation.

01/01/2023
Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested and charged with offences relating to girls under 18 years of age reported as missing to the police in each year from 1998 to 2005.

James Brokenshire

The information in this request is held by individual police forces.

Between 1998 and 2005, the Metropolitan Police Service was responsible for the Missing Persons Bureau, but did not publish reports detailing the number of missing cases. In 2013, the function was transferred to the National Crime Agency to improve the service offered to policing in respect of the handling of missing person and unidentified investigations.

The National Crime Agency publishes annual statistics on Missing Persons which includes missing children http://missingpersons.police.uk.The last published report shows that in 2014/15 there were 112,252 missing persons incidents involving children. Of these, the report finds that 54% of these missing incidents involved female children under the age of 18.

01/01/2023
Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has made to reallocate UK aid funding from cross-EU funds and programmes.

Rory Stewart

We remain committed to spending 0.7% of our national income on development assistance, and to achieving the UN’s Global Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030. Outside of the EU we will have better control over where we are spending our money. We will continue to uphold our manifesto commitments on UK international development.

01/01/2023
Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve broadband networks in the UK to support small businesses.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Since 2010 the proportion of households and businesses with access to superfast broadband has risen from 45% to 83%. Thanks to the Government’s investment this will rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has been a tremendous success. More than 55,000 small businesses across the UK have taken up the offer, many of which are already seeing significant boosts to their business as a result of improved broadband speeds.

01/01/2023