Category: Speeches

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when (a) a minister and (b) officials in his Department last visited the area described by the Chinese government as the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Hon. Member for Bury South (Mr Lewis) was the last serving Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in September 2009. An FCO official last visited the TAR in June 2014. We continue to press the Chinese authorities for further access.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing on the NHS laser-guided shoes to people with Parkinson’s disease.

    Jane Ellison

    No assessment has been made of the potential merits of providing laser-guided shoes to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) on the National Health Service. We understand this new innovation, whilst promising, remains at a relatively early stage in terms of development and testing. Good quality evidence from clinical trials would be needed before clinicians and commissioners could make appropriate assessments about the clinical and cost effectiveness of the shoes and consider their suitability for patients with PD.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on the rehabilitation of offenders with Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences since 2012.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Offenders serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) continue to be detained beyond their tariff where the independent Parole Board determines that the level of risk of harm and re-offending which they pose is too great to be safely managed in the community.

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) continues to prioritise IPP offenders for courses and provides other interventions to help them reduce their risk.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for its policies of the Extra Costs Commission, initiated by the disability charity Scope in July 2014.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We welcome the publication of the final report from the Extra Costs Commission. Businesses have their part to play by developing innovative products and services for disabled people. My officials will work with Scope (who are taking on the work of the Commission) as they tackle their next priorities of the insurance and energy markets.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how many people over the age of 55 are likely to be affected by the Government’s changes to tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    This information is not available.

    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 has 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.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how he takes account of the wellbeing of children in agreeing the activities which lone parents are required to undertake as part of their action plan or claimant commitment.

    Priti Patel

    The claimant commitment, which Work Coaches put together with claimants, sets requirements that are tailored for a broad range of circumstances, including for matters relating to the wellbeing of children. These reasonable requirements are recorded within the jobseeker’s agreement or action plan.

    Where appropriate, the claimant commitment may limit the hours lone parents claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance are available for work to a minimum of 16 hours a week based on their caring responsibilities.

    In addition, lone parents with children aged 12 or under have the right to restrict their availability for work and work-related activities to their children’s normal school or early education hours.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to commence its review of driving offences; when he plans that the public consultation on that review will take place; and what timetable he has set for the completion of that review.

    Andrew Selous

    Driving offences can have devastating consequences for victims and their loved ones, which is why tough sentences are available to the courts. It is our intention to consult on sentencing proposals, including driving, before the end of this year.

  • Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to tackle homelessness.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    This Government is clear one person without a home is one too many. Despite the need to take tough financial decisions we have increased central funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the Parliament.

  • Lord Hamilton of Epsom – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hamilton of Epsom – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hamilton of Epsom on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the judgment of the European Court of Justice in Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern (Case C-135/08) that a decision by an EU member state to deprive a person of national citizenship cannot result automatically from the fact that the person in question acquired that status by deception, in particular in the light of Section A of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning issues raised by Denmark regarding the Treaty on European Union (Official Journal C348/1, 31/12/92).

    Lord Bates

    The European Court of Justice confirmed in the case of Rottmann that it was required to take into account the Edinburgh Decision of 1992 when interpreting the EU Treaties. On the facts of the case, the Court found that the decision to deprive the applicant of German nationality had to comply with the EU principle of proportionality. The Court considered that this conclusion was consistent with the Edinburgh Decision.

    In its application of this judgment, the UK Court of Appeal confirmed in the case of G1 that Member States retain competence over the acquisition and loss of citizenship and the principle in Rottmann only applies if EU law is engaged on the particular facts of each case.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost of retail crime was to businesses in each year for which data is available.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

    The Home Office runs an annual Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) which asks business premises in different sectors about their experience of various crime types, including fraud, in the latest year.

    In order to keep the length of the survey, and hence the burden on respondents, to a minimum, businesses are only asked about the cost of the latest incident of each crime type experienced in the year. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an aggregate cost of fraud or overall crime to businesses in the retail sector.