Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local colleges train the people of Northern Ireland with the appropriate skills to enable further growth in film and television production in Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    This is a devolved matter but I took the opportunity of raising it with the Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning, on the hon Member’s behalf, when I met him on 18 June.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to work with affected hauliers to avoid the increased cost caused by the reduction in Vehicle Excise Duty introduced as part of the Heavy Goods Vehicle User Levy.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    We have worked closely with the UK road freight sector throughout the development of the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) Road User Levy to ensure that the cost to UK business as a result of paying a combined charge for Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and HGV levy from 1st April 2014 is minimised, whilst working within the minimum levels of Vehicle Excise Duty set out in the Eurovignette Directive. Furthermore, to keep the administrative burden to UK operators to a minimum, the Levy will be paid at the same time as VED and in a single transaction.

    Where costs do rise as a result of the combined Levy and VED payment, hauliers have the option to lower the plated weight of the vehicle and thereby reduce the VED they need to pay.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of projected ticket prices for rail passengers using the High Speed 2 rail line.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    In order to test the case for HS2, current fares were assumed to increase by RPI+1% annually until 2036 after which fares are assumed to grow in line with inflation. No fares differential was applied to services using the high speed infrastructure. This is an assumption which provides an appropriate basis for modelling costs and benefits, but does not represent a prediction of future rail fares, which will be affected by government policy, market and industry changes across the GB rail network over many years.

  • Mike Crockart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mike Crockart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Crockart on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on the payment of armed forces pensions in the event of Scottish independence.

    Anna Soubry

    Armed Forces pensions are currently uprated annually in April using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure from the previous September. These are occupational pensions and are therefore paid, including any CPI increase, to scheme members wherever they reside in the world.

    The UK Government is confident that the people of Scotland will continue to support remaining within the UK. There have, therefore, been no discussions with the Scottish Government about this matter.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on the freezing of state pensions for those living overseas.

    Steve Webb

    The UK state pension is payable worldwide. However, where a recipient is not ordinarily resident in the UK, eligibility for annual up-rates is generally restricted to people living in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area, including by extension Switzerland, or in a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement that provides for up-rating of the UK state pension. A list of these countries can be found at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad

    Restricting the availability of annual up-rates to the UK state pensions in this manner has been the long standing policy of successive Governments. This Government has no plans to change it.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have seen their income from benefits reduced by (a) 10, (b) 20 to 49 and (c) 50 per cent or more as a result of benefit changes since May 2010.

    Esther McVey

    The requested information is not available.

  • Caroline Flint – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Caroline Flint – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding has been allocated to the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund for (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16, (c) 2016-17 and (d) all further years for which funding has been allocated.

    Gregory Barker

    Up to £120 million has been allocated to the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund in 2014-15. A decision on allocating funding for future years has yet to be taken. In the 2013 Autumn Statement, £150m was allocated in each of 15/16 and 16/17 towards energy efficiency in homes.

  • Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote ethnic minority recruitment to the police.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    Improved diversity in policing is absolutely necessary to cut crime in a modern, diverse society, while building the trust and confidence of local
    communities. It is important police forces reflect the communities they serve. While progress has been made to increase diversity of the workforce, the Government has said that there is still more for forces to do.

    This Government’s reforms have already made improvements, for example we set up the College of Policing which has embarked on a major programme to improve the recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers. Locally Police and Crime Commissioners will ensure that the public’s priorities on crime and community safety are acted upon.

    The Home Office is actively engaged with the College and forces to ensure that this work is given appropriate priority and that learning, best practice and opportunities are identified and shared.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what sanctions are available if TPContact fails to achieve and maintain high standards of customer service while providing services to her Department.

    James Brokenshire

    Any failure against the contractual critical service levels may result in
    deductions against their submitted invoices. In the event of continuous and
    unacceptable failures the Department has the ability to terminate the contract.

    The performance of Teleperformance as with all of our contracts is subject to
    close Home Office scrutiny. The governance processes include regular meetings
    at all levels, from local operational teams up to senior official levels, to
    allow in-depth reviews of performance against the service standards set out in
    the contract, and to provide an escalation route to resolve any issues that may
    arise. We also expect suppliers to provide continuous improvement in delivery
    of customer services over the course of the contract, which is also monitored
    through these processes.

    The Department withheld payment of the contractual transitional payment until
    transition was complete in each country where Teleperformance operates. This
    has now been has now been approved for payment in countries where visa
    application centres (VACs) are operational but withheld in locations still to
    be transitioned. Ongoing contractual payments will be subject to the service
    credit process outlined above.

    The data required to judge performance against contractual service standards is
    not yet available. We are not aware of any withdrawn applications linked to
    delays in processing at the identified visa application centres since they took
    over this service. The Home Office is currently collating data on complaints
    for the period since Teleperformance commenced operations and it is not
    available for publication.

    UK Visas & Immigration has worked closely with Teleperformance from the point
    at which contracts were awarded to prepare for live operations, including the
    summer peak. Annual and monthly application volumes and forecast figures for
    2014 were provided to Teleperformance as part of the tender process and local
    discussions have taken place to determine the number of appointment slots
    available. Opening hours have been extended and appointment availability has
    been increased in a number of locations to prepare for the summer period. Where
    VACs are open every day, the availability of appointment slots is continually
    monitored, with further measures being taken if appointments are consistently
    fully booked.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Northover on 18 March (WA 16) on women’s rights in Afghanistan, what are the details of the funding already being allocated to tackling violence against women in Afghanistan; and what proportion it constitutes of the total budget for work in Afghanistan by the Department for International Development.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    Two programmes directly address violence: £3M towards a joint programme with Australia to improve the implementation of laws designed to protect women and girls affected by violence; and £19.9M DFID support to the Tawanmandi programme with grants to Civil Society Organisations, where at least £2M of grants from 2014 will go to organisations primarily focused on the elimination of violence against women and girls.

    Violence is also indirectly addressed through a long term approach of promoting women’s rights, empowerment and education. DFID has a wide range of programmes supporting this agenda, e.g. £4.5M nation-wide support to women’s political participation and the £47M Girls Education Challenge fund improving access to education for 250,000 marginalised girls.