Category: Speeches

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how his Department is (a) monitoring and (b) enforcing the requirement for companies to disclose information on persons with significant control in their company as part of their company register in Companies House.

    Margot James

    Companies disclose information on people with significant control (PSCs) through the requirement to file a Confirmation Statement at least once a year, confirming its information, including PSC data, is correct. Companies House helps companies comply with these requirements by issuing guidance and also reminders to all companies to help them file on time. Filings are not accepted unless the information is complete, so Confirmation Statements must include information on PSCs. Where companies have not filed a Confirmation Statement, Companies House contacts companies seeking compliance and reminding them that they have committed an offence.

  • John Baron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Baron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Baron on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what system of accountability NHS England will establish for clinical commissioning groups’ work on improving one year cancer survival rates from June 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is committed to reworking the clinical commission group (CCG) assurance framework for 2016-17 to reflect the triple aim of closing the gap on health inequalities, improving the quality of care and achieving financial sustainability, in addition to the themes of the Five Year Forward View: prevention; patient and community engagement; clinical priorities; and development of new care models.

    Cancer has been identified as one of these clinical priorities, and metrics will be selected which reflect the strategic priorities laid out by the independent Cancer Taskforce, including early diagnosis and supporting people to live well, with, and, beyond cancer.

    The assessment framework brings together the assurance framework and key metrics, and will incorporate future transformation as well as current performance. It will drive improvement rather than just assure and assess.

    CCGs will receive an overall annual rating and, within the framework, will be rated for six clinical priorities of: cancer, dementia, diabetes, mental health, maternity, and learning difficulties.

    CCGs will be rated on the same four point scale used by the Care Quality Commission: outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. The ratings for the clinical priority areas will be made by independent expert committees.

    The metrics are currently in development and NHS England expects to publish a set for consultation in December 2015, at around the same time as the planning guidance, with a final version in March 2016. The assessment framework will come in to operational effect from 1 April 2016 and initial ratings in the six clinical priority areas will be published in June 2016.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the case of six British ex-servicemen detained in India; what steps his Department is taking to provide diplomatic and consular assistance to those people; and what information his Department has received from Indian officials about the reason for the detainment of those men.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The six men remain in India due to an ongoing Indian legal process on their case. Ministers have raised this case at the highest levels nearly thirty times since the men were first detained in November 2013. Most recently, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), raised it for the third time with Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to the UK in November. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the case with the Indian Minister of External Affairs at the UN General Assembly on 29 September and I raised it again on 24 November with the Indian High Commissioner to London.

    Consular staff in Chennai continue to provide consular support to the men, but we cannot interfere in the ongoing Indian legal process. We are working with them to assess their needs and will continue to identify organisations who can help them and their families.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were wrongly released in each of the last five years; what crime each such prisoner had been convicted of; from which prison each such prisoner has been released; how many such prisoners were released from (a) public and (b) private prisons; what category of prisoner each person wrongly released was; how long it took to return each such prisoner to prison; what further crimes each such prisoner committed while wrongly released; how many such prisoners remained at large in each of the last five years; what crime each at large prisoner was originally convicted of; from which prison each at large prisoner was wrongly released from; whether this was a (i) private and (ii) public prison; and what category of prisoner each at large wrongly released prisoner was.

    Andrew Selous

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal College of Nursing on the health effects of over-use of paracetamol to treat colds and flu.

    George Freeman

    No such discussions have taken place.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what guidance her Department has issued to the (a) Ministry of Defence and (b) Home Office on international humanitarian law on UK operations in the Mediterranean.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    UK military forces operating in the Eastern Mediterranean are subject to rules of engagement which ensure compliance with international law. DFID does not in general issue guidance on international humanitarian law.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current state of Anglo-Polish relations.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has a strong bilateral relationship with Poland, one that the Government is committed to strengthening even further. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has agreed with his Polish counterpart to work more closely together to enhance the relationship towards a more strategic partnership. The UK and Poland share a vision for the future of the EU and of European security including many foreign, defence and security policy priorities. We are partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and share a commitment to the security of our allies and ensuring that NATO continuously adapts to changing threats. We continue to work together to deliver the outcomes of the Wales NATO Summit as we look forward to the Warsaw Summit in July. The UK and Poland are also partners in trade; the UK is Poland’s second largest export market. There are also close historical links between our countries. Together with the President of Poland the Prime Minister was honoured to attend the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral last September to pay tribute to those who fought, including the brave Polish pilots who played a crucial role in standing up for freedom.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that engagement and consultation with key stakeholders, communities and local voluntary sector organisations is undertaken within each Sustainability and Transformation plan footprint prior to finalisation of those plans.

    George Freeman

    As set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance, published in December 2015, the success of Sustainability and Transformation Plans will depend on having an open, engaging, and iterative process that involves patients, carers, citizens, clinicians, local community partners including the independent and voluntary sectors, and local government through health and wellbeing boards. The arm’s length bodies responsible for the NHS Five Year Forward View – NHS England, NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, Public Health England, Health Education England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – have asked for local engagement plans as part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan process, building where appropriate on existing engagement through health and wellbeing boards and other local arrangements. Where plans propose service changes, formal consultation will follow in due course in line with good practice and legislative requirements. The arm’s length bodies will be holding conversations with each area to assess their plans for local engagement.

  • David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-07-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints relating to class 2 national insurance contributions have been received by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last three years.

    Mr David Gauke

    Each year HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) receives and responds to 50 million phone calls and 15 million letters from Self Assessment and PAYE customers. HMRC commits to responding to complaints within 15 days of receipt and therefore expects that, excluding any that may be received in the last few weeks before abolition, outstanding complaints will have been cleared.

    The number of complaints relating to Class 2 contributions received in the last three years is set out in the table below:

    Year

    No. of complaints

    2013/14

    1122

    2014/15

    1210

    2015/16

    831
  • Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason his Department has not implemented the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s commitment to a biannual budget reconciliation process for the new feed-in tariff scheme, set out in its review of that scheme in December 2015.

    Jesse Norman

    The Government response to the 2015 review of the scheme set out that a budget reconciliation process could be biannual, or more or less frequent, depending on deployment. As well as our current consultation on support for anaerobic digestion and micro-combined heat and power under the scheme, we are reviewing the deployment that has taken place since the revised scheme was re-launched in February of this year and will make a statement in due course.