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  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department was of vehicle hire in each of the last five years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The MOD uses hire and lease vehicles to transport personnel and equipment around the country, often to areas not readily accessible by public transport. The vehicles are used for different tasks, ranging from moving defence personnel and stores to support military operations or training exercises, to enabaling taskings such as mountain rescue and emergency support to the civil authorities.

    The MOD’s vehicle lease and hire in the UK is covered by the Phoenix contract with Babcock Land Limited, which was placed in April 2012. The department does not hold readily available and comparative spend data before this date. The cost to the MOD of vehicle lease and hire through the Phoenix contract is as follows:

    FY15/16

    FY14/15

    FY13/14

    FY12/13

    £124.1m

    £132.4m

    £125.5m

    £101.9m

    The MOD recently negotiated a new contract with Babcock Land Limited for the continued provision of its lease and hire cars, targeting savings of around £100m over the next six years through more efficient use of the MOD’s vehicle fleet.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department’s laptop computers have been lost in the last year.

    Mark Lancaster

    Between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has reported that 39 laptops were lost.

    The MOD treats all losses of assets seriously. All reported losses are subjected to an initial security risk assessment, with further action taken on a proportionate basis.

    It is MOD policy that its laptops are to be encrypted to minimise the impact if a loss were to occur.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the country of origin was of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa who were intercepted by (a) NATO (b) EU and (c) UK maritime operations in each of the last two years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    NATO is not conducting any operations in the South Central Mediterranean and has therefore not rescued any people attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa.

    The main countries of origin of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa and rescued by EU and UK maritime operations are the following:

    Algeria

    Cameroon

    Eritrea

    Ethiopia

    Ghana

    Gambia

    Guinea

    Ivory Coast

    Mali

    Morocco

    Nigeria

    Senegal

    Somalia

    Sudan

    The only UK maritime operation over the last two years in the Central Mediterranean was conducted in May and June 2015, where HMS BULWARK rescued 4,747 persons from the following nationalities:

    Benin

    Burkina Faso

    Cameroon

    Chad

    Ethiopia

    Eretria

    The Gambia

    Ghana

    Guinea

    Ivory Coast

    Kenya

    Libya

    Mali

    Morocco

    Nigeria

    Pakistan

    Senegal

    Sudan

    We do not centrally hold information on the nationalities of persons rescued by NATO or EU operations in the Central Mediterranean. The FRONTEX website does have information about numbers and nationalities of migrants attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean from North Africa.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Fourth Report of the Home Affairs Committee, on Reform of the Police Funding Formula, HC 476.

    Mike Penning

    We will respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report as soon as we are in a position to do so.

    We have noted the Committee’s recommendations and are taking them into account as we consider the options for how best to take forward the work on the police funding formula.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned future budget reductions on the ability of the Greater Manchester police to fund implementation in Manchester of national projects.

    Mike Penning

    As the Chancellor announced at the Spending Review no Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will receive a reduction in cash funding if they choose to maximise their precept over the Spending Review period.

    It is an operational decision for chief officers, working with their PCC, to determine how best to allocate their available resources taking into account local and national priorities.

  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of criminalising forced marriage.

    Karen Bradley

    We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice will not be tolerated in the UK.

    The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) (a joint FCO and Home Office Unit) leads the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. It carries out a range of awareness raising work, including a comprehensive programme of outreach, new e-learning for professionals, and the launch of short film aimed at deterring potential perpetrators. For the financial years 2014-16, the Home Office has allocated £200,000 to the FMU.

    Statistics on the number of cases of forced marriage investigated by the police are not collected centrally. The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) most recent violence against women and girls report shows that the volume of referrals from the police to the CPS with a forced marriage element is going up: from 67 in 2013-14, to 82 in 2014-15. In addition, to date over 1,000 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been issued to prevent marriages from taking place and to assist in repatriating victims.

    We are encouraged by the first conviction secured in June last year, but there is still work to be done. We want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward and being identified by the police. As part of the wider work to improve the police response to so-called ‘honour’ based violence, we will continue to work with the partners to review the implementation of the new legislation and lead efforts to tackle this barbaric crime.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will issue a response to Early Day Motion 660, Legal recognition for people who do not associate with a particular gender.

    James Brokenshire

    UK passports currently recognise only male and female genders. To introduce a third category, such a denoted by an ‘X’ in the passport, would require a change in UK primary legislation.

    The Government is currently considering this issue as part of its response to the report on Transgender Equality by the Women and Equalities Select Committee.

  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on raising the profile of forced marriage as a criminal offence in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice will not be tolerated in the UK.

    The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) (a joint FCO and Home Office Unit) leads the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. It carries out a range of awareness raising work, including a comprehensive programme of outreach, new e-learning for professionals, and the launch of short film aimed at deterring potential perpetrators. For the financial years 2014-16, the Home Office has allocated £200,000 to the FMU.

    Statistics on the number of cases of forced marriage investigated by the police are not collected centrally. The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) most recent violence against women and girls report shows that the volume of referrals from the police to the CPS with a forced marriage element is going up: from 67 in 2013-14, to 82 in 2014-15. In addition, to date over 1,000 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been issued to prevent marriages from taking place and to assist in repatriating victims.

    We are encouraged by the first conviction secured in June last year, but there is still work to be done. We want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward and being identified by the police. As part of the wider work to improve the police response to so-called ‘honour’ based violence, we will continue to work with the partners to review the implementation of the new legislation and lead efforts to tackle this barbaric crime.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have spent on infraction proceedings in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    I refer the my hon. Friend to the answer given by my Rt Hon. Friend the Minister for the cabinet Office today to UIN: 36288

  • Chloe Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Chloe Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chloe Smith on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department’s policies on funding the UN Relief and Works Agency of the use of funding from that agency by a Palestinian NGO to organise a tree-planting ceremony honouring people including Palestinian terrorists.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We have raised this allegation with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) who have confirmed that UNRWA has no present relationship with the NGO in question, Union of Agriculture Workers Committees (UAWC). In monitoring DFID support for UNRWA, we pay stringent attention to their neutrality policy and values of peace. We maintain a close dialogue with UNRWA on neutrality issues, and we take allegations of incitement very seriously indeed, raising them whenever appropriate.