UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in 2015-16.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The total cost of 179 diplomatic officers stationed in the UK in receipt of school fees is £6,005,124. The total cost of 173 diplomatic officers stationed overseas in receipt of school fees is £6,403.938. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays and supports a further 1108 children who are stationed with their parents and educated locally with a total cost of £14,207,444.

  • Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Khalid Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will estimate the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway in each of the last five years.

    Mr John Hayes

    Information on the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway is not held centrally.

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has conducted an investigation into how Demie Omol was able to travel through the UK to the Republic of Ireland; and what steps she is taking to prevent further victims of trafficking being similarly transported by the same agents and through the same routes.

    Karen Bradley

    We do not routinely comment on individual cases. With regard to onward travel through the UK, we have rolled out Safeguarding and Trafficking teams at a number of major UK ports so that trained officers can help identify victims, disrupt organised criminal groups, collect intelligence and provide a point of expertise and guidance for other frontline officers.

    With regard to Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland also works closely with An Garda Siochana on an operational basis to tackle cases of suspected cross border human trafficking and exploitation.

  • Lord Chidgey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Chidgey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries the short wave radio transmission of BBC World Service programmes has been jammed in each year from 1999 to 2014.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The BBC World Service has advised that short wave radio transmission has been jammed in the following countries: 2004 to present – Uzbekistan 2010 – China (Mandarin) 2012 to 2013 – Iran 2013 to present –China, which has also affected parts of India, Bhutan and Bangladesh

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support they are offering to French authorities and NGOs to improve hygiene conditions at the Grande-Synthe refugee camp, in the light of reported concerns from the British Red Cross.

    Lord Bates

    The UK Government is not providing funding to support the migrant camps in Dunkirk or Calais. Instead, and in line with the joint approach of the UK and France as set out in the Joint Declaration of 20 August, the UK has committed to providing £3.6 million (or €5 million) per year for two years to help provide support and facilities elsewhere in France. This is so that migrants can be helped to enter the French asylum system in a safe, systematic and humane manner. Additionally, the UK has provided £530,000 (€750,000) to fund a project to identify those in the camps at risk of trafficking and exploitation, to transfer them to places of safety and to provide them with appropriate support within the French system.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the quality of early education and childcare available to disadvantaged children.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards for the provision of learning, development and care for children from birth to age five. The EYFS helps early years providers to prepare young children for school and improve their life chances by delivering high quality early education.

    The most recent EYFS Profile results show that the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers has narrowed – 51% of children eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieved a good level of development (GLD) in 2015 compared to 45% in 2014. This is the equivalent of an extra 5,800 children eligible for FSM achieving a GLD.

    We want all children, regardless of their starting point, to have access to high quality early education and childcare, as we know this is what makes the difference to outcomes. To help close the gap between disadvantaged children and their better off peers we introduced the early learning programme for two-year-olds in September 2013. Around 160,000 of our most disadvantaged two-year-olds are already benefiting.

    We have also introduced the Early Years Pupil Premium, worth £50 million a year. This provides nurseries and schools delivering the early education entitlement with an extra 53p an hour for disadvantaged three and four year olds to help them close the gap in school readiness.

  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 9 February (HL5469), of those tested, how many were subsequently diagnosed with (1) hepatitis B, (2) hepatitis C, and (3) HIV, over the same time period.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on people in prison tested for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) via the Sentinel Surveillance Study. This system does not currently receive reports from all prisons in England where testing occurs currently 28 prisons report data. Table 1 below shows data from this system on the total number of prisoners tested positive for BBVs in the calendar years 2012-2014. Similar information from this study for the year 2015 will not be available until mid-2016. NHS England also collects data on levels of testing for BBVs in prisons via the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance. The numbers of positive tests for BBVs in these data are presented in Table 2 using currently available data. The higher number is due to the greater coverage of prisons by this dataset.

    Table 1: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons for calendar years 2012-14

    2012

    2013

    2014

    hepatitis B

    60

    51

    49

    hepatitis C

    456

    400

    327

    HIV

    16

    19

    16

    Source: PHE Sentinel Surveillance Study

    Table 2: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons from April 2015 to December 2015

    April 2015 – December 2015

    hepatitis B

    743

    hepatitis C

    2164

    HIV

    1777

    Source: NHS England

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people from other EU member states were in receipt of housing benefit in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those people claiming that benefit in each of those years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34699, when her Department expects to (a) receive advice from the UK Export Committee on Pesticides about the two applications for emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoids and (b) make a decision on whether to grant such authorisation.

    George Eustice

    The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) considered these applications at its meeting on 4 May. I expect to receive its advice shortly.

    The decision on whether or not to grant the authorisations will be made once the ECP and other experts have concluded their examination of the applications and the Government has received and considered their findings.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who were not granted entry clearance or temporary admission and were permitted to live in private accommodation absconded in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not record the number of persons who have been deported or who have absconded having been permitted to live in private accommodation.

    The Right to Rent scheme denies illegal migrants access to the private rented sector. It has been in operation in parts of the West Midlands since 1st December 2014, and across England since 1st February 2016. The scheme requires landlords to carry out checks on prospective tenants before they rent property to them, and to refuse a tenancy to anyone who cannot show that they have the right to rent. The scheme is not retrospective, and does not apply to tenancies which were in place before the scheme came into effect in the relevant area.

    Therefore, in order to keep the scheme light touch and in line with the Right to Work scheme, landlords (like employers) are not required to tell the Home Office when they have completed right to rent checks.