Category: Speeches

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support has been provided by the Government for the growth of the energy-from-waste industry.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government has provided a range of support for energy from waste technologies through the Renewables Obligation (RO), the Renewable Incentive (RHI), the Feed-In Tariff and the Contracts for Difference (CfD). The technologies supported include: Landfill Gas, Sewage Gas, Energy from Waste with CHP, Anaerobic Digestion and Advanced Conversion Technologies.

    As of the end of 2015, our support has brought forward just over 2.4 GWh of capacity in these technologies, delivering just under 9.4TWh of renewable electricity.

    The Green Investment Bank (GIB) has provided support to 20 projects using energy from waste technologies. Direct commitments by the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to date total £334m with additional indirect commitments of £130m to Foresight Group LLP through the Foresight-managed Recycling and Waste LP (RAW) fund, in which GIB is a cornerstone investor, and Greensphere Capital LLP which manages the UK Green and Sustainable Waste and Energy Investment Limited Partnership (UKGSWEI) fund on behalf of the GIB.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what definition of the degree apprenticeship his Department uses in its work on that proposal.

    Nick Boles

    A degree apprenticeship is an approved English apprenticeship where one of the outcomes of the apprenticeship standard is a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree awarded by the university where the apprentice undertook their academic study.

    Degree Apprenticeships policy is still under development within the existing legal framework.

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax credit cases which have been processed by Concentrix have involved single parents; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    I refer the right honourable gentleman to the answer I gave on 4 February 2016 [24418].

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the analysis by HM Revenue and Customs Further Tax Credit Statistics on EEA Nationals, published on 25 August, how many individuals who were recorded as being (1) Bulgarian, and (2) Romanian, nationals at the time of issue of their National Insurance numbers claimed (a) tax credits, and (b) child benefit, in 2014–15; and what was the amount of those claims.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The ‘Further Tax Credit Statistics on EEA Nationals, 2013/14’ publication released in August of this year covered HMRC benefits alongside National Insurance Contributions and Income Tax paid by EEA nationals for 2013/14. HMRC information on EEA nationals is complex and the data should be considered in its totality, as set out in that August publication, in order to get as comprehensive and complete a picture as possible. The data on the amount of National Insurance and Income Tax paid for 2014/15 will not be available until spring 2017, and will be published alongside tax credits and Child Benefit data in due course.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, and to what extent, the expert panel convened by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has concluded that a potentially viable pregnancy with normal karyotype can be achieved through pronuclear transfer based on the accompanying images of the relevant karyotypes in figures or other supporting data presented in Reproductive BioMedicine Online published in October.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that the independent expert panel are currently reviewing the latest evidence of safety and efficacy for pro-nuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer. The panel has not yet reached its conclusions. It is anticipated that the panel’s report will be published by the end of the year.

  • David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate the effects of provisions of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove current gender timetable inequality.

    The equalisation of State Pension age was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision. The Pensions Act 1995 contained legislation to equalise women’s State Pension age and, since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

    A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth around £1 billion in total.

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the £1.8 million expenditure on mental health services for armed forces veterans by his Department in 2014-15 was spent.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has £1.8 million per annum baseline (recurrent to 2019/20) funding for veterans mental health services. This funding is used to provide 10 veterans mental health teams across England to meet locally identified needs of veterans and manage the network of providers of NHS commissioned veterans mental health services.

    The funding also provides access for veterans to on-line mental health counselling services provided by the Big White Wall.

    In addition, NHS England provides £3.2 million a year to commission the Armed Forces service charity Combat Stress to provide specialised inpatient services for the treatment of complex post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    In 2014/15 further funding of £1.68 million was used to fund three pilots to develop and test enhanced models of care for veterans.

    The pilots will:

    – develop a joint substance misuse and mental health service model for veterans;

    – develop an outpatient service for veterans with moderate to severe PTSD; and

    – develop a modal of care to address the barriers that some veterans experience in accessing mental health services.

    Veterans are also able to access the full range of NHS mental health services in the same way as the wider public.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to regulate advertising by payday loan companies; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of the consumer credit market, including payday lending, transferring regulatory responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the FCA on 1 April 2014. The Government is concerned about consumer detriment in the payday market and believes the FCA’s, more robust regulatory system is helping to improve protections for consumers. It is important that consumers are protected from unfair costs. The Government therefore legislated to require the FCA to introduce a cap on the cost of payday loans – which came into force on the 2 January 2015.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 10523, whether hon. Members of both Houses have the same levels of access to consolidated texts related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as members of the (a) European Parliament, (b) German Parliament, (c) Scottish Parliament, (d) Welsh Assembly and (e) Northern Ireland Assembly; and what the Government’s policy is on the provision of a reading room for hon. Members of both Houses to scrutinise the consolidated texts of documents.

    Anna Soubry

    The European Commission shares classified documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Members of the European Parliament via a reading room. Following pressure from Member States, the Commission and the US have agreed that national parliamentarians should have similar access to classified TTIP documents, including consolidated texts, via reading rooms in national ministries. Restrictions placed on these rooms include that they are only accessible to officials of Member State central governments and Members of Member State national Parliaments.

    The UK intends to establish such a reading room in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This will give equivalent access to documents for hon. Members of both Houses to that afforded to Members of the European Parliament.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions Ministers of his Department had with Ministers of the Department for International Development to discuss the new UN sustainable development goal on reducing worldwide crash deaths.

    Andrew Jones

    The government has a manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year. Ministers from across government, including ministers from the Department for International Development, support the Road Safety Statement which was published on the 21st December 2015. The Statement sets out the government’s vision, values and priorities for improving the safety of Britain’s roads which will contribute to the sustainable development goal to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions.

    Officials from the Department for Transport and from the Department for International Development continue to discuss the UN sustainable development goal relating to road safety.