Tag: Kate Hollern

The parliamentary question asked by Kate Hollern, the Labour MP for Blackburn, in the House of Commons on 6 March 2023.

Kate Hollern (Blackburn) (Lab)

14. What estimate he has made of levels of unemployment in towns and cities. (903881)

The Minister for Employment (Guy Opperman)

The January Office for National Statistics labour market statistics publication shows that payroll employment reached a new record high of 30 million in January 2023. That is, of course, higher than at any stage under the last, or any, Labour Government.

Kate Hollern

We hear of a record number of vacancies, yet so many who are looking to get into work are out of work. In Blackburn, the claimant count among 18 to 24-year-olds is at 7.9%, against a national rate of 4.6%. What is the Minister doing to bring down barriers to work such as unaffordable childcare, transport, a failed apprenticeship scheme and a levelling-up agenda that is just not meeting the skills agenda?

Guy Opperman

The hon. Lady should be aware that last Tuesday there was a jobs fair in her constituency. There were 59 exhibitors, and 900 customers attended the event. They provided fantastic feedback on the support and interventions given. If she did not attend that particular jobs fair, she might want to go to “March into manufacturing” on 21 March, an upcoming jobs fair in her patch.

Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)

We started the sitting with a non-party political point, so may I continue in that mode? I absolutely agree that those on the Opposition Benches want to reduce the level of unemployment. Unfortunately, their policies do not follow. Does the Minister agree that every single Labour Government have left unemployment higher than when they came to office?

Guy Opperman

Yes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on working families of his proposed reductions to the work allowance of universal credit.

Priti Patel

The impact of the work allowance change on working families cannot be considered in isolation – it is part of a broader package of measures announced at the Summer Budget, such as the increase to the personal tax allowance and introduction of the national living wage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 23620, what steps his Department has taken to implement new Government guidelines to help UK steel suppliers compete effectively for future defence projects; and what processes or policies have been changed as a result of those guidelines.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has issued new policy outlining the steps that should be taken to meet the Government’s aim of levelling the playing field for UK steel producers. This policy emphasises the importance of pre-market engagement, including through industry days, and signalling future requirements for steel. The MOD has also written to its largest defence contractors to highlight the new guidelines.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of new contracts placed by his Department’s core departments during 2014-15 were with UK suppliers.

Mr Philip Dunne

In 2014-15, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) placed 2,128 new contracts; a breakdown of whether these were with UK or overseas suppliers is not held centrally.

The MOD does, however, routinely publish statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK. For 2013-14, this figure is £19.5 billion. The estimate for 2014-15 will be available in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many foreign military sales contracts there have been since 2010; and what the value was of those contracts.

Mr Philip Dunne

The proportion of the defence procurement budget, and the defence budget spent on foreign military sales in each financial year cannot be provided. Under the Foreign Military Sales Agreement (FMS), Her Majesty’s Government commits to FMS cases with the US Government which then places contracts with industry to deliver our requirements. Additionally, FMS cases typically cover differing periods of performance, thereby making estimation of the commitment that would fall within each financial year unreliable.

The number of new cases, together with their values, committed to under FMS for each financial year is given in the table below. They do not equate to actual expenditure, accruals or contractual commitments and include contingency provisions.

Financial Year	No. of new cases	Value of new cases ($millions)
2009-10	22	995
2010-11	30	111
2011-12	33	284
2012-13	23	137
2013-14	25	301
2014-15	26	328
2015-16	32	245
2016-17 to date	6	13
Totals	197	2,414

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the contingency fund for the new generation of successor Trident submarines was based on a full quantitative risk assessment of the project.

Mr Philip Dunne

As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we have set a contingency of £10 billion, which represents around 35% of the cost to completion. This is a prudent estimate based on past experience of large, complex projects, such as the 2012 Olympics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what percentage optimism bias his Department applied to the Successor Trident programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

Successor submarine is categorised as "Production of a Platform" for optimism bias purposes. In line with normal Ministry of Defence processes, the optimism bias will be addressed as part of the process of securing approval for the next investment point.

I am withholding information for the current calculations for optimism bias, as the formal internal scrutiny process has not been completed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance NHS England provides on training district nurses in inserting nasogastric feeding tubes.

Ben Gummer

NHS England has not provided any specific guidance on training district nurses on the insertion of nasogastric tubes.

The “Framework for commissioning community nursing”, published by NHS England, states that providers of community nursing should “ensure staff achieve the competencies to deliver the service”. This is to provide a quality service for the population. The Framework is available at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Framework-for-commissioning-community-nursing.pdf

NHS England would expect providers to take account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines Nutrition support in adults: Oral nutrition support, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition, published in February 2006 and available at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg32

These provide guidance for patients that require nutrition support, including patients receiving home enteral (tube) feeding. The guidelines recommends that all healthcare professionals who are directly involved in patient care should receive education and training, relevant to their post, on the importance of providing adequate nutrition.

NICE has published a Medtech innovation briefings advice in January 2016, on the CORTRAK 2 Enteral Access System for placing enteral feeding tubes, available at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib48

The advice aims to improve the accuracy of enteral feeding tube placement to help lower the risk of complications associated with the procedure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to address demolitions by Israel of Palestinian homes and other structures in the West Bank.

Sir Desmond Swayne

The UK remains extremely concerned at the large increase in demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the start of 2016, compared to the monthly average in 2015, and continues to raise this with the Israeli authorities. Demolitions and the evictions of Palestinians from their homes cause unnecessary suffering, are harmful to the peace process, and in all but the most exceptional of cases are contrary to international humanitarian law. The UK supports the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide legal aid to Palestinian communities that are at risk of displacement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, whether he has established the new team in his Department to act as the single sponsor for all aspects of the nuclear enterprise including procurement.

Mr Philip Dunne

Options for the new team continue to be developed and assessed. We expect to announce further details later this year once decisions have been made.