Category: Speeches

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they are proposing to discontinue the use of the Westbury East Loop Junction and Hawkeridge Junction line for passenger services, and whether such a change will prevent that line from being used for diversion routes for passenger services in future.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The proposal is to withdraw one regular passenger train service in one direction only Monday to Friday over this short curve on the grounds of low usage and for the service instead to serve the nearby important station of Westbury. The service was designated as experimental in 2011.

    The withdrawal of the experimental status for the passenger service in question does not affect the line itself, which will continue to remain open for diverted passenger trains and freight.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the rising default rate of companies in the oil and gas sector on their high-yield loans on wider stability of the financial sector.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Chancellor has set out the government’s view on the challenges facing the UK economy at budget on 16 March 2016. The transcript of the speech is available from:

    www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-2016-george-osbornes-speech

    In addition, the Bank of England’s December 2015 Financial Stability Report sets out analysis on the exposures of UK banks to commodity sectors. The full report can be found here:

    www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/fsr/2015/dec.aspx

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Prime Minister, which leaders in civil society, business and government were invited to attend the anti-corruption conference, Tackling Corruption Together, which he hosted in London on 11 May 2016.

    Mr David Cameron

    The Tackling Corruption Together conference was organised by civil society organisations, businesses and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

  • Mrs Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mrs Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that access to a timely autism diagnosis is included in the next Clinical Commissioning Group Investment and Assessment Framework.

    David Mowat

    To support local areas in addressing long waits, NHS England, supported by the Department and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, initiated a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. These visits aimed to develop a better idea of the challenges in securing timely autism diagnosis across all ages, looking at the variability in diagnosis times and sharing good practice to help areas to improve their service. NHS England submitted a report on the visits to the 16 June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board, which includes representatives of autism third sector organisations and people who have autism. NHS England will have further discussions with relevant organisations over the summer about actions in their report, including on the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework, before reporting back to the Autism Programme Board.

    In parallel, as recommended by the independent Mental Health Taskforce, the Department is undertaking a five year plan for the development of mental health data to be published by the end of the year. The plan will set out future requirements and timings for developing data to inform pathways of care, which will include requirements for autism in the Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Services Data Set. Data on referrals or appointments for an autism diagnostic assessment are not currently captured in published mental health data.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been invested in the protection of honey bees in the UK in each of the last five years.

    George Eustice

    Defra has spent between £1.5 million and £2 million on protecting honey bees in England in each of the last five years.

    Our programme aims to protect honey bees from pests and diseases, including tackling disease outbreaks and monitoring for exotic pests such as the Asian hornet.

    Defra also contributed an additional £2.5 million to the £10 million Insect Pollinator Initiative carried out between 2010 and 2015. This was a joint initiative to look at different aspects of pollinator declines. Of the nine projects funded, two were specifically about honey bees and six were aimed at benefiting both honey bees and bumble bees.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to investigate potential conflicts of interest when Clinical Commissioning Groups enter into contracts with companies in which one or more of their board members has a financial interest.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for ensuring that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are effective and well led, including ensuring that conflicts of interest are properly managed in such a way as to ensure they do not undermine the integrity of commissioning decisions.

    To do this, NHS England has developed an assurance framework for CCGs. CCGs are now required to complete a quarterly self-certification, which askswhether:

    – Any potential conflicts of interest have arisen during the last quarter;

    – The public register has been updated; and

    – There is a record in each case of how the conflict of interest has or is planned to be managed.

    This certification then forms the basis of an assurance conversation between the CCG and NHS England.

    Work is currently underway to develop the 2016/17 CCG assessment framework and this will maintain the focus on conflicts of interest.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current membership of the care.data Advisory Group.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The care.data Advisory Group met between March 2014 and October 2015 and has now been disbanded. The group was Chaired by Ciarán Devane, who at the time was a non-executive director of NHS England, and included representatives from the following organisations:

    – Academy of Medical Royal Colleges;

    – Association of Medical Research Charities;

    – Big Brother Watch;

    – British Heart Foundation;

    – British Medical Association;

    – HealthWatch England;

    – Hurley Group;

    – Kings College London;

    – Kings Fund;

    – medConfidential;

    – MIND;

    – National Institute for Health Research;

    – National Voices;

    – Patients4Data;

    – Royal College of General Practitioners;

    – Royal College of Psychiatrists;

    – Clinical Commissioning Groups;

    – UCL Partners; and

    – Wellcome Trust.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan proposals, published in December 2015; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    The European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan sets out a large number of proposed measures to be delivered between 2015 and 2019 and we are currently considering those in more detail. An Explanatory Memorandum on the Action Plan has been submitted and can be found on the Cabinet Office’s website under European Memoranda:

    (http://europeanmemoranda.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/memorandum/communication-from-the-commission-to-the-ep-council-the-eesc-cor-closing-the-loop-an)

    That document provides further information on the Action Plan and outlines our current views on the policy implications of its proposals.

    “

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government for each government-approved tenancy deposit scheme for assured shorthold tenancies, what is the average time taken to (1) return deposits, and (2) resolve disputes regarding deposits; what proportion of cases of dispute remain unresolved after (1) three months, (2) six months, and (3) 12 months; what proportion of deposits are (1) returned in full, and (2) not returned at all, and of those what proportion are not disputed; and what is their estimate of the proportion of tenancies in which a deposit is not protected.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England currently protect over 3 million deposits on behalf of tenants, helping to raise standards in the private rented sector and ensuring that tenants are treated fairly at the end of the tenancy.

    At the end of September 2015, over 11.5 million deposits had been protected by the tenancy deposit schemes and less than 1.5 per cent of these had gone to adjudication. Tenancy deposit schemes are required to deal with disputed cases within 28 days. An adjudicator’s decision is final and can only be challenged through the courts. Information is not collected on such court cases. A breakdown by scheme of the average time taken to return deposits, resolve disputes and the award of decisions are set out in the attached table.

    My Department has not made an assessment of the proportion of tenancies in which a deposit is not protected.

  • Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many service personnel they estimate will be trained under the UK Military Flying Training System contract, and how that number compares to previous programmes.

    Earl Howe

    The current contracted requirement is for 180 pilots and 110 rear crew to be trained as new entrants under the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS).

    The UKMFTS solution has been designed to meet the training requirement agreed across all front line commands. This is the same process as employed for historic provision of military flying training, where the requirement has fluctuated over time. Pre-SDSR 2010, the new entrant training requirement was for 280 pilots and 170 rear crew.