Category: Speeches

Sarah Champion – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to enable vulnerable witnesses to be able to give evidence remotely.

Damian Green

The Crown courts and Magistrate Courts provide the facility to allow vulnerable victims and witnesses to give evidence to the trial court by secure video link from a different court.

In addition, a number of police stations also have video facilities that link into the court. As part of the action plan to increase video usage across the Criminal Justice System, we intend to examine how best to extend use of remote links for vulnerable, intimidated and other ‘priority’ victims, as defined by the Victims’ Code.

01/11/2022
Dr Alan Whitehead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Alan Whitehead on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what modelling he has undertaken of the viability of the offtaker of last resort system for independent renewable energy generators under the revised arrangements for auctions for contracts for difference for established technologies.

Gregory Barker

We do not consider that the method of allocating Contracts for Difference (CfDs) has a direct impact on the viability of the offtaker of last resort (OLR).

We have recently consulted on the OLR and are currently considering responses. Based on those responses, we will consider whether further modelling is necessary to ensure/verify that the OLR is viable as proposed.

01/11/2022

Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average ambulance response times in (a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley, (c) Rotherham and (d) Sheffield was in each year since May 2010; and what the national average response time was in each of those years.

Jane Ellison

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.

Information is not available before 2011.

Table: The median ambulance response times to treatment for category A¹ (red 1 and red 2 calls require staff to arrive at the scene of the incident within eight minutes in 75% of cases) calls for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, April 2011 to April 2014

Month	Median time to treatment for Category A calls (in minutes)
April 2011	5.4
May 2011	5.2
June 2011	5.2
July 2011	5.3
August 2011	5.2
September 2011	5.2
October 2011	5.3
November 2011	5.2
December 2011	5.4
January 2012	5.0
February 2012	5.3
March 2012	5.1
April 2012	4.9
May 2012	5.0
June 2012	5.1
July 2012	5.3
August 2012	5.3
September 2012	5.5
October 2012	5.5
November 2012	5.5
December 2012	6.0
January 2013	5.7
February 2013	5.7
March 2013	5.5
April 2013	5.3
May 2013	5.2
June 2013	5.3
July 2013	5.6
August 2013	5.6
September 2013	5.5
October 2013	5.6
November 2013	5.7
December 2013	5.9
January 2014	5.5
February 2014	5.7
March 2014	5.6
April 2014	6.4

Source: Ambulance quality indicators, NHS England

www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators

Notes:

1. Category A calls are defined as those that are the result of immediately life threatening incidents.

2. It is not possible to calculate the median time to treatment for England from the medians for individual Ambulance Trust.

01/11/2022

Heidi Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce which stations will receive (a) access for all funding and (b) national station improvement programme funding between 2014 and 2019.

Stephen Hammond

We plan to announce the stations that will receive Access for All funding in April.

The responsibility for deciding which stations will benefit from the next phase of the National Stations Improvement Programme rests with the industry Local Delivery Groups (LDGs) and not the Department.

The LDGs are in the process of developing their plans and will in due course be able to confirm which schemes they are progressing.

01/11/2022
Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 13 May 2014, Official Report, columns 200-3WH, what representations he has made to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the recent acquittal of 14 officers of the armed forces of that country on charges of mass rape and murder.

Mark Simmonds

I welcome efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to prosecute perpetrators on charges of mass rape and murder – but more must be done to deliver justice for the victims. I met with the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the DRC in London last week when he was attending the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict. I emphasised to him that ending impunity was fundamental to tackling the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence. He confirmed his Government’s commitment to tackling sexual and gender based violence and to ending impunity for the perpetrators.

The British Embassy in Kinshasa sponsors a range of projects to tackle sexual violence in the DRC focusing on security sector reform and improving service provision for survivors. During his visit to eastern DRC in March 2013 the Foreign Secretary announced over £1 million in funding to a range of organisations tackling rape and sexual violence. The UK has supported the deployment of an international expert to build capacity of health and legal professionals to address accountability and the investigation and documentation of sexual violence crimes.

The Foreign Secretary has publicly called on the Congolese authorities to continue in their efforts to seek out and prosecute the remaining perpetrators. Senior officials at our Embassy in Kinshasa have, jointly with EU Heads of Mission and independently, also raised the issue directly with the Government of the DRC.

The International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict, which was field tested in the DRC, was launched at the Global Summit on 12 June. I hope that the Protocol will be deployed widely, helping to ensure that more and more perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence the world over will be brought to justice.

01/11/2022
Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from organisations representing pensioners on the start and end times of the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

During the past twelve months we have received no representations on this subject from organisations representing pensioners.

The Chancellor has committed to maintaining the statutory concession until the end of this Parliament, and we have no plans to amend its hours of validity.

Travel Concession Authorities have powers to implement discretionary enhancements to the statutory concession, including extending the hours of validity. The Department’s annual concessionary travel survey monitors the availability of such discretionary concessions, and the most recent dataset can be found at:

http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel/

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01/11/2022
Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the value of London Midland’s rolling stock contract with Angel Trains after the direct award of the franchise for the period September 2015 to June 2017.

Stephen Hammond

Negotiations for the direct award of the West Midlands franchise are yet to commence and the Department has not made any estimate on the value of London Midland’s contract with Angel Trains. It should be noted that the value of rolling stock contracts are a commercial matter between the operator and the rolling stock owner.

01/11/2022

David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to increase the availability of credit for small businesses in (a) Bolton North East constituency and (b) England in the last year.

Matthew Hancock

The Government is committed to ensuring businesses can access the finance they need for investment and growth.

The Bank of England and HM Treasury announced in November that the Funding for Lending scheme would be focused on lending to businesses to reflect the success that the scheme has had with households. Lending under the Funding for Lending Scheme has totalled over £16bn according to the latest figures.

The British Business Bank is being established to ensure that business finance markets work efficiently and effectively for smaller businesses, and its loan guarantee and investment programmes supported £660 million of lending and investment in 2013 across the UK.

A breakdown of the value of debt finance facilitated to businesses in Bolton North East constituency and England through British Business Bank programmes in the last year is detailed in the table below.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (drawn down)

Start Up Loans Scheme

(drawn down)

Lending facilitated by the Business Finance Partnership

Bolton North East Constituency

7 Loans with a value of £1.14m

24 loans with a value of £117 330

North West Region: 462 loans with a value of nearly £ 27m

England

2857 loans with a value of £307.6 million

13432 with a value over £75m

3721 loans provided with a value of nearly £226m

01/11/2022

Lord Lexden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2014-06-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was their total spending in 2013–14 on treatments for HIV infection in the United Kingdom.

Earl Howe

Data for 2013-14 is not available at present. Primary care trusts’ aggregate spend for 2012–13 (latest figures available) on HIV/AIDS was £630 million.

01/11/2022
Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-04-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HM Revenue and Customs has made of the economic viability of its Customs House landholding adjacent to Dover Priory railway station.

Mr David Gauke

HMRC has made no assessment of the economic viability of the Priory Court Dover landholding adjacent to Dover Priory railway station.

01/11/2022