Category: Speeches

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with regard to the amendment letter to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Palestinian Government for Financial Assistance, signed on 19 March 2015, whether her Department has a list of the eligible beneficiaries of the PEGASE support programme; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    The list of vetted civil servants is held by the European Union. DFID has access to this list on request. The list of eligible beneficiaries is subject to a vetting process that includes screening against international and ad hoc sanctions lists, covering a large number of different risk categories including terrorism financing.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed abolition of maintenance grants on the Government’s target of doubling the proportion of people from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education between 2009 and 2020.

    Joseph Johnson

    An Equality Analysis has been carried out and will be published alongside the regulations.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the budget of Solutions for Public Health has been in each of the last three years.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is unable to comment on the overall budgetary position of Solutions for Public Health (SPH). However, NHS England anticipates spending around £485,000 with SPH for the provision of stand-alone clinical evidence reviews in support of its specialised services clinical commissioning policy work plan in 2015/16.

    Equivalent expenditure with SPH in 2014/15 was £285,000 and £190,000 in 2013/14.

  • Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what modelling his Department has undertaken on potential transitional arrangements for women born in the period 1951 to 1953 who are affected by accelerated equalisation of the state pension age; and if he will publish the results of any such modelling.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Of the group stated in the question only women born on or after 6 April 1953 are affected by the changes in State Pension age in the 2011 Pensions Act.

    The faster increase to 65 under the Pensions Act 2011 affect an estimated 230,000 women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 December 1953. This figure, rounded to the nearest 10,000, is for Great Britain and is based on DWP calculations using ONS statistics.

    During the passage of the Pensions Bill 2011 the Government tabled an amendment so that the maximum delay to State Pension age relative to the previously legislated timetable that any individual faced was 18 months. This amendment affected people born between 6 January 1954 and 5 September 1954. The analysis accompanying this amendment is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182066/pensions-bill-spa-info.pdf

    “

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to publish a national strategy for English for speakers of other languages for England.

    Nick Boles

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government work together to support the policy ambitions of state-funded ESOL: to enable unemployed people on benefits to get the skills they need to get into and stay in work; and to support the integration of long-standing migrant communities and particularly those individuals most at risk of isolation from services and wider society.

    There are no plans to publish a national strategy. We fund ESOL through the Adult Education Budget, and colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use this budget to meet the needs of their local communities. It is therefore their responsibility to plan which ESOL courses they deliver locally, within their resources.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Budget 2016, whether the (a) proposed legislation to make it easier for local authorities to work together to create new garden towns and (b) consultation on a second wave of Compulsory Purchase Order reforms will apply to Wales.

    Greg Hands

    Housing and planning in Wales are the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what protections the Government has put in place to ensure that historic towns are not adversely affected by shale gas extraction.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government has been clear that shale development must be safe and environmentally sound, maintaining the very highest safety and environmental standards.

    Any impacts of shale gas exploration proposals on the historic environment are fully taken into account through the planning system. The National Planning Policy Framework explains that when considering the impact of a proposed development on the significance of a designated heritage asset, great weight should be given to the asset’s conservation. Designated heritage assets include World Heritage Sites, scheduled monuments, listed buildings and conservation areas.

    In addition, the Government has consulted on measures to ensure that hydraulic fracturing cannot be conducted from wells that are drilled at the surface of our most valuable areas, including World Heritage Sites, and we will publish our response to the consultation shortly.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel concerning the banning of two Palestinians from accessing Al Aqsa Mosque on the grounds of their having been involved in protests against the entry of Israeli settlers to the site.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Whilst we have not raised this specific issue with the Israeli authorities, it is vital that the longstanding status quo of the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif compound be preserved and we urge the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law as an occupying power in East Jerusalem.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what further steps he plans to take to encourage buy-to-let mortgage lenders to allow longer tenancies.

    Gavin Barwell

    My Department has worked closely with the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) to encourage longer term tenancies in properties with a buy to let mortgage, including during the development of our Model Tenancy Agreement (MTA). The MTA enables longer tenancies, and addresses lender concerns by including appropriate break clauses. The CML estimates that the majority of buy to let mortgage lenders now permit tenancies of up to two to three years. We continue to encourage lenders to actively promote the use of the MTA to their landlord customers.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is giving to Palestinians displaced by Israeli settlement building and the demolition of Palestinian homes.

    Rory Stewart

    The UK remains extremely concerned about continued Israeli settlement expansion and the large increase in demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the start of 2016, compared to the monthly average in 2015. We continue to raise these issues with the Israeli authorities. Demolitions and the evictions of Palestinians from their homes cause unnecessary suffering, are harmful to the peace process, and in all but the most exceptional of cases are contrary to international humanitarian law.

    The UK supports Palestinians facing demolition or eviction and displacement by funding a legal aid programme to help individuals and communities challenge these decisions in the Israeli legal system.