Category: Speeches

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role her Department’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology has in (a) the trial of the Aeryon Skyranger drone around Gatwick Airport and (b) the trial or use of any other surveillance aircraft operated by government departments, agents or public bodies in the UK.

    Karen Bradley

    CAST has no direct role in the Gatwick trial, but does liaise with the trial
    team in order to learn from their experience.

    Trials conducted by other Departments and their agencies are matters for the
    respective departments.

  • Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have switched energy suppliers in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency, (b) Yorkshire and Humber and (c) England in each of the last 60 months.

    Gregory Barker

    DECC does not hold any sub-national data on switching energy suppliers, data is only available for Great Britain. This data is published in table 2.7.1 of the DECC publication Quarterly Energy Prices, which is made available online at the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-switching-statistics

    “

  • Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people died from prostate cancer in (a) Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency and (b) England in each of the last five years.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Huppert on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of updating awareness training for public order-trained staff operating alongside water cannon.

    Damian Green

    The Home Secretary has now received the request to authorise water cannon for
    use by the police in England and Wales. She is considering this request and
    will announce her decision in due course and lay the relevant information in
    the House Library.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funds his Department has provided for research into cures for dementia since 2012; and what progress has been made on such cures since the launch of the Dementia Challenge.

    Norman Lamb

    At the G8 dementia summit in December 2013, the G8 countries agreed to work together to tackle and defeat dementia. The declaration, built on the Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge, announced the G8’s ambition to identify a cure or a disease-modifying therapy by 2025 and to increase collectively and significantly the amount of funding for dementia research.

    Investment in dementia research by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research has increased from £12.6 million in 2009-10 to £24.4 million in 2012-13.

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

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many forced marriage protection orders have been granted with a power of arrest attached in each year since such orders came into force.

    Damian Green

    Information on the numbers of forced marriage protection orders that have been granted in England and Wales with a power of arrest attached, for each year since such orders came into force, are available in table 2.8 of the Court Statistics Quarterly bulletin. The latest edition of this publication is available at this link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2013

    “

  • Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2014-06-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received, and from whom, about the proposal to establish a secure college for young offenders.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government’s Transforming Youth Custody consultation in 2013 attracted 238 responses from statutory organisations, charities, private companies and individuals. In addition, more than 400 young people responded to the young person’s consultation on Transforming Youth Custody. These submissions informed the Government’s consultation response, published in January 2014. The Ministry of Justice continues to engage with stakeholders as the programme develops.

  • Stephen Mosley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen Mosley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Mosley on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 4W, on railways: Chester, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Wales on the potential implications for (a) rail services in Chester and (b) Chester railway station of the recommendation in the report on the Commission on Devolution in Wales that the Wales and Borders rail franchise should be devolved to the National Assembly for Wales.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Secretary of State would be happy to discuss these matters with the Secretary of State for Wales when they next meet.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Berkeley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2014-06-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the different financing structures of independent generators as compared to the large vertically integrated utilities in the development of the proposal to introduce Contracts for Difference auctioning; and whether any concerns have been raised by independent generators as to their competitive position in the event that Contracts for Difference auctioning is introduced before the Offtaker of Last Resort is operational.

    Baroness Verma

    My officials have worked closely with developers and financial institutions in working up the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) proposals in order to meet the needs of independent renewable generators. The policy design is at an advanced stage, and the detail of the proposals has been recently consulted on. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of first allocation of Contracts for Difference (CfD) applicants will have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR, in advance of the first auctions.

    The move to competitive allocation of CfDs has been a long-standing feature of Electricity Market Reform. In early 2014, Government consulted on proposals to move straight to competitive allocation for some technologies, during which a number of independent renewable generators raised concerns that they had less certainty of their costs than Vertically Integrated Utilities and weretherefore faced with a higher financial risk that might undermine their ability to win a CfD through a competitive process. In the Government’s response, we set out our expectation that the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) market will evolve such that PPAs could be signed on a conditional basis, providing greater cost certainty for independent renewable generators.

  • Peter Aldous – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Peter Aldous – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions his Department has had (a) with Post Office Ltd and (b) other payment services providers on offering a wider range of payment outlets at which Post Office Card Account customers can access pensions and benefits.

    Steve Webb

    The Post Office Card Account can be accessed at any one of around 11,500 branches across the post office network.

    No discussions have taken place with Post Office Ltd or other payment services providers about offering a wider range of payment outlets and there are currently no plans to extend the number of outlets at which Post Office Card Account customers can access pensions and benefits.