Category: Speeches

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what improvement plan is in place for the Collective Spirit Free School in Oldham.

    Edward Timpson

    Underperformance at any school is unacceptable. The Regional Schools Commissioner, Vicky Beer, has requested an action plan from the trust and will be working with them to identify appropriate and sustained improvements.

    If the trust’s plans fail to convince the department that they are able to make the necessary improvements, we will not hesitate to consider more formal intervention.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

    Greg Hands

    I refer the hon. Member for Southport to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak on 13 October, UIN 47419, 47396.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ben Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the number of prisoners being released on Home Detention Curfews in Devon decreased between 2011 and 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    The number of prisoners released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) in England and Wales has fallen in recent years. This is principally due to the reduction in the number of prisoners eligible for the scheme.

    The Ministry of Justice only collates data on the number of prisoners released on HDC who are then recalled to prison for breach of their curfew conditions and this data is only available for England and Wales as a whole. It would incur disproportionate cost to isolate from this overall data those recalled prisoners who had been released on HDC from prisons in Devon.

    This data is published and can be located at the following link (table A3.5 details HDC recalls):

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/424903/prison-releases-annual-2014.xlsx

    “

  • Ian Lavery – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ian Lavery – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a statutory duty for the fire and rescue service to respond to a major flooding incident; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

    Both the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 detail the roles and powers of fire and rescue authorities, in respect of both emergency response and rescue in a wide range of situations, including from flooding. Fire and rescue authorities are expected to undertake integrated risk management planning, dovetailed with the community risk register overseen by the Local Resilience Forum (a multi-agency grouping of which fire and rescue authorities are key members). Integrated Risk Management Plans identify the full range of risks that an authority’s service is expected to respond to and are subject to consultation. The National Fire Framework published in July 2012 and given statutory effect in August 2012 makes this clear and I believe that fire and rescue authorities are fully competent to deliver on this.

    The Government has had no recent representations on this arrangement and in light of how well fire services have responded to recent flooding suggests there is no need for review.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 12356, when he expects Network Rail to publish an update to its industry electrification strategy.

    Claire Perry

    It remains the Department’s expectation that Network Rail will publish the industry electrification strategy as a draft for consultation in early 2016, taking into account Sir Peter Hendy’s report of Network Rail’s programme of rail investment.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency have taken more than 60 days to process in the last 12 months.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.

    The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which is having difficulty in meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS. London Boroughs do not operate their own disclosure units.

    The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months is listed in the table below.

    Month

    Total Disclosures Issued to Applicants from the Constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich

    Disclosures that took longer than 60 days

    February 2015 – January 2016

    11,446

    1,688
  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost was of non-routine upholstery cleaning for the Government Car Service fleet in each month since May 2015.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    No cost has been incurred by the Government Car Service fleet in each month since May 2015 for non-routine upholstery cleaning.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in the event of the UK leaving the EU what advice they plan to give to UK citizens who work or live in EU member states related to their legal rights generally, their rights related to UK pensions and to medical care paid for under the NHS social security system, and their right to travel across EU without the need of visas.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    UK citizens get a range of rights from our membership of the EU. If the UK were to leave the EU, all of these rights would have to be covered in a successor arrangement. If we left the EU without agreeing what would happen to these rights, it would at the very least bring them into serious question, creating difficulty for UK citizens who relied on them.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with NICE on changes to its current methodology for evaluating new drugs.

    George Freeman

    Departmental officials are in regular contact with officials in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including NICE’s methodologies for the assessment of new drugs and other technologies.

    The Accelerated Access Review is expected to make a series of recommendations which may include reforms to NICE’s processes and methods pathways and mechanisms in connection with innovative treatments.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage UK travellers abroad to take out adequate holiday insurance.

    James Duddridge

    Encouraging travellers to obtain comprehensive travel insurance is a key part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s ‘Travel Aware’ communications campaign, which has been active since 2001 (formerly known as Know Before You Go). Messaging on insurance is prominent in many of our travel safety materials and we run specific campaigns on insurance, reaching the travelling public through media engagement, digital activity and collaboration with industry partners such as ABTA and the Association of British Insurers.

    We have worked with the Association of British Insurers to create a new ‘checklist’ to help travellers choose the right insurance policy for their needs, which we communicate through social media and our network of industry partners. Our messages on insurance have also been reinforced by broadcasts on a wide range of national, regional and community TV and radio stations.