Category: Speeches

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answers of 12 January 2016 to Questions 19955 and 19954, (a) how much funding was allocated to and (b) how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15.

    Nick Boles

    In 2009-2010 the spend for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) was £1,072,608 and the Inspectorate employed 30 staff, including administrative support and call handling staff.

    In 2010-2011 the spend for EAS was £932,000 with 29 staff employed (as of 1 May 2010).

    In 2010 the Pay and Work Rights helpline was created. This took over complaint handling and provision of advice and guidance for agencies and agency workers, thus reducing the need for EAS support staff who had previously performed this function. Consequently, in 2011-2012 EAS spend reduced to £637,631 with 23 staff employed.

    Following a restructure in the Department and streamlining of processes, in 2012-2013 EAS spend was £551,461 with 16 staff employed.

    In 2013-2014 EAS spend was £532,023 with 12 staff employed (as of the 1st April 2013).

    In November 2013, as part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to review regularly the enforcement of the national minimum wage, a more targeted enforcement strategy for the recruitment sector was announced, focusing on protecting the most vulnerable, low-paid workers. Resources from EAS moved to HM Revenue and Customs’ National Minimum Wage (NMW) team to form a new HMRC team which mainly focussed on enforcing non-payment of national minimum wage in the recruitment sector. This ensured that the most vulnerable workers were protected and created a level playing field for the vast majority of agencies who play by the rules. Two staff remained in BIS to enforce the recruitment sector regulations and prioritised complaints using a risk-based approach.

    As part of the Government programme on illegal working and tackling exploitation, a decision was taken in February 2015 to increase EAS resourcing. In June 2015 the number of full time equivalent staff increased to nine. Actual spend will not be available until the end of the financial year.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to Bahraini government on the treatment of political prisoners in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) most recently raised human rights with his Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa on 4 February. Where we have specific concerns around convictions or sentencing, we raise these with the Government of Bahrain as part of our dialogue on human rights and reform.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the average length of (a) domestic and (b) international calls to the Forced Marriage Unit; and what the cost of these calls were to (i) domestic and (ii) international callers in (A) each financial year since its establishment in 2005 and (B) 2015-16 to date.

    Karen Bradley

    Figures on the number of cases reported to the Forced Marriage Unit via its public helpline and email inbox are published annually and are available on GOV.uk. The figures include a breakdown of the countries involved for cases with an overseas element. Information on the origin, average length, and cost of calls is not collated centrally.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is permitted to consider a bid from a Combined Authority for a Police and Crime Commissioner elected in May 2016 to be subsumed by a Metro-Mayor.

    Mike Penning

    If a local area were to make the case to transfer Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) functions to an elected mayor, secondary legislation would set out the details of the transfer of powers and the relevant timescales based on discussions between the local area and central government.

    These powers are provided for in Section 107F of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (as amended by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016), which sets out the Secretary of State’s necessary order making powers to enable the transfer of PCC functions to an elected mayor.

    Local areas can put forward a proposal to transfer PCC functions at any time and, as stated in response to the honourable member’s earlier question on this issue [32271], any proposal submitted by a local area for an elected mayor to take on PCC functions would be considered on its merits, on a case-by-case basis. The timing of any transfer of powers would also form part of this consideration.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons only one hon. Member for a Warrington constituency was invited to his recent meeting with the leader of Warrington Borough Council on devolution; who made the decision to invite only one such hon. Member to that meeting; and if he will take steps to ensure that all appropriate hon. Members are invited to such meetings in future.

    James Wharton

    The MP referred to by the Hon. Member for Warrington North has been proactive in engaging with my department on devolution matters, and I would welcome the same enthusiasm and involvement from all appropriate members.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the redacted Govia Thameslink Railway remedial plan, dated 12 February 2016, was not made publicly available until 26 May 2016.

    Claire Perry

    There is a process in place with regard to the publication of documents and any redaction of information. Only once the redactions have been agreed by all parties, including the Department, can publication take place.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce criminal sanctions against social media companies and their managers in the UK who refuse to take down tweets, pages or other content supporting terrorism, hate crime or radical Islam.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    HMG has developed strong collaborative relationships with Communications Service Providers (CSPs) which has led to the voluntary removal of over 200,000 pieces of terrorist-related content via referrals from the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) since 2010. The government continue to work with CSPs to encourage them to take more responsibility voluntarily for tackling terrorist and extremist content on their own platforms and, in certain circumstances, reporting terrorist content (for example, where there may be an imminent threat to life) to UK law enforcement when they become aware of it.

    As most CSPs are international organisations based outside the UK and most online material is hosted outside the UK, national legislation has little application hence our focus on voluntary removals through companies’ terms and conditions. These arrangements mean that where companies take action this removes access to the content from the whole platform world-wide, not just for users accessing it from within a particular jurisdiction.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Stewart Jackson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve education in prisons.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    I refer the Hon member to my answer to PQ 46278.

  • David Davis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Davis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) search and (b) surveillance warrants issued by a judge have been subject to judicial review in each of the last five years.

    Mr John Hayes

    Figures on the numbers of search warrants and surveillance authorisations subject to judicial review are not held centrally.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by when he plans for his Department to achieve its target strength for the Royal Navy Reserve.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by my right hon. Friend the previous Secretary of State for Defence (Philip Hammond) on 19 December 2013, (Official Report, column 124WS) on Future Reserves 2020, and the accompanying document that was placed in the Library of the House which sets out the planned growth of the trained strength of the Reserve Forces, together with the enlistment targets for the next five years.

    I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Strangford (Mr Shannon) to Question 11812 which explained the improvements we have made to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer Reservists by 31 March 2019.