Category: Speeches

  • Mike Freer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mike Freer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Lithuanian government to secure restitution for British citizens who had assets seized by the Nazis as soon as possible.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government attaches great importance to supporting the families tragically affected by the Holocaust – including on the issue of property restitution. I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 30 January 2014, Official Report, column 689W.

  • David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid by his Department to Aspire to Change (A2C) since its formation; for what purpose each payment was made; what assessment he has made of the value for money of such expenditure; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    Under Transforming Rehabilitation, we are opening up the market to a diverse range of new rehabilitation providers, so that we get the best out of the public, voluntary and private sectors, at the local as well as national level. Managers in a number of Probation Trusts, including Essex, have set up mutuals so that they can bid to become owners of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). In line with wider Government policy, we have encouraged those Trusts that have been interested to consider the mutual option. All those developing mutuals have had the opportunity to bid for further advice, guidance and assistance through the Cabinet Office Mutual Support Programme (MSP). The MSP has allocated a total of £1.5million to support prospective mutuals with the greatest potential. Support to organisations has been provided in two phases. Phase 1 supported organisations to prepare them for the competition. Phase 2 is providing further support to those that passed the first stage of the competition throughout the negotiation phase and, if they are successful in the competition, support their transition to a mutual.

    We launched the competition to establish the owners of the 21 CRCs on 19 September 2013. Competition rules preclude this Department from contacting potential bidders other than through the competition process so that is, and will remain the only avenue for Aspire 2 Change Ltd. to communicate with the Department until the competition is completed.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of stress on heart failure.

    Jane Ellison

    Information onsurvival rates for patients who suffer an out of hospital heart attack or an out of hospital cardiac arrest are not collected centrally.

    The British Heart Foundation suggests that between 2-12% of people treated by the emergency services after suffering an out of hospital cardiac arrest survive to be discharged from hospital.

    The Department has made no assessment of the effect of stress on heart failure, nor has it made any estimate of heart attacks among workers who work 40 or 60 hours per week.

    However, researchers analysing data from the Whitehall II study observed that people who believed stress was significantly affecting their health had double the risk of suffering from coronary heart disease, compared to people who did not believe stress was having an impact.

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the expected additional cost is in 2014-15 of the increased staffing levels agreeed for HM Prison Oakwood.

    Jeremy Wright

    Staffing levels at HMP Oakwood are regularly reviewed by both the Ministry of Justice and G4S. There are currently no plans to increase staffing levels at HMP Oakwood.

  • Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to increase the transparency of NICE’s decisions on the Cancer Drugs Fund to remove any restrictions on treatment use arising from budgetary pressures and increase its level of engagement with members of the public.

    Norman Lamb

    The operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund is the responsibility of NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence does not have a role in the management of the Fund.

    NHS England has a standard operating procedure for the Fund, which is available at:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/

  • Baroness Thornton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Thornton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thornton on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the national averageweekly income in the West Midlands for (1) men, and (2) women.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

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

  • Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 8 May 2014, Official Report, column 288W, on Parkinson’s Disease, over what timeframe NHS England will improve its collection of data concerning individual funding requests for treatments of progressive conditions.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England has advised us that it is aiming to complete work on improving data collection for individual funding requests in the autumn.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-03-31.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Quarterly Data Summary for any department does not include data for the current period, for the year to date, and for the full year forecast.

    Lord Bates

    In each quarter of the 2013/14 financial year, 15 of the 17 departments taking part in the Quarterly Data Summary process have provided all of the information requested. In quarter 3, the most recent quarter for which data is available, average completion was 96%.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been paid in overtime and other costs incurred in the last three weeks due to changes in HM Passport Office.

    James Brokenshire

    The precise information requested by the Hon Member is not available. Overtime
    payments to staff are recorded by the month in which payment is made. In May
    2014, Her Majesty’s Passport Office incurred overtime costs of £964,742.

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to A UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies, for what reason Qatar was chosen as the first country for UK Trade and Investment to work with.

    Mr David Willetts

    Qatar was chosen because of its Government’s commitment to increase agricultural production over the coming years with the aim of becoming less reliant on imported food and more self-sufficient. This may offer important future opportunities for UK agri-tech organisations.