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Category: Speeches

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to consider extending the transitional funding for maintained nurseries to include children’s centres providing early years education as part of the Early Years National Funding Formula review.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The £55 million additional funding for maintained nursery schools for at least two years will provide them with stability while they explore how to become more sustainable in the longer term. We plan to consult the sector on the future of nursery schools in further detail, including what happens after this two year period, in due course.

    Children’s centres are funded through the Business Rates Retention Scheme and local authorities have the freedom to decide what services are appropriate to meet local needs. Our early years funding proposals, on which we recently consulted, are designed to maximise the funding that goes to the front-line, including children’s centres where they provide early education. We will issue our response later in the autumn.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Shares for Rights scheme.

    Damian Hinds

    No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of employers offering employee shareholder shares to their employees.

    Employee shareholder status has been carefully designed as light touch and accessible, and to conduct an assessment of the policy effectiveness would require detailed information gathering from businesses and employees. There is no requirement on any company wishing to offer an employee shareholder contract to contact or notify any Government department or agency in advance or ‘apply’ to Government if they intend to use this measure.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to work with local authorities to reduce the level of fly-tipping.

    Rory Stewart

    Tackling fly-tipping is a Government priority and manifesto commitment. Next spring we will be giving councils the power to tackle small scale fly-tipping through fixed penalty notices as an alternative to prosecutions.

    This builds on other Government action to tackle fly-tipping, which has included:

    • working with the Sentencing Council on its guideline for sentencing for environmental offences, which came into force on 1 July last year;
    • making it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized; and
    • continuing our work with the Defra-chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.
  • Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has made to the Danish government on the death of Stephen O’Malley since the adjournment debate of 25 November 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    A transcript of the debate was passed to the Danish authorities, via the Danish Deputy Chief Prosecutor, on 27 November 2015.

    The Danish authorities have since confirmed that their State Attorney is reviewing the case, and is expected to make a decision on whether to re-open the case or agree that the original findings were correct, in January 2016.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the UN, the EU and South American countries on the trafficking of women in countries affected by the Zika virus.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We have not held specific discussions with the UN, EU and South American countries linking the trafficking of women and the Zika virus. However, this Government has a track record of leadership on the trafficking of women. Last spring, the UK became the first country in Europe and one of the first in the world to enact Modern Slavery legislation. In June, my Right Honourable Friend, the member for Witney, the Prime Minister (Mr. Cameron) agreed an action plan with the Heads of Government of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen cooperation on human trafficking. We were also strong proponents of the inclusion of a commitment to end modern slavery at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the amount spent was from the public purse was on decommissioning and disposal of (a) HMS Ark Royal and (b) HMS Illustrious.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Much of the work to decommission Royal Navy ships is undertaken using contracts that provide support services for all ships conducting Fleet activities at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. Costs are not attributed to individual vessels.

    Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) was responsible for the removal of classified equipment and known hazardous materials from the former HMS ARK ROYAL. This work cost £0.7 million. Similar work is being carried out on the former HMS ILLUSTRIOUS which has yet to be sold. Expenditure incurred to date is £0.5 million.

    The Disposal Services Authority (DSA), part of DE&S, disposes of defence equipment that is surplus to requirement. DSA costs are not attributed to individual platforms and information on these ships is not held in the format requested.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support countries in combating breast ironing.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Government is concerned about the harmful practice of breast ironing in some Commonwealth and other African countries. Whilst there is little data on the number of girls suffering from this abuse, we have, for example, worked with the government and religious leaders in Cameroon on campaigns to raise awareness and to support community-led efforts to end breast ironing.

    The Government condemns violence against women and girls in all its forms and places gender equality at the heart of our bilateral development programming. In Nigeria we are investing over £40 million to change harmful social norms towards women and girls, and to protect women and girls against violence. I raised these issues with the Government of Nigeria during my visit to the country in February. Baroness Verma, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for International Development (DfID), discussed gender-based violence in South Africa in October 2015, including DfID’s support to the re-establishment of South Africa’s Sexual Offences Courts and its work with the African Prosecutor’s Association on research into preventing violence against women.

    The manifestations of violence against women and girls may change but it is critical to address the structural causes of violence, including harmful beliefs and attitudes. We shall continue to work through diplomatic and development channels to engage with governments and local communities in Africa and beyond, to support the rights of women and girls, including ending harmful practices which constitute violence.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s consultation on enforcing guarantor loans, GC16/2, published in February 2016, whether his Department has received representations from the (a) Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and (b) any other organisation on the consistency of the FCA’s proposed interpretation of the word enforce in section 87(1)(e) of the Consumer Credit Act.

    Harriett Baldwin

    These are matters for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and relate to FCA Guidance Consultation (GC16/2) issued on the interpretation of provisions in the Consumer Credit Act 1974, regarding whether a default notice should be given to a guarantor before payment is taken from them when a borrower defaults. The FCA is currently considering responses to the consultation and will publish a response after considering the complex issues raised.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s policy is on the use by HM Ambassadors of their official Twitter accounts to promote arguments for staying in the EU ahead of the referendum on 23 June.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government has published official guidance for Government departments on activities during the period 27 May to 23 June 2016, which is publicly available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/526184/eu-referendum-guidance-for-uk-government-departments-on-activities-during-the-period-27-may-to-23-june.pdf

    The guidance states that: “Updates to government websites or social media feeds must not deal with any issues raised by the referendum question or put any arguments for or against any outcome, or be designed to encourage voting at the referendum. Civil servants may respond to specific online queries by providing links to published material. Material that has already been published before 27 May will be regarded as part of the public record and does not need to be removed from websites and social media sites, although links to these sites should be removed.”

  • Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the incidence of self-harm in prisons.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government is committed to reducing the incidence of self-harm in prisons. All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. These include the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm.

    An additional £10m of new funding, supplemented by £2.9m from existing budgets, was recently allocated to the 69 prisons with the most concerning levels of violence and self-harm. The Justice Secretary is clear that safety in prisons is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans.