Category: Speeches

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s priorities are for the Clean Growth Committee; what role she will have on that committee; and whether that committee will consider her Department’s air quality consultation.

    Rory Stewart

    The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chairs an inter-Ministerial group on Clean Growth, which considers issues relating to air quality and decarbonisation where these have a cross-Departmental aspect. Its members include Ministers and officials from the relevant Departments, including Defra, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with Four Seasons Health Care on the financial sustainability of that provider.

    Alistair Burt

    Up to September 2015, officials from the Department met with representatives from the five largest residential care providers on a quarterly basis to understand their financial position. This included Four Seasons Health Care.

    From September 2015, responsibility for overseeing the finances of these providers passed on to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Market Oversight team. CQC can confirm that it is operating the Market Oversight Regime in line with the published guidance ‘Market Oversight of difficult to replace providers of adult social care’ that can be found on CQC’s website at:

    http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/market-oversight-adult-social-care

    “

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of applications for Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks (a) nationally, (b) in London and (c) in Dulwich and West Norwood constituency met each of the service’s published service standards for waiting times in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The following tables show (a) the proportion of applications for enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks that met the Published Service Standards for waiting times nationally and (b) for applications received from people residing in London postcodes in each Financial Year from April 2010 to November 2015.

    Table A

    Period

    Total Apps Despatched

    21 Calendar Day Target

    21 Day Achievement

    56 Calendar Day Target

    56 Day Achievement

    Apr-10 to Mar-11

    4,124,609

    85%

    65.8%

    95%

    86.6%

    Apr-11 to Mar-12

    3,813,114

    85%

    88.4%

    95%

    96.7%

    Apr-12 to Mar-13

    3,801,064

    85%

    86.5%

    95%

    98.6%

    Apr-13 to Mar-14

    3,715,222

    85%

    84.3%

    95%

    97.3%

    Apr-14 to Mar-15

    3,833,149

    85%

    84.3%

    95%

    94.8%

    Apr-15 to Nov-15

    2,704,993

    85%

    85.5%

    95%

    94.6%

    Table B

    Period

    Total Apps Despatched

    21 Calendar Day Target

    21 Day Achievement

    56 Calendar Day Target

    56 Day Achievement

    Apr-10 to Mar-11

    395,164

    85%

    28.5%

    95%

    55.0%

    Apr-11 to Mar-12

    363,887

    85%

    76.6%

    95%

    88.8%

    Apr-12 to Mar-13

    358,900

    85%

    78.7%

    95%

    97.9%

    Apr-13 to Mar-14

    356,883

    85%

    78.0%

    95%

    95.4%

    Apr-14 to Mar-15

    371,608

    85%

    79.5%

    95%

    87.6%

    Apr-15 to Nov-15

    257,410

    85%

    81.9%

    95%

    85.0%

    The DBS is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to improve its performance. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan and exploring all opportunities to process cases quickly, including the recruitment of additional staff. It is not possible to provide the figure for applications from Dulwich and West Norwood as this information is not collected.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of DECC for each of the last five years are set out in the table below:

    Year

    Average hourly earnings (£)

    Female

    Male

    Full-time

    Part-time

    2011

    23.80

    25.80

    24.70

    25.70

    2012

    23.80

    25.80

    24.70

    26.00

    2013

    22.80

    25.80

    24.30

    25.40

    2014

    23.30

    25.50

    24.40

    25.40

    2015

    23.20

    25.70

    24.30

    26.80

    “

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve his Department’s collection of data for secondary breast cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for collecting cancer data to support national cancer registration in England and recognises the importance of collecting data on recurrent breast cancer.

    At present pilot work in acute trusts has improved the reporting for breast cancer recurrence and metastasis to the National Cancer Registration Service but the uptake has been slow and the data is not complete. Further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.

    Data on the number of people diagnosed with secondary breast cancer is not currently available.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Israeli government organisations have been given charitable status in the UK.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    In England and Wales the law requires charities to be independent in the way they operate and they must be set up with exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit. This precludes from charitable status any organisations that are established to further the purposes of any non-charity, which would include a national government.

    Charity law is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the requirements there are similar.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the health condition of Kamal Foroughi in Iran; and what assessment he has made of the level of Mr Foroughi’s access to appropriate medical care.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have raised our concerns about Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Government and continue to lobby them at the highest level at every opportunity, requesting consular access for officials, access to lawyers and appropriate access to medical treatment. Most recently, on 18 May, I raised our concerns for Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Charge d’affaires. We continue to ask for his early release on humanitarian grounds given his age and medical history.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will meet representatives of Norway and Switzerland to discuss the outcome of the EU referendum.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) held discussions with European counterparts and a range of other partners to explain the result of the referendum and next steps. Officials continue to be in frequent contact with their Norwegian and Swiss counterparts and have discussed a range of topics since 24 June, including the outcome of the EU referendum.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with UK supermarkets about the case for supermarkets regularly to check imported products to ensure that those products are properly labelled.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Under the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 Food business operators are responsible for ensuring that labelling does not mislead the consumer. The rules are enforced by local authorities.

    Imported products of animal origin are usually inspected at EU border inspection posts by Port Health Authorities.

    As there are well established systems already in place, the Government is not having any specific discussions with UK supermarkets about this issue at this time, but government will continue to monitor this.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to protect and conserve the UK’s coastlines.

    Rory Stewart

    This Government is making a record six year commitment to invest £2.3 billion in providing better protection for 300,000 households in England by 2021. We estimate that 45% of this funding will help reduce the risk of coastal flooding or erosion.

    Flood and coastal erosion risk management is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.