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  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote human rights in North Korea.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UK is deeply concerned by reports of widespread and systematic state sanctioned human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as I made clear in my Written Ministerial Statement following the publication of the UN Commission of Inquiry report into these violations. I have called publicly on the DPRK to take immediate steps to close political prison camps, to act on the Commission’s recommendations and to give full and unimpeded access to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant parts of the UN. I also made clear the UK’s commitment to ensuring the Commission’s findings were a beginning and not an end.

    Reflecting this commitment, the UK played an active role in ensuring a strong DPRK resolution at the March UN Human Rights Council. I lobbied personally on this issue during my visit to Geneva at the beginning of the Council. Since the resolution was passed we have continued to engage, supporting an informal briefing of the UN Security Council and pressing the DPRK during its recent Universal Periodic Review to respond to the Commission of Inquiry’s findings. In May, I met US Special Envoy on DPRK Human Rights, Robert King, to discuss next steps, and during a visit to Geneva next week I will have further discussions with Ambassador King and others.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 66W, on asylum: children, which local authorities have been granted extra funding because of their special circumstances.

    James Brokenshire

    The following local authorities receive additional funding due to special
    circumstances:

    Croydon, Kent, and Hillingdon local authorities have been granted additional
    funding which in the past was part of the "Gateway" arrangements, that has been
    superseded by enhanced rates. This is due to the larger than normal volumes of
    care leavers received in those local authorities, in comparison to other local
    authorities.

    Solihull local authority were not part of the "Gateway" arrangements but have
    since been granted additional enhanced payments for the same reasons.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 66W, on asylum: children, which local authorities have used the fund and how much to support asylum seekers who are care leavers in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The total amount of funding provided in each of the 5 years is set out below:

    Year £million
    2013/14 – 11.9
    2012/13 – 12.9
    2011/12 – 15.3
    2010/11 – 20.3
    2009/10 – 11.0

    The figures for 2009-13 inclusive are taken from the audited accounts of the UK
    Border Agency. Figures for 2013-14 are provisional and subject to audit and
    possible adjustment.

    The following lists the local authorities that receive the leaving care
    funding.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 7 May 2014, Official Report, column 222W, on teachers: guidance, if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance her Department provides to police services as to whether or not to notify arrests to regulators.

    Damian Green

    The guidance to police services on the Notifiable Occupations Scheme is
    contained in "Home Office circular 6 / 2006 The notifiable occupations scheme:
    revised guidance for police forces". This guidance is available on the
    Government website gov.uk.

    The scheme is currently under review.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions British passport holders were questioned on return to the UK in regard to problems with their child’s name on documentation in the last three years.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force does not record the occasions when British parents have been
    questioned about their child’s name on their return to the United Kingdom.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department gives on appropriate action to be taken by border staff dealing with a parent with a British passport entering the UK with their child who has a different surname.

    James Brokenshire

    Checks are conducted on passengers arriving in the UK in accordance with the
    Border Force Operating Mandate, regardless of nationality. Border Force staff
    also undergo mandatory training to ensure they are aware of their statutory
    duty to safeguard the welfare of children. Where a child is encountered at the
    border, and it is not immediately apparent that the accompanying adult is their
    parent or guardian, officers will ask questions to satisfy themselves of the
    child’s welfare and to discharge their statutory duty. This will be done as
    quickly and as sensitively as possible to avoid unnecessary delay to the
    passengers’ journey.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will publish a list of all consultancy groups and sub-contractors used by her Department on the Bost Agri-Business and Airfield projects in Afghanistan.

    Justine Greening

    The Bost industrial business park proposal was originally approved by officials in 2009 at a time when Ministers did not approve spend under £40m. In 2012 it became clear that the project could no longer be completed within the original timeframe and in good order. To avoid wasting taxpayers’ money I decided that UK funding for the project should be cancelled. The completed park designs have been handed over to the Afghan authorities to enable them to pursue the project over a revised time frame. DFID’s work on Bost Airfield was completed in November 2013.

    The following consultancy groups were paid directly by DFID on the Bost Airfield and Business Park programme:

    Coffey International

    Crown Agents

    Mott Macdonald

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what official agreements were made between her Department and the Afghan Investment Support Agency for any work relating to the (a) Bost Agri Industrial Park and (b) Bost Airfield.

    Justine Greening

    The Bost industrial business park proposal was originally approved by officials in 2009 at a time when Ministers did not approve spend under £40m. In 2012 it became clear that the project could no longer be completed within the original timeframe and in good order. To avoid wasting taxpayers’ money I decided that UK funding for the project should be cancelled. The completed park designs have been handed over to the Afghan authorities to enable them to pursue the project over a revised time frame. DFID’s work on Bost Airfield was completed in November 2013.

    DFID put a Memorandum of Understanding in place with AISA and the Helmand Provincial Government in April 2012, focusing solely on the development of the Bost Agri Business Park. AISA was not engaged on the Bost Airfield.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 5 September 2013, Official Report, column 461W, on Afghanistan, what works at the Bost Agri Park and Bost Airfield were left by USAID upon her Department taking control of the project in 2009.

    Justine Greening

    The Bost industrial business park proposal was originally approved by officials in 2009 at a time when Ministers did not approve spend under £40m. In 2012 it became clear that the project could no longer be completed within the original timeframe and in good order. To avoid wasting taxpayers’ money I decided that UK funding for the project should be cancelled. The completed park designs have been handed over to the Afghan authorities to enable them to pursue the project over a revised time frame. DFID’s work on Bost Airfield was completed in November 2013.

    The information required to answer the honourable member’s question is not available in the form requested.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department maintains of instances where a teacher has had a sexual relationship with a student under the age of 16 years in (a) maintained schools and (b) independent schools.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Since April 2012, where a teacher has been dismissed, or resigned in the face of dismissal, as a result of serious misconduct all schools have had a statutory duty to consider referring the matter to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). The NCTL acts as the regulator of the teaching profession on behalf of the Secretary of State. It is responsible for determining whether the referred individual should be prohibited from teaching on the grounds of unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that might bring the profession into disrepute and/or conviction of a relevant offence. Information about cases considered by NCTL is not held in the format requested and to obtain the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

    In addition to the NCTL process for regulating teachers, the Department’s Independent Education and Boarding Team (IEBT) administer the wider regulatory system for independent schools. This team can receive information about allegations of abuse from a variety of sources, including Ofsted, local authorities, parents and the police. The Department’s records show that there have been 5 referrals since April 2012 and 2 from January 2009 to March 2012 where sexual abuse of a pupil by an adult working at the school was a factor. When such referrals are received, the Department’s role is not to investigate the allegations, which are a matter for the local authority and the police, but to determine whether the school is meeting the independent school standards, and take action to ensure it does so.