Category: Speeches

  • Lord Teverson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Teverson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to reconsider their decision to withdraw financial support for the Cornish language, and if not, under what circumstances they next intend to do so.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Cornwall Council has a core spending power of £1.7 billion over the next four years, from which they can allocate the necessary resources to sustain and grow the use of the Cornish Language, if that is what local people want to see.

  • Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Creative Industries Council in its report entitled Create Together, published in July 2016, on clarifying the role of safe harbours and rights holders’ remuneration.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Create Together strategy produced by the industry members of the Creative Industries Council is a strategy for building on the economic success of the UK’s creative sector. It is one which the Government supports. Government is currently reviewing specific recommendations within the strategy, including on safe harbour. We are strongly committed to working constructively with industry on these issues.

    The Government agrees that it should not be possible to benefit from encouraging the posting of copyright infringing content through safe harbours, and that the rules governing who is responsible for such content should be clear. In developing the UK’s copyright framework going forward, we will consider whether the current situation is providing the right mix of incentives and protections.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Mexican government on co-operation with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights investigation into the disappearance of 43 teacher training students of the Escuela Normal in Ayotzinapa on 26 September 2014; and if he will make a statement.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The Government has been clear in expressing to the Mexican authorities its deep concern over this case.

    The then Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. David Cameron, raised the case with the President of Mexico during his State Visit to the UK in March 2015. The case has also been raised on numerous occasions by other British Ministers, including the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) during his visit to Mexico on 2 May.

    We welcome the Mexican Government’s agreement to a formal follow-up mechanism with the Inter American Court on Human Rights and urge them to work constructively with the Court to implement the mechanism. Two years on from the disappearance of the students in Ayotzinapa, it is important for the Mexican Government to redouble its efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Matthew Pennycook – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the amount in the Levy Control Framework increased when the Carbon Price Floor was frozen in the 2014 Budget.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Levy Control Framework cap was not adjusted in response to the freezing the Carbon Price Floor in 2014 Budget. The Carbon Price Floor is a policy led by HM Treasury. In the 2014 Budget, the Carbon Price Support, the mechanism by which the carbon price floor is delivered, was capped at £18/tCO2 until 2019/20. DECC analysis on projected levy expenditure under the Levy Control Framework to 2020/21 reflects these rates.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Housing and Planning of 14 December 2015, Official Report, column 1278, if he will call in for his determination the application by Dorset County Council to grant itself planning permission for a new school on land in the green belt adjoining Marsh Lane, Christchurch, on grounds of its departing from the recently approved Local Development Plan.

    Brandon Lewis

    The County Council intends to consider the application at its planning committee on 28 January. Should it be minded to approve the proposal, the Council would then refer the application to the Secretary of State due to the scale and location of the development proposed in the Green Belt. If the application is referred, the Secretary of State would then consider whether to call in the application.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Tornado and (b) Typhoon aircraft are (i) in the Forward Available Fleet, (ii) in the Sustainment Fleet and (iii) awaiting decommissioning or disposal.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The information requested is detailed in the attached table.

    The Forward Available Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other rectification or technical inspection work that can arise on a day-to-day basis. Dependent on the nature of the work, aircraft may be designated as requiring either ‘short-term maintenance’ or ‘short-term works’.

    The Sustainment Fleet numbers represent those aircraft in the Depth Fleet, which comprises aircraft which are undergoing planned depth maintenance or upgrade programmes.

    Decommissioning and disposal are part of the same process and are therefore grouped together.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the implications are for the Government’s policy on balanced budgets of the decision of the Scottish Government not to enhance the powers of the Scottish Fiscal Commission; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    The Treasury is continuing to discuss all elements of the fiscal framework with the Scottish Government, including the Scottish Affairs Committee’s recommendation that economic forecasting for the Scottish government should be done by a body independent of government.

    The UK government remains optimistic that a deal can be reached that is fair for taxpayers across the UK.

  • Lord Pendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Pendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the announcement that Maria Sharapova has failed a drug test for a substance introduced to the banned substance list this year, whether they will take steps to ensure that the World Anti-Doping Agency guarantees that all of its athletes, including those representing the UK, are fully aware of the drugs that are added to that list each year.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) take the matter of athlete communication and education very seriously. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of athletes and their support personnel to be aware of the annual changes to WADA’s Prohibited List.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the contribution of the Minister for Policing, Fire and Criminal Justice and Victims of 10 February 2016, Official Report, column 1594, on the Police Grant Report (England and Wales), how many operational on-duty frontline police officers there were in (a) the latest period for which figures are available and (b) 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The number and proportion of full time equivalent police officers employed in operational frontline roles as at 31 March 2015, the latest period for which figures are available, and 31 March 2010, are provided in the table.

    As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

    Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the aerial bombing of the Heiban locality in the South Khordofan and Blue Nile regions on 1 May, what assessment they have made of (1) the willingness, and (2) the capability, of the government of Sudan to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The reported aerial bombardment of civilians in the Heiban locality of South Kordofan is appalling. Targeting of civilians would be a clear breach of International Humanitarian Law. We continue to make clear to the Government of Sudan that they have a responsibility to protect citizens, distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and uphold International Humanitarian Law.

    We consistently raise the importance of ending the conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile directly with both the Government of Sudan and the Opposition; most recently, the UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan raised this issue during his visit to Khartoum earlier this month. We continue to call on all sides to end the violence and believe that the Roadmap proposed by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel represents a viable way forward.