Category: Speeches

Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the methodology used by his Department to calculate the distribution of the Transitional Grant announced in the local government finance settlement 2016-17.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Secretary of State has published an explanatory note setting out the method of calculation of the Transition Grant. It is available to view at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/510870/Explanatory_note_on_the_allocation_of_the_Transition_Grant.pdf

01/01/2023
Baroness Falkner of Margravine – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Falkner of Margravine on 2016-05-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the BBC World Service regarding the proposal to move the Chinese Language Service to Hong Kong.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We did not hold discussions with the BBC World Service prior to their decision to move some Chinese Language Service posts to Hong Kong. Operational decisions of this nature are for the BBC to take independently of Government.

The BBC has since advised that the entire service is not moving to Hong Kong but that there will be a change in the number of staff based in Hong Kong and London to allow more first-hand reporting in the region.

01/01/2023
John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, which EU (a) legislative and (b) other proposals his Department is leading negotiations on for the Government in the Council of the EU.

Alun Cairns

None.

01/01/2023
Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Offender Management Service plan to adopt a regime based on isolation and solitary confinement for all those Muslim prisoners who are assessed as posing a risk of encouraging Islamic radicalisation whilst in prison.

Lord Keen of Elie

The government is committed to tackling all forms of extremism. Keeping the most dangerous extremists away from other prisoners is essential to the safe running of our prisons and fundamental to public protection. Planning is under way to create specialist units within the high security estate to allow greater separation and specialised management of extremists who pose the highest risk to other prisoners. The regime of the new units will not be based on isolation or solitary confinement but on removing a small subset of the most dangerous and subversive radicalisers from the mainstream prisoner population.

01/01/2023

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the proportion of aid funding which is channelled to large international agencies compared to that channelled to local non-governmental organisations.

Baroness Verma

UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) channelled through non-governmental organisations is set out in the table below. DFID is currently conducting the Civil Society Partnership Review, which is considering future funding arrangements.

2014 data will be published on the DFID website as National Statistics on Thursday 3^rd December 2015.

Channel Code Description	2013 ODA (£ millions)	% of Total UK ODA
NGO (where country base is undefined)	£150,895	1%
Internationally-based (non-UK) NGO*	£362,696	3%
UK-based NGO*	£662,307	6%
Developing country-based NGO	£178,313	2%

*Many international and UK-based NGOs have significant local developing country footprints.

01/01/2023

Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on plans to allow local councils to retain business rates.

Mr Marcus Jones

DCLG confirmed at the Spending Review our intention, by the end of this Parliament, to allow local government to keep 100% of the business rates they raise locally. We have had initial discussions with local government representative bodies and individual authorities about the reform programme. We will broaden and deepen those discussions in the New Year.

01/01/2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20337, what steps he plans to take to improve the service offered by the DVLA to people resident in Northern Ireland.

Andrew Jones

Northern Ireland motorists will benefit from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s commitment to the continuous improvement of its services along with those in the rest of the UK. These improvements will include an increase in the range of digital services offered.

01/01/2023
Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish proposals to introduce a victims’ law.

Mike Penning

In the Queen’s Speech we made a commitment to bring forward measures to increase the rights of victims of crime. Further detail on our plans will be published in due course.

01/01/2023
Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether areas where (a) Al Nusra and (b) other UN Security Council designated terrorist groups are mixed with the moderate opposition are included in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Syria; and what assessment he has made of whether such arrangements are being honoured by (i) the Assad government and (ii) Russia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Cessation of Hostilities agreement in Syria does not apply to Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra, or other terrorist organisations as designated by the UN Security Council. Discussions over the delineation of territory under the control of those groups are ongoing between the US, Russia and International Syria Support Group members. Our view is that any attacks on Jabhat al-Nusra or other designated terrorist organisations must be highly targeted in order to maintain the Cessation of Hostilities, to have the desired counter-terrorism effects and to ensure that no non-combatants come under attack. Our assessment is that since the start of the Cessation of Hostilities there has been a significant reduction in violence, although there have also been a number of violations, most of which we assess to have been carried out by the regime.

01/01/2023
Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what further investment he plans to provide for the hardened aircraft shelters used by the Quick Reaction Alert at the former RAF base at Leuchars.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence is planning to undertake £100,000 of safety compliance related work over the next 12 months, on top of the regular levels of service and maintenance for the hardened aircraft shelters.

01/01/2023