Category: Speeches

  • Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Uppal on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the need for local authority pension schemes to integrate environmental, social and governance issues into their investment decision-making.

    Brandon Lewis

    These issues are matters for individual local authorities that administer pension funds to consider when deciding upon their investment strategies. Each administering authority is required to publish a statement of principles, which should address such issues. Statutory guidance states that the authority must report periodically to scheme members on the implementation of their policies.

    Notwithstanding, local authorities need to focus on delivering a good rate of return for their fund and value for taxpayers, given local government pensions cost taxpayers (via employer contributions) almost £6 billion a year.

  • Lord Laird – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Laird – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current membership and remit of the Migration Advisory Committee; on what criteria they appoint its members; and whether they have plans to review those criteria and its remit with a view to tasking the Committee with examining immigration and its impact in the round.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is comprised of economists and migration experts who serve as a chair and committee members. They are appointed to support the remit of the Committee, which is to provide independent and evidence-based advice to the Government on migration issues. Professor Sir David Metcalf is the Chair and is supported by 4 members; Dr Martin Ruhs, Professor Jonathan Wadsworth, Dr Jennifer Smith and Professor Jackline Wahba.

    Lesley Giles of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and John Thompson, the Director of Immigration Policy in the Home Office, also sit on the Committee as ex-officio members.

    The Chair and Committee members are public appointments made in line with guidance issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The current criteria for membership are:

    Essential criteria

    * Expertise in economics, preferably labour markets.
    * Quantitative analytical skills.
    * Strong written skills – experience of producing evidence based reports.
    * Building effective working relationships with a wide range of groups.

    Desirable criteria

    * Ability to work as part of a team.
    * Knowledge of non-UK migration data and policies.

    There are no plans to change or review the remit or the criteria for
    appointment to the MAC.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many spare (a) generator step-up transformers and (b) transmission transformers are held in the UK.

    Michael Fallon

    Electricity generation in the U.K. is privatised and the decisions on spare step-up transformers are for the individual generator businesses. Electricity transmission operations in the U.K. are private, regulated businesses. Decisions on spare transmission connected transformers are matters for the transmission businesses, to meet the licence conditions under which they operate; they form an important component in the provision of reliability of supply. The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not hold data on generator step-up transformer or transmission connected transformer quantities held as spares by industry.

  • Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many occasions in each of the last 10 years there have been incursions by Spanish naval or other state vessels into British Gibraltar territorial waters; and on how many occasions they have summoned the Spanish Ambassador or made other diplomatic representations over such incursions.

    Baroness Warsi

    The total number of unlawful incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW), from 2010 onwards, are as follows:

    2010 – 103
    2011 – 24
    2012 – 229
    2013 – 496
    Jan-May 2014 – 185

    During this period, the Spanish Ambassador has been summoned three times on incursions related matters – 15 November 2012, 19 November 2013 and 2 April 2014. The British Government cannot readily provide statistics for incursions into BGTW by Spanish State vessels before 2010. This could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. The Government upholds British sovereignty over BGTW by challenging and protesting unlawful incursions. We will continue to make representations to the Spanish government at the highest level, making clear the damage they cause to our bilateral relationship.

  • Ms Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ms Diane Abbott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Diane Abbott on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Refugee Council, When Maternity Doesn’t Matter, what steps her Department has taken to reform the dispersal policy of the former UK Border Agency.

    James Brokenshire

    The report covers procedures for accommodating pregnant asylum seekers who are destitute. The Home Office has been consulting about changes to these procedures and is considering some detailed suggestions by the Refugee Council and Maternity Action. Once that is completed we will move towards finalising and publishing revised guidance on the procedures.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of potential health risks arising from (a) above-ground and (b) underground electricity cables which connect onshore windfarms to sub-stations.

    Michael Fallon

    Public Health England (PHE) is advisor on potential health risks from above ground or underground electricity cables. Government policy, based on advice from PHE, is that the 1998 International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines on public exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) are applied in terms of the 1999 EU Council Recommendation on limiting exposure of the general public (1999/519/EC). PHE remains the focus of UK expertise in such matters and keeps the scientific evidence relevant to EMF exposures under review.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2014, Official Report, columns 654-5, on electoral register, if the Electoral Commission will publish the results of all research it has conducted into the size of the electorate.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it publishes all of its completed research on electoral registration on its website, here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/our-research/electoral-registration-research

    “

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations his Department has received from families groups on allowing the names of parents and legal guardians to be included on a child’s passport.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education has no record of family groups (or anyone else) making representations on this matter.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s policy is on whether receiving parents should be responsible for estimating the weekly expenses of the paying parent in the calculation of child maintenance entitlement.

    Steve Webb

    Section 14 of the Child Support Act 1991 and the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 provide the Child Support Agency and Child Maintenance Service with wide powers to obtain information from parents and third parties for the purpose of making decisions relating to child maintenance, including those decisions which relate to establishing the child maintenance of a Paying Parent.

    The Receiving Parent is not responsible for estimating the weekly expenses of a Paying Parent. The Child Maintenance Service, which administers the 2012 Scheme, is built to make best use of taxable income information that is regularly and reliably available from HMRC. However, in the 1993 and 2003 schemes, administered by the Child Support Agency, the Receiving Parent can sometimes be asked to provide evidence of expenditure in order to support an application for a variation on the grounds of “lifestyle inconsistent with declared income”.

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent (a) police officers, (b) police community support officers and (c) police civilian staff were employed by North Yorkshire police on (i) 31 March and (ii) 30 September in each year since 2004.

    Damian Green

    The following table contains the requested data and covers the period up until
    30 September 2013. Figures as at 31 March 2014 are due to be published 17 July
    2014.