Category: Speeches

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will direct the armed forces to drop emergency food aid to the under siege town of Madaya in Syria.

    Penny Mordaunt

    A joint UN/Syrian Arab Red Crescent/International Committee of the Red Cross operation delivered humanitarian assistance, including food, non-food items, and medical supplies, to Madaya on 11 January. With land access available there are no plans for the RAF to deliver humanitarian assistance by air.

  • 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 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer to the Question 21806 of 19 January 2016, on personal injury: compensation, whether the meeting on 8 December 2015 was the first meeting of Ministers with insurance industry representatives on reform of personal injury claims since May 2015.

    Dominic Raab

    On 8 December 2015, at a meeting with Ministers, representatives of leading insurers committed to pass on savings to consumers through lower premiums following the implementation of Government reforms. The Government will be monitoring the industry’s reaction to these reforms closely.

    The meeting on 8 December 2015 was the first Ministerial meeting with insurers to discuss the reforms announced in the Autumn Statement on 25 November. Lord Faulks subsequently met representatives from the claimant lawyer sector at the end of January 2016. Officials had previously met with both insurers and claimant lawyer representatives to discuss the reforms.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department is committed to the health and wellbeing of its staff and has developed a wellbeing strategy with a ‘5 steps to improve wellbeing’ approach.

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to good governance and effective parliamentary democracy in Nepal, and whether their development projects will encourage fairness and equality under the new constitution.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is committed to help Nepal build the capacity, responsiveness and accountability of state institutions. Strengthening governance and promoting the inclusion and fair treatment of all ethnic groups are central to our programmes in Nepal.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 April 2016 to Question 32664 and the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 33678, and with reference to paragraph 2.113 of the report, The best of both worlds: the UK’s special status in a reformed EU, published in February 2016, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of child benefit payments paid to non-UK citizens in each financial year since 2010-11.

    Damian Hinds

    Around 7m people are receiving Child Benefit. To extract and collate the value of all payments made to EU migrants for children living outside the UK in the format requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2016-06-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to adopt the recommendations made in the Local Plans Expert Group report, published in March 2016.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Local Plans Expert Group published their report on 16 March 2016, and this was open for representations until 27 April.

    We are committed to streamlining the plan-making process and are carefully considering the report and representations received.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban the use of microbeads and microplastics in all personal care products, washing powders, household cleaners and industrial blast media.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    On 3 September the Government announced plans to ban the sale and manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products containing microbeads where these are capable of harming the marine environment. Our plans will be informed by a formal consultation later this year. At the same time, evidence will be gathered on the extent of the environmental impacts of microbeads found in other products before considering what more can be done in future to tackle other plastics, for example microfibres, which enter the marine environment.

    Given the trans-boundary nature of marine litter, we will also continue to work with other countries in the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) to address marine litter, including microplastics.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether, when setting up the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Government stipulated how many members of the counsel team supporting that inquiry were to practise family law.

    Sarah Newton

    The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established under the Inquiries Act 2005. The appointment of counsel to the inquiry is a matter for the inquiry chair. The only requirement under the Inquiry Rules 2006 is that counsel appointed by the chair should be ‘qualified lawyers,’ which means they must be a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will assess the potential merits of arms-length funding to support community journalism and independent news start-ups to promote informed citizenship.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government believes local media has a vital role to play in local communities and in local democracy.There are no current plans for a Government investigation into the merits of arms-length funding for community journalism, but we would welcome evidence from the sector to support this.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, from which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices staff will be redeployed to the proposed new Liverpool HMRC office.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.