Tag: Valerie Vaz

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure that the skills of steel industry employees are maintained.

Anna Soubry

From my visits to Scunthorpe, Redcar, Port Talbot and Cardiff, I know first-hand what a dedicated and skilled workforce exists in the industry and am determined that they have a future, with the action the government has taken and will continue to take to help the industry.

For those workers that have unfortunately lost their jobs, the government is committed to doing all we can to give them the support and training needed to quickly return to work. We have made available up to £80 million for Redcar and announced up to £9 million for Scunthorpe to support those who have been affected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to establish equality in pension provision for surviving spouses of police officers across the different countries of the UK.

Mike Penning

As policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Scottish Government are responsible for the design and funding of police pensions in those parts of the United Kingdom.

On 18 January 2016, the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 and the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 were amended to allow widows, widowers and civil partners of police officers in England and Wales who have died on duty and who qualified for a survivor pension after 1 April 2015 to continue to receive their survivors’ benefits for life. There are currently no plans to change this policy in England and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 21 July 2016 to Question 42766, whether he has accepted the recommendation of the independent Mental Health Taskforce in its report published in February 2016 to bring together an expert group to examine the needs of children who are particularly vulnerable to developing mental health problems, including those with long-term conditions.

Nicola Blackwood

The Government has accepted the recommendations set out in the Mental Health Taskforce report including the recommendation that: “The Departments of Education and Health should establish an expert group to examine the needs of children who are particularly vulnerable to developing mental health problems and how their needs should best be met, including through the provision of personalised budgets.” The focus of the group that has been set up, which met for the first time in July, is on looked after and adopted children and care leavers, all of whom are considered particularly vulnerable to mental health problems.

There are currently no plans to set up any other group to look into the needs of children who are vulnerable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the recent elections in Burma.

Mr Hugo Swire

I refer the hon. Member to my Written Ministerial Statement titled, Update on Elections in Burma, of 20 November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent floods on small businesses.

Anna Soubry

The most recent available data indicated that 4,940 businesses across northern England had been flooded following this winter’s exceptional rainfall. The vast majority of these will be small and medium size businesses. Impacts included flooded property, loss of stock and equipment and interruption to trading.

Our interventions, include business recovery grants (a total of £11 m from BIS, of which £4,572,000 has been paid out), business rate relief (£4.26 m from DCLG), and property level resilience scheme (£5,000 per household or business, to incorporate greater flood resilience into property repairs).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing statutory regulations of the funeral industry.

Nick Boles

The Department has not made an assessment regarding this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) oral and (b) written communication, guidance and information there has been between his Department and (i) NHS England and (ii) NHS foundation trusts on implementation of changes to junior doctors’ contracts and terms and conditions.

Ben Gummer

The Department communicates on a regular basis with NHS England and foundation trusts.

However, NHS Employers are, on behalf of government, leading on the implementation of the new contract and they are in regular contact with NHS trust and foundation trust employers.

Details of NHS Employers communications can be found at:

http://www.nhsemployers.org/~/link.aspx?_id=3C38D4A74B8148FE88422AC66DB51E72&_z=z

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of redundancies in the UK steel industry on the proportion of defence procurement that arises from UK businesses.

Mr Philip Dunne

Steel is sourced by our contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers, reflecting the need to ensure competitive cost, time and quality. The Ministry of Defence has not directly made an assessment of the likely effect of redundancies in the UK steel industry but, is represented on the cross-Government steel procurement working group led by the Cabinet Office, and new Government guidelines, which include the need for effective pre-procurement engagement, will help UK suppliers compete for contracts and continue to support future defence requirements for steel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the privatisation of the Land Registry on the effectiveness of its service.

Sajid Javid

I am pleased to say we are consulting on this very issue at the moment.

We want to accelerate the transformation and digitisation of the Land Registry, improving the service it offers.

However, we would only proceed with any change if we were convinced it would provide a continued appropriate level of service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects to report on his review of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Mr David Lidington

We aim to produce a revised version of the UK National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights early in 2016, meeting the previous Coalition Government’s commitment to do so. The NAP that will be laid before Parliament will reflect the broad range of activity related to business and human rights already taking place across government, including on tackling modern slavery. The review process has involved wide consultation across government as well as with businesses and civil society organisations.