Category: Speeches

  • Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 2.149 of the Spending Review, where he expects job cuts in his Department; and how many such jobs he expects to be cut.

    Dominic Raab

    The Secretary of State for Justice has set out his vision for a one nation justice system, with swift and certain justice in a reformed courts system and transformed prisons that become places of rehabilitation, not just incarceration. Those on the frontline will be empowered to make the right decisions for those who use their services.

    This means a smaller and smarter Whitehall department with less bureaucracy, including savings which do not impact on staff numbers, such as changes to our estate, our major contracts and better use of technology.

    We also expect to reduce headquarters and administrative headcount and costs over the course of the parliament. This will include reduced reliance on contractors and contingent labour and fewer staff based in expensive London premises.

    Final decisions on the scale of staff reductions have not yet been reached.

  • Lord Collins of Highbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Collins of Highbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Collins of Highbury on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made representations to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo over the continued detention of the two Filimbi activists who were arrested in March 2015 and are now awaiting trial for allegedly forming a criminal gang and attempting to overthrow the regime of President Kabila.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Our Chargé d’Affaires’ in Kinshasa called on the Justice Minister, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, with other EU Heads of Mission, in March and April 2015 to voice our concern at the arrest and detention without charge of the activists Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala. Officials from our Embassy in Kinshasa have also joined other international observers in monitoring court hearings in the case, and those of a number of other activists detained in early 2015.

    We continue to urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to act on the recommendations of its Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the arrests. The Commission found that there is no evidence that participants in the workshop were involved in activities of a terrorist nature, and recommended that a political solution be found in order to enable the release of activists Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala. We also continue to stress to the DRC government that civil society organisations must be allowed to hold workshops on democratic processes without fear of arrest or reprisal.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of recent progress of the international coalition to tackle Daesh.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Global Coalition is making good progress against Daesh in Iraq. Over 30% of the territory that Daesh took in 2014 has been re-taken. The Iraqi security forces have substantially cleared Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and are working to make the area safe for displaced people to return. Further north, Kurdish forces have driven Daesh from the Sinjar area. In Syria, the Coalition is continuing to strike Daesh economic targets, including oilfields where we judge that recent strikes on its illicit oil industry have reduced Daesh’s revenues by some 10%.

  • Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money the NHS invested in ensuring access to and provision of structured education for diabetes patients in (1) 2013, (2) 2014 and (3) 2015, and what percentage those figures represent of total NHS spend on diabetes during each year.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England and Monitor are working closely together to ensure that the payment system supports service developments in the vanguard sites (including those where integrated diabetes care is a focus) as well as monitoring local innovative approaches to supporting integrated care taken by some clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). This is to ensure that the payment system keeps abreast with the development of future service models and is not a barrier to the development of new models of care.

    During 2016/17, NHS England will look at the current incentives and funding arrangements for diabetes to see how greater alignment could be achieved between the financial incentives for primary and secondary care.

    Information on how much money the National Health Service invested in structured education for diabetes patients is not collected centrally.

    Under the Health and Social Care Act (2012), NHS England has a statutory duty to conduct an annual assessment of every CCG. Since April 2013, CCGs have been assessed twice, for the period 2013/14 and for 2014/15.

    For 2016/17, NHS England will introduce a new CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework (CCG IAF). This new framework will align with NHS England’s mandate and planning process, with the aim of driving improvements in a number of key areas including the management and care of people with diabetes.

    NHS England has been working with Diabetes UK on including diabetes indicators in the CCG IAF. The proposed diabetes indicators are:

    – the percentage of diabetes patients that have achieved all three of the National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence recommended treatment targets; and

    – newly diagnosed diabetes patients referred to, or attending, a structured education course.

    Under the proposals, diabetes will also be one of the six clinical priority areas in the CCG IAF that will be overseen by an independent group.

    The CCG IAF proposals are subject to the outcome of an engagement process which closed for comments on February 26 2016. More information can be found at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/ccg-improvmnt/

    “

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new jobs have been created in each region and constituent part of the UK since 2010.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • 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 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that proposed Ofsted local area inspections include a requirement that Local Offers should contain clear information about local play opportunities and entitlements.

    Edward Timpson

    The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to develop and publish a Local Offer setting out the support they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities in their local area. The Local Offer must include information about leisure activities which may include information about play opportunities.

    The Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections will consider how effectively the local area identifies, meets the needs of and improves the outcomes of the wide range of different groups[1] of children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities as defined in the Act and described in the Code of Practice.

    Ofsted and CQC will draw on a range of sources, including the local offer, to identify key lines of enquiry and to support assessment of the effectiveness of the local area.

    Ofsted and CQC will publish an inspection report that will outline the evidence that inspectors reviewed and provide a summary of key findings including the local area’s strengths and areas requiring further development.

    The inspection framework and handbook are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-area-send-inspection-framework

    [1] These groups of children and young people are detailed in Part 2 of the ‘Handbook for the inspection of local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities’.

    “

  • 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 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38401, whether she plans to publish her response to the School Teachers’ Review Body report on teachers’ pay from September 2016 and the draft 2016 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document for consultation and information before 14 July 2016.

    Nick Gibb

    We will continue to consider carefully the report from the School Teachers’ Review Body and its recommendations. We will publish the report, together with our response and a draft revised School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, as soon as we have completed our consideration of it.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects the pre-concept phase activity for the General Purpose Frigate programme to conclude.

    Harriett Baldwin

    It is too soon to say when the pre-concept phase will conclude.

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with BT on the removal of phoneboxes in rural areas; and what assessment has been made of the safety implications for people in areas with inadequate mobile phone coverage.

    Matt Hancock

    This is a matter for local authorities to take based on the value of retaining a phone box to the local community.

    We recognise the importance of public call boxes as a means of calling the emergency services. Ofcom requires that there is a period of consultation before a public call box is removed and that one of the factors to be considered by the relevant public body is the potential importance of the call box to contact the emergency services.

    Improving mobile connectivity across the UK, including in rural and hard to reach areas is a priority for the Government, and the December 2014 agreement with industry guarantees that each mobile network operator will provide voice and SMS text coverage to 90% of the UK’s landmass by end-2017. Additionally, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises over the same period. Taken together these obligations will cut complete not spots by two thirds, resulting in 98% of the UK landmass with mobile coverage.

    The Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service requires that a caller from a mobile phone is able to roam onto another mobile network to make an emergency call if they have no signal from their own provider. The improvements in mobile connectivity arising from the December 2014 agreement will support this.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13346, if he will make it his policy to introduce a dedicated team at the tax credit office in Preston constituency to deal with tax credit cases referred to them by hon. Members.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) already has three units which deal specifically with representations from hon. Members in relation to their constituents’ concerns: a dedicated MP hotline for Tax Credits, an MP complaints team that deals with tax credit complaints, and an HMRC Ministerial correspondence team.

    The dedicated MP hotline is a telephone helpline to assist MPs, MEPs, MSPs, Welsh Assembly Members and their staff when dealing with constituents’ Tax Credit issues. Advisors deal with around 11,500 calls per year.