Category: Speeches

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to support the creation of jobs through low carbon growth (a) within and (b) outside the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The ONS will publish estimates of the number of people directly employed in the low carbon economy in December 2015. Notwithstanding this, the Government’s commitment to low carbon infrastructure helps support many thousands of highly skilled jobs across the economy. For example, the proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C is estimated to support around 25,000 jobs, of which 7,000 are local. Similarly, the two Siemens offshore wind facilities in Hull announced in 2014 are estimated to support 1,000 direct jobs and 300 construction jobs. Internationally, low carbon strategies and potential jobs that arise from them will be guided by countries’ delivery of their intended contributions to a global climate change agreement. The UKis committed to supporting the world’s poorest to become more resilient to the effects of a changing climate and to take the clean energy path to growth and prosperity. Its international climate finance has helped support the creation of 39,000 jobs in developing countries up to April this year in relation to low carbon climate resilience.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what budget his Department has allocated to the National Tactical Response Group for each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    The budget allocation for National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) is set out in the table below.

    These figures include pay and non-pay items (including training materials, operational incident consumables and vehicle costs). It is not possible to retrieve the 2010 data information within the time available. The resource allocation for 2016-17 is yet to be confirmed.

    NTRG Budget

    2011-12

    1.6m

    2012-13

    1.6m

    2013-14

    1.7m

    2014-15

    1.8m

    2015-16

    1.8m

    “

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

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 10 December 2015 to Questions 18458 and 18543, what assessment he has made of the compatibility with the conditions applicable to grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health of its the provision of secretariat assistance to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health; if he will review the conditions set out in the award letters for such grants; and if he will investigate any breaches in such conditions.

    Jane Ellison

    The conditions applicable to grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are set out in the grant award letters. The Department has made clear that none of this funding is to be used for lobbying purposes.

    The Section 64 grant must be spent in delivering the agreed project outputs set out in the grant award letter and it does not fund secretariat support for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health.

    ASH’s compliance with the conditions of the grant is assessed at the grant monitoring meetings held between the Deputy Director of tobacco control and representatives from ASH as well as in the final full year grant monitoring and governance reports.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s 2015 Annual Report, published in December 2015, what assessment she has made of the effect of the level of the religious oversubscription criteria used by some schools on parents applying to such schools.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the School Admissions Code. These changes will respond to concerns from parents and to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports. These changes will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

    Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the Code. This includes a requirement that ‘the practices and the criteria used to decide the allocation of school places are fair, clear and objective’.

    The Code is clear that parents have a right to object to a school’s admission policy. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the admission arrangements are unclear, or unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority is required by law to change them. The deadline for objections is set many months in advance of the closing date for school applications. This ensures that any admission arrangements which breach the Code can be amended to comply before parents apply for a place.

  • 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 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementation of the recommendations of the report by Charlie Taylor, Improving Alternative Provision, published in March 2012.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department accepted the recommendations made by Charlie Taylor in ‘Improving Alternative Provision (AP)’, and has made a number of changes in response.

    We have put in place the framework for Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) to convert to AP academies and for high quality independent providers to become AP free schools. PRUs now have greater autonomy over their staffing and budgets as a result. We have revised the funding system for AP to support more informed decisions on the best AP for individual pupils.

    We have ensured that Initial Teacher Training placements can now be delivered by PRUs, AP academies and AP free schools. Schools’ use of AP is now a greater focus of school inspection. We have also removed restrictions over the use of maintained schools’ power to direct pupils to be educated offsite for the purposes of improving their behaviour. We have published stronger statutory guidance on the use of AP and the education of pupils unable to attend school because of health needs.

    Since the review, the Department has undertaken further research into the AP system, working with local authorities, head teachers of AP or special schools, and reviewing international evidence.

    The Department announced in the White Paper published on 17 March 2016, ‘Education Excellence Everywhere’, that we will be taking further steps to build on the recommendations made in Charlie Taylor’s review in order to meet our vision for a world class system of AP. This paper is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere.

    “

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Yemen claimed asylum in the UK in 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    There were 66 and 111 asylum applications from Yemeni nationals in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

    The Home Office publishes figures on asylum applications by nationality in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics, October to December 2015, is available from:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up was for superfast fixed broadband in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    BDUK do not hold take-up data at constituency level, but do have take-up data on local projects with BDUK funding. BDUK publish these statistics for local projects on the programme’s webpage, which is publically accessible at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=0

    “

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in West Lancashire have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in each of the last five years.

    David Mowat

    This data is not collected centrally.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of Network Rail’s administrative performance in providing weekly operating and signalling notices to train drivers and other rail staff.

    Paul Maynard

    No such assessment has been made of this operational matter. The publication of the Weekly Operating Notice is for Network Rail and the train and freight companies to manage.

  • Kate Hoey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Hoey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what was discussed at the meeting between Sir John Scarlett and Moussa Koussa in the UK in 2001.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It has been the policy of successive governments not to comment on meetings involving intelligence officials.