Category: Speeches

Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of trends in the rate of race-related crimes in England and Wales over the last five years.

Karen Bradley

The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that there were 106,000 incidents of race hate crime a year, based on the combined data from the 2012/13 to 2014/15 surveys (the most recently available figures). There has been a clear downward trend in the number of hate crime incidents between the 2007/08 to 2008/09 and 2012/13 to 2014/15 crimes surveys, which have fallen by 28% for all hate crimes over this period. The Home Office also collects information from the police on hate crimes. This shows that were 42,930 race hate crimes recorded by the police in 2014/15, a 15% increase on the previous year. This increase is largely thought to be due to improvements in recording practices by the police over the last year rather than a real increase in race hate crime. However, it is possible in some police forces areas that recording may not be the only reason and there could be an element of real increases in certain areas.

The Government is committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including that perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person. That is why we announced in October last year the intention to bring forward a new cross Government hate crime action plan. This is being developed with the communities most affected by hate crime and will be published later this year.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce details of the new Access Fund.

Mr Robert Goodwill

On 15 February 2016, we announced that the new Access fund would be launched later in 2016 for delivery in 2017/18, and would be preceded by a £20m Sustainable Travel Transition Year for 2016/17.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make further supplies of British arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia conditional on the ending of attacks on civilians in Yemen.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country, including Saudi Arabia, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria.

The conflict in Yemen is being monitored closely, and relevant information gathered from that monitoring is taken into account as part of the careful risk assessment for the licensing of exports to Saudi Arabia. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure car manufacturers incorporate waste bins in the design of their cars.

Andrew Jones

There are no plans to legislate for car manufacturers to incorporate waste bins in the design of their cars. Most cars already have a variety of suitable storage facilities for drivers and passengers to store waste items.

01/01/2023
Karin Smyth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase employment opportunities for people (a) on community sentences and (b) released from prison.

Andrew Selous

Prisons should be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and work. Dame Sally Coates’ review of education in prisons published on 18 May sets out a clear blueprint for reform of education, with Governors given the tools to ensure education provision meets the needs of their prisoners

Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital aspect of the Government’s approach to rehabilitation. We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by prison Governors. We want Governors to do more and so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works. We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release. I regularly meet businesses across the country including at a number of successful roadshows across the estate. New businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses. The Prime Minister has announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same.

Our reforms to probation services mean that virtually all those sentenced to less than 12 months now receive support both in custody and on release. Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were created as part of these reforms and manage low to medium risk offenders, including those serving community sentences. CRCs have been given the flexibility to do what they think works to reduce reoffending, which should increase opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around.

Offenders serving community sentences can access services available in the community such as education and training courses; mental health provision and support to obtain employment and accommodation. Where an offender is subject to an unpaid work requirement, they have the opportunity to give back to their local community.

01/01/2023
Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what facilities are available for (a) lactating mothers and (b) the changing of babies in her Department.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department’s main office at 3 Whitehall Place, London has a private room available for nursing mothers. It has a baby changing table, a specified refrigerator for storing expressed milk, a chair which has been specially designed to provide support when breastfeeding or expressing milk, as well as first aid couches for resting and privacy screens. Our office in Aberdeen also has a private room available for nursing mothers which has a chair and a specified refrigerator for storing expressed milk.

01/01/2023
Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the bus industry to meet the challenges arising from the need to deal with levels of air pollution in cities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government has introduced several measures to encourage the uptake of environmentally friendly buses.

The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred low emission buses. The winners of LEBS was announced on 25 July, building on the success of the Green Bus Fund, which ran to 2014. Under the Green Bus Fund, £89million of Government funding helped to purchase over 1,200 green buses.

The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive.

The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19^th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements.

The Government has also invested over £26million since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000’s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.

01/01/2023
John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employees of academies, in which roles, are paid more than the Prime Minister.

Nick Gibb

The data provided to the Department by schools in the November 2014 School Workforce Census shows that 52 head teachers in academy schools in England were paid a salary of £142,500 or more.

Of the other roles within the scope of the School Workforce Census, there were fewer than five teachers in academies receiving a salary of £142,500 or more.

01/01/2023
Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions (a) she and (b) her Department have had with animal welfare organisations on the incorporation of animal welfare in the national curriculum.

Edward Timpson

The Department received representations from animal welfare groups about the inclusion of animal welfare in the science curriculum in response to the consultation on the new National Curriculum.

The new primary science curriculum, introduced from September 2014, focuses on the essential scientific knowledge that children need to be educated citizens. It teaches pupils about the requirements for animals to survive such as appropriate habitat, food, water and air. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education also provides opportunities for pupils to be taught about animal welfare and teachers are free to decide what further activities they offer on this topic.

01/01/2023

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a child has made a complaints appeal to a monitor in (a) Hassockfield, (b) Medway, (c) Oakhill and (d) Rainsbrook secure training centre since each centre opened; and how many such appeals were upheld by the monitor.

Andrew Selous

We treat the allegations of abuse directed towards young people at the Medway Secure Training Centre (STC), run by G4S, with utmost seriousness. An independent improvement board has been put in place, to provide increased oversight, scrutiny and challenge of managerial arrangements, in particular in relation to the safeguarding of young people.

The following table provided by the YJB shows the total number of complaints made by young people in Secure Training Centres, for each year between 2010 and 2015.

Secure Training Centre	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Medway	195	177	224	81	185	107
Oakhill	266	122	175	141	196	199
Rainsbrook	239	229	287	130	173	139
Hassockfield*	150	202	66	123	132	0
Total	850	730	752	475	686	445

*Hassokfield STC shows zero complaints in 2015, this is due to its closure on 9 January 2015.

* The figures for complaints are the number of grievances or criticisms made by young people placed to the establishment by the YJB on criminal matters that are formally reported to the provider using their recorded documentation (i.e. complaint forms) in the calendar month. The figures shown are not the same as the number of young people making complaints as one young person could make more than one complaint.

The monitor reviews all complaints and their outcomes, and will intervene if a complaint is not being dealt with as it should be. If a child is not happy with the outcome of a complaint, they can appeal to the Monitor. Information on the number of appeals is not held centrally.

01/01/2023