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Category: Speeches

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of underwriting a national rent deposit scheme to help more homeless people access the private rented sector.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to doing all we can to prevent homelessness. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million. At Budget, we went one step further and announced £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living.

    We have also protected Homelessness Prevention Grant for local authorities, totalling £315 million by 2019-20. In doing so, we expect them to provide quality advice and assistance to all those that approach them for help. The Homelessness Code of Guidance for local authorities, developed by my Department working with local authorities and the voluntary and community sector, already encourages them to use this grant to provide rent deposits, guarantees or rent in advance. Many local authorities, housing associations or charities in England have put such schemes in place.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they used in making the decision to move the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills office from Sheffield to London, and how those criteria were decided.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Department has not yet made final decisions on its future estate or on the proposals for a combined BIS headquarters and policy centre in London. Our consultation on the proposals is still underway.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the findings from areas piloting 30 hours of free childcare.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We are currently commissioning the evaluation of early implementation of 30 hours free childcare. An invitation to tender was published in May 2016 with a view to awarding the contract to a successful bidder by the end of June 2016.

    The evaluation will focus on generating learning that can be used by Early Implementers and all local councils ahead of national implementation in September 2017.

  • 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 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many racehorses (a) died and (b) were destroyed on British racecourses or shortly afterwards due to injury sustained in (i) flat, (ii) all weather and (iii) national hunt racing in (A) 2013, (B) 2014 and (C) 2015.

    George Eustice

    The Government does not hold information on racehorse fatalities. However, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) publishes annual statistics on their website on the number of racehorse fatalities. The statistics do not record whether the horse died of its injuries or was destroyed at the racecourse and do not differentiate between the different sorts of horseracing, but according to the BHA the numbers of racehorses that died at racetracks for each of the last three years are provided in the table below:

    Year

    Number of racehorse fatalities at British racetracks

    2013

    196

    2014

    189

    2015

    156
  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    No assessment has been made. These are matters for the local National Health Service.

    We are advised by NHS England that effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme will be continually monitored throughout the implementation phase. The aim of the programme is to improve standards and quality of care for all patients across Greater Manchester. To support this, a “Healthier Together Dashboard” has been developed and is now operational. The Dashboard allows real time tracking of compliance with the Healthier Together standards.

    This began with the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit standards for emergency general surgery. These are being monitored and improved within and across sectors, to demonstrate how compliance with standards will be improved. The next stage will add National Cardiac Arrest Audit information.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his objectives are at the Joint Ministerial Council during the week of 30 November 2015 in respect of central registries of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

    James Duddridge

    In March the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and I wrote to the Premiers of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda asking them to set out plans and a timetable for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective systems, by the November Joint Ministerial Council.

    We set out that any system should meet the following criteria:
    a)UK law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards;
    b)These competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and
    c)Companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is underway.

    My objective is to press the Premiers to repeat their commitments to uphold international standards of transparency to ensure the highest degree of effectiveness including on holding beneficial ownership information. I will be discussing their proposals and timetable for doing so.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.143 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, if he will publish an impact assessment on his policy to lower motor insurance costs.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Ministry of Justice will launch a public consultation in the New Year on the details of the policy.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent representations his Department has received about exit fees from retirement homes and villages; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to regulate such fees.

    Brandon Lewis

    Following representations on this issue and an investigation by The Office of Fair Trading (now the Competition and Markets Authority) in 2013, my Department passed this issue to the Law Commission to investigate in 2014. Their remit was to consider the problems caused by exit fees, consider whether greater protections were needed, and to make recommendations to Government. The Law Commissioners issued a consultation, which is due to close on 29 January; I would urge all interested parties to respond to this.

    Once the Law Commission has completed its work the Government will consider any recommendations and respond as appropriate.

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support objections to a school’s admissions arrangements if those objections have been upheld.

    Lord Nash

    The School Admissions Code exists to ensure that places in all state funded schools are allocated in a fair and transparent manner. It is particularly important that parents feel confident that their concerns are listened to and acted upon.

    The Government has recently announced its intention to change its policy, to ensure that the adjudication process is focused on dealing with the concerns of those who have a direct interest in the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school. The adjudication process should not be delayed by the need to also consider large numbers of objections referred by interest groups from outside the area.

    These changes will be subject to a full public consultation and parliamentary approval.

  • Patricia Gibson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Patricia Gibson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patricia Gibson on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his plans are for the £3.5 million funding announced for tackling nuisance calls in paragraph 2.289 of the March 2015 Budget, HC 1093 of Session 2014-15; how much of this funding has been allocated to which local authorities; what information his Department holds on the number of call blockers that this funding has paid for the installation of in domestic properties; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect of that funding in the volumes of nuisance calls received and reports of such calls made.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is taking forward a range of measures to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, including strengthening the regulators’ ability to take enforcement action against organisations that break the law and increasing consumer choice by consulting on making it a requirement for direct marketing callers to display their calling line identification. As part of the £3.5m package announced in budget, Government launched a competition for innovative solutions to tackle the scourge of nuisance calls – and contracts have been awarded to successful applicants, to help develop their products to launch on the open market and benefit customers right across the country. In addition, £0.5 million funding is going to the National Trading Standards Scams Team – via East Sussex County Council – to provide call blocking devices to vulnerable people nationwide and report its effects.