Tag: Barry Sheerman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received from creditors of companies which go into insolvency about the Insolvency Act 1986.

Jo Swinson

I regularly receive representations from those who are owed monies by insolvent companies. Unfortunately it is the inevitable consequence of insolvency that some creditors will remain unpaid, but the Government is committed to making sure that we have the fairest possible insolvency regime for when things go wrong. Measures contained in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will benefit creditors by saving an estimated £20m per year from the cost of insolvency proceedings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent decisions she has had with (a) representatives of the EU and (b) her counterparts in other member states on EU timber regulations.

Rory Stewart

Defra officials regularly discuss the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation with both the European Commission and other EU Member States.

Most recently (September 2015) Defra officials participated in a FLEGT/EUTR Expert Group meeting in Brussels, covering a range of related issues including implementation of the two regulations across the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received from creditors of companies which have gone into liquidation about the priority of payments in cases of liquidation.

Jo Swinson

I occasionally receive representations from creditors of companies in liquidation about priority of payments in those cases. In broad terms, the principle applied in insolvency cases is that creditors are treated equally, and will receive any payment they are due after the fees, costs and expenses of the liquidation have been paid. This is not an area which the Government has any current plans to change.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to support exports of UK textile manufacturing.

Matthew Hancock

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) provides a wide range of help to businesses in all sectors – including textile manufacturers – that are seeking to export. UKTI will also continue to work with textile trade associations in organising trade missions and taking textile manufacturers to trade shows and other events around the world as it has done over the past year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We strongly supported US Secretary of State John Kerry’s tireless efforts to deliver a final status deal in 2014. We were disappointed that the parties proved unable to make more progress. Our priority remains the achievement of a two-state solution. We continue to believe that the best way to achieve this is through negotiations and hope that it will be possible to resume the process after the Israeli elections.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent conversations he has had with his international counterparts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymead and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with US Secretary of State John Kerry on 21 February. I spoke to Arab League Secretary General Nabil El Araby on 18 February about the need for swift disbursement of pledges made by donors at the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance he gives to schools on steps they should take to inform students of their right to wear or not to wear religious clothing.

Mr David Laws

It is for the governing body of each school to set their own policies on school uniform and other matters of appearance. The Department for Education’s guidance to schools on school uniform recommends that, once this policy is decided, the governing body should describe its uniform or appearance policy clearly and ensure that parents are informed.

The uniform guidance reminds schools of their need to have full regard to their obligations under equalities law when setting and enforcing their school uniform policy. It also recommends that the governing body considers carefully any reasonable requests to vary their uniform policy to accommodate individual pupils’ beliefs.

The school uniform guidance is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Israeli government on the construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK’s position on Israeli settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two state solution. I made a statement on 30 January, urging the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to publish new tenders for 450 settlement units in the West Bank. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to lobby repeatedly against settlement activity with a range of Israeli contacts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that redundancies and constraints on spending in NHS England do not adversely affect the quality of services provided.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Secretary of State meets regularly with NHS England to discuss a wide variety of issues. The Department is clear on the need to ensure that redundancy payments are made only in circumstances where it is appropriate to do so and has been working with NHS England to ensure that payments are tightly controlled, whilst meeting contractual obligations.

Redundancies are subject to rigorous scrutiny and challenge before being approved. Additionally, any individual redundancy compensation payment in excess of £100,000 also requires Departmental approval. Where redundancies do occur, NHS England ensures that these are formally subject to national NHS provisions to claw back any redundancy payment received where an individual then goes on to be re-employed within the National Health Service, further ensuring better value for the tax payer.

NHS England takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure that redundancy is a last resort and has implemented a system to seek to re-deploy any staff affected by such change to retain knowledge, skills and capability within the organisation, where at all possible.

NHS England has a responsibility for ensuring that maximum value for money for taxpayers is delivered, whilst seeking to improve health outcomes for patients through effective commissioning arrangements. As a direct employer of 6,000 people, NHS England has a responsibility to continually improve the way it delivers both commissioning and the provision of the services for which it is directly accountable, which includes the regular review of its workforce arrangements.

NHS England has advised that its redundancy costs for 2012-13 were £54,000, which represented 0.1% of total expenditure. For 2013-14 the costs were £1,017,000, which represented 0.003% of total expenditure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has received from (a) the Tibetan government in exile and (b) human rights charities on human rights abuses in that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

Officials regularly meet with human rights non govermental-organistions (NGOs) to discuss the situation in Tibet. They last did so in May, following the UK-China Human Rights dialogue. I will be meeting with representatives from a number of Tibet NGOs later this month.

We also receive occasional updates from the Central Tibetan Administration, also known as the Tibetan government in exile. We believe that meaningful dialogue is the best way to address and resolve the underlying grievances of the Tibetan communities and we continue to urge all sides to restart talks.