Category: Speeches

Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22031, whether he has received any reports from UK personnel working with the Saudi military of (a) negligent and (b) inadvertent potential breaks of international humanitarian law.

Mr Philip Hammond

The UK is not a member of the Saudi-led Coalition. British personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or selecting targets. They are also not involved in the Saudi targeting decision-making process. British liaison officers have provided information as part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) monitoring of incidents of alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations. Looking at the information available to us, we have assessed that there has not been a breach of IHL by the coalition, but continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate.

January 1, 2023
Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many and what proportion of members in Northern Ireland of each trade union opted to pay the political levy; and which of those trade unions’ headquarters are in (a) Great Britain and (b) Northern Ireland.

Nick Boles

The latest Annual Report of the Certification Officer shows that 4,954,606 union members in Great Britain paid the political levy in the period 2013-2014. This represents 70.67% of the total number of individuals who were union members in the same period.^{^[1]}

Employment law is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and I am not able to respond to the questions relating to Northern Ireland.

[1] Political Funds of Trade Unions, 2013-2014, Annual Report 2015/2016 of the Certification Officer, page 68-69, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449387/CO_Annual_Report__2014-2015_.pdf

“

January 1, 2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential for driverless cars to reduce motorway collisions.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport has not yet made an assessment of the potential for connected and autonomous vehicles to reduce motorway collisions. Research suggests that connected and autonomous vehicles will have a positive impact on safety – systems such as Advanced Emergency Braking are already acknowledged by some insurers to reduce collisions. However research in this area is limited by the extent of real world testing. The Government recognises the need to ensure that the implications of these technologies on safety are well-understood, and they can be introduced safely onto public roads. That is why the Department for Transport plans to conduct trials of driverless vehicles on the Strategic Road Network by the end of 2017, which will be delivered by Highways England. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles also plans to do further research in this area, as part of a much wider programme of research and development that the Government is supporting to examine the issues associated with these technologies.

January 1, 2023
Lord Rosser – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rosser on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to local authorities to ensure that changes to funding for local bus services do not negatively affect (1) young people, (2) the elderly, (3) those suffering from mental ill health, and (4) those suffering from physical ill health.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The majority of public funding for local bus services in England is provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, the Department for Transport also provides around £40m of Grant funding directly to English local authorities for this purpose.

The Total Transport initiative has also provided around £8m funding for 37 pilot projects exploring how local authorities and other agencies can work together to commission transport services more effectively – including integrating NHS non-emergency patient transport.

Authorities should remain mindful of their statutory equality duties, including the Equality Act 2010’s Public Sector Equality Duty, and the effect of proposals on all people with protected characteristics, including those who are disabled.

January 1, 2023

Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children living in the Copeland constituency have been eligible to receive free school meals in each of the last six years.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Data for the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school in England are available in the underlying data in each of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical releases.[1]

The number and proportion of pupils attending schools in Copeland who were known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in each of the last six years is given in the table below.

Year	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2010	1,423	12.1
2011	1,420	12.0
2012	1,362	11.8
2013	1,395	12.3
2014	1,354	12.1
2015	1,253	11.1

Source: School Census

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers – click on the relevant year and then ‘underlying data.’ The data is contained in files with ‘Schools_Pupils’ in the title.

“

January 1, 2023

Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to fund support for economic development in developing countries.

Priti Patel

My department remains committed to providing support for work on economic development. We are currently developing our Economic Development Strategy and will be considering funding allocations as part of our wider aid reviews.

January 1, 2023
Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the Department of Health in relation to the increase in the use by the police of powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act; and with what result.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Home Office and Department of Health have been working to increase the use of alternative joint health and policing approaches and interventions that reduce the need for the police to use their formal powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. Whilst overall police use of section 136 has increased, from just under 15,000 in 2011/12 to 19,410 in 2014/15, the use of police cells has reduced from just under 9,000 in 2011/12 to 2,100 in 2015/16.

As a result of joint work with the Department of Health those suffering a mental health crisis are more likely to be offered alternative support. The introduction of initiatives such as street triage schemes and community based places of safety provide an alternative to the use of police cells. These types of interventions are proving successful and the Home Office is seeking to promote their use nationally using the £15m funding made available by the Department of Health to increase the availability of alternative places of safety.

January 1, 2023
Lord Cashman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Cashman on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specific plans they have to ensure that plans to deliver the Global Goals for sustainable development agreed by the UN in September take account of the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

Baroness Verma

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development offer a historic opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure no one is left behind. To realise this opportunity we will prioritise the interests of the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged people including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.

The UK will listen and respond to the voices of those left furthest behind, such as LGBTI people; hold ourselves and each other accountable for designing policies and building inclusive institutions; take steps to enable all LGBTI people to have opportunity and reach their full potential; challenge the social barriers that deny people opportunity and limit their potential, including discrimination and exclusion based on sexual identity, and, support a data revolution to assess whether targets are being met by all LGBTI peoples.

A note describing DFID’s specific approach to LGBTI rights, will be published on UK Government website by the end of 2015.

January 1, 2023
Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what amount of taxation was levied on air travel in each of the last five years per (a) passenger and (b) tonne of cargo carried.

Damian Hinds

The information is not held in the form requested. However, information relating to total passengers and APD paid over the last five years are published in the Air Passenger Duty Tax and Duty bulletin at the following address: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutybulletins.aspx

January 1, 2023
Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what resources his Department has spent on HM Government Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty, revised in October 2011 in each year since its publication; and what resources his Department plans to spend in each year of the current spending review period.

Mr David Lidington

In the four financial years 2011-2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded 42 abolition of death penalty projects with a total expenditure of £2,382,237. The breakdown of expenditure by year was:

2011-12 £516,679

2012-13 £760,803

2013-14 £581,945

2014-15 £522,809

In the current financial year, we expect to spend around £600,000 on this topic. We will be announcing an ambitious strategy for further human rights programming shortly. This strategy will offer future opportunities for abolition of death penalty projects. The amount we allocate to projects in this area will depend on the quality of bids received.

January 1, 2023