Category: Speeches

  • Geraint Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geraint Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geraint Davies on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funds have been provided from his departmental expenditure limit to meet the costs of (a) clinical negligence and (b) NHS litigation in this financial year.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    £1.2 billion has been budgeted by the National Health Service Litigation Authority for the current 2014-15 financial year. £1.1 billion of this is allocated to clinical negligence, by far the most significant proportion of which is funded by members’ contributions, rather than allocated directly from the Department’s expenditure limit.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 2 April (WA 195), whether either they, or the European Union, employ a formal definition of the word Europe”.”

    Baroness Warsi

    The UK does not employ a formal definition of the word “Europe” and we are not aware of the EU Institutions employing a formal definition of the word “Europe” either.

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the reporting of domestic and sexual violence offences by victims.

    Norman Baker

    Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
    within our society. The Coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling
    such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
    Action Plan, updated in March 2014.

    Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
    victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
    crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.

    The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
    up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
    rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
    helpline.

    Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
    for:
    144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
    Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
    Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
    to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
    of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
    services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
    £900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
    victims of domestic violence and stalking.

    In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
    domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In
    response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
    Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s
    recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.

    The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
    every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
    improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the cases made by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme in respect of the establishment of a humanitarian operation in the Central African Republic.

    Lord Bates

    It estimated that 1.3 million people (30% of the population) are food insecure. 60% of farmers have indicated that their crop production in 2013 was significantly reduced and around 50% of livestock was either looted or lost. 94% of farmers reported insufficient access to seeds for the upcoming planting season.

    DFID is supporting short and medium term solutions to assist people through the lean season and plant staple crops to harvest in August. We have committed £4 million to FAO for the distribution of seeds and tools and to support livelihood activities such as home gardening. FAO will assist 150,000 farming households through the provision of seeds and tools. We will continue to closely monitor the humanitarian situation.

    The UK has been closely monitoring the situation and has pledged a total of £23m to the response in 2013 and 2014 and is one of the largest humanitarian donors to CAR. The UK’s assistance is helping hundreds of thousands of people and will go towards the protection of civilians (in particular violence against women and girls); to urgent medical assistance; and to food security and livelihoods assistance.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition is used by HM Passport Office of a straightforward application for passports for the purpose of setting internal targets; and if this definition has been amended since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    A straightforward application is one where all the required information,
    including supporting documentation, is provided, the application is signed and
    no further enquiries are required in order to progress the application.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been disbursed in compensation for the carbon price floor in each month since April 2013.

    Michael Fallon

    The Government is waiting for state aid approval from the European Commission for the carbon price floor compensation scheme. We expect to get a final decision later this month and we are hopeful that we will be able to commence the scheme shortly thereafter.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on non-disclosure or compromise agreements for former employees of probation trusts since 1 January 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    There have been no non-disclosure or compromise agreements included as part of the departure packages of the Trust Chief Executives who have taken early retirement. The terms of departure for other former Trust staff were agreed through their own local arrangements.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his Department’s estimate is of the latest RAB charge for part-time students.

    Mr David Willetts

    The current estimate for the resource accounting and budgeting charge for part-time students is 65%.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many of the six million people identified as missing on the electoral register by the Electoral Commission in 2011 have been registered to vote in each year since 2011.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that its last GB wide study into the completeness of electoral registers was completed in 2011. This type of research does not specifically identify unregistered individuals but provides an assessment of the overall accuracy and completeness of the registers. The Commission’s next study is being published in July and this will update the picture on levels of completeness in 2014.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by his Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

    Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.

    That’s all changed and ministers – supported by Cabinet Office officials – now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.

    We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.

    We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.