Category: Speeches

  • Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Karen Buck on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of London households in temporary accommodation were in (a) private sector leased properties, (b) hotels, (c) bed and breakfast, (d) local authority registered social landlord property and (e) other accommodation (i) at the most recent date for which figures are available and (ii) at 31 March 2010.

    Kris Hopkins

    [Holding Reply: Monday 17 March 2014]

    To assist public scrutiny, I have placed in the Library of the House, a table which provides quarterly figures for the last ten years.

    Over that period, the numbers of households in temporary accommodation in London in this Government is far lower than averaged under the last Administration. The peak of 63,800 households in December 2005 compares to 42,430 in December 2013.

    Councils have a responsibility to move homeless households into settled accommodation as quickly as possible and we made common sense changes to the law to enable them to use suitable private rented homes. The average stay in temporary accommodation in England has been reduced from 20 months at the beginning of 2010 to 14 months now, which means that people on average are spending far less time in such temporary accommodation.

    We have also seen a 42% reduction in the numbers of families with children in Bed and Breakfast for more than six weeks on this time last year across the country. The seven local authorities that my Department has funded to tackle families in Bed and Breakfast have made significant progress, achieving an overall reduction of 96% since the funding began.

  • 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 modifications to the original design of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers were necessary to accommodate repeated vertical landings by the Joint Strike Fighter; what estimate he has made of the heat produced by vertical landing by the Joint Strike Fighter which has the heaviest safe configuration to allow the procedure; and whether vertical landings can take place on any flat area of the carrier deck.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The ability of the ship to support F-35B vertical landings has been incorporated into the design of Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carrier from the outset. Environmental considerations including heat generation & dissipation have been thoroughly evaluated, including assessments from trials on the USS Wasp. UK assessments have covered all necessary aircraft configurations.

    The QEC Flight Deck has been designed with specific operating spots for vertical landing to deliver maximum Sortie Generation Rate. These are the spots where the F-35B will plan to land vertically on a routine basis. If required, in the event of an emergency the whole flight deck can support vertical landing.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones 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 Warrington North constituency in the recent confirmation dry run.

    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 the Warrington North constituency were as follows:

    Ward

    Green matches

    Amber matches

    Red matches

    Birchwood

    83.9%

    1.1%

    14.9%

    Burtonwood and Winwick

    83.4%

    2.3%

    14.3%

    Culcheth Glazebury and Croft

    85.5%

    1.5%

    12.9%

    Fairfield and Howley

    75.1%

    1.8%

    23.1%

    Orford

    83.7%

    1.5%

    14.8%

    Poplars and Hulme

    83.9%

    1.0%

    15.2%

    Poulton North

    84.0%

    1.1%

    14.9%

    Poulton South

    86.9%

    0.8%

    12.3%

    Rixton and Woolston

    86.7%

    1.3%

    12.0%

    Westbrook

    83.4%

    1.5%

    15.0%

    “

  • 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 estimate he has made of the disposal cost for BAE System’s Woodford site.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The Ministry of Defence has made no estimate for the disposal cost for the Woodford site; it is a matter for BAE Systems.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people living in the London Borough of Havering have moved off unemployment benefit as a result of gaining employment in 2013.

    Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Nigel Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nigel Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which companies have registered an interest in the contract for the JAMES requirement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The current contract for the Joint Asset Management Engineering Solution (JAMES) was let on 1 July 2004. A restricted competition is currently underway to provide JAMES capability from expiry on 31 December 2015.

    I am withholding information on those companies which have registered an interest as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Frank Field on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of (a) new joseeker’s allowance claimants and (b) existing jobseeker’s allowance claimants reporting a change in circumstances receive their benefit payments within (i) one week, (ii) two weeks, (iii) three weeks, (iv) four weeks, (v) eight weeks, (vi) 12 weeks and (vii) more than 12 weeks.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not available.

  • David Davis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Davis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has made representations or had discussion or meetings with (a) the United States Select Intelligence Committee or (b) others on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program.

    Hugh Robertson

    The British Government has an ongoing dialogue with the United States over its detention and interrogation programs. As part of engagement with the US Congress, our Embassy in Washington has met with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to discuss its work, including in relation to the detention and interrogation program.

  • Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Leader of the House what steps he has taken to ensure that Ministers make sure, before signing replies to Questions for Written Answer, that the replies answer the questions which have been put.

    Lord Hill of Oareford

    It is the responsibility of individual ministers to decide what answers they give to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs), and they are of course accountable to the House for those answers. The importance of this direct accountability is such that I recently decided, following the introduction of a new system for answering QWAs electronically, to require Ministers in this House to continue providing personally signed answers to noble Lords. The Ministerial Code states that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”.

  • Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Tessa Jowell on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for new GP premises of which an increase in rent formed a part NHS England approved in 2013.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    NHS England has advised that information about the number of funding applications, the number of applications which have been approved and the number of applications which include a rent increase is not held centrally.

    However, NHS England has been collating all applications transferred from predecessor primary care trusts concerning funding for general practitioner (GP) practice premises, after which prioritisation decisions will be made for each of the application categories in the system.

    NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and other partners to develop a new strategy for premises and to support timely decisions on GP premises funding.