Category: Speeches

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received on violations of the law protecting birds of prey.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Defra Ministers have received a number of representations, including from Members of this House on behalf of their constituents, highlighting their concerns about illegal persecution of birds of prey such as the hen harrier and wildlife crime more generally.

    The Government takes wildlife crime very seriously. All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with strong penalties for committing offences against birds of prey and other wildlife. All incidents of wildlife crime should be reported to the police.

    Raptor persecution is a UK wildlife crime priority and has a taskforce led by a senior police officer to develop a plan to prevent crime, gather intelligence on offences and enforce against it. It focuses on the golden eagle, goshawk, hen harrier, peregrine, red kite and white tailed eagle.

    The National Wildlife Crime Unit, which Defra funds jointly with the Home Office, monitors and gathers intelligence on illegal activities affecting birds of prey and provides assistance to police forces when required.

    It is a matter for the prosecuting authorities to ensure those who commit such offences receive the appropriate penalties as set out in law.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal Colleges on the availability of cancer treatments relating to genetically-edited immune cells.

    Jane Ellison

    There have been no discussions with the royal colleges on the availability of cancer treatments relating to genetically-edited immune cells.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to require social landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department for Communities and Local Government does not provide any specific guidance to private registered providers of social housing on energy efficiency of social housing stock. I would expect private registered providers to look at all opportunities for efficiencies.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of staff working in his Department are employees on fixed-term contracts.

    Justin Tomlinson

    There are 2,006 employees on fixed term contracts out of a workforce of 84,429, which equates to 2.4%.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24539, whether the list provided in that answer includes all of the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies she has held meetings with to discuss the issue of increasing the number of women on company boards since May 2015.

    Caroline Dinenage

    My answer of 1 February 2015 to Questions 24538 and 24539 detailed all meetings that the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities and I have had with representatives of the FTSE 100 and other businesses. We have also spoken at a number of conferences and events, with representatives from across the FTSE 350 and other businesses in attendance. We always ensure that we use these opportunities to raise the issue of achieving a better gender balance on boards.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications to the Healthy New Towns programme were made by organisations based in the West Midlands.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not hold information on the applications to the Healthy New Towns programme.

  • Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Lewell-Buck on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has paid to Morning Lane Associates (a) directly and (b) through other organisations in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14, (iii) 2014-15 and (iv) 2015-16.

    Nick Gibb

    The web-link below shows the total value of payments made to Morning Lane Associates in each of the requested financial years.

    The Department does not hold information on payments made by other organisations.

    Each month, the Department publishes data for transparency purposes in line with the Government’s transparency agenda. All payments over £25,000 are published. Supplier payment details can be found by searching the published data on GOV.UK:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-and-executive-agency-spend-over-25000-2015-to-2016

    “

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many review outpatient appointments were delayed beyond the clinically recommended time by hospitals in (1) 2014–15, and (2) 2015–16.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    All follow up appointments (also known as planned, surveillance or recall appointments) should take place when clinically appropriate. It is for clinicians to make decisions on when they see patients, in line with their clinical priority, and patients should not experience undue delay at any stage of their referral, diagnosis or treatment. Moreover, the appropriate interval for follow up appointments will vary between different services or specialties, and between individual patients, depending on the severity of their condition.

    To ensure that patients are seen at the appropriate time, NHS England guidance is clear that when patients on planned lists are clinically ready for their care to commence and reach the date for their planned appointment, they should either receive that appointment or be transferred to an active waiting list. At that point, a waiting time clock will be started and their wait reported in the relevant statistical return, so that patients are not waiting on ‘hidden’ lists.

    Furthermore, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) also assesses providers against the new fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fail. One of these standards requires that care and treatment must be appropriate and reflect service users’ needs and preferences. Another requires that care and treatment must be provided in a safe way. The CQC will require a provider to improve where it is not meeting these standards.

    No assessment has been made of the clinical risks to patients of follow-up appointments being scheduled beyond clinically recommended times, as the risks will also vary between services, specialties and patients. It is for clinicians to make these judgements.

    The information requested on delays to review outpatient appointments is not collected centrally.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the rainbow flag will be flown over the British Embassy in Turkey over the weekend commencing 24 June.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have not discussed these specific cases with the Government of Turkey. We regularly underline the importance of all fundamental freedoms as part of our broader dialogue with the Turkish government, including the freedom of assembly and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex persons. We did not fly the rainbow flag over our Embassy in Ankara over the weekend commencing 24 June. British Missions overseas fly the Diplomatic, Union or Consular flag throughout the year, the flags of the constituent countries of the UK on their respective national days and in certain countries the European flag. Missions do not fly any other flags.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate the Government has made of the potential annual proportion increase in yield from business rates available for local authorities in Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department does not estimate future yields from business rates for specific local authorities. National level estimates of yield from business rates are available from the Office for Budget Responsibility.