Category: Speeches

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with local authorities on the definition of higher value for the purposes of sales of higher value council homes under the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

    Brandon Lewis

    There has been extensive engagement with local authorities about the policy on higher value vacant local authority housing, which has included discussion about the definition of higher value. All local authorities that hold a Housing Revenue Account have been invited to at least one of the following events:

    – a ministerial meeting with local authority members and officers;
    – a local authority Chief Executive discussion with the Permanent Secretary;
    – a round table discussion between officials of local authorities and DCLG.

    Additionally, a working group comprising local authorities and other stakeholders has provided technical advice on the policy.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the pay grade is of each special adviser in his Department.

    Ben Gummer

    A list of special advisers and pay bands will be published in due course.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the report on overseas domestic worker visas carried out by James Ewins.

    James Brokenshire

    Mr Ewins’s report has been submitted to the Home Office and will be published shortly.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what form of transport she used to travel to the COP21 conference in Paris in December 2015; and for what reasons she used that form of transport.

    Andrea Leadsom

    My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made two separate visits to the COP21 conference in Paris. For the first, she travelled out by train and returned by plane. For the second she travelled there and back by train.

    In accordance with the Ministerial Code, it was ensured that these were the most efficient and cost-effective options for the Secretary of State to meet her commitments at COP.

  • Lord Balfe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Balfe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Balfe on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to ensure that the organisation CAGE is prevented from speaking at British universities.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government introduced a duty on universities in September to ensure that they have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. The statutory guidance which accompanies the duty makes clear that universities must ensure that they assess the risks associated with organisations and speakers at events on campus, putting mitigations in place where necessary or cancelling events where the risk cannot be mitigated.

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has been appointed as the body to monitor compliance at English universities, including where potential breaches of the duty are reported. Appropriate arrangements will apply in Wales and Scotland.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he was made aware of HM Revenue and Customs’ original estimate of tax due by Google prior to the recent tax settlement with that company.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for the conduct of tax enquiries, and Ministers are not informed of the progress of enquiries and play no part in agreeing the amount of tax to be paid by any taxpayer.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who had been classified as unfit to work because of a mental health problem were issued with a benefit sanction in each year since 2010.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) sanctions is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Please note that the medical condition recorded on the claim form does not itself confer entitlement to ESA so, for example, a decision on entitlement for a customer claiming ESA on the basis of a mental health condition is based on the claimant’s ability to carry out the range of activities related to physical and mental function, assessed by the Work Capability Assessment.

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will grant the Brain family residing in Dingwell, Scotland leave to appeal the decision to deport them from the UK whilst remaining domiciled in the UK; and if she will take steps to permit members of that family to maintain their employment until that appeal has been decided.

    James Brokenshire

    We do not routinely comment publicly on individual immigration cases and have written to the Honourable Member on 12 April 2016.

  • Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) single adult males and (b) single adult females were in reciept of support under the provisions of section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in December 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home office publishes statistics on those supported under section 4 at the end of each quarter in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release.

    Of the 3,821 main applicants and dependants that were supported under section 4 as at the end of December 2015, 1,948 were single adults. Where the gender of the main applicant is recorded, 1,544 of these were males and 335 were females.

    The data relating to single adults is a subset of figures published in Table as_18_q, in volume 4 of the latest Immigration Statistics release, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans applied through his Department for the Legion d’Honneur in each month from July 2014 to June 2016.

    Mark Lancaster

    Following the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) on 6 June 2016 to Question 38675, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received approximately 5,200 applications for the Legion d’Honneur between June 2014 and June 2016. We are unable to provide a breakdown by month. As at 24 June the MOD had submitted 3,750 cases to the French authorities. We are not automatically advised when awards are issued, but a list provided by the French authorities on 13 May 2016 showed that 3,200 awards had been made.

    It is not possible to give a meaningful figure for an average waiting time for veterans to receive their awards, as this has reduced steadily, from over a year for initial applications to the current time of around two to three months owing to changes in the processing. Some priority cases, particularly where there are health concerns, are processed much more quickly.

    The Department is working closely with the French authorities and we are doing our best to ensure that all awards are issued as soon as possible and at the maximum rate at which they can be produced.