Category: Speeches

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens reported themselves to the British Consulate in Ibiza as victims of crime in each of the last five years; what the nature of those crimes was; whether those crimes involved sexual violence or harassment; and what prosecutions resulted from those reports.

    Mr David Lidington

    Consular staff routinely record all those cases in which we have provided assistance to British nationals oversees. However, our records do not specifically identify whether those requesting assistance were victims of crime.

    Since 2012, the British Consulate in Ibiza recorded the following cases which are those most likely to have involved victims of crime. Where the number of reported cases is less or equal to five, these are annotated as ‘Less than 5’ to avoid the risk of identifying the individuals concerned.

    It is not mandatory for victims to provide information about any potential prosecutions, so we do not hold information on the number of prosecutions that arose from these cases

    Rape & sexual assault
    2011 8
    2012 8
    2013 7
    2014 7
    2015 Less than 5

    Assault – General
    2011 16
    2012 36
    2013 14
    2014 Less than 5
    2015 0

    Domestic Violence
    2011 0
    2012 0
    2013 0
    2014 Less than 5
    2015 5

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned budget changes to her Department’s Afghanistan Project on economic security in that country.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK remains committed to a long term partnership with Afghanistan, as I communicated to President Ghani when I visited in June 2015.

    It is worth noting that Afghanistan has made significant progress over the last decade, and the UK will continue our support to protect these hard-won gains. For example, UK support has helped ensure that more than 60% of the population now live within 2 hours walking distance of public health facilities, compared to only 9% in 2002. We have committed to spend £178m million in bilateral aid per year until at least 2017, and future commitments will be determined as part of the Bilateral Aid Review, due to be published shortly.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of Hamas fighters joining ISIS in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not received any reports of Hamas fighters joining Daesh in Syria.

  • Ann Coffey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ann Coffey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Coffey on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of quality assurance procedures for registered intermediaries.

    Mike Penning

    Registered Intermediaries are required to adhere to professional standards as set out in a Code of Conduct and a Code of Ethics. Instances where performance falls below the required level can be investigated by the Quality Assurance Board which oversees and monitors quality issues and reports to the Ministry of Justice. A number of options are available for the board to take, including disciplinary action where it sees fit.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of the cost effectiveness of HIV PeEP if only given to a very small group of high-risk individuals.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is developing an evidence summary on the use of Truvada for Pre-exposure prophylaxis that is expected to be published in the autumn. The evidence summary will consider the evidence for effectiveness, safety, patient factors and resource implications including cost.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of indefinitely vacant properties.

    Gavin Barwell

    Our strong record on the economy has created a strong buoyant housing market where owners of empty properties are bringing these homes back into use without government intervention. As a result the number of empty properties are at their lowest since records began.

    Local authorities have powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Councils may also charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty over two years. We have extended permitted development rights to make it easier to convert property from business to residential to give life to thousands of empty buildings.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to review the level of limited diplomatic representations of the UK in Central America.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The UK Government’s links with the Central American region are strong and were enhanced in 2012 following the then Government’s decision to reopen our Embassy in El Salvador. We have Embassies located in five of the seven Central American countries – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. We also have Honorary Counsuls in Nicaragua and Honduras.

    Our Ambassadors to Guatemala and Costa Rica are non-resident Ambassadors to Honduras and Nicaragua respectively. They and their staff in Guatemala City and San José visit Honduras and Nicaragua regularly and engage across the full range of our interests in the region. While we keep our diplomatic network under review, there are currently no plans to change the UK’s diplomatic footprint in Central America.

    I look forward to meeting my counterparts from across Central America at the EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Foreign Ministers meeting in the Dominican Republic on 25-26 October.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the ability of young drivers to gain insurance cover of the recent increase in the insurance premium tax.

    Andrew Jones

    My officials have not made an assessment. There are a number of behavioural, educational and technological interventions that have the potential to help improve young driver safety and hence have an impact on insurance premiums. We need better evidence about what works best, so we’re working with insurance companies to see how we can assess the impact of telematics products, amongst other things, on young driver safety.

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many literacy courses were enrolled on by offenders assessed as having a literacy need in each year since 2010.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The number of offender learners participating in English courses for all academic years where data are available is shown in Table 1. A separate breakdown identifying learners who participated on an English course after being assessed as having a literacy need is not available.

    Table 1: Offender Learner Participation in English (2010/11 and 2013/14)

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    23,980

    25,220

    22,620

    26,080

    Notes

    1) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10.

    Mandatory English and maths assessments for newly-received prisoners (except individuals who have been assessed recently, and those who already have maths and English at Level 2) were introduced from academic year 2014/15. The outcomes for the English education assessments in 2014/15 are published online at the FE Data Library (link below) and attached.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473764/feandskills-OLASS-participation-english-and-maths-assessments.xls

    “

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21128, whether his Department plans to make additional funding available to help repair local highway infrastructure damaged by the winter floods of 2015-16.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport is providing £40 million of emergency government funding to support communities in Cumbria and Lancashire, by helping fund repairs to key local transport infrastructure. This builds on the government’s provision of up to £2 million in the initial aftermath of the severe wet weather to enable Cumbria and Lancashire authorities to carry out an initial assessment of what repairs were required to roads and bridges.

    £3.3 million of funding has also been announced for the restoration of the Tadcaster Bridge and the construction of a temporary footbridge while work is ongoing, to support this community in North Yorkshire. Further, we have recently announced up to £5.5 million of funding to help with the rebuilding of Elland Bridge in Calderdale.