Category: Speeches

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what comparative assessment he has made of the estimates made by (a) Experian and (b) the Electoral Commission of the number of unregistered voters in the UK.

    Greg Clark

    The Government funded the Electoral Commission’s 2011 research into the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register. This informed the approach to the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, including the use of data matching to confirm the majority of current electors on the existing register without their having to make a new application, and the phasing of the transition over two years, which means no one who registered to vote at the last canvass will lose their right to vote at the General Election. Alongside this the Government is funding all local authorities in Great Britain and five national organisations to take steps to boost the completeness and accuracy of the register.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of levels of expenditure of electoral registration measures on levels of registration.

    Greg Clark

    The Government has made no recent assessment of the effect of levels of expenditure of electoral registration measures on levels of registration.

    The Government announced on 5th February 2014 that five national organisations and every local authority in Great Britain would be sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration in 2014.

    They have been provided with guidance to support them in evaluating the success of activity delivered through this funding. Government will continue to work closely with all funding recipients in order to monitor the outcomes.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Answer of 13 June 2011, Official Report, columns 584-5W, on electoral register, how many letters the Electoral Commission have written to hon. Members as a result of their electoral registration officers having failed at least one standard performance indicator in each year for which data is available.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it notifies all MPs of the outcomes of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) performance measurement assessments through a Written Statement and it writes individual letters to MPs who have an ERO that has failed at least one performance indicator within their constituency. EROs that have failed the standards are identified in the Commission’s reports each year, which are available on its website:

    http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/performance-standards

    “

  • Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

    Jenny Willott

    Departmental records show that in each of the last five financial years, no funding was made in respect of supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders were bailed under an electronic curfew and went on to receive a custodial sentence in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    Information on bail and remand collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not record whether conditions (including the use of electronic monitoring) were attached to bail. To answer this Question would require a data matching exercise between data held by the electronic monitoring contractors and sentencing data held by the Ministry of Justice, which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to protect consumers from fraud and other doorstep crimes.

    Jenny Willott

    The Government takes doorstep crime very seriously and the issue has been identified as a top priority by the Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP) which brings together enforcement, consumer education, and advocacy partners to identify, prioritise and coordinate collective action to tackle the issues causing greatest harm to consumers.

    Both the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), which are funded by BIS, are putting resources into tackling doorstep crime and Trading Standards Officers across the country are cracking down on these fraudsters. In Lincolnshire for example, Trading Standards has teamed up with the Police and Community Lincs to raise awareness of doorstep crime amongst professionals caring for the elderly, including awareness of bogus callers, rogue traders, distraction burglary, and scam mail. To date 330 health and social care professionals who work regularly with 4,300 elderly and vulnerable people have been trained in how to spot potential victims and how to intervene at an early stage of a scam.

    Doorstep Crime will also be the focus on this year’s National Consumer Week in November 2014, when CPP Partners and the Government will work together to in raise consumer awareness of how to spot a bogus salesperson and where to report it.

    We are also hitting the perpetrators of fraud hard. A recent operation involving Trading Standards companies across the country and 20 police forces brought down a trio of fraudsters targeting vulnerable caravan park residents across the country. This resulted in 6 years of custodial sentences being handed down and the recovery of £20,000 in cash.

    We encourage anyone who believes that they have been the victim of doorstep crime or fraud to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer helpline on 08454 040506.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the forms which businesses in the UK are required to complete in order to provide returns to Eurostat.

    Nick Hurd

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

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage the government of Pakistan to ensure a fair and just trial in the cases of Savan Masih, Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar, sentenced to death for blasphemy in Lahore in early April.

    Baroness Warsi

    We remain concerned about these and other blasphemy cases particularly where the death penalty has been imposed. We regularly raise the issue of blasphemy laws, and their misuse against both Muslims and religious minorities, at the highest levels in Pakistan and press the government to ensure fair trials.
    The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised our concerns regarding these laws and the need for reforms during the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the end of April. We have consistently pressed the government of Pakistan on the issue of the death penalty and our principled opposition to it in all cases and we will continue to raise both these issues with the government of Pakistan.

  • Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of school-age pupils who have been illegally excluded from school in each of the last five years.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Department for Education’s statutory guidance makes clear that all exclusions from school must be lawful, reasonable and fair. The guidance sets out schools’ responsibilities in relation to exclusion and includes examples of unlawful use of exclusion. There is no excuse for a school not to adhere to the correct process, and Ofsted takes seriously any evidence that a school has acted unlawfully in its use of exclusion.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran, and what other steps they have taken, following attacks on prisoners held at Evin prison.

    Baroness Warsi

    The UK was disturbed at reports of attacks on political prisoners in Evin prison on 17 April 2014. As we detailed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Human Rights report, released in April 2014, prison conditions in Iran remain a serious concern. The UK’s non-resident Charge d’Affaires raised human rights with a range of Iranian government officials during his visit to Iran in March. The UK works closely with international human rights bodies and partners to encourage Iran to engage seriously on human rights issues.