Category: Speeches

  • 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 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has for the future use of Post Office card accounts.

    Steve Webb

    The Post Office card account (POca) contract expires in March 2015 with the possibility of a 2 year extension beyond that date.

    No decision has been made on the future of the POca but discussions are currently taking place between DWP, Post Office Ltd and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider the future needs of customers beyond 2015.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme awarded to local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods has been (a) allocated to and (b) received by local authorities to date.

    Brandon Lewis

    £73.5 million has been allocated to, and received by, local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods under the first phase of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme. The closing date for the second tranche of the funding was 6 June.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made before the 2012 Budget of the number of properties valued at more than (a) £2 million and (b) £5 million.

    David Gauke

    The number of residential properties in the UK valued at more than £2 million was estimated before Budget 2012 to be around 55,000.

    Before Budget 2012, an assessment of the average annual payment required from each property above £2 million in order to raise a net sum of £2 billion per annum was not made.

    On 1 July 2013, during Report stage of the Finance Bill, I referred to “a simple calculation arrived at by dividing £2 billion by 55,000 (an internal HMRC estimate of the number of properties valued at over £2 million) to give a ‘mean’ average of £36,000.”

    A so-called mansion tax would depress stamp duty land tax and inheritance tax yields. The exact impact would be dependent on the rates and bands chosen.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of living conditions and labour standards on commercial vessels long-lining in the waters of Ascension Island from 2010 to 2013.

    Mark Simmonds

    The Ascension Island Government is legally responsible for administering the marine fishery in the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Fishing Zone centred on the island.

    No assessment of living conditions and labour standards on commercial vessels carrying out licensed long-line fishing, or otherwise, in the waters of Ascension Island from 2010 to 2013 has been carried out. The primary responsibility for the setting and enforcement of such standards lies with the flag state of each vessel.

    The Ascension Island Government paused the issuing of licences for commercial long-line fishing from 1 January 2014 in order to undertake a full review of the management of its fisheries with a view to a new structure to be put in place by 2015. Revised conditions for licences will form part of that outcome.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.

    Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls

    The ward results for Wandsworth were as follows:

    Ward

    Green matches

    Amber matches

    Red matches

    Balham

    57.8%

    9.2%

    33.1%

    Bedford

    53.0%

    13.1%

    33.9%

    Earlsfield

    59.3%

    6.6%

    34.1%

    East Putney

    57.9%

    6.2%

    35.9%

    Fairfield

    54.2%

    9.6%

    36.2%

    Furzedown

    68.2%

    6.7%

    25.1%

    Graveney

    60.9%

    7.2%

    31.9%

    Latchmere

    65.6%

    4.2%

    30.1%

    Nightingale

    57.7%

    10.0%

    32.3%

    Northcote

    54.1%

    13.3%

    32.7%

    Queenstown

    58.0%

    6.2%

    35.8%

    Roehampton & Putney Heath

    63.5%

    3.2%

    33.3%

    Shaftesbury

    54.1%

    12.3%

    33.7%

    Southfields

    64.4%

    5.7%

    29.8%

    St Mary’s Park

    58.5%

    5.7%

    35.8%

    Thamesfield

    58.8%

    9.2%

    31.9%

    Tooting

    59.0%

    8.8%

    32.2%

    Wandsworth Common

    64.3%

    7.6%

    28.1%

    West Hill

    67.7%

    3.1%

    29.3%

    West Putney

    69.4%

    3.1%

    27.5%

    “

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the progress on the trial installation and testing of the Tornado Collision Warning System at BAE Systems, Warton.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Progress continues to be made with the trial installation and testing of a Collision Warning System (CWS) for Tornado GR4. Installation of CWS on two aircraft is complete and testing is ongoing. The Ministry of Defence is working closely with BAE Systems to ensure delivery of a capability as soon as practicable.

  • Mr Michael Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr Michael Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Michael Meacher on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants have been sanctioned for (a) four weeks, (b) three months and (c) three years in each month since January 2010.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress he has made in working with the Commonwealth Secretary-General to review LGBT rights in Uganda.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) wrote to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth on 1 March to ask him to work with us to review the worrying trend on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the Commonwealth. We welcomed the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s statement to the High Level Segment of the Human Rights Council on 6 March reiterating the Commonwealth’s commitment to equality and respect for the protection and promotion of rights without discrimination on any grounds. Whilst we support the work of the Secretariat in strengthening the capacity of national human rights institutions to engage their respective governments on sensitive areas such as LGBT rights, we continue to encourage the Commonwealth to do more to address LGBT rights across the Commonwealth, and in particular Uganda.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the IT systems supporting universal credit are able to process a change in a claimant’s circumstances when he or she (a) moves to live in an area where universal credit is not being piloted, (b) forms a new relationship and is re-classified as part of a couple and (c) has a child.

    Esther McVey

    Where a Universal Credit claimants circumstances change in the way set out IT systems support the processing of those changes.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from (a) research bodies and academics, (b) non-governmental organisations and (c) people at high risk for prostate cancer and prostate cancer patients about accessibility of early prostate cancer screenings.

    Jane Ellison

    The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) Scientific Reference Group (SRG) keeps the evidence on prostate cancer screening under review, and has not yet seen compelling evidence that screening should be offered to high risk groups.

    The PCRMP is in place to ensure that men over 50 without symptoms of prostate cancer can have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test free on the national health service after careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the test and after a discussion with a general practitioner.

    The patient information sheets on PSA testing make it clear that the risk of prostate cancer is greater for men with a familial history of prostate cancer and black-African and black-Caribbean men.

    The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) previously highlighted the increased risk of prostate cancer in black men through the ‘Cancer Does Not Discriminate’ campaign, including distributing over 200,000 health supplements and an editorial in The Voice newspaper.

    In 2011, the Department, NCAT, North East London Cancer Network and Prostate Cancer UK worked with NHS Newham and Barts Health Care Trust to pilot the Newham Prostate Health Drop-in Clinic at the Newham African-Caribbean Resource Centre. 322 men had a consultation at the clinic, 59 were referred to secondary care and nine new diagnoses of early stage prostate cancer were made.

    The learning gained from a formal evaluation of the pilot was shared widely with stakeholders within London and across England, including NHS England. The pilot won the in the 2013 Civil Service Diversity and Equality Award for Understanding and engaging with communities.

    The Department is represented on the multi-disciplinary PCRMP SRG and the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group, along with representatives from clinicians, professional bodies, academics, the voluntary sector and patient groups.