Oral Answers to Questions
Kelvin Hopkins Excerpts(8 years, 5 months ago)
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Brandon Lewis
As is often the case, my hon. Friend raises a very good idea, and I will take it forward. I will be talking to the group that is going out and doing this kind of work and sharing best practice around the country. It is a good idea for local authorities to look at what others have done locally, and we will certainly do our best to take up his idea and to promote it further.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
12. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for social care services.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)
We have provided up to £3.5 billion of funding to meet the demographic pressures on social care. This is significantly more than the £2.9 billion that the Local Government Association estimated was needed.
Kelvin Hopkins
When will the Government accept that the problems of social care will be overcome only when there is a comprehensive and publicly provided system of social care for all, which is free at the point of need? I am talking about a national care service, exactly parallel to and integral with the national health service—a true public service free of privatisation.
Mr Jones
This Government are absolutely committed to the full integration of health and social care by 2020, and we will require all areas to have a clear plan for achieving that by 2017. The hon. Gentleman will also be interested to know that, by the end of the decade, the spending review does include more than £500 million for the disabled facilities grant, which is more than double the amount this year. That will fund around 85,000 home adaptations by that year, and is expected to prevent 8,500 people from needing to go into a care home by 2019-20.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kelvin Hopkins Excerpts(11 years ago)
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Justine Greening
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. We will continue to work with the new Government on stability in border areas. I am sure the House will be delighted to hear that I agreed a tax package with Pakistan’s Government that will see Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs going in to help them broaden their tax base and improve their tax collection.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
T4. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what assurances the Burmese President has given the UK about respect for human rights in Burma, and, specifically, the treatment of Rohingya community, during his recent visit to Britain?
Oral Answers to Questions
Kelvin Hopkins Excerpts(11 years, 4 months ago)
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Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)
Since the last oral questions, I have updated the House on the Syrian humanitarian conference in Kuwait and on the Department’s work to support girls and women. This week I made a speech to the London stock exchange and answered in the House on how my Department will up its game on driving economic development in new and emerging markets. I attended the informal meeting of Development Ministers in Dublin in February and the high-level panel meeting on the millennium development goals after 2015 in Monrovia at the end of January, and I look forward to attending the next high-level panel and global partnership steering committee meetings in Indonesia at the end of this month.
Kelvin Hopkins
Will the Secretary of State make a statement on what her Department’s new relationship with India will be once all financial aid is withdrawn in 2015?
Justine Greening
It will feature technical assistance to help the Indian Government get the most out of their own £50 billion investment in health and education. It will involve returnable capital projects, which will help to drive economic growth in India. I will also work across Government to ensure that our trade relationship develops.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kelvin Hopkins Excerpts(12 years ago)
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Mr Mitchell
Yes. My hon. Friend identifies an important point. There is strong support on both sides of this House for the arms trade treaty. The Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr Duncan) will be going to New York to take part in those negotiations, and it is interesting to note that, even in the defence industry in Britain, there is strong support for a level playing field and for transparency in the sale of weapons.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
T6. I have another question about South Sudan. Thousands of children there are dying of diarrhoea. What are the Government doing to help with this urgent need, and will other countries be urged to help as well?
Mr Mitchell
The hon. Gentleman accurately identifies the position of children in South Sudan, which I set out in answer to his hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones). It is true that diarrhoea needlessly kills thousands upon thousands of children every day. That is one of the reasons why last year Britain led the replenishment for GAVI—the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation—so that Britain will be vaccinating a child in the poor world every two seconds and saving the life of a child every two minutes, precisely from these sorts of ills.