Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Manzoor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Manzoor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what definitions of social mobility are used by the new Social Mobility Commission, and whether they refer to changes in income.

    Lord Freud

    Provisions to reform the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission as the Social Mobility Commission are currently under consideration by Parliament as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill. Until these receive Royal Assent, the Commission will continue to operate under its existing statutory framework. Operating arrangements for the reformed Commission will be set in due course, subject to Royal Assent.

  • Chris Evans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chris Evans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will revise the bidding procurement process for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme in order to increase the number of bidders for the provision of mobile services.

    Mike Penning

    The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) Mobile Services procurement attracted all national mobile network operators and on 13 November announced its intention to award a contract to EE. Subject to an application decision in the High Court on 8-9 December to lift the automatic suspension, following a challenge by one of the down-selected bidders, EE will be awarded the contract for Mobile Services.

  • Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress his Department has made on representations to the Italian government on guaranteeing that UK citizens working as teachers at universities in Italy who have had financial aspects of their contracts breached by their employers receive redress and equitable treatment.

    Mr David Lidington

    In 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office intensified its campaign to end the unacceptable discrimination against the Lettori (UK and foreign national lecturers in Italy). We made significant progress with Italian Ministers in moving towards a legislative solution that would end the inequitable terms and conditions whilst also addressing past discrimination. While this proposal has yet to be submitted to the Italian Parliament, we continue to engage Italian Ministers on this important issue. The most recent meeting took place between The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and Foreign Minister Gentiloni in November 2015.

  • Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure cyber defence capabilities and preparedness match developing threats.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review identifies cyber security as a priority. We are actively monitoring cyber threats, and continually reviewing and adjusting our security measures. Defence and its people are prominent targets for criminals, foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors seeking to exploit personnel, disrupt business and operations, corrupt systems and steal information. This is not unique to the Ministry of Defence; other Government Departments, industry and business are also affected. The threats constantly changes in scope and complexity, and cyber security depends on a broad range of factors including human, technological and systematic. Our approach therefore spans technical, organisational, policy, procedural and physical measures, and also entails close collaboration with partner organisations across Government.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many consultants’ contracts were terminated early in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what the cost of each such termination was in each of those years.

    Mr David Lidington

    This information is not held centrally and the question cannot be answered without incurring disproportionate cost.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of UK firms based in the East of England that trade with other EU member states; and how many people are employed by each such firm.

    Anna Soubry

    HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

    HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many brokers and traders who work in finance have lost their Financial Industry Regulatory Authority licence as a result of financial misconduct since 2008.

    Harriett Baldwin

    This is an operational matter for the FCA which is an independent regulator. I have transferred this question across to them and they will respond fully in due course.

  • Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) army, (b) navy and (c) RAF personnel have registered with a doctor in Scotland in each of the last five years.

    Mark Lancaster

    The following table provides the number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a Defence Medical Services registration at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) medical practice in Scotland at various points in time since 1 July 2013:

    As at

    Naval Service

    Army

    RAF

    Total

    1 July 2013

    4,170

    3,840

    3,080

    11,080

    1 July 2014

    4,190

    3,790

    2,580

    10,560

    1 July 2015

    4,260

    3,410

    1,190

    9,650

    1 April 2016

    4,820

    3,890

    1,920

    10,640

    It should be noted that due to rounding, subtotals by Service will not always add up to the total.

    The MOD does not hold records of all Armed Forces personnel and Veterans who are registered with an NHS medical practice in Scotland.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to increase awareness of the Disability Confident campaign; and how his Department plans to measure the effectiveness of that campaign.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We have developed a new Disability Confident employer accreditation scheme. This went live in July.

    This will be core to our engagement with employers to raise awareness, improve performance and drive up engagement on the disability employment agenda.

    We are developing plans to formally launch the scheme in the Autumn and more information on take up and effectiveness measures will be available from then.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been paid to Concentrix for revising tax credit offers in a way which was initially thought to be correct; and if any of that amount can be subsequently recovered should those decisions be successfully appealed.

    Jane Ellison

    As at 17th October, payments made to Concentrix, in line with contracted charging and payment mechanisms, to date total £15,495,971 plus VAT.

    HM Revenue and Customs pays Concentrix within 25 working days of receipt of a valid and undisputed invoice. The contract provides for a commission payment of an initial invoice value, with a subsequent quarterly reconciliation mechanism which takes into account supplier performance via specific Quality Performance Indicators and Key Performance indicators.

    Payment to Concentrix is reduced accordingly in line with the contract should they fail to meet performance targets.

    The contract also provides for commission payments to be further corrected should savings, which have previously been reported by Concentrix, be adjusted following a successful appeal by a customer.