Tag: John Spellar

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to sponsor physiotherapy education places for future service physiotherapists.

Mark Lancaster

Physiotherapists are now recruited into the Armed Forces as commissioned officers. As a result Defence has enjoyed healthy recruiting of physiotherapists and, consequently, sponsorship of individuals through training is not currently considered necessary. Defence has benefited from applicants gaining clinical experience in the NHS prior to joining the military.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will take steps to ensure that the House of Commons Commission’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

Tom Brake

The House of Commons procurement policies operate within the parameters set out by the UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The House has a Sustainable Purchasing Policy which, amongst other things, requires contracts that are particularly suitable for SMEs to be highlighted as so being, contracts to be divided into lots and processes to be as simple and proportionate as possible to encourage SMEs to participate in our competitions. Further, the policy requires contracts that are suitable for Social Enterprises to be identified at an early stage and that market engaged to ensure their participation.

More generally, the House supports British industry and agriculture by:

• Purchasing our goods and services in a way that maximises the ability of SMEs, Social Enterprises and organisations with less bargaining power to win our contracts;
• Conducting open and competitive tender processes that are accessible to all British suppliers whether small, medium or large;
• Advertising our contracts on the UK Government procurement website Contracts Finder and the House’s own electronic procurement portal to ensure that there is maximum visibility of our contractual opportunities;
• Writing specifications of requirements that take into account domestic social, economic and environmental requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of wider access to efficient refrigerated transport to reducing (a) food waste in developing countries and (b) carbon dioxide emissions.

Mr Nick Hurd

DFID is working to support partner countries to tackle poverty and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by building sustainable infrastructure, increasing their access to clean energy and reducing deforestation. DFID recognises the importance of investment in trade and transport logistics to improve efficiency and reduce delays, which have major impacts on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. These improvements will have downstream impacts on many trade related issues including reducing the amount of spoilt goods from transit delays. We are engaged in this area in a number of ways. For example, Trade Mark East Africa is helping to improve the major trade corridors in East Africa to reduce the time and expense of transporting goods. Furthermore, the investment by CDC group into Grindrod, a South African logistics company, is enabling it to expand its transport logistics investments across sub-Saharan Africa. CDC is the UK’s development finance organisation with DFID as its only shareholder.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Army Reserve personnel, excluding members of University Officer Training Corps, have served for a period of over one year.

Mr Julian Brazier

The total number of Army Reserve personnel that have served at least one year, excluding members of University Officer Training Corps, is currently 22,480.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to ensure that her Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Department’s purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure UK suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department last discussed votes for prisoners with the Council of Europe.

Dominic Raab

I visited the Council of Europe and discussed votes for prisoners on 7 December 2015. We have consistently made clear that prisoner voting is a matter for Parliament to determine. I explained at the September Committee of Ministers meeting that there was no realistic prospect of Parliament lifting the current ban for the foreseeable future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the food served to members of the armed forces at his Department’s facilities run by Sodexo meets his Department’s standards; and what sanctions are in place to deter violations of such standards.

Mark Lancaster

The Department is aware of concerns that have been expressed about the standard of food served to members of the Armed Forces.

The Department has in place a number of safeguards to ensure a good quality of food. These include; contract monitoring, site visits, reviews, customer engagement and assurance by Single Service catering subject matter experts to improve on the service provided.

Any complaint over food can be raised through the chain of command or directly with the contractor by way of a complaints book.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

Mike Penning

The Ministry of Justice complies with all public procurement policy notes, published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/procurement-policy-notes. These include measures to support both British industry and British agriculture.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to announce changes to procedures to deal with motor accident claims for whiplash.

Dominic Raab

In his Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced further reforms to tackle the number and cost of whiplash claims. The Government will consult on the detail of these reforms in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many regular, full-time serving members of the Army there were on the latest date for which figures are available.

Mr Julian Brazier

The full-time trained strength of the UK Army at 1 March 2016 was 79,840.

Statistics are published by Defence Statistics in the Monthly Service Personnel Statistics report. The latest such report which shows figures at 1 March 2016 was published on 14 April 2016 and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/515805/Monthly_service_personnel_statistics_March_2016.pdf