Category: Speeches

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evaluation he (a) has made or (b) plans to make of the effect of local authority commissioning of long acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) in primary care on the number of GP surgeries offering LARC fitting and removal.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department’s Framework for Sexual Health Promotion in England (2013) sets out our ambitions and objectives to improve sexual health for all people. It takes account of the commissioning arrangements from 2013 including the new role for local authorities (LAs) as commissioners of most sexual health services. Later this month Public Health England (PHE) will undertake a survey of local commissioning arrangements for sexual health. It has also produced sexual health and reproductive health profiles to help LAs and others monitor the sexual and reproductive health of their populations and the performance of local public health related systems.

    It is for LAs to decide on what research and evidence they need to inform their tenders for sexual health and reproductive health services in line with procurement requirements and good practice. In 2014 PHE published Making it Work, a guide to commissioning for sexual health across the whole system, to improve the sexual health of both individuals and the wider public.

    We have made no formal assessment of the effect on sexual health services of reductions in the Public Health Grant to LAs for 2015/16, although PHE continues to monitor relevant outcomes data for every LA in England. Decisions on local public health spending are a matter for LAs. They are mandated by legislation to commission open access sexual health services that meet the needs of their local population. Officials meet regularly with sexual health organisations who would raise any concerns if LAs were not meeting their mandatory requirements for sexual health services.

    The Framework for Sexual Health Improvement includes as a priority reducing unwanted pregnancies and highlights the need to increase access to long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods and emergency contraception for women of all ages. We have no plans to evaluate the effect on general practitioner surgeries of LA commissioning of LARCs.

  • Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Karen Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will rank primary schools in each London borough by the proportion of pupils with non-statutory special needs; and what type each such school is.

    Edward Timpson

    The proportion and number of children with non-statutory special needs, identified as ‘SEN support’ in each primary and secondary school, including type of school in London can be calculated from the underlying data of the publication Special educational needs in England: January 2015. This publication can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015

    We have no plans to rank this data.

    “

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will take steps to prioritise funding to ensure the continued provision of services by specialist BAME domestic violence charities.

    Karen Bradley

    We are determined to ensure that all victims of domestic violence, including those from black and minority ethnic communities, have the same opportunities to access the criminal justice system and the appropriate support and services.

    The Government has already committed £40 million for domestic abuse services including refugees between 2016 and 2020, provided a £2 million grant to Women’s Aid and SafeLives to support a new domestic abuse early intervention project, protected funding of over £6.4 million to 86 female Rape Support Centres for 2016/17. We have also committed to a further year of funding to support the local provision of 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) and 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers for 2016/17.

    The Government will shortly publish an updated Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy which will set out how we will work with local areas and specialist charities to support all victims of VAWG, including black and ethnic minority victims.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the powers of appointment of university vice-chancellors for staff working in Confucius Institutes on their university campus.

    Joseph Johnson

    Universities are autonomous from Government and responsible, by law, for all decisions about who they appoint as staff.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many instances of (a) illegal and (b) unregulated fishing have been recorded in Antarctic waters by the UK in each of the last five years.

    James Duddridge

    Over the last five years the UK has not identified any instances of illegal or unregulated fishing within the Convention Area. This is in part due to the reduction in the global illegal, unreported and unregulated fleet and the stringent measures put in place by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (the Commission). Where other States Parties have identified illegal, unreported and unregulated operations, the UK has worked within the Commission to take steps to combat those activities.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, if the Church of England will make an assessment of the effect of austerity on communities in the most deprived areas as measured by the English Indices of Deprivation 2015.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Church Commissioners have no plans to undertake such an assessment.

    Through its network of parishes and dioceses the Church of England is present in all the communities of England. The clergy and people of the Church of England are well placed to hear, articulate and respond to the needs and concerns of local communities. This plays an important role in informing the public engagement of the Church on social policy matters especially at local level.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the effect of changes to the timetable in the procurement of Type 26 Frigates on (a) jobs, (b) apprenticeships and (c) skills in the affected shipyards in the next six months.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor (Philip Dunne) gave on 27 June 2016 to Question 905474 to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier).

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to encourage local authorities to offer business rate exemptions to nurseries.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government does not collect data on particular types of premises that might have benefited from local discretionary relief.

    Central Government has given local authorities wide-ranging, discretionary powers to grant business rates discounts as they see fit – they are best placed to serve the needs of their community. All local authorities which grant a local discount will receive 50% of the cost from central Government funds.

    The Minister for Childcare wrote to all local authorities in November 2014 to encourage them to apply business rates relief to nurseries and reminded them that central Government will meet 50% of the costs involved. He also encouraged nurseries to follow up with their local authorities themselves. The Department for Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities in January 2015, reinforcing this message. This letter is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/395333/BRIL_1__-_2015__-__General_-_14_Jan.pdf

    “

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is providing to the Women’s League of Burma.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Officials at the British Embassy in Rangoon regularly meet representatives of the Women’s League of Burma and its member groups of civil society organisations. The UK has also provided occasional funding support to the Women’s League of Burma, including towards the publication of some of their research. Representatives from the Women’s League of Burma attended the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in June 2014 at our invitation, and the UK assisted with the cost of that visit.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) redundancy and (b) voluntary exit schemes for civil servants are currently in operation in his Department.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Central department has two voluntary exit schemes. These are both small, targeted schemes aimed at specific groups of people who we have not been able to redeploy or who do not have the skills and capabilities we need.

    There are also 2 schemes in DVLA which have received Cabinet Office approval and are underway. There are

    1. A voluntary redundancy scheme – this is required to deal with a number of people who have TUPE transferred into DVLA from Fujitsu following the insourcing of our IT function, who are based in locations which are not within travelling distance of Swansea and are not able to move home
    2. A voluntary exit scheme – this is required to deal with surplus numbers of people based in Swansea following the TUPE transfer into DVLA from Fujitsu, Concentrix and IBM as result of the insourcing of the DVLA IT function

    The Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency has no redundancy and one voluntary exit scheme currently in place. The voluntary exit scheme is to enable staff who have been identified as surplus to be released if needed as a result of the agency restructuring. It is not open for general applications.