Category: Speeches

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was raised from VAT on (a) air source heat pumps, (b) solar panels, (c) draught shipping, (d) insulation, (e) wood fuel boilers and (f) ground source heat pumps in each of the last five years.

    Mr David Gauke

    This level of detail is not requested on VAT returns and therefore data is not available on how much VAT was raised on (a) air source heat pumps, (b) solar panels, (c) draught shipping, (d) insulation, (e) wood fuel boilers and (f) ground source heat pumps in each of the last five years.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions RAF personnel were embedded with US forces during (a) operational deployments and (b) training exercises in each of the last six years; and how many such occasions involved the use of the P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The use of the P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft in the US is predominantly limited to those personnel embedded with the US Navy as part of the Seedcorn Initiative. The Seedcorn programme in the US on P8 aircraft started in 2012 with 20 personnel involved and has remained at 20 for each subsequent year (allowing for minor fluctuations during transitory periods).

    Outside of the Seedcorn Initiative, the total number of RAF personnel embedded with US forces over the past six years is as follows:

    2010 – 52

    2011 – 52

    2012 – 48

    2013 – 49

    2014 – 46

    2015 – 47

    2016 – 46

    Once personnel are embedded with another nation the RAF retains no command relationship with those personnel. Therefore, information on training exercises undertaken is not held.

    With respect to operational deployments, I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Defence Secretary on 17 December 2015: (Official Report, column 98WS) where he provided data on the UK Service personnel embedded in other nations’ armed forces and deployed on or in support of operations. This will be updated in the next Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts. Information specific to RAF personnel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

    Information on whether any of these deployments involved the P-8 aircraft is not available. However, I am able to confirm that one of the US embed posts does involve flying the P-8A outside of the Seedcorn Initiative.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the public sector spend on health per head of population in real terms for each of the years from 1990–2015; and how in each of those years that compares with GDP per head.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The total UK Public Sector expenditure on health per head of population in real terms and GDP per head between the financial years 1990-91 and 2014-15 has been set out in the table below:

    Real per capita (2015 £)

    Health

    GDP

    1990-91

    848

    19,624

    1991-92

    911

    19,368

    1992-93

    980

    19,516

    1993-94

    1,023

    20,050

    1994-95

    1,085

    20,793

    1995-96

    1,104

    21,248

    1996-97

    1,093

    21,716

    1997-98

    1,116

    22,421

    1998-99

    1,151

    23,066

    1999-00

    1,198

    23,780

    2000-01

    1,280

    24,494

    2001-02

    1,388

    25,047

    2002-03

    1,491

    25,640

    2003-04

    1,637

    26,358

    2004-05

    1,748

    26,794

    2005-06

    1,825

    27,521

    2006-07

    1,857

    27,927

    2007-08

    1,912

    28,449

    2008-09

    1,986

    27,492

    2009-10

    2,072

    26,605

    2010-11

    2,047

    26,898

    2011-12

    2,021

    27,158

    2012-13

    2,022

    27,292

    2013-14

    2,049

    27,801

    2014-15

    2,074

    28,361

    The expenditure figures set out in this table are drawn from the HM Treasury Public Spending Statistics (PSS) publications.

    In addition to expenditure on services by the Department of Health, this includes health expenditure by other central departments, local government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    Please Note:

    • UK government expenditure on the health function is only available on a financial year basis.

    • Health expenditure recording switches from a cash basis to an accruals basis in 1998-99

    • Population is taken from the mid-year figure for each calendar year that falls in the respective financial year.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to support French proposals for an EU-wide carbon floor price.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government supports the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as a market-based approach to cap emissions and achieve least-cost decarbonisation. Negotiations to reform and strengthen the EU ETS for the next phase of the system starting in 2021 are still in the early stages. Proposals to set thresholds for the EU carbon price are one of many options open for discussion. The Government believes that the implementation of the Market Stability Reserve, as agreed in 2015, is essential to strengthening the EU ETS carbon price in the long-term and to providing a strong, stable low-carbon investment signal.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will provide a schedule of communications that have taken place between the Government and the governments of (a) Bahamas, (b) Mexico and (c) any other country relating to the disappearance of Rebecca Coriam in March 2011 from the Disney Wonder cruise ship.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Consular documents show that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office communicated initially with the Government of Mexico as the Disney Wonder was in Mexican Waters when Ms Coriam was discovered missing. We subsequently communicated with the Government of the Bahamas. As the ship’s flag state, the Bahamian Government was responsible for the investigation into Ms Coriam’s disappearance.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that Teesside is not disadvantaged by the withdrawal of EU funding when the UK leaves the EU.

    Mr David Gauke

    To ensure stability and certainty in the period leading up to our departure from the EU, the Chancellor has announced that structural and investment fund projects in the UK that are signed before the Autumn Statement will be guaranteed. In addition, projects where UK organisations bid directly and competitively for EU funding, such as Horizon 2020 funded projects, will be guaranteed by the UK Government if the bids are won before our departure.

    Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. Over the coming months, we will consult closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.

  • Michael Dugher – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Michael Dugher – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy that police officers be assigned to support all Royal British Legion Remembrance parades.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold the information requested. The police have never had a policy of routinely attending remembrance parades. Decisions on the operational deployment of resources are matters for Chief Constables, in association with Police and Crime Commissioners. There are no plans for the Home Office to issue guidance to the police on this matter.

  • Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions representatives of the Government have had with Shaker Aamer (a) prior to and (b) following his release from Guantánamo Bay on the terms and conditions of his release.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Government has been in contact with Mr Aamer’s legal representatives throughout the process of securing his release and thereafter. It has been a long-standing policy of successive British Governments that we would seek the release and return of those UK nationals and former legal residents who have been held at Guantanamo Bay.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase secondary school places in London.

    Nick Gibb

    Local authorities are responsible for planning and securing sufficient school places in their area, and supporting them to do so is one of this Government’s top priorities. This is why the Government is investing £23 billion overall in school buildings to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs.

    Basic need funding is allocated to local authorities to help them to create new school places. This Government has allocated £960 million to local authorities in London for places needed between 2015 and 2018, including at secondary level. This is in addition to the £2 billion London received between 2011 and 2015, almost 40% of the total funding provided to local authorities to help create new places in this period.

    This funding has helped to create 155,000 new school places between 2010 and 2014. Of these new places, over 30,000 have been created in 52 open free schools. There are over 60 approved new schools due to open in London in future academic years.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation, published by his Department in December 2015, how his Department defines physical literacy.

    David Evennett

    We recognise that a number of definitions of physical literacy exist and are used in a variety of contexts within the sport and education sectors. Sport England and a number of national partners have developed the ‘Primary School Physical Literacy Framework’ – which can be found here – http://www.sportengland.org/media/332143/Physical-literacy-framework.pdf

    It provides a useful reference to those who deliver PE and school sport and is designed to ensure that schools provide maximum opportunity for all pupils to develop their physical literacy. In this context, physical literacy can be described as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding that provides children with the foundation for lifelong participation in physical activity.