Category: Speeches

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Department for Education does not plan to relocate its staff or offices to Brighton.

    Following the Department’s Estates Review in 2012, it was announced that the Department would rationalise the existing estate from 12 core sites to 6, while maximising the efficiency of the retained sites. This has now been accomplished and the 6 remaining properties are located in Coventry, Darlington, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that her Department gives full consideration to the increasing impact and challenges that ageing populations will place on national governments, civil society and relevant stakeholders (a) between 2015 and 2030 and (b) after 2030.

    Justine Greening

    The UK government welcomes the fact that life expectancy is increasing in developing countries and wants to see this positive trend continue. However, DFID also recognises that this brings new challenges, which the post-2015 framework should address. The High Level Panel, co-chaired by the Prime Minister, acknowledged this in its report to the UN Secretary General through its call to ‘leave no one behind.’

  • 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 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of patients presenting at accident and emergency departments because of an accident in the home in each year since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    The information requested is not available centrally.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what written correspondence he has had with (a) the Mayor of London and (b) officials from Transport for London within the last 24 months regarding the tolling of proposed river crossings east of Tower Bridge that are included within the Mayoral Transport Strategy; and how that will impact on traffic levels at the Dartford Crossing.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Secretary of State for Transport has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which a range of London transport measures are discussed. Other Ministers also discuss various London transport issues and projects with senior officials from Transport for London.

    The Mayor of London wrote to the then Secretary of State for Transport on 1 June 2012 to request the designation of the proposed Silvertown tunnel as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. The Secretary of State responded on 26 June 2012 outlining her agreement to grant the request.

    On 16 July 2013, the Mayor of London wrote to me to respond to the Department’s consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing proposals.

    The Department’s review of options for a new Lower Thames Crossing included a sensitivity test to assess whether the proposed Silvertown Crossing scheme would be likely to impact on the forecast flows for the existing Dartford crossing, and any potential new crossing.　The conclusion of that test was that the effect was likely to be negligible. The review findings were published in May 2013 as part of consultation on the options.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his department’s policies of the findings of The Armed Forces & Society survey produced by Lord Ashcroft.

    Anna Soubry

    The Ministry of Defence was grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Ashcroft for conducting what proved to be a very useful survey of the attitudes of the public and the Armed Forces towards each other. While there were many positive findings, of particular concern was the perception amongst a majority of the public that veterans would have physical or mental problems as a result of service. Lord Ashcroft described this as ‘not only untrue, but damaging’.

    The 2012 survey provided valuable insight into the relationship between the Armed Forces and the nation they serve. This relationship is at the heart of the Armed Forces Covenant, which we published in May 2011. A great deal has been achieved through this mechanism in the last few years across a wide range of areas, including healthcare, accommodation, education, and welfare.

    We will go on looking at what more we can do for our Armed Forces, their families, and Veterans, to ensure that they continue to receive the recognition they deserve, and if necessary, whatever help they may require.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Environment Agency expects to conclude its investigation into Churngold Recycling Ltd.

    Dan Rogerson

    This is a complex investigation that the Environment Agency is working hard to complete. Legal challenges to the investigation in the civil courts have caused delays. Once the investigation is complete and the matter has been legally reviewed, the Environment Agency will decide on any appropriate enforcement.

  • Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of maintaining court buildings which are not listed as closed and which have no cases listed for (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months.

    Jeremy Wright

    Providing a detailed response to these questions will require officials to manually collate data. This cannot be accomplished in the time available. My honourable friend Shailesh Vara will therefore write with a detailed response as soon as possible, and will place a copy of this letter in the library of the house.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson’s disease were (a) made, (b) accepted, (c) accepted following an appeal and (d) rejected in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14.

    Norman Lamb

    Prior to April 2013, primary care trusts were responsible for dealing with individual funding requests and information on individual funding request decisions, or on the time taken to consider such requests, was not collected centrally.

    From April 2013, NHS England assumed responsibility for commissioning adult specialist neurosciences services, including the majority of services for patients with Parkinson’s disease, with some being the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups.

    NHS England has informed us that information on the number of individual funding requests made to NHS England is not currently available. NHS England is improving its data collection mechanisms and aims to improve availability of such information in the future.

    NHS England has advised us it aims to inform the requesting clinician of the outcome of the individual funding request panel decision within 40 working days from the date of receipt of a completed request form. There are no plans to collect information on the average time taken for these decisions to be made.

  • Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Priti Patel on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the St Lucia government on delays in the criminal justice system in homicide cases in that country.

    Mark Simmonds

    Our officials have had a number of discussions with the Government of St Lucia about delays in the criminal justice system, particularly in relation to cases involving British nationals. In December last year, our High Commissioner to St Lucia raised the issue with the St Lucian Home Affairs Minister and in April 2014, the British Resident Commissioner raised the issue with the St Lucian Prime Minister. I also wrote to the Prime Minister of St Lucia in September about the delays in the criminal justice system.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office supports wider government efforts to build the St Lucian Government’s capacity to prosecute serious crime. This includes the deployment of a Crown Prosecution Service Criminal Justice Advisor (CJA) to the Eastern Caribbean. The CJA provides strategic analysis and advice to politicians and practitioners (judiciary, prosecutors and investigators) in order to improve the efficiency of the justice system and remove blockages to effective prosecutions.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of local authorities have higher than average not known rates for young people not in employment, education or training; and what steps he is taking to address such gaps in data.

    Matthew Hancock

    It is local authorities who are responsible for collecting data about the activity of young people in their area.

    The Department for Education regularly publishes locally collected data on young people’s activities, including the proportion of young people whose activity is not known. The latest quarterly figures covering young people of academic age 16 and 17 as at the end of December 2013 are available online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-in-education-and-training-by-local-authority. These include both the average for England and the figures for each local authority.

    The Department published statutory guidance in March 2013 setting out the requirement of local authorities to track young people’s participation so that those who are not in education or training can be identified. The guidance is available online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-of-young-people-education-employment-and-training.