Category: Speeches

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to his oral Answer of 22 October 2015, Official Report, column 444WH, what steps he has taken to assess whether British-manufactured arms have been used in a responsible manner in Yemen.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen by all sides to the conflict and keep these under regular review. We have raised our concerns with the Saudi Government and have received repeated assurances of IHL compliance. We continue to engage with them on those assurances and urge all sides to investigate such incidents fully.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of her Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is a leader in funding high-quality high-impact development research, providing technologies and rigorous evidence to tackle critical development challenges – from new treatments for children with malaria to what approaches work to prevent violence against women. DFID’s funding for research and development expenditure up to 2020 will be determined through the Department’s internal resource allocation process. Decisions will be based on an analysis of critical development challenges, key evidence and technology gaps, and DFID’s areas of comparative advantage as a research funder. We committed in our manifesto to lead a major new global programme to accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and in November announced the Ross Fund which will deliver on this commitment.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his plans are for the future of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

    Nick Boles

    As announced in the 2015 Spending Review, in order to prioritise funding to allow the core adult skills participation budgets to be protected in cash terms, savings are being made from the supporting budgets including the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

    Whitehall Departments will be withdrawing their funding for UKCES during the 2016-17 financial year. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is working with UKCES to manage the implications of this decision.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 22835, in what months the biometric passport chip reading facilities were deactivated in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    For the period for which figures are available, biometric chip reading facilities were deactivated 7 times in 2013 and these occurred during the months of February, March, May & June. In 2014 chip reading facilities were deactivated 3 times and these occurred during the months of September, October and December. In 2015, chip reading facilities were deactivated 3 times and occurred during the months of February, April, and June.

    These figures should be considered against the background of the overall volume of transactions which are currently running at over 100 million per year and each of the instances has been thoroughly investigated and we are satisfied that there has been no risk to the border as a result.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in her Department.

    Karen Bradley

    The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Libraries of the House and on-line at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468340/CODE_OF_CONDUCT_FOR_SPECIAL_ADVISERS_-_15_OCTOBER_2015_FINAL.pdf

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a ban on travelling to the UK still applies to US citizen Mr Robert Spencer.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government does not routinely comment on individual immigration cases. As certain information on this particular case has been publicly disclosed, however, I can confirm that on 25 June 2013 the Home Secretary personally directed that Robert Spencer should be excluded from the UK on the grounds that his presence here would not be conducive to the public good.

    The Home Secretary considered that Mr Spencer brought himself within scope of the unacceptable behaviours policy by making statements that may foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 33501, on equal pay tribunals, how many (a) men and (b) women were involved in the two large multiple claims referred to in that answer; and against whom those claims were brought.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The two large multiple cases consisted of 11,585 men and 3,475 women, plus one claimant who did not state their gender. We are not able to provide further information about these cases as they have not yet been listed for hearing.

    The table below shows the number of equal pay claims accepted by the Employment Tribunal for each calendar year since 2010:

    Calendar Year

    Gender

    Female

    Male

    2010

    29,754

    4,083

    2011

    24,049

    3,647

    2012

    15,697

    4,340

    2013

    18,398

    5,039

    2014

    6,052

    1,509

    2015

    6,423

    13,312
  • Robin Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Robin Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support Paralympic sport.

    David Evennett

    The Government, through UK Sport, is investing almost £73m into 18 summer Paralympic sports during the Rio 2016 cycle, an increase of 48% from London 2012, and £3.9m into 2 winter Paralympic sports during the current cycle.

    In addition, Sport England is investing over £170m to make sport a practical and attractive lifestyle choice for disabled people and to get more disabled people playing sport.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will conduct a spillover analysis to examine the international effects of UK tax policy of a similar character to those undertaken by the governments of the Netherlands and Ireland.

    Jane Ellison

    The government has no current plans to conduct a spillover analysis, which it does not believe would be a useful exercise.

    The government is committed to a competitive and fair tax system, and has led international efforts to tackle tax evasion and avoidance while supporting developing countries to implement tax reforms. Through the G20 we have commissioned the international organisations to develop toolkits to assist developing countries to implement the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) outcomes as well as funding assistance to help developing country tax authorities tackle multinational tax avoidance.

    The UK is a founder member of the Addis Tax Initiative, which commits the UK to double its Overseas Development Assistance spend on tax capacity building by 2020 and to work to make international tax reform more accessible to developing countries.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of levels of food insecurity in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The UK currently has a high degree of food security as shown by the UK Food Security Assessment (published in 2010 and reviewed in 2012) which analysed the different global factors affecting UK food supply.

    Global food security is dependent on a number of factors including increasing production sustainably, reducing waste and ensuring open markets around the world to facilitate trade.

    Following a period of higher food price inflation retail food prices have fallen by 7.0% since their peak in February 2014. The proportion of household income spent on food has remained stable at 11% for 2015/16 compared to 2008/09.