Category: Speeches

  • Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Leader of the House what steps he has taken to ensure that Ministers make sure, before signing replies to Questions for Written Answer, that the replies answer the questions which have been put.

    Lord Hill of Oareford

    It is the responsibility of individual ministers to decide what answers they give to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs), and they are of course accountable to the House for those answers. The importance of this direct accountability is such that I recently decided, following the introduction of a new system for answering QWAs electronically, to require Ministers in this House to continue providing personally signed answers to noble Lords. The Ministerial Code states that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”.

  • Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Tessa Jowell on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for new GP premises of which an increase in rent formed a part NHS England approved in 2013.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    NHS England has advised that information about the number of funding applications, the number of applications which have been approved and the number of applications which include a rent increase is not held centrally.

    However, NHS England has been collating all applications transferred from predecessor primary care trusts concerning funding for general practitioner (GP) practice premises, after which prioritisation decisions will be made for each of the application categories in the system.

    NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and other partners to develop a new strategy for premises and to support timely decisions on GP premises funding.

  • Mr Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mr Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Frank Field on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) men and (b) women who are victims of human trafficking are nationals of non-EEA countries have received return and reintegration assistance through the Assisted Voluntary Returns for Irregular Migrants programme since April 2011; and how much was so made available to those trafficked from (i) inside and (ii) outside the EU.

    Karen Bradley

    16 victims of trafficking (1 male, 15 female) have received financial
    assistance under the programme since April 2011.

    While the Assisted Voluntary Return for Irregular Migrants (AVRIM) programme
    does not normally include financial assistance, a discretionary sum of up to
    £1000 is provided for specified vulnerable cases, and this includes victims of
    trafficking. Assisted Voluntary Return is only available to non-EEA nationals
    and the support is not dependent upon whether the individual has arrived from
    inside or outside the EU.

    The figures provided are sourced from a Home Office management information
    system which is not quality assured under National Statistics protocols and is
    subject to change due to internal data quality checking. Figures provided from
    this source do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated
    as provisional.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of applicants who have faced delays to their personal independence payment claim because of partial PA4 IT failures in the past 12 months.

    Mike Penning

    The requested data is not held by the Department.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of an either way office case dealt with at the Crown Court where (a) a guilty plea was entered at the magistrates’ court and (b) a guilty plea was entered on the day of trial at the Crown Court in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Shailesh Vara

    There are a number of different ways costs of cases can be estimated, depending on how indirect costs are apportioned, resulting in a range of cost estimates for these cases. The latest period for which data is available is 2012/13 (up-rated to 2013/14 prices).

    a) The cost of an either way guilty plea entered at the Magistrates Court is estimated to be between £210 and £270 (to the nearest £10).

    b) A guilty plea entered on the day of a trial at the Crown court would result in a cracked trial. The cost of a cracked trial in the Crown court is estimated to be between £1,200 and £2,000 (to the nearest £100).

    These figures do not include legal aid costs.

    Sentencing Council Guidelines to the judiciary encourage early guilty pleas by setting out a scale of ‘credit’ for a guilty plea to be applied that varies from a reduction of one third in any sentence for an early plea, to 10% for a guilty plea entered at the point of trial.

  • Mike Weir – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Mike Weir – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will publish the (a) scope, (b) date and (c) cost of contracts for public relations services commissioned by the Devolution Team in his Department from (i) Engine Partners and (ii) other public affairs and public relations consultancies since May 2011.

    Greg Clark

    The UK Government regularly commissions independent research to inform and evaluate major policy programmes. Cabinet Office has contracted Ipsos MORI for the purposes of providing market research in relation to the Scotland Analysis Programme. Two formal tenders for this research were issued in March and August 2013 respectively and, as with other tenders for Government contracts, these processes were managed by the Government Procurement Service (now part of the Crown Commercial Service).

    Cabinet Office has also contracted Engine Partners LLP for the purposes of providing communications support work in relation to the Scottish independence referendum. A formal tender for this work was issued in September 2013 and was managed by the Government Procurement Service.

    As part of the Government’s commitment to transparency in expenditure information relating to the costs of both sets of work is publicly available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data

    “

  • Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in (a) Lancashire County Council and (b) Hyndburn constituency.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.

    It is not possible to provide results for the divisions used by Lancashire County Council area as the matching was carried out using the district councils’ electoral wards. However, the table for all the wards within the district authorities in the Lancashire County Council area and the table for Hyndburn constituency have been deposited in the House of Commons’ Library.

    Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls

    “

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 29 April 2014, Official Report, column 636W, on the Air Force, whether any such UK personnel are embedded or otherwise interact with the (a) 22nd, (b) 30th, (c) 867th and (d) 732nd Air Force Reconnaissance Squadrons.

    Mr Mark Francois

    732nd is an Operations Group which comprises four Reconnaissance Squadron’s – 17th, 22nd, 30th and 867th. No UK Remotely Piloted Air System personnel are embedded with, or interact with the 732nd Operations Group Squadrons.

  • Mr Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Roger Godsiff on 2014-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the quality of the administration of the short-term benefit advances scheme since its inception.

    Esther McVey

    DWP has a quality framework in place for checking the accuracy of Short Term Benefit Advance decisions. In February 2014, checks confirmed 96% accuracy of application decisions. In terms of timeliness, an average 98% of all application decisions made throughout the operational year since April 2013 were made within 24 hours.

  • Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Uppal on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to help women suffering from endometriosis.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Information on endometriosis is readily available to healthcare professionals and the public. Both the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and NHS Choices have published information for the public on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. Further information can be found on the RCOG website:

    www.rcog.org.uk/womens-health/clinical-guidance/endometriosis-what-you-need-know

    and NHS Choices website:

    www.nhs.uk/conditions/Endometriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    To support women with endometriosis all obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis, investigation and management of the condition, which is specifically listed as a topic in the core curriculum for obstetrics and gynaecology. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has published clinical guidelines on the management of women with endometriosis to assist clinicians.

    In addition, NHS England has developed a service specification for severe endometriosis under the specialised commissioning area of complex gynaecology. NHS England expects all units providing a service to women with severe endometriosis to provide care which meets the standards laid out in a specification which can be found on their website:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/e10-comp-gynae-endom-0414.pdf