Category: Speeches

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 24002, how many steering group meetings of the area reviews of post-16 education and training have taken place in (a) Birmingham and Solihull, (b) Greater Manchester, (c) Sheffield City Region, (d) Tees Valley, (e) Sussex, (f) Solent and (g) West Yorkshire since September 2015; and which such steering group meetings regional schools commissioners attended.

    Nick Boles

    All Wave 1 Area Reviews have held a number of local steering group meetings, of which RSCs are members. Dates of some of the steering group meetings are in the public domain, as are details of membership of the steering groups.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed by ambulance services who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

    Ben Gummer

    Data from the Home Office shows that no visas were issued to people employed by ambulance services in the last five years for roles other than paramedics. Paramedics were placed on the United Kingdom’s shortage occupation list in April 2015 and are therefore exempt from the requirement to earn £35,000 whilst the role is on the shortage occupation list.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his policy for the House to be given an opportunity to debate in advance any decision to use his Department’s cyber strike capability.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We continue to develop the ability of our Armed Forces to deploy a broad range of offensive cyber capabilities as an integrated part of military operations. As with other sensitive defence capabilities, we do not reveal specific details in order to safeguard national security. As we have previously made clear in the context of the war powers convention, we do not propose to define the circumstances in which we would consult Parliament about the use of particular military capabilities.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much production work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by US employees in the US on UK Government defence contracts in each of the last five years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.

    The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.

    The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his EU counterparts on the compatibility of recent sentencing decisions by the Israeli judiciary with the human rights standards set in the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have no plans to hold such discussions.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to secure a trade agreement with Israel after the UK ceases to be party to the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

    Greg Hands

    In due course, Britain will be leaving the EU. This offers us an opportunity to forge a new role for ourselves in the world: to negotiate, in time, our own trade agreements and to be a positive and powerful force for free trade.

    Whilst it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions at this stage, the UK will want to continue our strong trade and investment relationship with Israel.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent to date of the £1.25 million committed to the Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme.

    George Eustice

    Defra Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme projects in England were funded on the basis of actual work done by the grant beneficiaries with no specific total amount committed to the Scheme. Defra spent just over £92,000 on these projects in the 2015/16 financial year, with additional in-kind support in the form of free loans of equipment, supply of the Badger BGC vaccine and advice from field experts.

    Although no vaccination of badgers under the Scheme is possible in 2016, we have awarded grant funding to three of the former beneficiaries for other vaccination-related work. The amounts payable to each will depend on the work that they do in the current financial year

  • Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 27 October (HL2879) concerning the 1998 Belfast Agreement, whether any change to the name of a town or city in Northern Ireland requires the majority support of both communities.

    Lord Dunlop

    I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answer of 29 October 2015 (HL2879). The Government remains fully committed to supporting the institutions and principles established under the 1998 Belfast Agreement.

  • Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mike Kane – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what timetable he has set for tax credit claimants in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency to migrate to universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    We are rolling out Universal Credit (UC) in a careful and controlled manner – an approach that was endorsed by the Major Projects Authority. UC is now available to single claimants, couples and families in Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency.

    Our plan is that existing benefit and tax credit claimants will be migrated to UC by 2020/21. Further details will be made available in due course.

  • Jake Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jake Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications by grandparents for permission to apply for a child arrangement order were active in the final quarter of 2015.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.