Category: Speeches

  • Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Williams on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much beef was imported into the UK from (a) the Republic of Ireland, (b) the rest of the EU and (c) non-EU countries in each of the last 18 months.

    George Eustice

    The following tables provide details of UK imports of beef and veal as recorded in the Official Overseas Trade Statistics for the period January 2012 – April 2014.

    Thousand Tonnes

    Thousand Tonnes

    Imports from

    Month

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Imports from

    Month

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Irish Republic

    January

    12.3

    12.1

    13.3

    Non EU

    January

    1.6

    2.6

    2.2

    February

    13.7

    10.8

    12.2

    February

    1.3

    1.7

    1.5

    March

    14.9

    13.0

    16.2

    March

    1.2

    1.4

    1.5

    April

    12.9

    11.9

    13.5

    April

    1.4

    2.3

    2.1

    May

    12.5

    12.4

    May

    2.1

    2.6

    June

    11.8

    14.9

    June

    3.1

    3.5

    July

    11.3

    12.2

    July

    2.2

    3.5

    August

    12.4

    11.7

    August

    2.2

    3.1

    September

    13.8

    14.9

    September

    1.9

    2.8

    October

    15.0

    15.6

    October

    2.2

    3.5

    November

    14.0

    15.1

    November

    2.0

    2.5

    December

    15.1

    16.4

    December

    1.7

    2.0

    Irish Republic annual total

    159.7

    161.0

    Non EU annual total

    23.0

    31.7

    Rest of EU

    January

    3.8

    3.9

    3.4

    February

    4.1

    3.2

    3.4

    Ó Crown Copyright

    March

    4.4

    2.9

    3.3

    Source: HM Revenue and Customs

    April

    4.4

    3.5

    4.1

    2013 & 2014 data is subject to amendments

    May

    5.3

    3.9

    June

    4.3

    3.3

    EU data based on EU 28

    July

    4.8

    4.1

    August

    4.7

    3.7

    September

    4.2

    3.9

    October

    5.1

    4.4

    November

    4.4

    4.6

    December

    3.8

    4.2

    Rest of EU annual total

    53.4

    45.6

    “

  • Jim McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McGovern on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions were applied to jobseeker’s allowance claimants in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) Dundee in each of the last three years.

    Esther McVey

    Statistics on the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance benefit claimants, who have been sanctioned in Great Britain, Scotland and Dundee, are published and can be found at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

    Guidance for users is available at:

    https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

    Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Social Development. Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:

    http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research.htm

    “

  • Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Government’s written submission to the European Court of Justice which was the subject of the hearing before the Court in April 2014 about the EU application to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Damian Green

    The European Court of Justice held a hearing on 5-6 May 2014 before a full court in proceedings under article 218 (11) of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union regarding the European Commission’s request for an Opinion on the compatibility of the draft Accession Agreement with the EU Treaties.

    I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 10 December 2013, Official Report, Column 123W.

    My subsequent letter to the European Scrutiny Committee of 20 December 2013, as referenced in the Committee’s Twenty-ninth Report of session 2013-2014 of 8 January 2014, clarifies the basis on which documents in the proceedings are confidential.

    My most recent letter to the European Scrutiny Committee of 18 June 2014 outlines that the UK’s oral submissions supported the compatibility of the draft Accession Agreement with the EU Treaties, and sought to encourage the Court to robustly test the draft Accession Agreement and its implications while steering clear of making any findings that prejudge the content of the internal EU rules.

  • Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on which date authority was given for the closure of the Hull Official Receiver’s office; and who gave such authority.

    Jenny Willott

    The decision to close the Insolvency Service office in Hull was made by the Insolvency Service Board on 18 March 2014.

  • Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent from its research and development budget over the last five years; and how much such spending is planned for (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Revenue expenditure from the Department’s research and development budget is shown in the following table:

    £ million

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    provisional

    2014-15

    planned

    885

    960

    952

    985

    1,004

    1,077

    A budget figure for 2015-16 has not yet been set. This will happen as part of standard business planning later in the year.

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average cost is of recovery of £1 of debt by HM Revenue and Customs debt management staff.

    Mr David Gauke

    HMRC collects about £475 billion of tax revenue every year. 90% of this is collected by the due date; just 10% of it becomes overdue and a debt that HMRC has to recover/enforce.

    It would be misleading to attribute the effect of enforcing tax that is not paid on time outside the context of collecting tax that is collected on time.

    Accordingly, we do not routinely measure the ‘average’ cost of collecting £1 of debt.

    HMRC uses a number of different methods to recover outstanding debts ranging from automated processes to more targeted enforcement tools as well as partnering initiatives with private sector companies. The application of specific interventions depends on a number of factors including customer behaviour, the economic climate, and our overall approach to maintaining the health of the tax system and tackling non-compliance.

    In 2011 HMRC published the results of an international benchmarking study which compares HMRC’s operational performance to nine other international tax administrations. Results from this study showed HMRC had the lowest cost of all ten countries.

    Over the long term 99% of taxes due are collected with only 1% being lost to the Exchequer, almost all of which is due to insolvency.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many registered nurses were made redundant by each NHS health trust in England in 2013.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The number (Headcount basis) of Qualified Nursing Staff made redundant, from National Health Service trusts, during 2013 is estimated in the attached table.

    In November 2013 there was a record full time equivalent number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the NHS of 312,900.

    The 489 redundancies represent just 0.14 % of the total Qualified Nursing workforce in Hospitals and Community Health Services.

    The data used in this reply has been extracted from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Data Warehouse which is a monthly snap shot of the live ESR system. This is the Human Resources and payroll system that covers all NHS employees other than those working in General Practice, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and organisations to which functions have been transferred, such as local authorities. ESR was fully rolled out across the NHS in April 2008. The ESR data used in this response is not centrally validated and its reliability is subject to local coding practice.

    Redundancies are identified as those individuals with a reason for leaving of either voluntary or compulsory redundancy. Only those individuals coded as Qualified Nurses, Midwives or Health Visitors are included in the figures. Only redundancies from NHS Trusts are included in these figures, it is possible that Qualified Nurses were also made redundant from other NHS bodies.

    ESR reports based on the current organisation structure. This means that if organisations merged during 2013 it is possible that redundancies from, now defunct, organisations are recorded as being from the newly created organisation.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of his Department’s staff excluding non-departmental public bodies were (a) women in top management posts women, (b) women, (c) black and minority ethnic and (d) disabled.

    Brandon Lewis

    The current proportion of women in DCLG top management posts is 36.8%. Whilst there is more to do to ensure the Civil Service has the very best possible mix of existing and future talent, I would observe that this is an increase from 33.0% from 2009-10, and is higher than the Civil Service workforce target of 34.0%.

    I also refer the rt. hon. Member to my answer of 17 March 2014, Official Report, Column 398-400W.

  • 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 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she expects to respond to the recommendations of the Report by the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill by the time of Second Reading of that Bill.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government’s response to the report from the Joint Committee on the draft
    Modern Slavery Bill was published on 10 June 2014. Copies of the report are
    available in the House Library.

    The response was also published on the Gov.UK website:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-modern-slavery-bill–2

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of readiness to defend its Overseas Territories in the event of attack.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly consults with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Government Departments and intelligence agencies, as well as our allies and partners, constantly to review or identify potential threats to UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs). In the first instance the MOD seeks to deter such attacks using deterrence measures including, where necessary, permanently based military garrisons or dedicated patrols, visits by deployed military forces, and more broadly the maintenance of world class deployable military forces. Should deterrence fail to prevent an attack, the Department remains confident that it has the necessary contingency plans and high readiness deployable forces in the UK and elsewhere to respond accordingly to any attack on a UKOT.