Category: Speeches

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of prisoners who have converted to Islam in prisons in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    Information on the number of prisoners that have converted to Islam while in prison is not held centrally. The data held relates to a prisoner’s current declared religion, not any previously declared religion.

    In order to provide data relating to offender conversions to Islam in prison, it would be necessary to manually examine individual prison records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps the Government has taken to (a) monitor and (b) counter the activities of Al Qaeda and Daesh in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We continue to work with regional and international partners to tackle the threat posed by terrorist organisations including Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Daesh-Yemen. For operational reasons we cannot comment in detail on this activity.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the mean time taken was between application for payment and receipt of the (a) Basic Farm Payment and (b) Single Farm Payment to individual farms in the UK in the financial year 2014-15.

    George Eustice

    We do not hold information on mean time taken between the application for payment and a receipt of payment for the Basic Payment Scheme and the Single Payment Scheme in England.

    Like-for-like comparisons cannot be made as the scheme rules and consequent administrative checks are different.

    As of 10 March 90.5% of farmers (1,661 of 1,835) in Kent had been paid their BPS claim.

  • Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Departments are involved in the national security checking of the text of the Iraq Inquiry report.

    Matthew Hancock

    The following Departments will be involved in National Security checking: Cabinet Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and the Intelligence Agencies.

    National Security checking will ensure that the Government meets its obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights so that on publication the lives or safety of individuals are not put at risk. It will also ensure that publication of the report will not compromise national security.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the inclusion of Universal Health Coverage as a target in the World Health Organization report Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, published on 8 April 2016.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK Government welcomes the report of the World Health Organisation, which highlights the integrated and indivisible nature of all the Goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the role of health among them, and presents Universal Health Coverage as a target in itself and a contributor to the other health targets

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sheikh on 2016-07-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking, as part of the troika, to persuade opposition movements in Sudan to sign the African Union’s Roadmap for Peace, and to encourage the government of Sudan’s commitment to it.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Together with our Troika partners, we issued a statement on 27 May supporting the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel. We welcome the Sudanese Government’s signing of the roadmap agreement and continue to urge the opposition to do the same. The UK’s Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan and our Ambassador in Khartoum are in regular contact with the government and opposition groups.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to discuss the situation in the Maldives with John Kerry.

    Alok Sharma

    The Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), has no plans to discuss the situation in the Maldives with John Kerry.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.

    Greg Clark

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 November 2015, PQ 13946.

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

    – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Altmann on 4 December (HL3783) that the Personal Independence Payment assessment criteria were designed in close collaboration with disabled people and disability groups”

    Baroness Altmann

    The full public consultation on the ‘Moving around’ activity of the mobility component closed on 5 August 2013. We received more than 1,100 responses. We carefully considered all the responses received, including the suggestions for alternative approaches. We published our response to the consultation on 21 October 2013.

    We believe the assessment criteria, including the 20 metres distance, are the best way of identifying those whose physical mobility is most limited, so we did not make any changes. However, we have strengthened the measures around the reliability criteria – we recognise these are a key protection for claimants.

    Our response to the consultation is annexed to this answer.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the proposed timescales are for the completion of the business case work for the electrification of the Southport to Salford Crescent and Kirkby to Salford Crescent railway lines set out in the March 2015 report of the North of England Electrification Task Force.

    Andrew Jones

    The report of the independent North of England Electrification Task Force made recommendations on the prioritisation for a rolling programme of electrification of all currently unelectrified lines in the North, in three tiers. It recommended that full business case analysis of all Tier 1 schemes should be urgently progressed. Both Southport-Salford Crescent and Kirby-Salford Crescent were placed in Tier 1.

    The Task Force’s recommendations are being taken into account by Network Rail as it prepares an updated national electrification strategy based on a comprehensive sifting and appraisal process. The strategy will be subject to public consultation this year and will inform the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy for 2019-2024.