Category: Speeches

  • Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether information included in the registry of company beneficial ownership information will be available for free.

    Jenny Willott

    Companies House is a Trading Fund and must recover the costs for the services it provides where there are clear identifiable costs. However, Companies House already provides a lot of company data for free, including company appointments. It is actively working to increase the amount of data available for free and company beneficial ownership information will form part of this ongoing strategy.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help shops in (a) Brighton, Kemptown constituency and (b) East Sussex with their business rate bills; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    At the Autumn Statement we announced a £1 billion package of business rates support to help shops and local firms. This included a £1,000 discount for two years for shops, pubs and restaurants with a rateable value of below £50,000. We do not hold figures for numbers benefitting from that measure in the Kemptown constituency. However, based on local authority reports of the amount of relief awarded in the Brighton and East Sussex areas, we estimate that 2,270 properties will benefit in Brighton and Hove, 890 in Wealdon, 810 in Lewes, 750 in Rother, and 720 in Eastbourne. We do not yet have an estimate for Hastings.

    The support package also included a 50 per cent discount for businesses taking on long-term empty shops, the doubling of small business rate relief for another year, a 2% cap on RPI increases for 2014/2015, and allowing businesses to spread their rate payments over 12 months.

  • Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Gibb on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 205W, on primary education: admissions, and of 6 March 2014, Official Report, column 904W, on academies, regarding primary school admissions from nursery schools, if he will make it his policy to reject the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s recommendation to issue further guidance for admission authorities and instead amend the admissions code to enable primary schools to create all-through primary schools that include the years prior to reception.

    Mr David Laws

    The School Admissions Code does not prevent a school from becoming an all-through primary school for children aged 2 or 3 to age 11. It does, however, prevent schools from giving priority for reception places to children who have been admitted to the nursery class unless they can do so fairly and without disadvantaging children whose parents choose other forms of early education.

    Ministers are considering the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s recommendation that they issue further guidance for admission authorities so that there is fair access to schools for all children.

    We take fair access very seriously but also want to explore the incentives for schools to use their expertise to enhance early years education.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Colombian government on human rights and the deaths of striking agricultural workers.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UK is fully engaged on a range of human rights issues in Colombia. The UK’s priority areas include access to justice, support to human rights defenders, work to prevent sexual violence against women and encouraging business to implement human rights protocols in their operations. The British Embassy continues to monitor and raise human rights issues with the Colombian government. The Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister both raised human rights with President Santos during their separate visits to Colombia in February.

    In June 2013, the British Embassy in Bogota met with representatives of peasant associations and civil society and requested that the Colombian government initiate dialogue and investigate the alleged excessive use of force during the social protests involving striking agricultural workers in Catatumbo. The British Embassy also raised concerns with the Finance Minister, Defence Minister and the Head of the Colombian police.

    On 17 March 2014, senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials in the UK also met with the visiting Colombian Vice-Fiscal, General, Jorge Perdomo, and discussed the progress made in the investigations into the deaths of the striking agricultural workers. They also discussed the reform of the Criminal Justice System, which would ensure the protection of fundamental human rights and the human rights situation in Colombia.

    Most recently on 9 April 2014, senior FCO Officials in the UK and the British Embassy in Colombia discussed the Colombia chapter in the FCO’s 2013 Annual Human Rights Report, in which we raised the need for conclusive investigations into members of the security forces accused of excessive use of force during the protests of June to August 2013.

  • Margaret Beckett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Margaret Beckett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Beckett on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many family visit visa applications to the UK were made between June 2013 and December 2013; and how many such applications were (a) granted, (b) refused, (c) withdrawn, (d) lapsed and (e) given the right to appeal.

    James Brokenshire

    From the 1st of June until the 31st of December 2013 there were 149,995
    applications for family visit visas. Of those applications:

    • 111,990 were issued
    • 37,370 were refused
    • 65 were lapsed
    • 330 were withdrawn
    • 4,570 were given the right to appeal

    These figures are based upon management information, and have been rounded to
    the nearest 5. Until the 24th June 2013, any family visit visa that was refused
    was given a right of appeal against that decision. The numbers above reflect
    this change to appeal rights.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child sex offenders were in prison in each year since 2003.

    Jeremy Wright

    From the data held centrally, it is not possible to separately identify those offenders convicted of sexual offences against children, because the prisoner offence details held centrally do not include information on the age of the victim. Such offenders are included with other sexual offences.

    In order to provide data relating to child sex offenders in prison, it would be necessary to manually examine the individual prison records of over 10,900 sex offenders in prison as at 31 December 2013 – this could only be done at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with one or more physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health impairment are explicitly mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals and their attendant targets and indicators.

    Justine Greening

    The UK is pushing for the principle of ‘Leave no one behind’ to be included in the MDGs successor development framework, which was a central element of the report prepared for the UN Secretary general by the High Level Panel, co-chaired by the Prime Minister. We should ensure that no person, regardless of disability is denied universal human rights and basic opportunities.

  • Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many officials in his Department are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    The Department has no employees with a zero hours contract.

  • Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregg McClymont on 2014-04-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consultation his Department had with HM Revenue and Customs staff prior to awarding the mail management contract to EDM Group.

    Mr David Gauke

    Regular consultation took place between HMRC and staff representatives throughout the process up to the point the decision was made to go out to tender for a provider of scanning services to HMRC.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by whom the decision was taken not to proceed from the Technology Demonstrator Phase of the EASAMS collision warning system to Full Development and Production; and whether that decision was reflected in the relevant platform risk registers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 April 2014 (Official Report, column 96W).

    Risk Registers are not designed to record the outcome of the scoping of systems which are at pre-concept stage.