Category: Speeches

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency has taken to identify those responsible for the fly-tipping of plastic and other rubbish in Cornwall Road, Smethwick in March 2015.

    Rory Stewart

    The Environment Agency is continuing to investigate the case of illegal dumping on land in Cornwall Road. As this is an active investigation I am unable to provide further details at this stage.

    Illegal dumping and waste crime more generally is unacceptable whether it occurs on public or private land.

    The Government is taking action to crack down on this unacceptable behaviour and has pledged an additional £20 million of funding for waste crime enforcement over the next five years as part of the Spending Review. We are also working with the Environment Agency through a joint Waste Crime Action Plan to ensure its regulatory effort is targeted effectively and focussed on speedy and tough enforcement action

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23980, on employment plans: mental illness, whether he plans to introduce new measures of support for people with mental health problems before the end of the three year period of voluntary trials.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The 2015 Spending Review announced at least £130 million a year in steady state funding on the new Work and Health Programme, which we plan to launch in 2017. With this new programme we plan to restructure our current provision to focus on providing the best possible support for claimants with health conditions or disabilities, including those with mental health conditions.

    In addition, the Prime Minister has already announced plans to significantly improve the support that helps people with mental ill health retain or regain employment:

    • Over £300 million will be provided to double access to talking therapies for people suffering from conditions like anxiety or depression.
    • £50 million will be spent to double the reach of Individual Placement and Support Programmes, which find work for people with mental illness.
    • over £50 million is being invested to more than double the number of IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) employment advisors, so that they are linked in to every talking therapy service in the country.
    • 29,000 more people with mental health conditions will be helped to find or stay in work thanks to increased access to these therapies.
  • Oliver Heald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Oliver Heald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Heald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the annual amount of corporation tax paid by minicab businesses, in each of the last three years.

    Mr David Gauke

    The information requested is set out at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/456459/Corporation_Tax_Statistics_August_2015.pdf

    “

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

    Nick Gibb

    My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, visited Scotland in December 2015 for a number of engagements.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff were employed by the (a) Defence Growth Partnership and (b) UK Defence Solutions Centre on 1 April 2016.

    Jesse Norman

    The Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) is an industry led group, established jointly by industry and government to deliver export-led growth within the Defence sector. It does not receive any public funding. Since 2014, it has enabled joint industry and government resource equivalent to £50 million over three years to achieve its agenda: £30 million for strengthening the UK Defence & Security Organisation and establishing the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC). The remaining £20 million is currently delivered through a number of initiatives supporting the DGP’s growth agenda: establishment of the Centre of Maritime Intelligent Systems (CMIS); Dual Use Technology Exploitation (DUTE) cluster and the MOD Innovation Challenge fund.

    Government and industry have committed through a mix of cash and resource equivalent to £3.8m in 2015-16 to the UKDSC and a similar figure is predicted for 2016-17. As of 1 April 2016, there were 4 staff directly employed by the UKDSC and 28 secondees from across the 16 DGP Partner Companies.

  • Lucy Powell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lucy Powell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount and proportion of funding for the free childcare entitlement which is currently retained by local authorities to support wider early years work.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Data from local authority planned spend for 2016-17 shows that nationally local authorities plan to centrally retain 7% (£149 million) of their delegated budget for three and four year olds and 7% (£36m) for the two year old entitlement. The total local authority delegated budget for three and four year olds is £2.3 billion and £523 million for two year olds. This excludes the planned budget for the early years pupil premium.

    This data is as reported by the local authorities.

    Our recent consultation on changes to funding for three- and four-year-olds proposed that all local authorities must pass 93% in 2017-18 then 95% in 2018-19 of early years funding to providers. This would maximise funding to the frontline.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last reviewed the security situation in Tunisia in respect of Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We keep the security situation in Tunisia under constant review, and have been working closely with the Tunisian authorities to improve their capacity to deter and respond to the threats they face.

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

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the income of an existing tax credit claimant in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20 of proposed changes to tax credits, assuming they are migrated to universal credit at the start of 2018.

    Priti Patel

    At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

    UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

    Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Saudi Arabia about the death sentence of Abdullah al-Zaher.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The British Government is very concerned about the case of Abdullah al-Zaher. The British Government has regularly raised this case, as well as the cases of the other two minors arrested with him, with the Saudi Arabian authorities at a senior level. We will continue to follow these cases closely and raise our concerns. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, especially in cases which do not meet the minimum standards defined by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This includes the execution of a minor and the use of the death penalty for a crime which isn’t deemed “the most serious”.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where his Department plans for work to take place on rectifying the electrical and propulsion faults on the Daring Class Type 45 Destroyers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    A number of measures to improve the reliability of the Type 45 Power and Propulsion systems have been identified and the ongoing programme to implement these changes continues to deliver positive results, with the majority of work undertaken so far being at Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Portsmouth.

    In addition, and as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we are committed to improving system resilience by adding upgraded diesel generators to provide further electrical generation capacity. Alternative technical options and a variety of delivery models are currently being explored with several competing industrial partners. The total cost and timetable for implementing the diesel generator upgrade will be determined at the main investment decision. I am withholding details of our current time and cost estimates as premature disclosure of this information could prejudice the commercial interests of the Department.