Category: Speeches

Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 26 March 2014, Official Report, column 318W, on conflict resolution: females, if he will publish in the Library the minutes of the meetings on this matter on (a) 24 February, (b) 5 March, (c) 20 March, (d) 18 March, (e) 19 March and (f) 13 March 2014.

Anna Soubry

None of the meetings mentioned were convened by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). They were convened by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as the lead Department, or by the Department for International Development on behalf of the FCO and thus it is they who may have a record of the meetings, the MOD has no record of any formal minutes. However the real output of these meetings was in the development of the UK’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security which was published by the Foreign Secretary on 12 June at the Global Summit on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. This document is available from the FCO.

01/11/2022
Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on measures to allow town and parish councils to send agendas electronically.

Brandon Lewis

Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires local authorities (both principal and parish councils) to send summonses to attend meetings by post. Reflecting the take-up of digital communications, Ministers are minded to issue an Order under Section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 to facilitate this being done electronically; although we do believe that councillors should continue to have a right to receive communications in hard copy by post should they wish, and that this should be reflected in any legislative change.

We will be undertaking an informal sounding shortly on the wording of any draft Order with key partners, including the Local Government Association and the National Association of Local Councils.

01/11/2022
Peter Aldous – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England takes to consider (a) all new specialised service applications and (b) new treatments for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency; and whether such steps are subject to review by his Department.

Norman Lamb

The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG) is a Department expert committee which was set up to provide regular advice to Ministers on which services are specialised and should be prescribed in regulations for national commissioning by the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England). The Group met most recently in May 2014 and may meet up to four times a year.

Evidence, supporting information and activity on those services currently prescribed in legislation for direct commissioning by NHS England and any new services identified as potentially specialised, are made available to PSSAG from a range of sources, which may include Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), patient groups, clinicians, commissioners and members of the public. The proposals the group considers are in large part generated by NHS England through its CRGs. The PSSAG makes recommendations to Ministers who, before deciding whether to make regulations, consult with NHS England, as required by section 3B of the National Health Service Act 2006.

NHS England advises that where it becomes the responsible commissioner for a service, it considers the funding priority of the service through its clinical priorities advisory group and manages a process for selecting providers. Any highly specialised services that become the commissioning responsibility of NHS England will be discussed at its Rare Disease Advisory Group.

The commissioning of services for people with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency is a matter for individual clinical commissioning groups. We understand the Alpha 1 Alliance is working with NHS England and the Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group to develop a proposal on alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency for a future PSSAG meeting.

01/11/2022
Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2013, Official Report, column 443W, on electoral register, what progress he has made with private sector credit reference agencies on ensuring the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.

Greg Clark

The Government is using public data to confirm the vast majority of electors on the register when the transition to individual electoral registration takes place this year.

There are no plans to use private sector credit reference agency data.

01/11/2022
William Bain – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Bain on 2014-05-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff are employed in each Government department in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland.

Mr Nick Hurd

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

01/11/2022
Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are home-schooled in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) Brigg and Goole constituency.

Mr David Laws

The information requested is not held by the Department.

01/11/2022

Baroness Seccombe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Seccombe on 2014-05-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 6 May (WA 368), how many financial transactions there were using Government Procurement Cards in 2006–07 in the ministerial private office of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Lord Deighton

The breakdown of the departmental private office Government Procurement Card number of individual transactions for 2005-06 to 2009-10 is in the table below. There are three types of spend within the definition of GPC procurement, lodge and corporate cards.

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Chancellor of the Exchequer	486	472	340	480	501
Chief Secretary	191	134	100	74	199
Exchequer Secretary	116	117	137	112	130
Economic Secretary	112	220	155	108	36
Financial Secretary	266	198	166	259	213
Financial Services Secretary	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	152
TOTAL	1171	1141	898	1033	1231

01/11/2022

Mr Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Bob Ainsworth on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department has introduced in the last year to reduce the number of businesses employing illegal immigrants.

James Brokenshire

Employers have a duty to ensure that their employees have the right to work in the UK, and this duty has been underpinned by a civil penalty scheme since 2008. The government is taking measures to ensure a tougher response to employers who use illegal labour, whilst simplifying arrangements for legitimate businesses to conduct right to work checks.

To deter employers from using illegal workers, the Home Office is doubling the maximum penalty to £20,000. The government is also using the current Immigration Bill to make it easier to enforce unpaid civil penalties in the civil courts. In addition, with the creation of the new Immigration Enforcement Directorate last year, there has been a forty seven per cent increase in illegal working enforcement operations and a corresponding increase in civil penalties imposed: with 1862 penalties served in 2013/14 (to the end of February) compared to 1270 in 2012/13. We are also ensuring greater collaboration across government to increase our ‘enforcement reach’ and the range of sanctions that can be brought to bear against rogue employers who exploit illegal workers.

01/11/2022
Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-12.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to disseminate the lessons learned from the data mining pilots for the introduction of individual electoral registrations; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.

01/11/2022
Tom Blenkinsop – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of books to prisoners; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright

There have been no changes in the availability of books in prisons Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Up to 12 books may be held by prisoners in their cell at any one time and additional volumes may be stored locally at the prison.

The National Offender Management Service works closely with schemes such as the Shannon Trust Reading Network,which includes peer mentoring.

01/11/2022