UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether areas where (a) Al Nusra and (b) other UN Security Council designated terrorist groups are mixed with the moderate opposition are included in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Syria; and what assessment he has made of whether such arrangements are being honoured by (i) the Assad government and (ii) Russia.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Cessation of Hostilities agreement in Syria does not apply to Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra, or other terrorist organisations as designated by the UN Security Council. Discussions over the delineation of territory under the control of those groups are ongoing between the US, Russia and International Syria Support Group members. Our view is that any attacks on Jabhat al-Nusra or other designated terrorist organisations must be highly targeted in order to maintain the Cessation of Hostilities, to have the desired counter-terrorism effects and to ensure that no non-combatants come under attack. Our assessment is that since the start of the Cessation of Hostilities there has been a significant reduction in violence, although there have also been a number of violations, most of which we assess to have been carried out by the regime.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what further investment he plans to provide for the hardened aircraft shelters used by the Quick Reaction Alert at the former RAF base at Leuchars.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence is planning to undertake £100,000 of safety compliance related work over the next 12 months, on top of the regular levels of service and maintenance for the hardened aircraft shelters.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why spending on court fine collection is being cut, in the light of the value of fines that remain uncollected.

    Lord Faulks

    In recent years efficiency savings have been required right across HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Continuous improvement practices within compliance and enforcement have led to record totals of financial impositions collected each year for the last four years.

    Following the decision to modernise the compliance and enforcement service through an in-house solution, HM Courts and Tribunals Service has been working to develop a new strategy which will lead to further investment in the service and further increased collections.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many postgraduates enrolled at UK universities and colleges are specialising in soil science.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    Information on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions are collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). The latest data for the 2014/15 academic year suggests there were about 40 full-person equivalent postgraduate students enrolled in soil science across three UK universities and colleges; these are the University of Aberdeen, University of Nottingham and the University of Reading. Of these, about 15 full-person equivalents were masters students studying at the University of Aberdeen.

    Soil science has a Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) code of F770. This is a detailed level code and some universities may occasionally allocate students to more general codes.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.3.2 of the Open Banking Standard report published in February 2016, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) cyber security, (b) data protection and (c) fraud risks an open banking environment introduces.

    Simon Kirby

    The Open Banking Working Group was created at the request of the government to explore options for allowing customers to use their bank data in a safe, secure and efficient manner. The Group published its report in February 2016. The conclusions reached represent the views of the Working Group and are not government policy.

    Subsequently, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued the final report of its investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this, the CMA requires nine leading UK banks to create an open API (Application Programming Interface) to allow access to customer account information as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII), which will come into force in January 2018. Informed consent, data protection and cyber security are key considerations in the PSDII, and the government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding from the public purse the UK will contribute to the Better Migration Management programme.

    Rory Stewart

    The €46 million ‘Better Migration Management’ programme is part of the EU’s joint work on addressing unmanaged flows from Africa under the Horn of Africa component of the €1.9 billion EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The UK has made no direct financial contribution to this programme. However, we have committed to a contribution of €3 million to the Horn of Africa component of the Trust Fund overall. That is in addition to the UK’s underlying contribution to the Trust Fund, which amounts to approximately 15% of the EU’s total €1.8 billion contribution, predominantly drawn from the European Development Fund.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the public purse received in reimbursement from each EEA country for healthcare provided to their citizens for each year from 1997-98 to 2014-15.

    Alistair Burt

    Regarding non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries, including those with reciprocal healthcare agreements with the United Kingdom, we can confirm that no reimbursements are made from the public purse in respect of healthcare provided to UK citizens.

    For non-EEA countries without a reciprocal agreement in place with the UK, it would be for the individual to pay for any healthcare needed and for that reason appropriate travel and medical insurance is highly advisable. Similarly, for those non-EEA countries with whom the UK does have a reciprocal healthcare agreement, no money changes hands between the parties to the agreement. The basis of these agreements is reciprocity – that is, necessary healthcare is provided in most cases free of charge to the visitor and the associated costs are absorbed by either side.

    The information requested on the amount received in reimbursement from EEA countries in only available for the country totals of cash payment for 2007-08 to 2014-15. That information is provided in attached table. We do not hold totals for amounts before 2007-08, as the information is hot held centrally.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which Ministers of his Department attended events to celebrate Chanukah in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    I attended the Reception for Festival of Chanukah – Mr Speaker’s annual celebration to mark the Festival of Chanukah, on Wednesday 17th December 2014.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many lone parent households not in receipt of housing benefit will be affected by changes to universal credit work allowances in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not available.

    The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors. Because of this, the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of its delivery plan rather than numbers of claimants.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will conduct an assessment of the extent to which Atos and Capita use supporting letters when conducting personal independence payment assessments.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Healthcare Professionals and DWP Decision Makers give full consideration to all information provided when assessing Personal Independence Payment claimants.