Category: Speeches

  • Vernon Coaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Vernon Coaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the 60 questions relating to the future Strategic Defence and Security Review to which the Permanent Under-Secretary of his Department referred during his oral evidence to the Defence Select Committee on 25 March 2014.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The cross-Government lead on the next NSS and SDSR sits with Cabinet Office. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is engaged with them and other interested Departments. MOD is in the very early stages of identifying those areas which may require further work or which we may wish to look at in 2015 as part of the Cabinet Office-led process. This evolving work supports the development of Government policy and I am therefore not able to provide this internal policy work.

  • 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 2014-06-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the profitability and financial position of Mapeley Steps Contractor Limited in its role of managing the HM Revenue and Customs’ estate.

    Mr David Gauke

    HMRC monitors the financial position of its key suppliers under agreed transparency arrangements. HMRC is unable to provide confidential financial information relating to its suppliers.

  • Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of long-term trends in the number of hours of literacy teaching which primary school children receive and how this affects reading and writing attainment.

    Elizabeth Truss

    We do not collect data on the number of hours of literacy teaching primary school children receive.

    We are committed to raising standards of literacy in schools and making sure that every child masters the basics of reading and writing at a young age. The new primary national curriculum for English is explicitly designed to make sure that all children leave primary school fully literate and ready to progress at secondary school.

    The new national curriculum sets out very clearly what should be taught to pupils. However, it gives school the flexibility to decide how to teach it, including how much time to spend on teaching literacy, because schools are best placed to determine the needs and abilities of their pupils and how to meet them.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the forthcoming National Institute for Health and Care Excellence quality standard on fertility will be considered for a CCG Outcome Indicator.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not yet published its final quality standard on fertility. NICE’s Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (CCGOIS) Advisory Committee makes recommendations on potential indicators derived from its published guidance and quality standards for inclusion in the CCGOIS which are then considered by NHS England.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the current requirements for seizing property or cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to bring those requirements into line with the new powers of HM Revenue and Customs to seize money from an individual’s bank account without a warrant.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy clearly sets out our
    plans to attack criminal finances by making it harder to move, hide and use the
    proceeds of crime. These include measures to enable assets to be frozen more
    quickly and earlier in investigations, reduce the time that courts give
    offenders to pay confiscation orders, and make it easier for magistrates to
    confiscate cash held in bank accounts.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Written Statement of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 1WS on higher education, what public consultation he has undertaken on the proposed changes to disabled students’ allowance.

    Mr David Willetts

    We are currently consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to help inform both the Equality Analysis and Disabled Students’ Allowances Guidance for 2015/16.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding cases of social fund loan repayments his Department is curretnly pursuing; in what year each such loan was issued; what estimate he has made of the total value of such outstanding repayments; and how much his Department is paying a debt management service to pursue such repayments.

    Steve Webb

    At March 2013, there were 10,118,298 loans outstanding relating to 2,940,087 customers. The table below indicates the age of loans and their volumes and values.

    Age of loan

    Loans

    Value £000

    Five years and over

    1,837,896

    218,840

    Between one and five years

    5,898,911

    595,737

    Less than one year

    2,381,491

    373,729

    Total

    10,118,298

    1,188,306

    The Department pursues all debts available for recovery. Where we have difficulty with locating a customer and obtaining payment from them we will employ a private sector company to do this for us; for year ending March 2013 we paid £880,000 and recovered £6.1m.

    Data has been included for the financial year 2012-13, the latest year for which the audited Social Fund White Paper Account is available. The 2013-14 Account will be publicly available from July 2014.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent estimate his Department has made of the RAB charge for student loans issued after 2012.

    Mr David Willetts

    We estimate the RAB charge on these loans to be around 45%.

    The actual cost of issuing student loans will be dependent on future macro-economic circumstances, in particular earnings and we will continue to update our forecasts on a regular basis to take account of changes to short term and long term macro-economic assumptions.

  • Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sheila Gilmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.

    Elizabeth Truss

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude) on 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 721W.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stewart Jackson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in Peterborough constituency achieved (a) Level 1 and (b) Level 2 skills in English in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Laws

    A table showing the number of pupils in Peterborough constituency that achieved a Level 1 or a Level 2 in English (key stage 4) since 2005/06 has been placed in the House Library.

    Information on pupils for 2004/05 is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.