Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on rocket fire into Israel from Gaza.
Answered by Alistair Burt
I refer my Hon. Friend to my answer of 11 January 2018 (PQ 120721).
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on rocket fire into Israel from Gaza.
Answered by Alistair Burt
I refer my Hon. Friend to my answer of 11 January 2018 (PQ 120721).
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What assessment he has made of potential risks to the economy from high levels of Government borrowing.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In 2010 we inherited the largest deficit since the second world war at nearly 10% of GDP. We’ve successfully reduced that to 2.3% last year, but our debt is still too high.
High levels of debt leave us vulnerable to economic shocks and incur significant amounts of debt interest.
That is why the government has clear fiscal plans to reduce borrowing further and get debt falling.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What recent progress his Department has made on improving the performance of hospitals in special measures.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Special Measures programme has been in place since 2013 with 37 instances of trusts entering. 21 trusts have exited Special Measures since the programme began, including five which have exited since March this year. I particularly congratulate Colchester, which exited in November.
Eight former Special Measures trusts are now rated either “Good” or “Outstanding”.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to increase the number of affordable homes.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government is investing over £9 billion between 2016-2021 to deliver a wide range of affordable housing - to meet the needs of a broad range of people, including homes for social rent. We have also confirmed long-term rent certainty for social landlords – creating a stable investment environment to support councils and housing associations to build more affordable homes.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to identify potential barriers to trade and investment after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is developing a range of options for identifying and tackling non-tariff market access barriers once we leave the EU. The Secretary of State and I host regular Ministerial Trade Dialogues with overseas markets, which provide an excellent forum for addressing non-tariff barriers to trade. The Government will continue to deploy its international network, and is also able to conduct trade reviews to identify and address trade and investment barriers.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support the growth of small businesses.
Answered by Margot James
I was delighted to visit Worcestershire earlier this year and look forward to visiting again soon.
This Government wants to help high-growth businesses scale-up, go global and invest in their future. The Scale-up Task Force which I co-chair focuses on that requirement.
This builds on the billions of financial support already provided by the British Business Bank to thousands of small businesses looking to start, scale up or stay ahead.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if the Government will take steps to support young people to (a) develop their self-confidence and (b) understand pressures related to advertising.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We want all young people to be comfortable and confident in themselves and understand that the way you look should not define who you are.
That is why we funded Media Smart, a media literacy resource for parents and teachers of Key Stage 2 pupils. The resource helps young people understand and challenge the stereotypes they may see in advertising.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of women on boards and at senior executive levels of FTSE companies.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We have more women on boards than ever before and no all-male boards in the FTSE 100. We have established the new, independent Hampton-Alexander Review which will have a particular focus on improving gender representation in the all-important executive layer of the FTSE companies.
I fully endorse the business-led target of 33% women on FTSE 350 boards by 2020 and would like to go further.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential correlation between left-handedness and levels of educational attainment; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold data on whether pupils are left-handed and therefore has not made an assessment of their levels of educational attainment.