Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2016-04-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, where a dog or horse is being micro-chipped and its owner is of no fixed abode, such as in the case of Gypsies and Travellers, whether they have considered allowing a mobile phone number or address of a friend or relation of the owner to be recorded rather than the owner’s address.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Owners of horses and dogs without a fixed address should provide the address of a family member or close friend with whom they keep in contact. Defra have worked with the veterinary representative organisations on their guidance for vets on microchipping of dogs.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the one per cent rise from 2016-17 on the (a) wage levels in real terms, (b) living standards and (c) disposable income of workers in the Information Commissioner’s Office to the end of this Parliament.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The July 2015 budget announced an average 1% pay award for public sector workforces from 2016/17. This is set out in Civil Service Pay Guidance, which is issued each year following negotiation with the Trade Unions.

    Pay restraint is one of the many difficult choices the Government has had to make to put the public finances back on track and makes a significant contribution to protecting jobs and maintaining public services.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations her Department has received on alleged conflicts of interest in the appointment of Sir John Chadwick to head an inquiry into the mistreatment of live foxes by the South Herefordshire Hunt.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Home Office has not received any representations regarding the appointment of Sir John Chadwick to head the independent inquiry into the mistreatment of live foxes by the South Herefordshire Hunt.

  • Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the export of meat from the UK to other EU member states.

    George Eustice

    Defra is assessing impacts on the meat sector from EU Exit and is committed to ensuring continued access to vital markets in Europe on the basis of the UK’s high standards of welfare and animal health. In addition, good progress is being made in extending access to international markets such as China, USA and Japan.

  • Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has for replacement of the HST 125 trains on the Midland mainline.

    Claire Perry

    The Department considers that franchisees are normally best placed to procure the rolling stock that they require to deliver the necessary levels of service and capacity. We expect the competition for the next East Midlands long-term franchise to deliver those improvements to the rolling stock that are required.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

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

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

    Following settlement of the Cabinet Office Spending Review last week, the allocation of funds to individual workstreams, including for research and development, is underway as part of the department’s business planning process to be completed in the coming months.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 17801, what the evidential basis is for his statement that civil service job satisfaction remains high and wellbeing has increased.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Civil Service People Survey provides annual data on staff engagement and wellbeing. The survey, which is undertaken each October, had 279,653 individuals in 96 organisations respond in 2015.

    The latest results show that we continue to see high scores for questions on whether people are interested in their work (89%), have the skills they need to do their job (88%) and are trusted to do their job effectively (88%). We can also see that measures of life satisfaction, feeling worthwhile and happiness have increased since last year and are now all 3 percentage points above their initial 2012 position.

    More information can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-2015-results

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what work her Department is doing to monitor air quality standards in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) England.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra has eight fixed air quality monitoring sites located in Greater Manchester – at Bury Whitefield Roadside, Glazebury, Manchester Law Courts, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester South, Salford Eccles, Shaw Crompton Way, Wigan Centre – and one hundred and seventy eight fixed monitoring sites in total across England.

    Many of these sites (seven in Manchester and 111 across England) provide near real-time data on one or more of the following pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), ozone, and sulphur dioxide. Data is made available on our website.

    Full details of the sites, including locations, pollutants measured and concentrations observed at each, are available on Defra’s UK Air Website: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/.

    Data from these sites is reported alongside modelling data as part of the UK’s annual national compliance reporting.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether energy suppliers are obligated to report to the National Measurement and Regulation Office when a heat network is established or a lease is acquired.

    Joseph Johnson

    Under Regulation 3(2)(b) of The Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014 heat suppliers have a duty to notify the National Measurement and Regulation Office in relation to a district heat network or communal heating that commences operation after 31st December 2015, on or before the first date of operation.

    If a change of ownership occurs (or a lease is acquired) on a district heat network or communal heating that has already been notified there is no requirement to re-notify within four years of the date of the first notification submitted. If the network has not been previously notified, then the duty to notify applies.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of bus services in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Teesside.

    Andrew Jones

    The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions about the provision of subsidised services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.

    The Government is committed to supporting bus services in England. We are taking forward a Buses bill to provide local authorities with the tools they need to improve local bus services.