Category: Speeches

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women’s refuge services (a) take steps to improve the level of reporting and (b) contribute to data gathering on cases of domestic violence and forced marriage.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims is a key priority of this Government. As announced at Summer budget we have carried out, along with Home Office, a review of domestic abuse services, working closely with the Women’s sector using much of their data and we recognise how important data reporting is. Since 2003, the Government has supported UKRefugesOnline to maintain a database of domestic abuse services. In the Summer Budget we allocated an additional £131,000 of funding to support additional caseworkers at the helpline. It is for local commissioners to draw up agreements on data collection with domestic abuse service providers to support their local area Domestic Abuse Strategies.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to ensure that the National Infrastructure Commission gives priority to energy efficiency programmes in its investment decisions.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Commission is already working with the Department on its study called ‘Delivering future-proof energy infrastructure’ and the Government intends to shortly launch a public consultation on how the Commission will work with different departments in the future.

    The Commission has been set up to look at long term policy and the first energy topics it will consider are interconnectors and storage.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the report it commissioned entitled Evaluating the role and contribution of innovation to health and wealth in the UK, published in January 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The Department is funding RAND Europe and the University of Manchester to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW). The project is expected to complete in 2017 and the report on the first stage of the evaluation, including an assessment of progress towards actions within Theme 8: High Impact Innovations, can be found on the RAND Europe website:

    http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1143.html

    This report represents the first phase of a three year evaluation aimed at mapping progress towards the IHW strategy and its component actions. The Department will be considering the outputs of the evaluation as they emerge over the next three years including as part of the evidence feeding into the Accelerated Access Review.

    “

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2016 to Question 27540, under whose jurisdiction objections citing provisions relating to the Armed Forces Covenant excluding those relating to service premium admission would fall.

    Nick Gibb

    The School Admissions Code contains a range of statutory provisions relating to school admission arrangements and to the wider admissions process. The code includes provisions to ensure that children of UK service personnel are not disadvantaged when applying for a school place. The role of the Schools Adjudicator is to consider objections about admission arrangements only. Some of the provisions in the code, therefore, do not fall within the adjudicator’s jurisdiction. There is no body which has jurisdiction to consider objections relating to these other provisions, but admission authorities must comply with all the statutory provisions in the code and, where they fail to do so, the Secretary of State has powers under section 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996 to require them to comply.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has sought advice on the re-classification of powerful handheld lasers as offensive weapons since 14 February 2016; whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to so classify those lasers in the current Parliament.

    Mike Penning

    The sale and use of laser pointers is an issue that cuts across a number of Government Departments, including the Home Office, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department of Health and the Department for Transport.

    The Home Office is working closely with the other interested Departments and we are looking at a number of options.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoids have been received since February 2016; and how many such applications have been granted.

    George Eustice

    The Government has received two applications for emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoids since February 2016. These applications are currently being assessed according to the normal rules, which allow for limited and controlled use of a pesticide on an exceptional basis in emergency situations to control a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. No authorisations have been granted.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he was made aware of Volkswagen’s decision to delay Jones Day’s comprehensive investigation into diesel emissions until the fourth quarter of 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport was informed of this decision by Volkswagen on 22 April. This coincided with the public announcement from the company.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a maximum limit on the length of time an individual can be detained under immigration powers.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government does not believe that it is appropriate for there to be a formal time limit on immigration detention.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals to reform the Civil Service Compensation Scheme on the morale of public sector workers.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government consulted on its reforms to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme and considered the responses it received from civil servants and others carefully. It held several meetings with unions during the consultation and then further meetings with unions that agreed to participate. An equalities impact assessment was published on 26 September alongside the Government’s consultation response.

    The Government believes its proposed reforms will provide a firm foundation for the management of the Civil Service and its people for a generation. The new terms compare favourably with exit terms in the wider economy and will align the Civil Service Compensation Scheme with reforms across the public sector. It will support employers in managing their workforce and simplify the exit process while treating employees respectfully and fairly.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the cost of line speed upgrade on the railway line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.

    Claire Perry

    Network Rail and the relevant train operators terminated a line speed improvement assessment in 2014. Detailed work had identified an estimated cost of up to £12.45m to clear structures for higher speed. With these costs the scheme was poor value, having a benefit cost ratio of less than 1.0. No assessment has been made since then.