Category: Speeches

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to Answers given on 21 July 2016 to Questions 43013 and 43014, what information his Department holds on legal advice expenditure by the (a) Economic and Domestic Affairs secretariat and (b) Propriety Ethics Unit on Freedom of Information cases in the last 12 months.

    Ben Gummer

    I would refer the Right Honourable gentleman to the answer to his previous question of 21 August 2016 (43013 and 43014).

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 7.2, Heading contingent liabilities, page 176 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16 of HM Revenue and Customs, published in December 2015, under what area of legislation are those cases of current liability.

    Jane Ellison

    The Trust Statement is prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards adapted or interpreted for public sector context.

    International Accounting Standard 37 – ‘Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets’ is the standard that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) follows when calculating the level of contingent liability to be included with the disclosure notes to the Trust Statement. The contingent liabilities relate to legal cases for which the outcome is uncertain and HMRC considers that there is only a possible rather than probable likelihood that they will be required to make a payment, or the amount cannot be reliably measured.

    These cases are not current liabilities – they are a possible obligation dependent on whether some uncertain future event occurs.

  • 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 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13, (e) 2013-14 and (f) 2014-15 went into arrears on their (i) interest repayments and (ii) capital repayments during the 13-week waiting period.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested regarding the number and proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest from 2009 to date who were in arrears on the interest or capital repayment during their waiting period is not available.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent online identity theft.

    Mike Penning

    Cyber Streetwise is a cross Government campaign designed to improve the online safety knowledge, behaviour and confidence of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals; driving down crime, saving victims’ money and reinforcing perceptions of the UK as a safe place to do business. Since its launch in January 2014, approximately 2 million adults have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them. Our 2015/16 strategic approach aims to drive measurable shifts in three key behaviours: using strong passwords made up of three random words; installing security software on all devices; and regularly downloading software updates which experts agree will provide SMEs and individuals with the most protection against cyber-crime.

    The City of London Police and Action Fraud have also brought together advice from a range of sources through the ‘Not With My Name’ campaign, to help people protect their identity, including online. The campaign is supported by the Metropolitan Police Service, Experian, Cifas, Financial Fraud Action UK, Get Safe Online and Cyber Streetwise.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) men and (b) women took their own life in each London borough in each year since 2010.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he commissioned an independent evaluation of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills before deciding to withdraw funding from it; and if so, if he will publish it.

    Nick Boles

    No independent evaluation of UKCES was commissioned. The decision by Whitehall Departments to withdraw funding from UKCES during 2016-17 was taken as part of the spending review given the need to make savings in non-participation budgets to allow the core adult skills participation budgets to be protected in cash terms.

    The decision had regard to the range of priorities needing to be funded from non-participation budgets. BIS is working with UKCES and the users of its services, including the Devolved Administrations, to manage the implications of this decision.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25609, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the average time taken for national minimum wage cases in employment tribunals between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    In 2014-15 HM Courts &Tribunals Service reviewed outstanding cases in employment tribunals and removed a backlog of very old cases which had settled or were completed from the case management system. The overall trend in average clearance time for single cases continues to improve and this can be seen in the Published Statistics at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

    “

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure accurate and early diagnosis of Kawasaki disease.

    George Freeman

    The Government published the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in November 2013. The strategy contains over 50 commitments to ensure people living with a rare disease, such as Kawasaki disease, have access to the best evidence-based care and treatment that health and social services, working with charities, researchers and industry can provide.

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training in both scarlet fever and Kawasaki disease.

    Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the Royal Colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

    The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not published any specific guidance on the similarities between Kawasaki disease and scarlet fever.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the assessment and initial management of fever in under 5s sets out the circumstances in which a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease should be considered, and Public Health England (PHE) has endeavoured to keep healthcare professionals, schools and the general public informed of the increased incidence of scarlet fever through timely information, news stories and updates on the PHE website and by using social and other media. These awareness raising measures assist general practitioners and other frontline healthcare professionals in reaching a correct diagnosis more quickly and encourage patients to seek medical advice early so that suspected cases receive prompt antibiotic treatment to reduce the risk of complications and limit further transmission.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to seek agreement on country-by-country reporting on multinational companies at the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    At the Anti Corruption Summit we will be seeking commitments on a number of measures to increase tax transparency, and reduce tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. The UK has called for a multilateral agreement on public country by country reporting of tax information by businesses. We welcome the recent European Commission initiative on public country by country reporting for large multinational enterprises within the EU and will work to support this.

  • Gordon Henderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gordon Henderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Henderson on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to bring forward proposals in the Neighbourhood and Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove the requirement for developers to carry out archaeological and wildlife surveys before starting housing projects.

    Brandon Lewis

    There are no plans to change a Local Authority’s ability to propose conditions that meet the policy tests in the National Planning Policy Framework; including conditions related to archaeology and wildlife. The Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill will include measures to ensure that pre-commencement planning conditions are only imposed where they are absolutely necessary.