Category: Speeches

  • 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 2014-03-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) operational capacities and (b) certified normal accommodations were of each privately run prison with which a contract for additional places has been signed since January 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    The privately operated prisons at which additional places have been purchased since January 2014 are listed below

    Altcourse

    Dovegate

    Forest Bank

    Lowdham Grange

    Parc

    Peterborough

    Individual prison population and capacity information is published monthly on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2014

    Population and capacity figures for March 2014 will be published on the Government website on Friday 11 April

    “

  • Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason scientific experiments on cats are permitted.

    Norman Baker

    Cats, along with some other species, are given special protection by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and may only be used if no other species is suitable or it is not practicable to obtain animals of any other species that are suitable for the purposes of the relevant programme of work. It is my objective to minimise the use of cats as far as possible.

    Cats are primarily used in the development of veterinary medicines and techniques, and in neurological research. Much of the veterinary research is for the benefit of cats, for example in developing vaccines for feline diseases and improved diets for cats.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2014-03-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of pupils in English schools were entered for drama GCSE in each of the last 4 years.

    Lord Nash

    The requested information[1] has been provided in the following table.

    Percentage of pupils at the end of key stage 4 entered for music and drama GCSEs in England, 2009/10 – 2012/13

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    Drama

    13

    12

    11

    11

    Music

    7

    7

    7

    7

    Note: Figures underlying the percentages are available in table 7 of the “GCSE and equivalent results” statistical first release for each year. 2012/13 figures are based on revised data, all other years are final. Data includes entries by pupils in previous academic years.

    [1] These figures are published in the “GCSE and equivalent results” statistical first releases for each year at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4.

    “

  • Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to speed up claims by asylum seekers.

    Karen Bradley

    Claims for asylum are increasing. In 2013 the number of asylum applications
    within the EU was the highest it has been since 2002. The UK has experienced an increase
    of 30% between 2010 and 2013 – with an 8% increase between 2012 and 2013 alone.

    We are committed to resolving these quickly, while continuing to improve
    the quality of our decision making, and we are making changes to our processes
    and management to make sure we do so.

  • Ms Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ms Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Harriet Harman on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of all primary school age children in England were learning a musical instrument in (a) academies, (b) community schools, (c) free schools, (d) primary schools and (e) other schools in each of the last five years.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The information requested is not held by the Department for Education. A recent report[1] published by Arts Council England shows that in the academic year 2012/13, 437,975 pupils in years 1-9 received free whole class ensemble teaching. This is 8.6% of the national cohort. 430,998 pupils were in years 1-6 (12.4% of the cohort) and 6,977 were in years 7-9 (0.4% of the cohort).

    Many other children learn instruments in and out of school, but these figures are not collected or held centrally.

    [1]http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/funding-programmes/music-education-hubs/

    “

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what new buildings his Department plans to provide for the use of the private sector partner taking over the Defence Support Group; and what the potential cost to the public purse is of such provision.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence does not intend to provide any new buildings as part of the sale of the Defence Support Group. But as part of our planned drawdown from Germany there will be a requirement to provide Controlled Humidity Environment storage facilities as part of Army 2020.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department spent some or all of their time working on the Hunting Act 2004 in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date; and what the grade is of each such staff member.

    George Eustice

    Since 2010 a range of civil servants in Defra from across all grades have had some responsibilities for working on the Hunting Act 2004 and have spent some of their time doing so. However, the amount of time they spend on this varies considerably according to levels of correspondence, interest and activity at any one time. As these officers also work on a range of other issues, no specific records are kept for how much of their time is spent working on the Hunting Act 2004.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average salary was for a (a) man and (b) woman of (i) white ethnic origin and (ii) black and minority ethnic origin and who was (A) disabled and (B) not disabled in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2010.

    Mr Nick Hurd

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

  • Mike Kane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mike Kane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes to the funding of Greater Manchester Police on crime rates in that region.

    Damian Green

    The funding settlement for the police is a challenging one. However, as the
    vast majority of forces, including Greater Manchester Police are
    demonstrating, it is manageable. The latest report from Her Majesty’s
    Inspectorate of Constabulary (Policing in Austerity: Rising to the Challenge
    July 2013) found that crime is falling and the proportion of officers on the
    front line is increasing. The Government has protected the police from the
    additional 2014/15 reductions that were announced in the Chancellor’s December
    Autumn Statement, which means the police will face a 3.3% cash reduction in
    central Government funding (5.75% in real terms) compared to 2013/14. Once
    future police precept income is taken into account, the reduction in overall
    funding is even lower.

    In the Greater Manchester Police force areas, recorded crime fell by 7% between
    September 2012 and September 2013.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues to police forces on marking cases as requiring No Further Action.

    Norman Baker

    The Home Office Counting Rules provide guidance to police forces on all matters that relate to the recording of crime and disposals. They are issued annually
    by the Home Office.

    This Government is committed to increasing the transparency of information available to the public on recorded crime and outcomes. From April 2014, we introduced the recorded crime outcomes framework, replacing the previous regime of detections. This will inform the public how forces have dealt with 100% of crimes reported to them. For the first time, therefore, the public will be able to see how those crimes previously recorded as ‘undetected’ and as requiring ‘no further action’ have been resolved. The first data will be available in July 2015.