Category: Speeches

  • Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the cost to the fire services was of dealing with fires at local authority-owned waste management sites in the last two years.

    Brandon Lewis

    This information is not held centrally. The cost to fire and rescue authorities in England of dealing with specific fires is a matter for each fire and rescue authorityThe cost to fire and rescue authorities in Wales of dealing with specific fires is a devolved matter.

    Fire and rescue authorities must produce regularly, and consult on, an integrated risk management plan. The plan must identify the risks facing local communities and detail how the fire and rescue authority will allocate its resources to mitigate them effectively. People have opportunities to make their voices heard on such issues.

    There is still scope for fire and rescue authorities to make sensible savings, such as through reforms to flexible staffing and crewing arrangements, better procurement; shared services, collaboration with emergency services and other organisations on service delivery and estates, sickness management; sharing of senior staff, locally led mergers and operational collaborations, new fire-fighting technology, preventative approaches and working with local businesses.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to improve job security for people employed indefinitely on temporary or fixed-term contracts.

    Jenny Willott

    The Government is committed to achieving a labour market that is both fair and flexible, which gives employers the confidence to create jobs, and individuals the choice to find work that suits them and their circumstances.

    Temporary, agency and fixed term contracts are an important, but relatively small part of our labour market, as they give companies flexibility in how staff are hired and workers flexibility in how they work. In February to April 2014 there were 1.673 million temporary employees – 6.5% of all employees. Of these, ONS estimate that 35.9% were working temporarily because they could not find a permanent job – down from 39.7% a year ago.

    Under this Government employment growth continues to be exceptionally strong, with levels up by 345,000 in the past quarter, and 780,000 in the past year – a record. Overall, in the 12 months to April 2014:

    · Employment increased by 780,000.

    · The number of employees working full time increased by 441,000 and the number of people working part time increased by 17,000.

    · The amount of people in self-employment rose by 337,000

    · The amount of temporary employees was 1.67 million in the three months to April 2014, up 79,000 on the same period last year. The amount of employees working temporary jobs because they could not find permanent jobs fell by 33,000 over the past year.

  • Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Teather – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Teather on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons she will no longer fund the detention element of the Choices service from 1 April 2014; whether an alternative assisted voluntary returns programme will be made available to immigration detainees; and what assessment she has made of the potential effects of this decision on the number of (a) assisted voluntary returns and (b) enforced removals.

    James Brokenshire

    An assessment of the impact of this change is in train and the range of
    possible alternatives is complex. A full written response on the issue will be
    provided to the Member in due course, and the letter placed in the House
    Library.

  • David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many persistent young offenders were registered in (a) Bury St Edmunds, (b) Suffolk and (c) England and Wales in each of the last five years; and how many and what proportion of total offences were attributable to such offenders in that period.

    Jeremy Wright

    The prevention of reoffending by young people is a key priority for this Government. Overall crime and proven offending by young people is down, and fewer young people are entering the criminal justice system. But for those young people that are committing crimes it’s right that the most serious or persistent are sentenced to custody, and those that commit violent offences face tough sentences.

    It is unacceptable however that nearly three-quarters of young offenders who leave custody go on to reoffend – this needs to change. That’s why we are doubling the amount of education we give those in Young Offenders Institutions and why we are reforming the youth estate with the introduction of Secure Colleges. These new establishments will tackle the root cause of offending by giving people the skills and self-discipline to gain employment and training upon release and turn their lives around. We announced on 8 June the name of the company selected to design and build the pathfinder.

    Table 1 (attached) shows the number of young offenders by their previous criminal history for young offenders cautioned or sentenced (a) by Suffolk Police Force Area; and (b) across England and Wales. There is no national definition of a persistent offender, with Local Criminal Justice Boards setting criteria locally to identify persistent offenders based on their volume of crime and impact on their local community. The table below therefore shows offenders with one or more previous cautions or sentencing occasions. The Police National Computer (PNC) does not break down information below police force area; it is not therefore possible to provide data specific only to Bury St Edmunds. Due to variations in local definitions of “persistent”, it is not possible to determine the proportion of overall offences committed by “persistent” offenders in any of the geographical areas specified.

    These figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were cautioned or sentenced in each year and some offenders will therefore be represented several times in the figures. They are based only on those offences recorded on the PNC by an English or Welsh police force, including the British Transport Police. The figures therefore exclude a range of low-level (non-recordable) summary offences committed by these offenders e.g. TV licence evasion and speeding as these are not recorded on the PNC. As with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

  • Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much prisoners have to pay to order a book through the inter-library loan system.

    Jeremy Wright

    The NOMS policy on prisoner retail allows prisoners (via prison staff) to order books from approved mail order providers. This is at the discretion of the Governor.

    An inter-library loan request service, facilitated by the librarian or library assistant, enables prisoners to request books in the same way as library users in the community.

    No charge is made for prisoners using the inter-library loan service. Where a special request is necessary, for example to the British Library, a charge will be made. This is consistent with the policy applied to service users in the community.

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the advice provided by Jemima Stratford QC to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones, if he will agree a new Memorandum of Understanding or other bilateral agreement with the US on data transfer and use.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK intelligence agencies work in accordance with UK law, as described by the Foreign Secretary in his statement to the House on 10 June 2013 (Official Report of 10 June 2013, column 31). In addition, Section 6 of the recently published Annual Report for 2013 by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, Sir Anthony May, addresses the legal basis for intelligence sharing between the UK and its partners.

    The UK Intelligence Agencies adhere to the law at all times. We have one of the world’s strongest legal and regulatory frameworks governing the use of secret intelligence. All of GCHQ’s activities are legal, necessary and proportionate. GCHQ does not disclose or share information other than is appropriate under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions (a) workshops and (b) classrooms have been closed in each prison in England and Wales since 1 September 2013 due to staff shortages; and on how many occasions wings have been locked for (i) a half day, (ii) a full day and (iii) a lunch period for that reason since that date.

    Jeremy Wright

    The information regarding the number of occasions on which (a) workshops and (b) classrooms have been closed in each prison in England and Wales since 1 September 2013 due to staff shortages; and on how many occasions wings have been locked for (i) a half day, (b) a full day and (c) a lunch period in that time and for that reason, is not collated centrally and is collected in different formats in each prison. The processes required to collect this data would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles built by Nissan are in the Government car pool.

    Stephen Hammond

    There are 84 vehicles operated by the Government Car Service for ministerial use. None of these are currently built by Nissan. The Government Car Service trialled the use of a Nissan Leaf in 2012 and it operated the Nissan Primera within the ministerial fleet until 2005. The ministerial fleet is scheduled for review later this year.

  • Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value of uncollected vehicle excise duty was in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The value of uncollected license duty in Great Britain was estimated to be £40m in 2011/12 and £35m in 2013/14, representing 0.7% and 0.6% respectively of the total road tax payable in each year. These estimates were derived from a DfT survey of unlicensed vehicles on the road carried out in alternate years, therefore no equivalent estimate is available for 2012/13.

    Source:Vehicle excise duty evasion estimates: 2013

    “

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of MINURSO in implementing its role in Western Sahara.

    Hugh Robertson

    MINURSO is effective in implementing its role in Western Sahara. MINURSO is mandated to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the POLISARIO: the situation in Western Sahara is generally calm and the ceasefire continues to hold.