Category: Speeches

  • 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 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2014 to Question 219424, what financial support the Government has (a) provided since 1 January 2015 and (b) budgeted to provide in the future to support local governance in opposition-controlled areas.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We do not have figures for spend since the start of the calendar year, but the UK has delivered over £85m in non-humanitarian support to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon since the start of the crisis in 2011. A significant amount of this has supported work in moderate opposition-controlled areas, helping to save lives, bolster civil society, build resilience against extremists, promote human rights and accountability, deliver basic governance and help lay the foundations for a more peaceful and inclusive future for Syria.

    The UK is committed to helping the Syrian people, and will continue its non-humanitarian support next financial year, although a final budget has not yet been allocated.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 1.81 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, whether the protection of overall police spending includes (a) British Transport Police, (b) the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and (c) the Ministry of Defence Police.

    Mike Penning

    Section 1.81 of the Spending Review document refers to the 43 police forces for which the Home Office provides funding. The Home Office does not hold information on the impact of the Spending Review on the British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary or the Ministry of Defence Police. This information will be available from the Department for Transport, Department for Energy and Climate Change and Ministry of Defence respectively.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support global efforts against schistosomiasis.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is a leading donor in the fight against schistosomiasis which is not only an incredibly debilitating disease, but holds back 200 million people globally from achieving their potential and contributing to the success of their country, not least economically. For this reason we are providing £50 million to deliver over 200 million treatments for schistosomiasis in ten Sub-Saharan African countries (2010-2018). These treatments are delivered by the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative which is based at Imperial College, London. To date nearly 60 million treatments have been distributed.

    The programme is also making a significant contribution to developing new knowledge on how to best reach our goal of elimination of schistosomiasis as a public health problem through operational research and working with partners globally.

  • Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jason McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jason McCartney on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make representations to the Egyptian government on the possibility of submitting human remains found in the Western Desert in 2012 if still in existence to new DNA tests to compare them with DNA samples provided by the family of Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping whose aeroplane crashed in the Sahara on 28 June 1942.

    Mark Lancaster

    Rigorous DNA tests undertaken by the Egyptian authorities at our behest some three years ago were unable to provide viable DNA samples due to the age and degradation of the human remains found. There are no plans to undertake new DNA tests.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timetable is for completion of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation Footprint; and what alternative uses his Department has recently considered suitable for RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

    Mark Lancaster

    The RAF envisages no further use for RAF Linton-on-Ouse following the out of service date of the Tucano aircraft which is anticipated to be October 2019.

    Further announcements regarding the rationalisation of the Defence estate will be made later this year.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.228 of Budget 2016, on what date he plans to close the Money Advice Service.

    Harriett Baldwin

    At Budget 2016, the government published its response to the Public Financial Guidance Review and launched a consultation seeking views on the government’s plans to restructure the statutory financial guidance providers – the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. This paper, which closes on 8 June 2016, sets out a new delivery model for public financial guidance and seeks views on how, within this model, the proposed services could best be offered. The new delivery model is designed to better complement the financial guidance provided by the third sector and the industry and provide more targeted support for consumers.

    The government will consider the responses to this consultation over the summer, and in parallel, work closely with the affected organisations to finalise the delivery structure. A detailed timetable will be set out with the final response, which will be published in the autumn. The government has been clear that the three affected organisations will continue to provide guidance to consumers until at least 2018.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to legislate to ensure that all fees charged to pensioners by fund managers are made publicly available monthly, including transaction and research costs and all other costs that investors bear.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government is committed to the principle that people who have worked hard and saved should have access to appropriate and accessible investment options and understand the charges that they face. We appreciate the efforts that industry have made to fulfil this aim.

    Since last April, the Government has ensured that trustees of defined contribution pension schemes report charges levied on members in schemes used for auto enrolment.

    We are also engaging with international work on transparency, such as the legislation agreed at European Union level through the Packaged Retail and Insurance Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). MiFID II will introduce new measures to increase transparency of research costs for clients of portfolio managers. Under these new measures, portfolio managers may only pay for research through their own funds or from a specific research payment account funded by its clients and subject to specific controls, including a research budget.

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also currently conducting a market study into asset management, which covers the issue of whether the level of fund management fees charged to consumers reflects a competitive market. We await the FCA’s assessment of competition in this sector. The FCA expect to publish an interim report in summer 2016 and a final report in early 2017.

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what EU directives related to his Department’s responsibilities are awaiting transposition into UK law.

    David Mundell

    The Scotland Office has no EU Directives awaiting transposition into UK law.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost of bed-blocking in NHS hospitals in each of the past three years and what plans they have to invest in social care services to reduce those costs.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    To date, the Department has made no formal estimate of the costs of delayed discharge to the National Health Service. However, the Department and NHS Improvement are working together to implement Lord Carter’s recommendations on hospital productivity. As part of this, the two organisations are working with providers to develop a richer dataset around all aspects of the patient pathway, including estimates of the cost of delayed discharge.

    At the same time, the Department continues to work closely with the NHS and local government to help local areas improve transfers out of hospital, share best practice, and reduce unnecessary delays. We are funding the NHS’s own plan for the future with £10 billion and we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion of new support for adult social care by 2019/20.

    Since April 2015, the Government’s £5.3 billion Better Care Fund has provided much needed investment in better integrated care through locally developed plans and by putting resources where the local NHS and social services think they are needed. Alongside this we are working with local areas to improve the transfer of patients back into the communities.

    In 2016-17, there is a new Better Care Fund requirement on local areas to develop a clear, focused action plan for managing delays, including locally agreed targets. The requirement is designed to reduce delays across the health and care system.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax credit claims classed as high risk renewals by HM Revenue and Customs have been referred to Concentrix in each of the three risk categories.

    Jane Ellison

    Between 1 August 2016 and 31 August 2016 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) automatically stopped 365,483 tax credit claims as a direct result of customers failing to comply with the requirements of the annual renewal process.

    Alongside the annual renewal process, HMRC records the number of awards that have been amended, which could be stopped, reduced or increased. Therefore, data showing the total number of claims stopped following a compliance intervention is unavailable.

    During the course of the contract, HMRC delegated a total caseload of 2,209,500 cases for high risk renewal checks by Concentrix. Of these 1,635,676 cases were not the subject of further investigation for fraud or error by Concentrix. This amounts to 74% of the total caseload.

    The volume of high risk renewals referred to Concentrix are broken down into the three risk categories as follows:

    • Undeclared Partner: 1,398,908

    • Work & Hours: 564,983

    • Child Care: 245,609