First elected: 7th June 2001
Left House: 3rd May 2017 (General Election)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Andrew Turner, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Andrew Turner has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Andrew Turner has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Andrew Turner has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Government does not hold any such data. Providing Royal Mail as the designated Universal Service Provider for the UK maintains its network of post-boxes in accordance with the framework set by Ofcom, the postal services regulator, decisions relating to local post boxes are made on operational grounds by Royal Mail’s management.
In 2014, Royal Mail announced plans to increase the number of post-boxes around the country to account for any local impact of new collection times. The company’s initiative involved moving low volume post-boxes to “collection on delivery” with postal workers emptying the box on their delivery round rather than providing an additional dedicated collection by van. In such cases, Royal Mail have said that they will ensure that there is a late-posting box within half a mile of each post-box that is restricted to earlier collections and that there will be clear sign-posting for customers on relevant post-boxes notifying them of their nearest late-posting box.
The majority of the 115,000 post-boxes around the country do however retain a 4pm or later final collection.
The House no longer retains specific information about Members’ constituency addresses in 2009, nor has it calculated the journey times from those addresses to the House. However, details of Members’ travel costs by category in that year are available online at mpsexpenses.parliament.uk. In addition there is information about distances of constituencies from Westminster in 2008 in the Members Estimate Committee’s Third Report of 2007–08 (HC 578-II)
The House does not collect information on which it could base an answer to this question. Responsibility for repayment of Members’ costs for travel between their constituencies and Westminster transferred to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in 2010.
The number of letters sent from the House of Commons to Government Departments via the Inter-Despatch Service (IDS) over the period for which records are held is listed below. No count was made of individual items before May 2012 and so no information is available prior to this date.
| Number of items | |
| 2012 (May–Dec) | 31,849 |
| 2013 | 42,243 |
| 2014 | 36,512 |
| 2015 (Jan) | 3,426 |
In the period April 2014 to October 2014 the average number of letters sent from the House of Commons to government departments via the Inter-Despatch Service (IDS) was 159 items per day; information is not held on a departmental basis.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The next set of reviews is to be discussed by the Committee on the Grant of Honours this month.
An announcement will be made once the full set of reviews is complete and has been approvedin the usual way.
The next set of reviews is to be discussed by the Committee on the Grant of Honours this month.
An announcement will be made once the full set of reviews is complete and has been approvedin the usual way.
The provision and location of individual post office branches is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited.
When the Post Office proposes to relocate a branch it consults locally in line with its Code of Practice, which has been agreed with the UK consumer watchdogs, on the matter before reaching a decision. We believe Post Office has complied with its code with regard to the Cowes relocation.
Field trips and educational visits are important and have a key role to play in children’s education.
It is for schools to use their professional judgement to decide how their activities deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and to plan lessons and use their budgets accordingly.
The Department for Education has conducted 49 consultations since January 2014, and has received a total of 12,891 responses. The list of consultations and the number of responses received is attached.
A risk assessment was carried out by the Animal and Plant Health Agency but is not currently in a form that would enable it to be published. There are no plans to publish the basis for the decision not to issue a rabies waiver. We will, however, provide the Isle of Wight Zoo with a summary of the basis for that decision on request.
There has been no EU Member State to EU Member State transmission of rabies by any pet moved either legally or illegally since the EU pet travel scheme began in 2004. Over the last 20 years the level of rabies across the EU has decreased dramatically through targeted vaccination campaigns. This has resulted in many EU countries becoming free, or nearly free, of the disease.
We take the illegal importation of animals, including dogs and puppies, very seriously. We are aware that some unscrupulous individuals are importing pet animals, particularly puppies, under the cover of the EU pet travel scheme but with the intention of selling them on arrival in the UK. Our actions to tackle this illegal trade are focused on three areas which taken together are helping to address the supply of, and demand for, these puppies.
Firstly, responsibility for stopping the illegal movement of puppies begins in the country where they are born, where the authorities have a duty to ensure that the welfare of pets intended for sale is safeguarded and that EU pet passports are issued correctly. Where there is evidence that veterinarians in other Member States are prepared to falsify pet travel documentation, the UK Chief Veterinary Officer will raise this with officials in the country concerned as well as the European Commission. Intelligence collected in the UK by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, local authorities and animal welfare organisations has resulted in investigations in other EU countries and action has been taken where individuals have been found to be at fault.
Secondly, we will maintain effective border controls. The UK carries out more checks on pets at the border than most other EU Member States and stringent penalties are in place for breaking the rules.
Thirdly, the illegal trade is driven by demand for cheap pedigree puppies. We have published guidance on the steps pet owners can take to avoid buying an illegally imported pet: https://www.gov.uk/buying-a-cat-or-dog. We are also working with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group, which has developed minimum standards for online pet advertisers that have led to the removal of over 130,000 problematic adverts in the last year.
There have been only two cases in which a quarantine waiver has been issued for an animal moving into a non Balai approved premise in the past three years. In one case the risk assessment found that the animal had been vaccinated against rabies and deemed a negligible rabies risk. In the other case, the species being imported posed a negligible risk of transmission and so was also granted a waiver.
DFID supports the Peace Process by helping build Palestinian institutions and promoting economic growth. We have previously funded legal, policy and communications expertise for the Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD).
Given the vulnerabilities of those brought to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme, and the fact that no one yet has received a full 12 months of support, it is not possible at this stage to identify the average cost of refugee resettlement. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the cost of resettling a refugee in the UK is far greater than that of supporting a refugee in the region. We can therefore help far more people in need through our support to partners delivering assistance in neighbouring countries.
Tackling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a priority for my department. As of 21 November, we have committed £230 million.
The vast majority of our commitment will be spent tackling this crisis in Sierra Leone, where the UK is leading the international response. A small proportion of funds have been disbursed to support the work of NGOs in Liberia, where the US is leading the international response to Ebola.
We will work with the international community to ensure that the financial resources needed to contain, combat and ultimately defeat this deadly disease are made available, in the right areas and at the right time.
The GDP of each of the 10 countries receiving the most bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the UK in 2012 and the average GDP value of all other aid recipients are shown in the table below. GDP is presented both in absolute terms and per capita. GDP per capita is more widely used since it takes into account the population of each country, giving a more meaningful measure.
Country | GDP per capita (£) | GDP (£m) | |
India | 949 | 1,173,054 | |
Afghanistan | 434 | 12,942 | |
Ethiopia | 295 | 27,014 | |
Nigeria | 1,718 | 290,064 | |
Bangladesh | 473 | 73,229 | |
Pakistan | 792 | 141,922 | |
Tanzania | 384 | 17,828 | |
Congo, Dem. Rep. | 264 | 17,325 | |
Zimbabwe | 574 | 7,871 | |
Malawi | 168 | 2,676 | |
It is not possible to give an average for other countries as GDP data for 2012 is not available for all countries.
DfT officials have had some early conversations with local authorities about the possibilities for coordinating/improving transport delivery across the Solent area as part of potential combined authority proposals. Discussions across Government are still ongoing.
I want to ensure that smaller bus operators, who drive innovation and invention, form part of the mix of bus service providers in any future franchising model. The Department’s assessment of the effects of franchising on smaller bus operators will be set out in the Impact Assessment which will accompany the introduction of the Bill.
The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.
The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.
During the passage of the Crossrail Bill through Parliament, a commitment was given that a statement would be published at least every 12 months until the completion of the construction of Crossrail, setting out information about the project’s funding and finances. The first statement was published in July 2009.
The latest statement was published on 2 July 2015 and can be viewed here:
Expenditure incurred by Crossrail Ltd. in relation to the construction of Crossrail in the period covered by the statement (30 May 2014 and 29 May 2015) was £1,583,293,000 (excluding recoverable VAT on land and property purchases).
Crossrail’s funding package of £14.8bn is roughly split three ways between taxpayers, businesses, and future Crossrail fare payers. It is not possible to produce a detailed breakdown of which funding streams expenditure year on year comes from.
Crossrail Ltd. continue to forecast that the costs of constructing Crossrail will be within the agreed funding limits.
Information on the number of road closures in each local authority area is not held centrally by the Department for Transport.
In the social rented sector there are 1.4 million one-bedroom properties, with approximately 130,000 of these becoming available each year. This equates to a turnover of about 10%.
The Department has not made an assessment of the effect of housing benefit on the level of private sector rents.
The Local Housing Allowance rates for 2015/16 (effective from April 2015) were published by Rent Officers on 30 January 2015 together with the 30th percentiles of local rents.
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Information on JSA sanctions, including a range of geographical breakdowns is published and available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
JSA claimant count data by geographical area is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
No such estimate has been made, however NHS England advise that work on travel times to and from the mainland, costs and the numbers of patients involved is part of the next stage of the work being undertaken to develop the new model of care for the Isle of Wight.
By 2020, all hospital patients who need urgent or emergency care will have access to the same levels of consultant assessment and review, diagnostic tests and consultant-led interventions, whatever day of the week it is.
The previous Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Daniel Poulter), wrote to Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, further to his meeting of 18 March 2015 with the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), on 24 March 2015.
The Minister asked that NHS England officials continue to work with the CCG to try and resolve the issues they raised, as the allocation of funding to CCGs now rests with NHS England, rather than the Department.
NHS England has confirmed that their allocations working group is continuing to look at the CCG funding formula to ensure it accurately reflects the true cost of service provision for all areas of the country.
The information on the spend on Ebola by the National Health Service as a whole is not held centrally. However, NHS England is currently undertaking a full appraisal of the potential financial impact of Ebola on the NHS, and have a number of impact workshops planned.
The NHS has not incurred any cost in Sierra Leone or in enabling staff to work in Sierra Leone.
The following table shows the number of people on general practitioner (GP) practice lists and in each NHS England Area Team in England as at 30 September 2013. We do not hold this information by each county in England.
We do not hold the information centrally on how many people have been removed involuntarily from GP practice lists.
Under the terms of their contracts, GP practices must have reasonable grounds to remove a patient from their practice list which do not relate to the patient's race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition.
GP Registered Patients | ||
England | 56,007,348 | |
Q49 | Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear | 1,989,458 |
Q45 | Durham, Darlington and Tees | 1,224,872 |
Q50 | North Yorkshire and Humber | 1,689,042 |
Q47 | Lancashire | 1,521,721 |
Q52 | West Yorkshire | 2,435,786 |
Q48 | Merseyside | 1,257,011 |
Q46 | Greater Manchester | 2,880,262 |
Q44 | Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral | 1,279,416 |
Q51 | South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw | 1,506,383 |
Q55 | Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 2,049,773 |
Q59 | Leicestershire and Lincolnshire | 1,822,274 |
Q60 | Shropshire and Staffordshire | 1,591,314 |
Q54 | Birmingham and the Black Country | 2,615,060 |
Q53 | Arden, Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 1,693,801 |
Q58 | Hertfordshire and the South Midlands | 2,831,463 |
Q56 | East Anglia | 2,511,745 |
Q57 | Essex | 1,801,428 |
Q71 | London | 8,978,299 |
Q69 | Thames Valley | 2,160,146 |
Q64 | Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire | 1,520,942 |
Q65 | Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset & South Gloucs | 1,507,605 |
Q66 | Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 1,745,638 |
Q70 | Wessex | 2,789,815 |
Q68 | Surrey and Sussex | 2,813,739 |
Q67 | Kent and Medway | 1,790,355 |
Notes:
1. Data as at 30 September 2013
2. Figures show numbers of patient registrations at GP practices in England. Owing to multiple registrations and other issues the numbers of registered patients in England are higher each year than ONS Resident population estimates, and as such these figures may not represent the actual number of people registered to access GP services in a given area.
3. General and Personal Medical Services statistics are only available by NHS organisations and do not map precisely into English county regions.
4. GP Registered Patient figures by Area Team are based on the location of the GP practice to which the patients are registered.
5. Data on numbers of people who have been removed involuntarily from GP lists is not published within the Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
Data Quality:
The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses.
Source:
The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
NHS England received more than 250 expressions of interest for the Prime Minister's Challenge Fund. 20 successful general practitioner collaborations were awarded investment to run pilot schemes for a year. There were no successful expressions of interest from practices on the Isle of Wight.
The pilot schemes will be reviewed in the summer, with a view to full evaluation from April 2015. Following the evaluation, we intend to roll out learning and best practice from the pilots to the rest of the country.
Tony Blair was appointed by the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) as the representative of the Middle East Quartet in June 2007. The Quartet principals (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, High Representative for European Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana) approved his appointment.
The Government announced at Autumn Statement 2013 that it would make a £30 million contribution to the costs of the Garden Bridge, which was matched by a further £30 million contribution by Transport for London. The Garden Bridge Trust, which is promoting and delivering the project, says that the delivery costs are expected to be within £175 million in addition to ongoing costs of £3.5 million annually.
Where the corporation tax liability of a club or an unincorporated organisation does not exceed £100, and where that club or organisation is run exclusively for the benefit of its members, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will not generally require that club or organisation to complete corporation tax returns. HMRC review such treatment every 5 years. This treatment does not apply to companies which are wholly owned by, or subsidiaries of, charities.
HMRC recognises that asking a charity to formally claim tax relief every year would be administratively burdensome and therefore they do not require every charity to file a tax return every year.
However, they do require every charity to file a tax return once every few years so that they can check that the charity is claiming any tax exemptions and reliefs in accordance with the law. In addition, charities have an obligation to complete a tax return where they have reason to believe that they should be paying tax on some of their income or gains.
If HMRC send a notice to a charity to file a tax return, the charity must complete it and submit it within the time limits given on the forms or they may face a penalty.
No such assessment has been made. HM Revenue & Customs must apply the law as it stands according to the best of its judgment, with the benefit of legal advice where appropriate.
HM Revenue & Customs must apply the law as it stands according to the best of its judgment, with the benefit of legal advice where appropriate.
There have been no changes in the application of the policy. The legislation affecting in particular ferry services was last amended in the Finance Act 2005, in response to amendments to the EU Commission's guidelines on the application of State aids to maritime transport. Tonnage tax must conform to these guidelines.
No such assessment has been made. HM Revenue & Customs must apply the law as it stands according to the best of its judgment, with the benefit of legal advice where appropriate.
Support for small and micro businesses is part of the Government's long term economic plan to back business and create jobs. From April this year, businesses can access a £2000 Employment Allowance. Over 90% of the benefit of this allowance will go to small businesses – reducing the cost of creating new jobs.
In addition, from April 2015 we will abolish employer NICs for all under 21 year olds making it cheaper for businesses to employ young people.
We aim to deport foreign national offenders at the earliest opportunity. We have removed 30,000 foreign national offenders since 2010, including 5,692 in the year 2015-16: the highest number since records began.
A person who is in genuine need of international protection should not travel through a safe country in order to choose where to claim asylum. If we have evidence that asylum seekers, including Syrian nationals, are the responsibility of Ireland we will seek to return them under the Dublin Regulation. Similarly, if we have evidence that individuals claiming asylum in the UK have already been granted international protection by Ireland we will also seek to return them.
The published National Statistics of British citizenship grants and refusals, 2009 to 2013, are given in the table below.
| British Citizenship grants and refusals, United Kingdom, 2009 to 2013 | |||||
| Year | Decisions taken to grant | Decisions taken to refuse or withdraw | |||
| 2009 | 203,789 | 10,251 | |||
| 2010 | 195,046 | 7,974 | |||
| 2011 | 177,785 | 6,884 | |||
| 2012 | 194,209 | 6,878 | |||
| 2013 | 207,989 | 7,269 | |||
| Source: Home Office, Migration Statistics | |||||
| Immigration Statistics July to September 2014 | |||||
| Tables cz_01 | |||||
The latest Home Office immigration statistics, including grants and refusals of British citizenship, 2000 to 2013, are published in the release Immigration Statistics July – September 2014, table cz_01 (Citizenship tables), which is
available from the Library of the House and on the Department’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
As at 30 September 2014, a total of 40,620 applications for British citizenship were awaiting despatch, either work in progress or outstanding not input.
The latest UK Visas and Immigration management information, including cases that are work in progress or outstanding not input, are published in the release Transparency data, Temporary and permanent migration data: November
2014, table InC4 which is available on the Department’s website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/temporary-and-permanent-migration-data-november-2014
The police recorded crime data that the Home Office receives from the police forces of England and Wales relate only to how many crimes are recorded and not how many reports are received or how many people were victims. It is only possible to centrally provide figures for certain sexual offences that identify the age of the victim in statute, namely:
Rape of a female child under 16
Rape of a female child under 13
Rape of a male child under 16
Rape of a male child under 13
Sexual assault on a female child under 13
Sexual assault on a male child under 13
Sexual activity involving a child under 13
Sexual activity involving child under 16
Sexual grooming (the victim must be under 16)
Data for these offences by police force area are available in the police recorded crime open data available here
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables