The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the extent of errors in payments of universal credit arising from errors in PAYE real time information.
Priti Patel
DWP and HMRC are continually monitoring the quality of Real Time Information (RTI). This includes information regarding erroneous data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent human rights abuses against the Oromo people in Ethiopia; and what recent representations he has made to his Ethiopian counterpart on that issue.
James Duddridge
We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia, including the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and about those detained under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. We have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January and Her Majesty’s Ambassador last raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam on 26 April.
I met with Dr Tedros at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. I raised the UK’s concerns with regards to the human rights situation. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of Ethiopia both through our bilateral engagement, most notably through our ongoing Human Rights Dialogue, as well as jointly with our international partners.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia. We will not pre-judge the outcome of their investigation and we await the publication of their report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action. We will take a view on what further lobbying, if any, might be appropriate following the publication of the EHRC report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Stern on 2016-07-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Germany about its recognition of the killings of Herero and Nama people in 1904–08 as genocide, and whether in the light of those discussions they have any plans formally to recognise those events as genocide.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government have not discussed the killings of the Herero and Nama peoples with the Government of Germany.
It is the policy of the Government that any judgment on whether genocide has occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to incentivise the provision of higher quality mental health services.
Nicola Blackwood
Mental health is one of the six core clinical areas to be covered by NHS England’s new CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. NHS England is working to ensure that this will provide as broad a view as possible of how well commissioners are supporting and driving improvement in mental health.
A dashboard for mental health will be published this autumn, containing a set of standard indicators to articulate progress in mental health services at a national level and allow benchmarking of services across the country.
NHS England will continue to ensure that mental health is represented within the full suite of levers and incentives at its disposal including Commissioning for Quality and Innovation payment framework (CQUINs), Quality Premium, the NHS Standard Contract and within the design of new models of care. The Technical Guidance for NHS planning covering 2017/18 and 2018/19 that accompanied the publication of the main NHS Planning Guidance earlier this autumn included a number of draft proposals for specific mental health CQUINs:
– Improving services for people with Mental Health needs who present to A&E;
– Improving physical health care for people with Severe Mental Illnesses; and
– Improving transitions for children and young people.
The Quality Premium is based on measures that cover a combination of national and local priorities, and on delivery of the fundamentals of commissioning. The Premium is paid to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2018/19 and 2019/20 reflects the quality of the health services commissioned by them in 2017/18 and 2018/19. There will be six mandated indicators including a mental health indicator.
Mental health service providers are responsible for the consistency and quality in the services that they provide. Services in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission which introduced a new regulation and inspection regime in 2014. CCGs are expected to increase their spending on mental health in line with overall growth in their baseline allocations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether conditions regarding respect for human rights are attached to aid funds provided to the government of Nepal.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID Nepal has signed an overarching Development Partnership Arrangement with the Government of Nepal that enshrines the partnership principles, one of which is respect for human rights. At the programme level, our Memorandum of Understandings with the Government also include a specific clause that state conditions regarding respect for human rights attached to financial aid funds.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons applicants who reside in Liverpool, Wavertree constituency who have outstanding asylum claims are no longer given a timeframe for completion of that application.
James Brokenshire
Asylum Operations has existing processes that ensure claimants and legal representatives have contact details should they wish to discuss case progression. In addition, all claimants and representatives are kept informed should an initial decision on their asylum claim be delayed beyond 6 months with this correspondence outlining the reason for delay and providing an approximate timescale as to when a decision can be expected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the working group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was set up; and how many times that group has met.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Working Group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was created in June 2014 and has met three times.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic progress has been made by the international community in delivering peace in Syria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
On 11 February, the Foreign Secretary took part in the latest round of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich. At that meeting ISSG foreign ministers discussed how to support the political process, including through confidence building measures and steps towards a ceasefire, as called for in UNSCR 2254.
The ISSG agreed the need to implement a cessation of hostilities within a week, to delivering humanitarian assistance to named besieged communities by the weekend of 13-14 February and to facilitate rapid progress in negotiations aimed at political transition. If implemented fully and properly by every ISSG member, this will be an important step towards relieving the killing and suffering in Syria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Official Report, column 426, on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, what UK-supplied defence equipment has been used in Yemen; what arms export licences were issued for that equipment; and whether any arms export licences for that equipment have now been revoked.
Michael Fallon
The Royal Saudi Air Force are flying British-built aircraft in Yemen, and have been provided with precision-guided Paveway weapons. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are fully compliant with the UK’s export licences criteria.
No export licences for Saudi Arabia have been revoked in the last year. We continue to keep all arms sales under close review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which consultants other than McKinsey bid for the tender to consider his Department’s BIS 2020 programme.
Joseph Johnson
Proposals to consider the Department’s BIS 2020 programme were received from McKinsey & Company and The Boston Consulting Group.