Category: Speeches

  • Douglas Carswell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure GPs are accessible to patients.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Through the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund, more than 7.5 million people in England will start to be offered increased access to local general practitioner (GP) services, including seven-day opening and appointments outside of office hours. The Fund is supporting over 1,110 practices covering every region as part of a pilot scheme.

    The PM Challenge Fund is for one year and patients are expected to see positive changes from services from June/July onwards. An interim evaluation report is due in November this year. The full and final report is expected to be published in the early part of 2015-16. There will be a rolling programme of feedback on the pilots with case studies available from the summer onwards to help spread best practice across the country.

    In addition, the new GP contract introduced a new Enhanced Service, which includes a commitment to same day phone consultations with a professional in the GP surgery where necessary for the most at risk in the population.

  • Mark Tami – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mark Tami – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Tami on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what involvement his Department had in overseeing the activities of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in awarding the Magnox/RSRL contract; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for running the competition to secure a new Parent Body Organisation for Magnox Ltd and Research Sites Restoration Ltd in line with its statutory duties and responsibilities under the Energy Act 2004. The competition is run in strict accordance with UK and EU procurement regulations. Oversight and governance is provided by the NDA’s Competition Programme Board, on which the Government is represented by the Shareholder Executive (on behalf of DECC), HM Treasury and Infrastructure UK. Formal Government approval will be required before the contract can be awarded in September.

  • 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 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were working in his Department on sexual health matters in each year since 2010; and how many people have worked in (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England on sexual health matters since the formation of Public Health England.

    Jane Ellison

    The following table shows staff numbers working directly on sexual health matters within the Department since 2010. There are also a number of senior civil servants and other staff, such as analysts, working in the Department who input to work on sexual health and a wide range of other issues.

    Year

    Department staff numbers

    sexual health

    Whole Time Equivalent (WTE)

    2010 (estimated)

    19

    17.2

    2011

    10

    10

    2012

    9

    8.7

    2013

    6

    5.7

    2014

    6

    5.7

    The total number of Public Health England staff working on sexual health is 255.3 WTE.

    Public Health England’s head count includes staff working on Health Protection, field epidemiology, microbiology services and Health and Wellbeing staff. Some staff are externally funded and are not exclusive to sexual health, working across disciplines.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Phillips – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the threat to the UK’s environment from invasive alien plant species.

    Dan Rogerson

    The Non-Native Species Framework Strategy for Great Britain sets out our mechanism for addressing non-native species, including plants. The strategy includes a comprehensive risk assessment mechanism to assess the potential negative impacts of non-native species, including threats to the environment. To date 126 risk assessments have been completed or are in progress. Of these, 58 are plant species.

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of (a) adult and (b) child passport renewal applications were processed within the three-week service standard in each of the last six months.

    James Brokenshire

    he table below shows the number of straightforward passport applications
    received within the UK which were processed within 3 weeks.

    Month

    Proportion of straightforward applications processed within 3 weeks

    Dec 13

    99.99%

    Jan 14

    99.99%

    Feb 14

    99.98%

    Mar 14

    99.95%

    Apr 14

    99.59%

    May 14

    92.26%

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold a further breakdown of this information by
    application type. The cost of bringing that information together would be
    disproportionate and so it is not possible to provide the information you have
    requested.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Phillips – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage his counterparts in other EU member states to support and commit resources to the EUFOR RCA mission in the Central African Republic.

    Mark Simmonds

    I welcome the launch of the EU Force (EUFOR) military operation in the Central African Republic (CAR) on 2 April. EUFOR will help the African-led International Support Mission to CAR (MISCA) and French (Sangaris) forces to provide security in Bangui until a hand-over to MISCA or a possible UN Peacekeeping Operation can take place. I discussed the importance of the mission with Ministerial colleagues in the margins of the EU-Africa Summit in Brussels on 1-2 April. The UK has played a strong role in the planning for EUFOR, and is discussing the possibility of providing airlifts to help EUFOR’s deployment. Ongoing reports of violence in CAR demonstrate the importance of this mission.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the number and success rate of Aarhus claims made in England and Wales since 1 April 2013; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Ministry of Justice does not collect judicial review data to this level of detail.

  • Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrians have been brought to the UK under the Vulnerable Person Relocation Scheme to date.

    James Brokenshire

    The first group of Syrian refugees arrived in the UK on 25 March as part of the
    Government’s Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) Scheme. The next group of
    refugees are expected to arrive this month, with further groups to follow on a
    regular basis. Whilst there is no set quota we predict that the VPR scheme will support several hundred people over the next three years.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 494W, on prisons: mobile telephones, when data on mobile telephones seized in prisons in 2013 will be made available.

    Jeremy Wright

    The number of mobile phone and SIM card seizures for the first six months of 2013 was 3398. The data for the whole of 2013 will be available by the end of August 2014, broken down by prison establishment.

    One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.

    All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what meetings her Department has had with the government of the Republic of Ireland about First World War commemorations.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    Ministers and officials from the Northern Ireland Office have been in regular contact with the Irish Government about our approach to the First World War centenary, particularly over the course of the last year. This includes planning for joint Ministerial attendance at a number of events which will take place in Belfast, Dublin and France over the course of the coming months.

    These contacts have included discussions on how both Governments can work together to mark the wider decade of commemorations in Ireland in a manner which promotes reconciliation and contributes to a peaceful, shared future.

    I recently joined the Irish Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to lay the foundation stone for a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cross of Sacrifice at Glasnevin in Dublin to commemorate men from the island of Ireland who gave their lives in both World Wars.