Category: Speeches

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek ways to contain and, if possible, eliminate the influence of al-Qaeda-affiliated and other jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq.

    Baroness Warsi

    The UK is deeply concerned by the growth of terrorism in Syria and Iraq, which threatens the Syrian and Iraqi people, the region, and the UK. We condemn all acts of terrorism committed in both states. Tackling the threat from foreign extremists currently operating as part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a priority. I repeated the Statement on Iraq outlining the Government’s response given to the House on Monday 16 June by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), House of Lords Hansard, Official Report, Columns 703-706.

    The threat from foreign extremists is being tackled through a wide range of interventions from disrupting the flow of foreign-fighters travelling from the UK through to supporting the counter-terrorist efforts of regional partners.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HM Revenue and Customs’ consultation document, Tackling marketed tax avoidance, published on 24 January 2014, whether consideration was given to (a) running the consultation for longer than one calendar month and (b) initiating it earlier, to allow more time for the decision-taking process in advance of the March 2014 Budget Statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been successful in challenging tax avoidance and, in relation to avoidance cases that go to litigation, around 80% of cases litigated resulting in the tax being due. This led to around £1.7 billion of tax being protected in 2013. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the range and frequency of amounts of tax due without causing undue cost on the department to provide the information.

    The Government considered different options for the consultation period for the proposals but concluded that the time period made available was reasonable. There were a very large number of responses, which suggests that the timescale did not cause any undue impediment to those who wished to give their views in response to the consultation. ‘Tackling Marketed Tax Avoidance’ followed on from the earlier consultation over the summer of 2013 ‘Raising the Stakes on Tax Avoidance’, which consulted in detail on the initial proposal for the Follower Notice measure.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the reason for, and what action they are taking to address, the deterioration in ambulance 999 response rates.

    Earl Howe

    The following table shows performance against the response time standards for all ambulance trusts in England in the last two financial years.

    Table: Monthly performance of ambulance trusts in England for category A calls, 2012-13 and 2013-14

    Year

    Month

    Of all Category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes

    2012-13

    April

    76.2%

    –

    –

    96.7%

    2012-13

    May

    74.8%

    –

    –

    96.3%

    2012-13

    June

    –

    75.6%

    77.5%

    96.6%

    2012-13

    July

    –

    75.3%

    77.4%

    96.4%

    2012-13

    August

    –

    75.1%

    78.1%

    96.5%

    2012-13

    September

    –

    75.1%

    75.9%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    October

    –

    74.9%

    76.5%

    96.2%

    2012-13

    November

    –

    73.2%

    76.0%

    96.1%

    2012-13

    December

    –

    70.4%

    70.8%

    94.6%

    2012-13

    January

    –

    73.5%

    75.8%

    95.8%

    2012-13

    February

    –

    74.1%

    75.3%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    March

    –

    73.4%

    73.8%

    95.4%

    2012-13

    Full year

    75.5%

    74.0%

    75.6%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    April

    –

    75.4%

    76.0%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    May

    –

    77.9%

    77.8%

    96.9%

    2013-14

    June

    –

    77.4%

    77.1%

    96.7%

    2013-14

    July

    –

    75.5%

    74.0%

    95.8%

    2013-14

    August

    –

    77.0%

    75.3%

    96.2%

    2013-14

    September

    –

    75.1%

    73.8%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    October

    –

    74.6%

    73.6%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    November

    –

    74.1%

    73.0%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    December

    –

    72.8%

    71.7%

    95.4%

    2013-14

    January

    –

    76.4%

    76.3%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    February

    –

    75.2%

    74.0%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    March

    –

    76.2%

    74.7%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    Full year

    –

    75.6%

    74.8%

    96.1%

    Source: NHS England, ambulance quality indicators

    Notes:

    1. Ambulance service response times were split in June 2012 in to the most time critical (Red 1) and serious but less time critical (Red 2).

    2. Category A Red 1 calls are the most time critical and cover cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse, and other severe conditions.

    3. Category Red 2 calls are serious but less immediately time critical and cover conditions such as stroke and fits, and a new clock start will allow call handlers to get more information about patients.

    4. Category A19 is the total number of Category A calls (Red 1 and Red 2) which resulted in a fully equipped ambulance vehicle (car or ambulance) able to transport the patient in a clinically safe manner arriving at the scene within 19 minutes of the request being made.

    The Government is aware of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services. The Urgent and Emergency Care Review is currently considering whole system change to the delivery of urgent and emergency care, including new models of delivery of care for ambulance services. The first phase of the review was published last November, and we expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of 10 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who were murdered by the Israeli military in March 2013.

    Hugh Robertson

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office receives various reports throughout the year on the issues affecting Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, this includes reports, from credited and un-credited sources, on Palestinians killed by the Israel Defence Forces.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many start-up loans have been granted to businesses in (a) Gillingham and Rainham constituency, (b) Medway and (c) Kent to date.

    Matthew Hancock

    12 Start-Up Loans have been granted to businesses within the Gillingham and Rainham constituency with a total drawn down value of £68,800.

    36 Start-Up Loans have been granted with a total drawn down value of £220,750 in the Medway constituency.

    265 Start-Up Loans have been granted in Kent with a total drawn down value of £1,498,105.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 724W, on housing benefit: social rented housing, for what reasons his Department has determined that a longer timeframe than one year is required to assess the effects of the under-occupancy penalty on rent arrears in the social rented sector.

    Esther McVey

    Rent arrears can have multiple causes and levels tend to fluctuate over time. Analysis of monthly, quarterly or even a single year of arrears is insufficient to reliably remove these normal fluctuations, driven by both seasonal and general economic trends, and to determine whether and to what extent the removal of the spare room subsidy has impacted on rent arrears levels

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Department in the last parliamentary Session did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation; and when each such question was first tabled.

    Brandon Lewis

    All questions due for answer before prorogation received a substantive reply.No prorogation answers were given.

  • Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria were used to calculate the levels of area cost adjustment used for sixth form colleges in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) Oxfordshire; and how frequently those criteria are reviewed.

    Matthew Hancock

    Area cost adjustments for 16-19 education and training are based on the differing wage costs across England, as indicated by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The same area cost index is used for sixth form colleges as for all other post-16 institutions in England that are funded by the Department for Education. It is also used for education and training for adults funded by the Skills Funding Agency.

    The current area cost index was developed in 2002 by the Learning and Skills Council and has been reviewed on several occasions since then. Initially Cambridgeshire did not have an area cost adjustment, but in 2008 there was a specific review of the area cost adjustment for the county, which considered a range of factors and gave Cambridgeshire an uplift of 2% for the academic year 2009/10 and all years subsequently. The uplift for Oxfordshire is 7%.

    The whole post-16 funding formula was reviewed in 2012, and we decided at that stage not to make any changes to area cost adjustments.

  • Mike Crockart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Mike Crockart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Crockart on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when the roundtables on nuisance calls and texts met; and when the next roundtable will meet.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The roundtable on nuisance calls and texts last met on 23 September 2013 and since then we have worked with stakeholders to finalise our Nuisance Calls Action Plan, which was published on 30 March of this year. The next roundtable meeting is being arranged and will be confirmed soon subject to diary commitments.

  • Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had on the regeneration of the Brent Cross area with (a) Brent Council and (b) resident groups in Brent.

    Danny Alexander

    The Government has committed to working with the London Borough of Barnet to look at their proposals for the regeneration of Brent Cross. It is a matter for Barnet Council to discuss their plans with relevant stakeholders including Brent Council.