Category: Speeches

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assistance his Department provides to support groups for people who have had organ transplants.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not directly provide assistance to support groups for people who have had organ transplants. In addition to post-transplant clinical care by the transplant centre, other post-transplant support is available from a number of national and local voluntary support groups such as the British Liver Trust or local transplant recipient groups such as the St James (Leeds) Liver transplant Group. These groups offer a range of emotional and practical help for transplant recipients and their families.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to review the operation of the National Planning Policy Framework before the end of the current Parliament.

    Brandon Lewis

    The National Planning Policy Framework, written clearly and simply, has made the planning system more accessible and replaced over a thousand pages of national policy. We keep policy in the Framework under constant review. A consultation on specific changes to the Framework, aimed at increasing housing supply in sustainable locations, closed on 22 February. We are analysing the responses.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her policy is on her Department’s April 2014 Solar Strategy document.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Solar is a UK success story: since the previous Government’s April 2014 Solar Strategy was published, we’ve more than doubled the capacity of UK solar, and industry expect that we have already exceeded the forecast of 10GW by 2020 made in that document.

    However, the position of this Government is clear: we can only expect bill payers to support low carbon power if costs are controlled; subsidy should be temporary, not part of a permanent business model; and as costs come down, as they have for solar, so should support.

    We are encouraged by the way the solar industry is responding to the policy changes we have made in order to control costs: deployment of solar under the revised FIT scheme continues and several developers are putting together models to encourage their customers to install solar without subsidy – the models needed to create a sustainable sector for years to come.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what process his Department has put in place to assess EU Directives and Regulations and whether it will be necessary to transpose each into UK statute.

    Mr David Jones

    As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK remains a member of the EU until our withdrawal is completed. We will exercise our rights and meet our obligations as a member of the EU accordingly, including the existing directives. The Department for Exiting the European Union, with the support of other Government Departments, will continue to assess, negotiate and implement all relevant EU Directives and Regulations.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of enforcement of international humanitarian and human rights law in respect of children by the UN Human Rights Council in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We worked hard with international partners to secure a strong resolution to help the situation on the ground in Yemen. The resolution includes a commitment to increase the number of international human rights experts in the Yemen Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) operation, making clear the independent mandate for OHCHR to conduct their own investigations. The resolution also maintains the technical cooperation programme for OHCHR to strengthen the National Commission in Yemen, which we believe will make a difference on the ground. We look forward to reports from the OHCHR next year.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Freedom of Information Request, CTS reference M12288/15, submitted by the hon. Member for Preston and received by her Department on 30 August 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    A response has been sent to the hon. Member.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the land in England is open access land, and what plans they have to increase that amount.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 there is a right of access for open-air recreation on foot to 2,137,756 acres of land which are mapped as open country and registered common land. This is about 6.5% of the total area of England.

    Section 16 of the Act enables the owner, or a person with a long-leasehold, of any land to voluntarily dedicate open access rights over that land. To date, 384,419 acres of land have been dedicated, mostly by the Forestry Commission.

    Natural England is aiming to dedicate all 224 of the national nature reserves and similar holdings it owns, or land held on a lease of at least 90 years. Natural England has dedicated 31,876 acres of national nature reserves with a further 2,915 acres becoming accessible on 7 February 2016.

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 November (HL3562), in the absence of centrally collected data on the occupancy levels of registered care homes, on what data the Care Quality Commission relies to discharge its oversight function for the publicly-funded nursing and residential care sectors.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The purpose of market oversight, amongst other things, is to protect people who may be placed in vulnerable circumstances due to the failure of a ‘difficult to replace’ adult social care provider. It does this by monitoring in arrears the quarterly financial returns of those providers captured by the scheme. Since inclusion in the scheme is a reflection of provider size, by definition it is the larger providers that are captured by the scheme and as such market oversight is concerned with the overall consolidated financial performance. Consequently, it would not ordinarily consider occupancy levels for individual registered care homes.

    The types of information the Care Quality Commission collects from registered care providers as part of its Market Oversight Scheme is included in published guidance – Market Oversight of ‘difficult to replace’ providers of adult social care. The guidance is attached.

  • Lord Allen of Kensington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Allen of Kensington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Allen of Kensington on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the readiness of business leaders, and of businesses of every size and in every sector, to assess the pros and cons of the UK remaining a full member of the EU.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    No Assessment has been made.

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the UK – so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future. We are confident that the right agreement can be reached.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to change the closest living relative definition in the Mental Health Act 1983 to include unmarried fathers once their children are aged 18.

    Alistair Burt

    One of the aims set out in the Green Paper, No voice unheard, no right ignored – a consultation for people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health conditions, published in March 2015, is to ensure people’s ‘nearest relative’ under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) is someone who is meaningful to them. We have no plans to specifically change the nearest relative definition in the MHA to include unmarried fathers once their children are aged over 18 years.

    This will ensure that people are able to choose their own ‘nearest relative’, who has specific legal responsibilities under the MHA. The current MHA definition of the nearest relative will be updated to be used as a default if necessary, when the person is unable to make a choice for some reason.