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Tag: Heidi Allen

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia in October 2016 related to Japan’s resumption of its whaling programme in the South Atlantic.

    George Eustice

    The UK Government raises its opposition to Japan’s continued whaling at every appropriate opportunity, including at meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Most recently, I raised the issue with the Japanese Fisheries Minister during an official visit to Japan.

    We will continue to work closely with countries opposing Japan’s programme of whaling in the build-up to the next IWC meeting in October this year, and will ensure that the UK’s strong opposition is reiterated. Parliamentary business permitting, the UK will again be represented at the Ministerial level, as has been the case at previous IWC meetings.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government will be represented at ministerial level at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Slovenia in October 2016.

    George Eustice

    The UK Government raises its opposition to Japan’s continued whaling at every appropriate opportunity, including at meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Most recently, I raised the issue with the Japanese Fisheries Minister during an official visit to Japan.

    We will continue to work closely with countries opposing Japan’s programme of whaling in the build-up to the next IWC meeting in October this year, and will ensure that the UK’s strong opposition is reiterated. Parliamentary business permitting, the UK will again be represented at the Ministerial level, as has been the case at previous IWC meetings.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the plans for the use of the Bassingbourn Barracks.

    Mark Lancaster

    No decision has been made on the future use of Bassingbourn Barracks. The site will be considered as part of the ongoing work of the Estate Optimisation Strategy which is due to report later this year.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the European Commission on the timing of the publication of the updated controllers of trade in endangered species regulations on wildlife trade; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure sentencing guidelines for wildlife trade offences are put in place.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The updated and consolidated Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations (COTES) that the Department is taking forward concern the domestic implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species controls. As such we have not discussed the timing of their publication with the European Commission.

    As part of the review of COTES legislation Defra has held discussions on guidelines for prosecutors with the Crown Prosecution Service, and sentencing guidelines with the Sentencing Council.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the case of the Syrian journalist, Zaina Erhaim.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    My officials have been in contact with the UK Border Force about this case. We are aware that the passport presented by Zaina Erhaim has been retained by UK Border Force officials. The passport was listed on an international database as lost or stolen. In such circumstances the Border Force will confiscate the document. Since the passport is listed as lost or stolen, it is no longer valid for travel to the UK or elsewhere and as such the Border Force is not able to return the passport to Ms Erhaim. The passport is therefore being retained by the British authorities.

  • Heidi Allen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Heidi Allen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of children who are refused admission to a state funded faith school on the grounds of differing faith or belief; and if she will work with schools and faith groups to facilitate inclusive admission policies in all state funded schools.

    Edward Timpson

    The department does not collect data on the reasons why individual applicants are refused a place to particular schools.

    It is for the relevant admission authority of a school designated with a religious character to decide whether or not to adopt faith-based oversubscription criteria. Not all schools with a faith designation choose to allocate places by faith. Some choose to allocate only a proportion of their places on the basis of faith. Where they have places available, schools with a faith designation must admit all children who apply, without reference to faith.

    The government is committed to ensuring that new faith-designated academies and free schools provide additional places not just for pupils of their own faith, but also for other local children regardless of their faith. New provision academies and free schools with a faith designation must give priority to at least 50 per cent of their intake without reference to faith, where they are oversubscribed.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to the employment and support allowance work-related activity group on claimants.

    Priti Patel

    The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the welfare policies in the Bill on 20th July last year.

    We are committed to transforming people’s lives by supporting more disabled people into work. We have increased funding for support for those with health conditions and disabilities by almost 15% and are bringing in a new Work and Health Programme.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has made to the International Whaling Commission on Japan’s resumption of whaling in the South Atlantic.

    George Eustice

    The UK Government raises its opposition to Japan’s continued whaling at every appropriate opportunity, including at meetings of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Most recently, I raised the issue with the Japanese Fisheries Minister during an official visit to Japan.

    We will continue to work closely with countries opposing Japan’s programme of whaling in the build-up to the next IWC meeting in October this year, and will ensure that the UK’s strong opposition is reiterated. Parliamentary business permitting, the UK will again be represented at the Ministerial level, as has been the case at previous IWC meetings.

  • Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston – 2019 Resignation Letter

    Below is the text of the resignation letter sent to Theresa May, the Prime Minister, by Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston on 20 February 2019.

    Dear Prime Minster

    It is with regret that we are writing to resign the Conservative whip and our membership of the Party.

    We voted for you as Leader and Prime Minister because we believed you were committed to a moderate, open-hearted Conservative Party in the One Nation tradition. A party of economic competence, representing the best of British business, delivering good jobs, opportunity and prosperity for all, funding world class public services and tackling inequalities. We had hoped you would also continue to modernise our party so that it could reach out and broaden its appeal to younger voters and to embrace and reflect the diversity of the communities we seek to represent.

    Sadly, the Conservative Party has increasingly abandoned these principles and values with a shift to the right of British Politics. We no longer feel we can remain in the Party of a Government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP.

    Brexit has re-defined the Conservative Party – undoing all the efforts to modernise it. There has been a dismal failure to stand up to the hard line ERG which operates openly as a party within a party, with its own leader, whip and policy.

    This shift to the right has been exacerbated by blatant entryism. Not only has this been tolerated, it has been actively welcomed in some quarters. A purple momentum is subsuming the Conservative Party, much as the hard left has been allowed to consume and terminally undermine the Labour Party.

    We have tried consistently and for some time to keep the Party close to the centre ground of British Politics. You assured us when you first sought the leadership that this was your intention. We haven’t changed, the Conservative Party has and it no longer reflects the values and beliefs we share with millions of people throughout the United Kingdom.

    The final straw for us has been this Government’s disastrous handling of Brexit.

    Following the EU referendum of 2016, no genuine effort was made to build a cross party, let alone a national consensus to deliver Brexit. Instead of seeking to heal the divisions or to tackle the underlying causes of Brexit, the priority was to draw up “red lines”. The 48% were not only sidelined, they were alienated.

    We find it unconscionable that a Party once trusted on the economy, more than any other, is now recklessly marching the country to the cliff edge of no deal. No responsible government should knowingly and deliberately inflict the dire consequences of such a destructive exit on individuals, communities and businesses and put at risk the prospect of ending austerity.

    We also reject the false binary choice that you have presented to Parliament between a bad deal and no deal. Running down the clock to March 20 amounts to a policy of no deal and we are not prepared to wait until our toes are at the edge of the cliff.

    We can no longer act as bystanders.

    We intend to sit as independents alongside The Independent Group of MPs in the centre ground of British politics. There will be times when we will support the Government, for example, on measures to strengthen our economy, security and improve our public services. But we now feel honour bound to put our constituents’ and country’s interests first.

    We would like to thank all those who have supported us and worked alongside us within our constituencies over many years. We genuinely wish our many friends and colleagues within the Party well, indeed we know many of them share our concerns.

    We will continue to work constructively, locally and nationally, on behalf of our constituents.

    However, the country deserves better. We believe there is a failure of politics in general, not just in the Conservative Party but in both main parties as they

    move to the fringes, leaving millions of people with no representation. Our politics needs urgent and radical reform and we are determined to play our part.

    Yours sincerely

    Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston