UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Burmese counterpart on prisoners of conscience in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The release of political prisoners has been an early priority for the new NLD-led government, with over 100 having been released since Friday.

    The UK Government has long campaigned on the issue of political prisoners in Burma and we welcome this quick action.

  • The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have carried out research to ascertain the degree of awareness of small businesses about intellectual property rights.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) IP Awareness Survey was first conducted in 2006 and was rerun in 2010 and early 2015. The survey establishes a sense of understanding of IP and IP rights across all sizes of UK firms and all sectors of UK industry. The most recent survey contained 3 sections: an IP knowledge section which tested the respondent’s familiarity with IP, a management section which sought to discover how firms were administering IP within their organisation and a final section which focussed on where IP information and advice was sourced from.

    Key findings include:

    • 94% of respondents thought that it was important for businesses to understand how to protect their IP.
    • 52% of responding firms had protected some sort of IP (either through a single right or a combination).
    • 65% of respondents thought that confidentiality agreements are important to protecting their IP. This method of protection was the most popular.
    • The majority of surveyed firms have not been involved in a dispute around IP, (over 75%).
    • 96% of firms have not valued their IP.
    • 79% of firms did not know that telling people about an invention before applying for a patent could lead to an unsuccessful application.
    • 28% of firms check they are not infringing other people’s IP, the most popular IP management activity amongst respondents.
    • 20% of firms indicated that they license their IP, allowing others to use it for a fee.

    In addition to this formal piece of research the IPO routinely surveys businesses in the course of designing and delivering its business support and outreach activities. This is intended to help to monitor and assess the effectiveness of these activities to ensure they are fit for purpose and if necessary improve, develop and even cease them for alternative approaches.

    The IPO is using findings from its own and other business surveys to inform its approach to business outreach and the creation of IP advisory and support tools.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will place in the library an unredacted copy of Lady Macur’s review of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the abuse of children in North Wales.

    Alun Cairns

    No. Lady Justice Macur specifically cautioned Ministers against publishing certain groups of names, for example to protect against prejudicing pending and ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions.

    An unredacted version of the report has been provided to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard, and was seen by representatives from Operations Pallial, Hydrant and Orarian.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the proposed A52 improvement programme.

    Mr John Hayes

    Highways England, in accordance with its Delivery Plan, is delivering the A52 scheme in Roads Investment Strategy Period 1 (2015-2020) and plans to start construction by 2019/20. The scheme will deliver a package of measures to improve junctions along the A52 near Nottingham to assist with the development of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone adjacent to the A52.

    Highways England has appointed design consultants to work up and assess a range of options and will be engaging stakeholders in the coming months.

  • Lord Bird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Bird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bird on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Project Literacy campaign, and whether they have plans to support and promote that campaign.

    Lord Bates

    The Department for International Development (DFID) share Project Literacy’s view that illiteracy leaves people around the world vulnerable to poverty, abuse and exploitation, and are committed to supporting the Global Goal target of ensuring that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy by 2030. The majority of DFID’s education programmes are focused on ensuring all children are able to read, write and count. For example, DFID is helping to increase literacy rates amongst women and girls in Northern Nigeria, where 7 out of 10 women cannot read at all, through the Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises project, which supports 18,000 young women to improve their literacy and numeracy.

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to NHS trusts of nursing staff turnover as a result of proposals to cap union facility time in the Trade Union Bill.

    Ben Gummer

    There are no current proposals to cap tradeunion facility time although the Trade UnionBill includes a reservepower to do so if it is deemed appropriate.The Department has not estimated the cost to National Health Service trusts of nursing staff turnover should the power to do so be implemented and has no evidence that it would be affected.

  • Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the national consultation on the future of children’s centres will be launched; what its terms of reference will be; and what the timetable is for responses to be received and the Government to announce its proposals.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We value the services provided by children’s centres. We intend to consult to see what role children’s centres should play to ensure they are able to have the most impact as part of integrated local services for families. An independent survey carried out by the national children’s charity, 4Children (published October 2015) estimated more than a million children and families are now using children’s centres.

    The consultation will offer parents, carers, local authorities and key stakeholders the opportunity to influence and drive what we expect from children’s centre services and where we see them having the greatest impact. We plan to launch the consultation shortly.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to collect data on the number of underage girls who marry overseas and subsequently return to the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad.

    In 2014, the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,267 cases. Of those cases, 11% involved victims below 16 years (where the age was known), and 77% involved an overseas element (meaning the victim was at risk of, or had been taken, overseas). To provide a further breakdown of this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

    FMU data is published on an annual basis, and figures for 2015 are due for publication shortly.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Ian C. Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts for delivery of IT services have been concluded between the Government and Google in the last five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    Since January 2011, as part of the Government’s transparency programme, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Since 1 April 2015, wider public sector bodies, including local authorities, have also been required to publish details of contracts above the value of £25,000 on Contracts Finder.

    Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: http://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive

    Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

    “

  • Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the net annual UK financial contribution to the EU is expected to be in each of the next three years.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Office for Budget Responsibility does not provide a forecast for net UK contributions to EU budgets, and does not take into account receipts directly received by the private sector.