The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are currently on the HM Passport Office stop file.
James Brokenshire
Entries are retained on the Her Majesty’s Passport Office Stop File for reasons of public protection and the prevention of crime.
Given the nature of the data, it would be inappropriate to disclose the volume of entries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will take steps to accelerate the public disclosure of donations to political parties in Northern Ireland; and if she will give reasons for the time taken to date.
Mr Ben Wallace
The Government is committed to ensuring the maximum level of transparency in relation to party funding in Northern Ireland that the security situation allows. The Northern Ireland Office has been working closely with the Electoral Commission to bring forward secondary legislation to provide for greater transparency. This legislation has raised some complex issues and NIO officials will be working closely with the Commission in the weeks ahead to resolve these issues with a view to bringing this legislation before Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-09-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have made to the government of Uganda about its treatment of Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are in regular dialogue with the Ugandan Government and Parliament on this issue and will continue to raise our concerns about any legislation which could lead to further persecution and discrimination against LGBT people and which is incompatible with Uganda’s international treaty obligations. After the events of Uganda Pride in August, we raised our concerns with the Ugandan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and worked with leading figures in the local LGBT Community and Ugandan Police Force. We remain committed to working with the government of Uganda and with civil society to promote diversity and tolerance, and to prevent violence and discrimination on any grounds.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to Tier 2 visas on the recruitment of people with specific skills from overseas to the video games industry.
James Brokenshire
The Government has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. There are 18 jobs in the video games industry currently included on the Shortage Occupation List.
The MAC is looking at selection criteria such as, but not limited to, salaries, particular attributes, economic need and skills level. The MAC is not due to report until December and we do not yet know what its findings and recommendations will be. We await the report with interest and will consider it carefully before making any significant changes to the Tier 2 route.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which memoranda of understanding have been agreed with the French government in support of Project Teutates.
Michael Fallon
The UK has three arrangements with France in support of the Teutates programme. The first is between the UK and French Nuclear Safety regulators to ensure safety of operations, and the second and third are between the Ministry of Defence and the Commissariat l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) to support the construction of the Epure facility at Valduc.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s British Road Safety Statement, published in December 2015, Cm 9175, when he plans to consult on legislative changes to improve urban cycle safety by ensuring that sideguards and rear under-run devices are not removed from HGVs but remain permanently fitted.
Andrew Jones
The Department plans to consult on amendments to the Construction and Use Regulations in the second half of 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has established a group or unit to deal with the Government approach to the forthcoming EU referendum.
John Penrose
There is a long established secretariat in the Cabinet Office that deals with all European matters, including the renegotiation. This has been expanded in recent weeks to reflect the increased workload resulting from the renegotiation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to modernise the HM Revenue and Customs payment system to allow people to make payments via BACS bank transfers.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) payment systems allow customers to make payments via BACS or Faster Payment bank transfers for the vast majority of taxes and regimes. In 2014/15, HMRC received just under 16 million BACS and Faster Payments, totalling £186 billion, which equates to almost a quarter of all payments made to HMRC in that year. Customers can also pay electronically using HMRC’s Online Payment Service, by Direct Debit or CHAPS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-04-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of people who are street homeless in London for each year since 2010.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to doing all we can to prevent homelessness. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million.
This will include a new national £10 million programme to support innovative ways to tackle rough sleeping, and will build on the success of our No Second Night Out initiative, which saw two-thirds of rough sleepers in London come off the streets after a single night.
DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping. These are available (the latest figures are attached) at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2015
The GLA collects more detailed statistics on rough sleeping in London. These are available at: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to review the length of maximum sentence for animal cruelty offences.
Dominic Raab
We keep maximum penalties under review. This includes sentencing trends, and whether the courts may be finding their sentencing powers inadequate.
Data on the average sentence length for animal cruelty can be found in the Outcomes by offence table at the attached link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
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