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Category: Speeches

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2016 to Question 41675, on shipping: exhaust emissions, what legal and technical barriers his Department has identified that could restrict the growth in green technologies in shipping.

    Mr John Hayes

    Given the international nature of shipping and with a ship’s life cycle being typically in the region of 25-30 years, the Government’s priority has been to ensure that appropriate international and regional standards are in place for green technologies in shipping. The Government is keen to promote the global application and implementation of technical and where appropriate legal standards, applied fairly across the board, and with industry given as much advance notice as possible of any new requirements. This delivers a level and competitive playing field and clarity of regulatory approach.

    Currently, our focus has been on barriers which inhibit the development of abatement technologies and alternative fuels which control sulphur emissions. The lack of international technical standards for the storage, loading and the safe handling of liquefied natural gas and methanol is one factor which has discouraged ports and ships from investing in this technology. Uncertainty about whether the global 0.5 per cent sulphur cap will come into force in 2020, or be deferred until 2025 is another. As a consequence the UK is pressing for decisions to be taken as soon as possible to give industry as much time as possible to prepare for the new requirements.

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints NHS England has received in each year since 2010 on services in the NHS provided by Capita.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    NHS England was established on 1 April 2013. NHS England does not receive or record complaints about services in the National Health Service provided by Capita. It does record complaints relating to NHS England and primary care services. We have not recorded any complaints about Capita services between 2013 and 2015. However, NHS England has found that 79 formal complaints, as classified under NHS Complaints Regulations, have been logged about the Primary Care Support Services provided by Capita since 1 September 2015.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications his Department has received for the (a) Innovation Excellence and Strategic Development Fund and (b) Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund; and when he plans to announce the 2015-16 grant allocations from those funds.

    Alistair Burt

    321 applications were received to the 2015-16 Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund and 283 to the 2015-16 Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund scheme.

    Decisions on allocating funds have not yet been finalised. We will let applicants know the outcome as soon as possible.

  • Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when NHS England will publish the findings of the Mazars review into the deaths of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

    Alistair Burt

    I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2015, HCWS421. NHS England published the Mazars report on Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust on 17 December 2015. The report is available on the NHS England website.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 22791, what criteria are used by Work Coaches to assess a claimant’s financial capability.

    Priti Patel

    Work Coaches have the autonomy to tailor their discussions to meet the claimant’s needs and to determine the level of support and advice they require.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26276, on recycling in Christchurch, if she will place in the Library a copy of the assessment including the cost-benefit analysis.

    Rory Stewart

    Repair and recovery grants were approved by the Executive Director of Operations on the advice of Environment Agency’s Large Project Review Group (LPRG) and its sub group LPRG Lite, which assessed the eligibility of schemes for recovery projects across the country.

    The approval for each recovery project undertaken by the Environment Agency followed a national procedure set out in an operational instruction which I have placed in the House Library.

    Additionally I have placed a copy of the Christchurch Beach Replenishment Scheme Asset Repair Planning Brief setting out the case for the work to take place under the recovery programme.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Official Report, column 426, on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, what UK-supplied defence equipment has been used in Yemen; what arms export licences were issued for that equipment; and whether any arms export licences for that equipment have now been revoked.

    Michael Fallon

    The Royal Saudi Air Force are flying British-built aircraft in Yemen, and have been provided with precision-guided Paveway weapons. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are fully compliant with the UK’s export licences criteria.

    No export licences for Saudi Arabia have been revoked in the last year. We continue to keep all arms sales under close review.

  • Rebecca Pow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rebecca Pow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Pow on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) horticultural skills and (b) the development of the workforce in horticulture.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeships are our priority for equipping people with the skills this country needs. Apprenticeship starts on the horticulture framework increased by almost 50% between 2009/10 and 2014/15 and there are 2 new trailblazer standards approved and 2 in development.

    We are also reforming post-16 provision to ensure that it meets the needs of local labour markets and learners. We have asked Landex, the organisation which represents 36 FE colleges and universities offering land-based programmes and supports agri-food, land and animal science education and training, to undertake a review of post-16 land based provision in England.

    This will draw on data and analysis of all land based provision through specialist and general further education colleges, and other providers, and will feed into local steering group discussions and deliberations and into the wider review process.

    Their review will highlight national as well as local provision which serves particular sectors across the land based industries. It will take account of for example, the Agri-food industry and Agri-Tech strategy to identify skills needs, and potential gaps in provision, including for higher level skills.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of progress in addressing the UK’s concerns over human rights abuses in Ethiopia since his meeting with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros in January 2016.

    James Duddridge

    We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia, including the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and about those detained under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. We have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January and Her Majesty’s Ambassador last raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam on 26 April.

    I met with Dr Tedros at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. I raised the UK’s concerns with regards to the human rights situation. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of Ethiopia both through our bilateral engagement, most notably through our ongoing Human Rights Dialogue, as well as jointly with our international partners.

    The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia. We will not pre-judge the outcome of their investigation and we await the publication of their report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action. We will take a view on what further lobbying, if any, might be appropriate following the publication of the EHRC report.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to enable child refugees and migrants who are now in France but who have close relatives in the UK to make take-charge requests.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    As stated in Written Answer HL649 on 27 June under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015 the UK and France have committed to ensur-ing that provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and a UK asylum expert was seconded to the French administration earlier this year to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process.

    We continue to work closely so that both the UK and France can fulfil our re-spective obligations under the Dublin Regulation to family members, including unaccompanied children, who qualify for transfer to the UK under the Regula-tion’s family unity provisions.

    The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and the family reunion process. Whilst the management of migrants in Calais is the responsibility of the French Govern-ment, the UK recognises that vulnerable people in the camps are at risk from exploitation and trafficking. This is why the UK Government funds a project, run by a French NGO, to identify and direct vulnerable people to protection, support and advice within France.