Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Iran on the 15 per cent increase in its budget for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications of that increase for regional security.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain concerned about Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) activity in the region, and most recently raised our concerns about regional security with Iran on 20 January in Tehran. The IRGC is a proscribed organisation by the EU, listed due to actions relating to Iran’s support for terrorism and human rights reasons.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

    Table: The number of referrals entering treatment1 in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined2.

    Total number of referrals entering treatment3

    Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4

    Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)

    Organisation name

    NHS Warrington CCG

    3,265

    31

    28

    All North West CCGs combined

    123,445

    44

    24

    Notes:

    1In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

    2CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

    3In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

    4The mean was used as the average.

    5Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

    Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

    Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

    Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities have appropriate resources to support and deal with increased demand for their services by asylum seekers.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office maintains active partnerships with the local authorities that have volunteered to become dispersal areas across the UK and funds regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs) to plan the dispersal of asylum seekers across the region. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments can be made where appropriate. This ensures that community cohesion, social welfare and safety issues are properly considered.

    SMPs act as a focal point allowing the sharing of expertise and vital information between the Home Office, its asylum accommodation providers, local government, health, education and the police, ensuring coordinated planning and leadership on asylum dispersion. They also consider other funded objectives such as initiatives in support of visa policy; modern slavery; immigration sanctions and improvement; vulnerable children (including Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children) and adults; No Recourse to Public Funds policies of local government; EU migration and integration.

    The Home Office, our housing contractors and the SMPs work closely with local authorities to ensure we can accommodate asylum seekers in appropriate accommodation.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their intention that, in the event of the UK leaving the EU, citizens of EU member states who had previously settled in the UK would be entitled automatically to remain; and if not, what contingency plans they are making to defend any legal challenges or claims for compensation under the European Convention on Human Rights that might arise from individuals who are subject to removal.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    As set out in the Government’s White Paper: ‘The process for withdrawing from the European Union’, published on 29 February, the withdrawal process is unprecedented. No country has ever used Article 50 – it is untested. There is a great deal of uncertainty about how it would work.

    UK citizens get the right to live and work in the other 27 member states from our membership of the EU. If the UK voted to leave the EU, the Government would do all it could to secure a positive outcome for the country, but there would be no requirement under EU law for these rights to be maintained.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37876, what (a) number and (b) proportion of total penalty charge notices issued for invalid medical exemption certificates between January 2015 and December 2015 were subsequently retracted when the patient proved their right to exemption.

    Alistair Burt

    Between January and December 2015, a total of 34,142 penalty charge notices were issued to patients declaring they held a valid medical exemption certificate, which the National Health Service Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) was unable to verify. This equated to 7.92% of all penalty charge notices issued.

    During the same period, a total of 9,170 of these were subsequently retracted when the patient proved their right to exemption. This equated to 26.86% of all penalty charge notices issued for medical exemption certificates.

    Often the reason the penalty charge notice is retracted is because the patient has not informed the NHSBSA of a change of address or surname. This means the record of the medical exemption does not match the patient information on the prescription form. If a patient provides details of a valid medical exemption certificate, the penalty charge notice is retracted and the medical exemption record is updated to ensure further notices are not issued in error.

    Following the introduction of prescription charge exemption checking, it became apparent some people receiving penalty charge notices had a qualifying medical condition, but had not applied for a medical exemption certificate. In response, a new process was introduced in early spring 2015. This means that if someone submits a valid application for a medical or maternity exemption certificate within 60 days from date of the penalty charge notice, the outstanding penalty charge is cancelled but the prescription charge is still recovered.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions the Government has had with EU member state representatives on Horizon 2020 grant applications continuing to be evaluated on merit alone during the period for which the UK remains a member of the EU.

    Joseph Johnson

    The application process for Horizon 2020 is administered by the European Commission. UK participants can continue to bid for competitive Horizon 2020 EU research funding while we remain a member of the EU. We will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Treasury will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. This applies to all UK participants with direct agreements with the Commission who meet the terms of the grant.

    The Commission has made it clear that proposals from, or including, UK applicants must be treated in the same way as applications from other Member States while the UK remains a member of the EU.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2016 to Question 47784, if she will make it her policy that changes to environmental protections deriving from EU legislation should be made through primary legislation.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is considering future arrangements for existing EU legislation. We look forward to working with the industry, rural communities and the wider public to shape our plans for a future outside the EU.

    As I said in my previous answer, any future changes in the law will be subject to full scrutiny and proper Parliamentary debate.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of calls to the NSPCC human trafficking and modern slavery helpline between July 2014 and June 2015 that were referred to that helpline by (a) the police and (b) other agencies were referred back to those agencies.

    Karen Bradley

    The NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline was launched in July 2014, as part of a wider awareness-raising campaign, to better support potential victims of modern slavery. For the period July 2014 to July 2015, £50,000 was made available to the NSPCC to run the modern slavery helpline. To support the launch of the helpline, training was provided by existing staff in the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre, the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and the Modern Slavery Unit to NSPCC call-handlers at zero cost.

    The NSPCC helpline routinely records the number of contacts made each month, how they are made, and by whom. The helpline also records the gender, age and nationality of potential victims, where that information is known or presumed. Between 31 July 2014 and 31 July 2015 the NSPCC modern slavery helpline received, in total, 849 contacts. These were comprised of 491 referrals, 107 advice cases and 251 enquiries. During the period 31 July 2014 to 31 July 2015 the helpline received a total of 57 contacts from potential victims themselves and in that same period the NSPCC made 272 referrals to the police. The NSPCC does not hold data on the number of contacts referred to the helpline by the police and other agencies that were subsequently referred back to those agencies.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has written to congratulate the organisers of the celebrations to commemorate the tercentenary of the Battle of Preston.

    Tracey Crouch

    The programme of events run by the Harris Museum and Preston City Council to commemorate the last battle on English soil – which received nearly £50,000 of support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, alongside funding from other local groups – has been a huge success. I was delighted to write to the organisers to congratulate them on this excellent series of family events.

  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17889, whether all current junior doctors will receive an 11 per cent pay rise after (a) basic pay and (b) all other rates of pay have been taken into consideration under the proposed new contract.

    Ben Gummer

    Under the terms of the November 2015 offer, the current system where junior doctors are paid broad banding supplements to cover extra hours worked, unsocial hours and on call would be replaced by a contract paying doctors for all hours worked with premium rates for unsocial hours and supplements for on call. As part of this, basic pay would increase by 11%. With the addition of transition protection, the offer is an improvement on the pay structure developed whilst the hon. Gentleman was a Minister.