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  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to control mink.

    George Eustice

    The Government is not undertaking any nationwide action to control mink. However, landowners are free to control mink on their land as long as they do so humanely and within the law. Advice on controlling mink can be obtained from Natural England. As a non-native species, it is an offence to release mink into the wild and I would encourage landowners to control them wherever practical.

    The Environment Agency is not directly involved in any mink control programmes in England. It does, however, contribute a small amount of annual funding to the Wildlife Trusts and some other local organisations towards the cost of local water vole conservation projects. Some of these projects may involve an element of mink control. The Environment Agency is one of a number of contributors to these projects.

  • Lord Avebury – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Avebury – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date they will revisit the decision on whether to include Gypsies and Irish Travellers as an ethnic category in the NHS National Data Dictionary; and what account they have taken of the recommendation by the National Inclusion Health Board to the Health and Social Care Information Centre to use the 2011 Census ethnic category classifications in national data collection.

    Earl Howe

    NHS England, in collaboration with other bodies, will shortly produce guidance that advises on the codes for data collection, including those for ethnicity. National Health Service organisations continue to use the 2001 codes in order to support consistency with other data systems within the NHS. NHS organisations can choose to use either the 2001 or the 2011 categories.

    Additional codes can be included as appropriate at a local level to reflect the demographic make-up of the local population. This allows local monitoring to take place in a way that supports service planning, decision-making, and key processes such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

    We envisage this position will be revisited, with decisions to change this advice based upon the breadth of utilisation of the new coding system.

    The Department, Public Health England and NHS England are together considering the findings and recommendations in the report from the National Inclusion Health Board.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to catch and control magpies and hooded crows.

    George Eustice

    Defra is not taking action to catch or control magpies or hooded crows.

    Like all wild birds in Great Britain, magpies and hooded crows are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

    Within England, general licences are issued by Natural England permitting users to kill or take magpies for a range of purposes, such as the protection of public health and safety. These may be relied upon by landowners and other authorised persons as long as they are satisfied they have met the conditions of the licence.

    In the UK, the hooded crow is found primarily in Scotland and Northern Ireland and is not normally resident in England. As nature conservation is a devolved matter, the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government should be approached regarding their wildlife legislation and policy for the control of magpies and hooded crows.

  • Lord Avebury – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Avebury – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why data on the presence of asbestos were not covered in the Property Data Survey Programme in United Kingdom schools; and what are their plans for removing any remaining asbestos from United Kingdom schools.

    Lord Nash

    The Property Data Survey gathers high-level condition data across the state-funded educational estate in England only. The surveyors employed on the programme are general building surveyors and they perform a visual, non-intrusive survey. In comparison, considerably more detailed surveys are required to assess asbestos and that is why asbestos is not included as part of the Property Data Survey.

    The Department for Education does not have a programme for the phased removal of all asbestos from schools in England. Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations, the employer – either the school or local authority – has clear responsibilities to manage asbestos containing materials in schools safely. The advice from the Health and Safety Executive is that it is safer to leave undisturbed or undamaged asbestos in place and to carefully manage it rather than to risk disturbing or damaging asbestos unnecessarily. If asbestos is managed effectively, as required by the regulations, the safest and most effective way to plan for its removal is when existing buildings are refurbished or replaced.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Ministers had with the Iranian government on the imprisonment of (a) Rasoul Abdollahi, (b) Saeed Abedini, (c) Ebrahim Firozi, (d) Behmain Iranal, (e) Alireza Seyedin, (f) Maryam Naghash-Zargaran, (g) Farshid Fathi and (h) others imprisoned for their religious beliefs in Iran.

    Hugh Robertson

    We remain deeply concerned about the detention and treatment of all prisoners of conscience in Iran and the ongoing discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups. We have called publicly for the Iranian government to end all persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith. The UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires raised the issue of freedom of religion with the Iranian authorities during his last visit to Iran on 12 March.

  • Baroness Wheatcroft – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Wheatcroft – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Wheatcroft on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many women prisoners had GCSE C-grade or equivalent in English and maths on being imprisoned in (1) 2010, (2) 2011, and (3) 2012; and how many had such qualifications upon release.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We do not centrally hold information on the prior attainment of prisoners or their qualifications upon release.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he had with the Iranian government on the prosecution of people of the Baha’i faith.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK has repeatedly expressed concern at the treatment of the Baha’i community in Iran, including the sentencing of seven Baha’i leaders in Iran to 20 years imprisonment and the regular harassment the community suffers from. We raised the treatment of Baha’is with the UN Special Rapporteur at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014 and the UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires discussed freedom of religion with the Iranian authorities during his last visit to Iran on 12 March. We will continue to call on the Iranian government to ensure that all its citizens are able to exercise their right to freedom of religion, free from persecution and harassment.

  • Baroness Wheatcroft – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Wheatcroft – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Wheatcroft on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of current women prisoners were in employment before being jailed.

    Lord Faulks

    The Ministry of Justice does not centrally collate or hold information on the questions above. However, a survey conducted between 2005 and 2010 (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction) provides some information on these topics.

    Copies of the reports are available via the following link:

    Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) – GOV.UK

    “

  • Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of levels of public confidence in complaints systems across public services.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Government is considering recent reports of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) into how complaints about public services are handled. As part of this, the Cabinet Office is working to investigate further how public services can make best use of complaints and also to take a wider look at the role and powers of the Public Sector Ombudsmen. The Government will respond to the PASC in due course. I am happy to discuss this matter further with my Hon. Friend.

    The annual reports and accounts of the public service ombudsmen in the UK provide details of their performance over the past 12 months including information about complaints received.

  • Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will assess the potential merits of introducing an automatic trigger for inspections of individual public services when a certain number of people using that service have made complaints about it.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Government is considering recent reports of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) into how complaints about public services are handled. As part of this, the Cabinet Office is working to investigate further how public services can make best use of complaints and also to take a wider look at the role and powers of the Public Sector Ombudsmen. The Government will respond to the PASC in due course. I am happy to discuss this matter further with my Hon. Friend.

    The annual reports and accounts of the public service ombudsmen in the UK provide details of their performance over the past 12 months including information about complaints received.