Tag: Andrew Rosindell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of people rehabilitated in UK prisons.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The government is committed to making prisons in England and Wales places of safety and reform.

We have already taken steps to reform the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting offenders coming out of prison to be better able to find work, better able to support their families and less likely to re-offend. We have invested £10m of new funding to support governors in improving prison safety, are investing a further £14 million to provide more than 400 extra staff in in ten prisons to allow staff more time to supervise and support prisoners. Alongside that, we have established six Reform Prisons to trial what significantly greater freedoms for governors can achieve. We are investing £1.3bn to reform and modernise the prison estate.

We will set out full details of our plan for prison safety and reform in a White Paper in the coming weeks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the contractual status is of the China/EDF deals; whether those contracts make provision for their terms to be reassessed at a future date; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The agreements announced on 21 October between EdF and CGN show the commitment of all sides to the Project – EDF has confirmed it will take a 66.5% stake in Hinkley with China General Nuclear (CGN) taking 33.5 per cent, demonstrating a clear commitment from both parties. The Government and EDF have finalised the Contract for Difference and ancillary documentation which offers increased price certainty for the electricity produced from Hinkley Point C. The Funded Decommissioning Programme has been approved and will make sure that the tax payer doesn’t pick up the cost of decommissioning the plant in the future. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will take her final decision on the Contract for Difference when EDF and CGN have signed the full investment documentation. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by the Secretary of State on 21 October, Official Report, Column 45WS:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm151021/wmstext/151021m0001.htm#15102155000002.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s aims are for the visit of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Government was pleased to welcome Prime Minister Modi to the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Modi is the head of world’s largest democracy. The visit was a celebration of a rich, wide-ranging and mature relationship between our two countries, symbolised by 1.5 million Britons of Indian origin. We want to deepen our extensive trade and investment links further. We will also discuss how to enhance our defence and international security partnership to enable both our countries to address together the many common global threats we face.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will assess the extent to which grants made by his Department to third parties are used for activities designed to influence his Department, other departments or Parliament.

Alistair Burt

Funding applications from voluntary sector organisations are assessed against a number of criteria, but Departmental policy clearly states that grants will not be awarded if there is any indication within the application that some or all of any funding awarded will be used to support political activities, including political lobbying activity.

It remains an important objective of the Department’s partnership with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector that they contribute their voice and expertise to national policy making and implementation, and grant awards can support this objective.

However, analysis of each individual grant awarded by the Department to ascertain the impact of this objective would be at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government held discussions with Commonwealth Heads of Government at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Malta in November 2015 on increasing the proportion of the UK’s trade with Commonwealth countries.

Mr Hugo Swire

I spoke at the Commonwealth Business Forum to underline the British Government’s strong interest in strengthening our international trade links. The Minister for Trade and Investment, the right hon the Lord Maude of Horsham, addressed the same forum on the importance of leveraging trade networks across the Commonwealth. He also pushed for progress on free trade agreements that will facilitate and increase trade between Commonwealth countries, as well as promoting direct trade with the UK in meetings with ministers from Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh, the Bahamas, and Malawi.

In negotiations on the CHOGM communiqué, the UK ensured Commonwealth leaders committed to advance global trade negotiations, including during the WTO ministerial in Kenya this December, and to encourage more states to ratify the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress he has made in his renegotiation with the EU on achieving migration restrictions without requiring treaty change.

Mr David Lidington

Tackling abuses of the right to free movement and reducing the draw that our welfare system can exert across Europe are key elements of the renegotiation agenda. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) has been clear in his discussions with other leaders that the reforms we are seeking must be legally binding and irreversible and that in some areas that will mean treaty change. We look forward to further substantive discussions on this issue at the December European Council.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse has been since December 2014 of the Government defending cases which have been appealed to the European Court of Justice following a ruling in the Royal Courts or the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Robert Buckland

Cases are not appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union from UK courts but they can ask for preliminary rulings on a point of European law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The amount of disbursements paid by the Government for Counsel’s fees and for travel and accommodation costs for hearings in requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union from United Kingdom Courts since December 2014 was £33,288.42.

This includes requests for preliminary rulings made by UK Tribunals, but not other legal proceedings in the CJEU in which the UK Courts and Tribunals have played no part. It does not include disbursements incurred but not yet paid, the cost of government lawyers and other staff involved in these cases within the Government, or costs incurred in relation to the domestic aspects of the proceedings, which are not centrally recorded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of trade between the UK and Switzerland was in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin

The UK had a trade surplus with Switzerland in 2014 of £10.3bn. The value of total UK exports to Switzerland in 2014 was £21.6bn, and the value of UK imports from Switzerland was £11.3bn.

Latest available data for 2015 shows that the UK had a trade surplus of £5.6bn with Switzerland in the first three quarters of 2015, with total exports of £14.4bn and imports of £8.9bn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implementation of the recent economic slowdown in China on his Department’s policy on bilateral trade and investment with that country.

Harriett Baldwin

The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments, including those in China, and their impact on the UK as part of the normal process of policy development.

The Chancellor has warned that “last year was the worst for global growth since the crash and this year opens with a dangerous cocktail of new threats from around the world.” As one of the most open trading economies in the world with a large financial sector, we have to recognise that the UK is not immune to the continued problems being experienced in the world economy.

We should not let this put us off engaging with China. As the Chancellor said while leading the UK’s Economic and Financial Dialogue with China in September 2015, both countries: “have a shared commitment to laying the foundations for stronger, more productive economies that can weather periods of uncertainty. At the same time, we need to continue to pursue the longer-term reform challenges that both our governments are pursuing.”

The UK’s exports to China have grown rapidly; since 2010, exports of UK goods to China have grown by over 90%. Even if China’s GDP growth slows to 5%, it will still add an economy the size of France to global GDP by 2020. This is well below the central scenario: the IMF forecasts China’s GDP growth to average 6.2% over the next 5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on recent illegal entry into Gibraltarean waters by Spanish vessels.

Mr David Lidington

The Government continues to make diplomatic protests to Spain with respect to all incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Since the agreement of August 2015 to prioritise safety at sea and to step up law enforcement cooperation, there have been fewer incursions that have raised safety concerns and work on improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies is ongoing. Neither I nor the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ), have therefore had cause to raise incursions into BGTW with our Spanish counterparts since my response to Written Question 11709 on 22 October 2015.