Category: Speeches

  • Lord Adebowale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Adebowale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Adebowale on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children aged 16 or 17 have presented to their local authority as homeless in (1) 2015–16, and (2) 2014–15, and how many of those were (a) assessed under the Housing Act 1996, and (b) assessed and then accommodated under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    One person without a home is one too many. That is why we have maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20. We have also increased central government funding to tackle homelessness to £139 million over the next four years.

    The causes of youth homelessness are highly complex and our priority is to ensure that young people at risk of homelessness get the support they need. That is why we have also invested in the development of a Positive Pathway framework to help local authorities and their partners support young people to remain in the family home (where it is safe to do so) through a collaborative and integrated approach, as well as identifying the relevant support services needed should they become homeless. This includes supported accommodation as a starting point for 16 and 17 year olds.

    Since 2002, 16 to 17 year olds have been classed as a priority need category and are owned a main homeless duty by their local authority. The number of 16 or 17 year olds who applied and were accepted as homeless was 580 in 2014-15, and 530 in 2015-16 (falling from 2,190 in 2009-10). All of these cases were dealt with under the homelessness provisions of Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996.

    We do not hold details on the age of applicants who reported to their local authority but were ineligible or not homeless.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Government plans to negotiate to continue participation in the European Centre for Disease Control after the UK leaves the EU.

    David Mowat

    Nothing has yet been decided on whether the United Kingdom will continue participation in the European Centre for Disease Control after leaving the European Union. Officials in both the Department of Health and the Department for Exiting the European Union are considering the position and options available to us with the aim of achieving the best outcome for the UK health system and for the UK as a whole.

  • Kate Hoey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Hoey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what contact there has been between Government officials and Moussa Koussa since his departure from the UK in 2011; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There has been no contact between Government officials and Moussa Koussa since his departure from the UK in 2011.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s publication, Mandatory Programmes official statistics: May 2011 to August 2015, published on 25 November 2015, how many people who joined the Mandatory Work Activity scheme during this period subsequently completed a work placement in full.

    Priti Patel

    Mandatory Work Activity is a supportive programme designed to help claimants who need extra support from a short work placement to re-focus their job search activity and gain further experience of work. Unemployed Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit claimants are referred for up to 4 weeks work experience and will participate on the placement for up to 30 hours a week.

    The number of referrals and starts is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working.

    An impact assessment of Mandatory Work Activity was published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-work-activity–2) which considered referrals to the programme in the period May to July 2012. An evaluation of Mandatory Work Activity also published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-mandatory-work-activity-rr823) which included a telephone survey of participants who had been referred to and started an Mandatory Work Allowance placement.

    The evaluation and impact assessment were conducted in 2012 and does not cover the period of the Official Statistics from May 2011 to August 2015.

    “

  • 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 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to fulfil their agreement in the August 2015 Joint Ministerial Declaration (Managing Migratory Flows in Calais) properly to protect children in refugee camps in Calais.

    Lord Bates

    The management of the camp – both in terms of humanitarian aspects and maintaining law and order – is the responsibility of the French Government and operational needs may require for them to restrict access under certain circumstances. Aid is not restricted as a matter of course, and we work with the French to ensure those who need help are able to receive it.

    To help protect vulnerable people (including children and other potential victims of trafficking) the Home Secretary and French Interior Minister agreed in the UK-France Joint Declaration in August 2015 to set up a project to identify and direct vulnerable individuals to existing protection, support and advice within France. The UK has contributed €750,000 (£530,000) to fund the project which formally launched in December 2015.

  • Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will use their membership of UN agencies to establish relevant targets for reducing carbon emissions in (1) civil aviation, (2) shipping, and (3) agriculture and forestry, by 2020 as agreed at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    This Government is committed to tackling emissions from international aviation, international shipping and agriculture and forestry.

    As inherently transnational in nature, international aviation and maritime emissions are regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and are outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. The UK is working through the ICAO and IMO to develop mechanisms which deliver emissions reductions, in line with the long term goal agreed in Paris of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees. In 2016, the ICAO is set to agree a global market based measure, to offset emissions post-2020. The UK government is engaged in this process.

    The Government is also committed to tackling emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and supporting the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). The UK played a key role in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, which set ambitious targets for halving (by 2020) and halting (by 2030) the loss of natural forests and eliminating deforestation from the production of key agricultural commodities by 2020. The new UN Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in September 2015, also include targets to halt deforestation, sustainably manage and restore natural forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally by 2020. At COP21 the UK endorsed a Leaders’ Statement on Forests which recognised the importance of these goals, as well as the progress on REDD+ under the UNFCCC.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who will represent the Government at the UNHCR conference on the Syrian refugee crisis on 30 March 2016.

    Richard Harrington

    I will represent the Government at the UNHCR conference on the Syrian refugee crisis on 30 March 2016.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many jobs in (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department’s non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority by 2020.

    Jane Ellison

    No jobs with the core Department have been abolished or relocated from East Cheshire and none will be abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire by 2020.

    The information about non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, and other accountable statutory bodies is not held centrally by the Department and the information for all those organisations has been provided by those bodies. This has resulted in a ‘nil return’, on both aspects of the question, from each of his Department’s non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies operating within East Cheshire.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to make public decisions on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis taken at the meeting to consider the commissioning specialised services on 31 May 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England’s Specialised Services Commissioning Committee have considered and accepted NHS England’s external legal advice that it does not have the legal power to commission pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, work on PrEP is on-going and up to £2 million will be invested in a pilot programme to target those at highest risk over the course of two years.

    Public Health England is working to identify the most effective locations for the introduction of this pilot. The Department will be discussing future commissioning with stakeholders.

    Our £2.4 million national HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion Programme also gives those at highest risk the best advice to make safer choices about sex.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the planning inspector of the public inquiry into the Leeds New Generation Transport schemes visited any European city operating trolley bus systems to ascertain whether its system could be emulated in Leeds, and if not, why not.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    I can confirm that as part of the public inquiry into the Leeds New Generation Transport Scheme the Inspector did not visit any European city operating trolley bus systems to see if its system could be emulated in Leeds. The Inspector had regard to all the evidence put to the inquiry, this may have included information about other trolley bus schemes in the world, however the Inspector’s remit was to look at the scheme for Leeds specifically put forward by the Applicant, having regard to the evidence submitted by all parties to the case.