Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament in September to the proposed Directive on the cloning of certain species for farming purposes (COM (2013) 0892); and what advice they gave to United Kingdom MEPs prior to their adoption.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The UK sees no justification for either the original European Commission proposals for further restrictions on cloning activity or the European Parliament’s proposed extension to the progeny and descendants of clones; and all animal species.

    The science is clear that the meat and milk from clones and their offspring is as healthy as from more traditionally reared animals; and EU and national rules already exist to protect the welfare of the livestock concerned.

    What is more, there is no cloning of farm animals conducted in the EU at present, so introducing any further controls, will not materially increase welfare standards within the Community.

    Briefing to this effect was provided to UK MEPs in advance of the Parliament’s discussions.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to make regulations under section 85 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to the change in fees proposed by the Care Quality Commission from April 2016.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) fee raising power relates to the registration of providers and inspection against the registration requirements (section 85(1)(a) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008). The Department is proposing to consult shortly on regulations that will clarify that the CQC’s fees include all aspects of its comprehensive inspections. We propose to do this by bringing the CQC’s comprehensive inspections and any associated rating within the scope of its fee raising power.

  • Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hepburn on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what change there was in the number of NHS beds in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 2005.

    Ben Gummer

    The average daily number of available open overnight and open day only beds under the care of a consultant in each year since 2005-06 and in each quarter since 2010-11 in (a) South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, (b) the North East and (c) England is in the attached table. Health is a devolved matter in the rest of the United Kingdom.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, by what measure the Director of the Serious Fraud Office judges whether there is a significant public interest element in a case.

    Robert Buckland

    The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”

    Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.

    The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.

    Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department provides to senior civil servants on speaking at public events.

    Matthew Hancock

    All civil servants are subject to the requirements of the Civil Service Code and Civil Service Management Code. Further guidance on attendance at external events including those organised by political parties can be found in the Directory of Civil Service Guidance (vol 2).

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much EU funding has been provided for ground investigations related to High Speed 2.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport was awarded €39.2 million for HS2 under the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility to fund Ground Investigation works for Phase 1 of the High Speed 2 Programme. The EU has agreed to provide this funding in stages between 2015 and 2019.

  • Baroness Barker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Barker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice trans individuals are given about how to manage the accuracy and maintain the integrity of their data on the Department for Work and Pensions database.

    Lord Freud

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides its staff with information about providing services for transgender customers but does not provide information relating to the management of data accuracy or maintenance of data integrity specifically for transgender customers. DWP have a Personal Information Charter which informs all customers of the standards they can expect when we handle their personal information.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number and value of arms export licences issued to Saudi Arabia since 19 March 2015; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    Information on arms export licences are published as Official Statistics in the Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. They are available to view at GOV.UK.

    The most recently published information covers the period to 31 December 2015. Information covering 1 January to 31 March 2016 will be published on 19 July 2016 and information covering 1 April to 30 June 2016 will be published on 19 October 2016.

    All export licences are issued in strict accordance with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trusts failed to provide data on referral to treatment times in each year since May 2010.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Patients have a legal right, set out in the NHS Constitution, to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions.

    Since May 2010, performance has been measured against one or more of the following operational standards:

    ― 92% of patients who have not yet started treatment should have been waiting within 18 weeks from referral (the incomplete pathway standard, introduced from April 2012 and the current measure of performance).

    ― 90% of patients admitted to hospital should have started consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks from referral (the admitted pathway standard, introduced from April 2008 and abolished in practice from June 2015 and in legislation in October 2015).

    ― 95% of non-admitted patients (outpatients or patients on pathways that end without treatment) should have started consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks from referral (the non-admitted pathway standard, introduced from April 2008 and abolished in practice from June 2015 and in legislation in October 2015).

    To monitor performance against these standards, organisations that provide NHS services that fall within the scope of referral to treatment, including NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts, are required to submit a monthly return to NHS England. Admitted and non-admitted data are still collected but are no longer used for monitoring against standards.

    The NHS Standard Contract includes a comprehensive requirement on providers to submit all nationally-mandated datasets. However, from time to time trusts need to implement new IT systems and temporarily suspend submissions of data for technical reasons.

    The following table shows the number of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts that did not report referral to treatment data in one or more months in each financial year from 2010-11.

    Table: number1 of NHS trusts2 and NHS foundation trusts2 that did not report referral to treatment data in one or more months of each financial year from 2010-11

    Year

    Admitted pathway data

    Non-admitted pathway data

    Incomplete pathway data

    2010-11

    1

    1

    5

    2011-12

    1

    1

    3

    2012-13

    1

    1

    4

    2013-14

    6

    63

    7

    2014-15

    9

    9

    12

    2015-16

    14

    15

    16

    Source: NHS England, consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times

    Notes:

    1. Table shows the total number of different trusts not reporting data in a year and not the maximum number of trusts not reporting in anyone month.
    2. The same trust could have been a non-reporter in more than one month.
    3. Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust did not report February 2014 non-admitted data in 2013-14. The data was submitted in a later revision to the dataset.
    4. Each year is April to May. Two trusts that did not report incomplete pathways data in April 2010 also did not report data in some subsequent months of 2010-11.
  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reports of illegal salvage activity on the site of HMS Warrior have been received by the Ministry of Defence Police since the discovery of the wreck in September 2016.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) has carried out the following investigations (taking “disturbances” to mean thefts or alleged thefts and not limited to shipwrecks) under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986:

    YEAR

    2010

    1

    2011

    6

    2012

    1

    2013

    0

    2014

    0

    2015

    1

    The MDP has not received any information related to the illegal salvage of material from HMS Warrior.

    By invoking the principle of Sovereign Immunity, and by designating specific vessels under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, we endeavour to protect these important sites where we are able. Where we have definitive evidence of desecration of these sites, we will take appropriate action. However, it should be appreciated that, given the large number of Royal Navy wrecks around the world and the vast area they cover, there are limitations on what can be achieved with regard to protection.