Category: Speeches

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will seek evidence from (a) the NUM, (b) Unite, (c) Hargreaves Services plc, (d) Banks Mining, (e) Celtic Energy and (f) Miller Agent in her Department’s consultation on the future of coal-fired power stations; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    All interested parties including the NUM, Unite, Hargreaves Services plc, Banks Mining, Celtic Energy and Miller Agent are encouraged to engage and respond to the consultation.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the presence of multilingual children in schools on the learning of monolingual children.

    Nick Gibb

    Analysis undertaken by the Centre for the Economics of Education in 2012 indicates that there is no association between the presence of children whose first language is not English and the educational attainment of their native English-speaking peers, after controlling for basic demographic characteristics and the schools these pupils attend.

    In our recent consultation on a new national funding formula for schools, we proposed including an EAL factor in the formula. We are currently considering responses to the consultation and will come forward with further proposals in due course.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of incidents of drunkenness on aeroplanes in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government does not collect specific data on the frequency of incidents involving drunk passengers on aircraft. As such, no estimates have been made.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the life chances of people with disabilities.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government is committed to improving the life chances of disabled people and has made a commitment to halve the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people.

    The Government is working with employers through Disability Confident to challenge attitudes towards disability and ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Since 2013 the number of disabled people in work has increased by almost half a million (493,000). Nearly 3.4 million disabled people are now in employment.

    Access to Work provides practical and financial support with the additional costs faced by individuals whose heath or disability affects the way they do their job. 36,470 individuals were helped by Access to Work in the 2015/16 including record numbers of people with learning disabilities, mental health conditions and young people. Last year’s Spending review announced a real-terms increase in funding for access to work starting in 16/17 to enable the scheme to help a further 25,000 people by the end of the parliament.

    Work Choice is a voluntary contracted specialist disability employment programme introduced in 2010 and helps people with disabilities whose needs cannot be met through other employment programmes, Access to Work or workplace adjustments. It provides individually tailored support (e.g. job search skills, basic training, and work placements) for disabled people who face the most complex employment barriers to find and stay in work.

    Later this year, we will produce a Green Paper exploring a range of options to close the disability employment gap and transform the lives and prospects of disabled people, and conduct a consultation which will reach out to disabled people and their representative organisations.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect on the employment of the introduction of tax on soft drinks.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government is consulting on the detail of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL). An initial impact assessment has been published alongside the consultation document.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of tax credit claimants have a child under the age of five and claim support for childcare costs.

    Damian Hinds

    This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear, the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

    As announced at Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced that free entitlement childcare would be doubled from 15 hours to 30 for working parents. This will not be rolled out until September 2017, with early implementation in some areas in September 2016.

    Information about the age, gender and number of children in receipt of tax credits can be found in HMRC’s Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics, April 2015. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-provisional-statistics-2013-to-2009

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  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seriously or critically flawed decisions were identified in the Quality Audit of her Department’s asylum decisions in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    In the twelve months to September 2015 a total of 29,246 asylum decisions were made. Over the same period, 344 asylum decisions were identified by the Department’s Quality Audit team as containing serious errors and 4 identified as critically flawed. The Home Office continues to review processes and procedures as part of its ongoing work to improve decision making.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in how many cases funding has been provided for the first single session of family mediation where one of the participants qualifies for legal aid in the last 12 months.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    This Government wants people to resolve disputes away from court wherever possible, including through mediation which can be less stressful and more efficient. Between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2015, public funding was provided for the first single session of family mediation where only one of the participants was eligible for legal aid in 6,022 cases. This is the latest 12-month period for which figures are available. Public funding became available on this basis during this period, on 3 November 2014. Figures are only available for cases that have completed and for which the bill has been submitted to the Legal Aid Agency by the mediation provider.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom has made of the number of (a) business parks which do not have superfast broadband and (b) businesses based in business parks which do not have superfast broadband.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    In its 2015 publication Connected Nations, Ofcom estimated that 68% of SMEs had access to superfast broadband in May 2015, and almost half (around 130,000) in certain business areas were unable to receive speeds above 10Mbit/s.

    The Government is supporting investment to provide superfast broadband coverage to 90% of UK premises by early 2016 and 95% by December 2017. In addition, BDUK’s Connection Voucher Scheme issued around 55,000 vouchers to businesses to enable to access Superfast broadband. However, this does not include the provision of leased lines which offer an alternative connectivity option for businesses.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the amount spent by the NHS on locum doctors in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    Information on the amount spent by the National Health Service on locum doctors in each of the last five years is not held centrally.

    The Department only collects data on overall spending on agency staff at a national level and this is incorporated into the Department’s annual accounts.