Category: Speeches

  • Robin Walker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robin Walker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on co-ordinating efforts to secure the release from prison of Meriam Ibrahim.

    Mark Simmonds

    Through our Embassy in Khartoum, the UK has been coordinating international efforts, including EU, Troika and others, to secure the release of Meriam Ibrahim from prison. We are also working with EU partners in Brussels to ensure an effective EU response.

    My Ministerial colleagues and I will continue to lobby forcefully, bilaterally and with other partners, for Meriam’s release.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of previous convictions for burglary for an individual convicted of an offence of burglary without being sent to prison was in each year since 2010.

    Jeremy Wright

    It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the Honourable member in due course.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the threat ISIS and other Islamist groups in Syria pose to (a) the wider Middle East and (b) other areas.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK is deeply concerned by the growth of terrorism in Syria and Iraq. ISIL are a brutal terrorist group who want to impose rule on people using their extremist ideology, violence and extortion.

    ISIL’s advance in Iraq shows that they are a serious threat. It shows clearly the importance of taking a strong stand against extremists, and that is why we are giving our full backing to the moderate groups in Syria who are fighting them. It is not yet clear what the recent developments in Iraq mean in the longer term, but clearly ISIL’s ability to operate in both Syria and Iraq is a cause of concern for the international community.

  • David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to announce the finalists for each community rehabilitation company; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have yet to be submitted, but are expected in June 2014. In mid December 2013, the 30 bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced and approximately one third of the bidders included a potential mutual organisation within their consortium. A list of the bidders who have been successful at this stage can be found at:

    https://www.justice.gov.uk/transforming-rehabilitation/competition

    “

  • Crispin Blunt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Crispin Blunt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what restrictions apply to the discretion of clinical commissioning groups to commission immunisation services.

    Jane Ellison

    Policy on what national immunisation programmes should be implemented and how best to implement them is the responsibility of the Department working with Public Health England and NHS England.

    Responsibility and funding for national immunisation programmes rests with NHS England. Clinical commissioning groups are free to consider the need and resourcing for local immunisation activity with their partners in local authorities, who are responsible for taking appropriate steps to improve local public health.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what service level agreements his Department has with companies contracted to carry out the assessment process for the personal independence payment.

    Mike Penning

    The Personal Independence Payment service level agreements are published and available to view in Deposited Papers (House of Commons), deposited on 28 January 2013 – Deposit Reference DEP2013 – 0322. The service level agreements are set out in Annex 7.

    This information can be accessed from the link below:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/?max=100&y=2013&search_term=Department+for+Work+and+Pensions&itemId=119004&sort=1&sortasc=False#toggle-322

    “

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will carry out and publish a written risk assessment of the care.data programme; for what reason no such written risk assessment has been published; and which Minister in his Department took the decision not to publish such an assessment.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    There has been no decision made not to have a risk assessment for the care.data programme. Risks and issues are considered by the care.data programme board at regular meetings.

  • Lord Stevens of Ludgate – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stevens of Ludgate – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevens of Ludgate on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Lord Deighton on 27 March to remarks by Lord Myners, Lord Higgins and Lord Flight (HL Deb, col 676) and the Written Answer by Lord Sassoon on 3 July 2013 (WA 143), whether they continue to consider that borrowing from the central bank is illegal under Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; and, if so, what options are available in respect of government debt and quantitative easing while the United Kingdom remains a member of the European Union.

    Lord Newby

    The independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has operational responsibility for monetary policy. The MPC makes decisions on its policy tools, including quantitative easing (QE), in order to meet the 2% inflation target in the medium term.

    The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic policy framework. To use monetary policy tools to meet fiscal objectives, such as financing government borrowing, could conflict with the MPC’s objective of price stability and undermine confidence in the UK’s monetary policy framework. Additionally, government borrowing from the central bank is illegal under Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

  • Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been spent on courier services for passports outside the DX contract since 1 January 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office has incurred no costs outside contractual
    arrangements with DX since 1 Januar

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will establish a formal investigation, independent of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), into the FCA’s handling of the announcement it made via the press on 28 March of an investigation into closed insurance funds; and whether they have made an estimate of the financial consequences of the creation of a possible false market in insurance securities as a result of the initial announcement and subsequent amendments.

    Lord Newby

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Board has announced an investigation which will be independent of the FCA executive. A senior independent lawyer will investigate what went wrong and make appropriate recommendations.

    The Chancellor has written to the Chair of the FCA setting out the questions that the investigation should answer. This includes the question of to what extent a false or disorderly market was present in the period before the FCA issued its statement of clarification. The letter was copied to the Treasury Committee and has been published on the Treasury’s website.