Category: Speeches

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to increase social mobility in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what measures his Department uses to assess the effectiveness of the Government’s social mobility strategy.

    Mr Nick Clegg

    The Government is committed to improving social mobility, as set out in our social mobility strategy, ‘Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers’, published in 2011. The strategy sets out a plan for improving social mobility across the whole country, incorporating polices such as early education for two year olds from lower income families, the Pupil Premium and the Youth Contract.

    To assess the progress of this strategy, the Government has committed to reporting regularly on a set of key indicators to track closely whether we are moving in the right direction on social mobility; I chair a group of key Ministers to oversee delivery of the strategy, and the Government has created a new Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

    These indicators were last updated in November last year, and will be updated again shortly.

  • 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 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions drugs were found in parcels containing books destined for prisoners in each of the last four years.

    Jeremy Wright

    Prisons employ a range of measures to detect, disrupt and deter the trafficking of drugs into prisons.

    Details of how many occasions drugs were found in parcels containing books destined for prisoners in each of the last four years are recorded on a central incident reporting system as a drug-related incident. To establish a figure for the period in question would require the interrogation of over 18,000 individual electronic incident files. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in England have a (a) science subject leader and (b) subject leader who has a science degree.

    Mr David Laws

    The information requested is not collected centrally.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department issues to Jobcentre Plus on giving written appointment cards to claimants with details of future appointments.

    Esther McVey

    Jobcentre staff are advised to confirm, in writing, the details of all appointments a claimant is required to attend. This includes the date, time and location of the appointment, what the claimant must do if they cannot attend and the consequences of failing to attend any of these appointments without good reason.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with food suppliers to encourage them to reduce excess packaging; and if he will make a statement.

    Dan Rogerson

    The Secretary of State has not had recent discussions with food suppliers specifically about packaging. I spoke at the Fresher for Longer conference in February this year, and the Government is working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce food waste as part of the Courtauld Commitment, which is targeting a further reduction of 1.1 million tonnes of food and packaging waste by 2015. We encourage the use of a minimum level of packaging that protects products from damage and ensures that it maintains its quality during its shelf life.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 66W, on the Work Programme, how many of the organisations listed with sub-contracts as at 30 September 2013 had received no referrals in the previous years.

    Esther McVey

    The Department does not hold the information requested.

  • 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 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 486W, on health: business, whether he plans to make an assessment of the overall (a) number and (b) proportion of those companies which are meeting all of the pledges they have signed up to.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of our Responsibility Deal partners, the pledges they have committed to taking action on, their delivery plans and annual updates are all readily available on the Responsibility Deal website at:

    https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/partners/

    This information is published in full and the Department does not therefore publish an assessment of partners’ achievements under the pledges.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has held back from payments to Capita because of poor performance on personal independence payment assessments.

    Mike Penning

    The Department has applied performance measures against both of the Personal Independence Payment Assessment Providers and has recovered Service Credits (Financial remedies) in accordance with the contract.

    Specific application of service credits for Capita is commercially sensitive information.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which completed reports from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration have been submitted for publication but had not yet been published on 17 June 2014; and what the (a) date of submission and (b) date she expects to publish the report is in each case.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Secretary laid two reports before Parliament on 19 June 2014,
    that had been supplied by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and
    Immigration pursuant to sections 50 (2) and 50 (3) of the UK Borders Act 2007:

    – An unannounced inspection of the service provided by Glasgow Public Enquiry
    Office, ID 13061402 06/14.

    – The rights of European Citizens and their spouses to come to the UK:
    inspecting the application process and the tackling of abuse, ID 2634429 04/14.

    Four further reports have been supplied by the Chief Inspector that will be
    published shortly.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulations apply to smallholders with flocks of less than 50 laying hens if they (1) want to sell their eggs to the public, (2) want to sell products to the public such as cakes made from the eggs laid by their hens, and (3) want to sell their eggs to third parties who wish to make cakes from them for resale at venues such as country markets and farmers’ markets; whether the regulations covering the third category are national regulations, and if so, which regulations; and whether those regulations are liable to local authority interpretation.

    Lord De Mauley

    The sale of eggs in England (equivalent regulations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is regulated by the Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009, the Control of Salmonella in Poultry Order 2007 and European Union food hygiene and food safety regulations. Any exemption from the legislation is subject to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002.

    1) Exemption from rules on quality and grading is available to smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens providing their eggs are sold at the production site, door-to-door or directly in local markets without any marketing indication (e.g. grading) directly to the final consumer. Producers supplying fewer than 360 eggs per week (Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidance) directly to consumers or to local retailers and caterers are exempt from the requirements of Regulation (EC) 852/2004, which establishes basic food hygiene requirements for registered food businesses.

    2) Smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens who use their own eggs for cakes and other food products sold to the public as part of a regular and organised operation are required to register as a Food Business Operator with the local authority and comply with the food hygiene regulations. The FSA has issued advice for local authorities as to which operations require registration to ensure that charity and community food operations are not disproportionately burdened.

    3) There is no obligation on smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens to ascertain what use customers will make of their eggs.