Category: Speeches

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of resourcing from the international community needs to be applied to meet the Global Fund’s target of saving an additional eight million people at risk of dying from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

    Baroness Verma

    The investment case for the Fifth Replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) projects that a successful replenishment of $13bn will enable the Global Fund to save 8 million lives and avert up to 300 million new infections over the period 2017-2019.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have agreed to accept Syrian refugees.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    More than 170 local authorities have provided firm offers of places and many more have pledged to resettle refugees under this scheme. We continue to work with them all in order to meet our commitment. Progress on resettlement is reported in quarterly immigration statistics, including the local authorities participating in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and how many refugees have been resettled in each area.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the property and mortgage industries and (b) local authorities on the effect of Japanese knotweed on property values.

    Rory Stewart

    As it is not for the Government to intervene in the lending decisions of mortgage lenders or the type or degree of risks they are prepared to take, there have been no recent discussions between the Department and the property and mortgage industries.

    There have been no discussions with local authorities on the effect of Japanese knotweed on property values. However, Cornwall Council has produced information on Japanese knotweed to help mortgage lenders make loan decisions when a property may have a Japanese knotweed problem.

    Nevertheless, the Department takes the problems caused by Japanese Knotweed seriously and for a number of years has provided funding for local action groups to reduce or eradicate Japanese knotweed, and for research into a suitable biocontrol agent.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department’s policy remit on off-street parking includes parking for healthcare facilities, railway stations and local authority housing estates.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Responsibility for off-street parking transferred to DCLG in March of 2015, including Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and those aspects of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Traffic Management Act 2004 which relate to off-street parking.

    The Department of Health have responsibly for setting the policy contect by which hopsital car parks operate and the Department of Transport retain an interest in railway parking. My Department has reponsibility for Local Authority housing estates.

  • Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Suttie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Suttie on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish the Childhood Obesity Strategy.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We will be launching our childhood obesity strategy shortly.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.

    Joseph Johnson

    Within the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills HQ, 46% of senior civil service posts are held by women. At Director General and Director level, 51% of posts are held by women.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU member states who were convicted of an offence in the UK had previous convictions in their country of origin in each of the last five years.

    Karen Bradley

    Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean this question can only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to (a) shorten the immigration appeals process and (b) reduce the number of immigration appeals.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Immigration appeals are determined by the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) which are administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

    HMCTS works with the Home Office and others to monitor and continuously improve appeal processes and timeliness.

    The Immigration Act 2014 simplified the appeals system, reducing the number of decisions that can be appealed. For the quarter October to December 2015, 18,368 appeals were received – a 29% reduction when compared with the same quarter in 2014.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of restricting advertising on e-cigarettes on people using tobacco products.

    Jane Ellison

    The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking. We know that there are now over a million people who have completely replaced smoking with e-cigarettes and that the evidence indicates that they are significantly less harmful to health than smoking.

    Whilst the Government recognises the potential benefits of e-cigarettes, the quality of products on the market remains variable. It is right therefore that proportionate regulation is introduced to introduce minimum standards for safety and quality of all e-cigarettes and e-liquids and that information is provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices. This is the aim of the regulatory framework set out in the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

    The Impact Assessment that accompanied the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 assessed the expected impact of the advertising provisions on demand for e-cigarettes to be insubstantial. There is already a very high awareness of e-cigarettes and their role in replacing tobacco use amongst the public. The restrictions on advertising in certain media do not prevent businesses communicating, factually, directly to individual smokers or ex-smokers about their products, either in physical stores or internet pages under their control.

    The restrictions do not prevent the publication of independently compiled reviews or discussion between users and potential users in internet forums. A balance is therefore struck between reducing exposure of children to imagery and marketing of these products and providing sufficient information to smokers wishing to use these products to support them in quit attempts.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to ensure stability in the housing market and increase the confidence of property developers since the EU referendum of 23 June 2016.

    Greg Hands

    Ministers have met with house builders and industry leaders since the Referendum result to ensure stability.

    Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong. Markets have been volatile, but they have continued to function effectively. The Treasury, the Bank of England and the FCA are watching markets, including the housing market, extremely closely.

    Action by the government over the last seven years has substantially strengthened the resilience of the financial system. Capital requirements for the largest banks are now ten times higher than before the crisis. Yesterday (5th July) the Chancellor announced that the Bank of England will use the new powers given to them by Government to help boost the lending capacity of the banks to our economy. UK’s main lenders have agreed to make this extra capital available to support lending to UK businesses and households in this challenging time.

    Government remains committed to boosting housing supply, including by delivering the most ambitious affordable house building programme since the 1970’s.