The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the in-service dates are for the River-Class Offshore Patrol Vessels currently under construction on the Clyde.
Harriett Baldwin
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given in the House of Lords on 12 September 2016 by my noble Friend the Minister of State for Defence, the right hon. Earl Howe to the noble Lord, Lord West of Spithead to Question HL1533.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions are in place to safeguard the welfare of pregnant women in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
James Brokenshire
Pregnant women are not normally detained. The only exceptions to this general rule are where removal is imminent and medical advice does not suggest the woman’s baby is due before the expected removal date.
Fitness to travel by air is assessed on a case by case basis using guidance from the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). The guidance states that for a single, uncomplicated pregnancy, travel could be appropriate without a medical certificate up to 37 weeks.
Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre has a dedicated Care Suite that offers enhanced care to vulnerable and pregnant women, staffed by a dedicated female member of staff. Midwives from NHS Bedford Hospital Trust visit the centre once a week and the centre’s GP or nurses can be accessed 7 days a week and can refer any specific concerns to the ante natal clinic, Early Pregnancy Unit in hospital or other appropriate service if necessary. The centre also has a Pregnancy Liaison Officer who provides a range of support and welfare services to pregnant detainees.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will introduce a ban on plastic microbeads in cosmetic products similar to that introduced in the US.
George Eustice
The UK and neighbouring countries are working with industry to achieve a voluntary phase out of plastic microbeads in cosmetics and soaps.
The issue was discussed at the OSPAR Conference in 2014 and the cosmetics industry in Europe has committed to act.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he will publish draft regulations on housing benefit for 18-21 year olds.
Justin Tomlinson
Removal of automatic housing support for 18 – 21 year olds, announced in the Summer Budget 2015, will be introduced in April 2017. The Department is liaising with a range of key stakeholders as we develop the detail of the policy and once this work is complete we will bring forward detailed proposals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has a range of policies, procedures and other materials to promote and support the health and wellbeing of its employees.
The Department’s Wellbeing Group runs regular events and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of wellbeing. There is also a wellbeing week and an annual wellbeing award that recognises not just the promotion of wellbeing, but also how it has improved the wellbeing of others.
An Employee Assistance Programme is available to all staff and provides support, information, and advice on a range of issues, including health and wellbeing, problems at work, relationships, legal matters, debt management. Telephone and face to face counselling is also available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the money allocated to northern road infrastructure in Budget 2016, is in addition to £800 million allocated to the North West Road Infrastructure Programme.
Andrew Jones
At the budget £161m was announced for the acceleration of smart motorway upgrades to the M62 between junctions 10-12 and 20-25. A further £75m from the Transport Development Fund was committed to developing the recommendations of the government’s strategic studies on Northern Trans-Pennine routes, Manchester’s North West Quadrant and the Trans-Pennine Tunnel. Both of these commitments are in addition to the £1.5bn being spent in the North West between 2015 and 2021 to deliver schemes committed under the first Road Investment Strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21220, what progress has been made on deciding whether to add Dupuytren’s contracture condition to the list for industrial injuries disablement benefit.
Justin Tomlinson
It is expected that a decision on whether or not to add Dupuytren’s contracture to the list of prescribed diseases will be made shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she has taken to implement the Government’s policy on increasing the involvement of women’s civil society in the development of government policy.
Caroline Dinenage
I greatly value the expertise of women’s civil society and the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities and I have met with many representatives since taking on our current roles. My officials also frequently consult the women’s sector on policy issues, including policy development, to ensure we benefit from the knowledge and understanding of relevant experts – for example on issues such as the gender pay gap, flexible working and gender diversity of company boards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans are in place to ensure that a server issue with the universal credit portal does not reoccur.
Damian Hinds
Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.
The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.
We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service were upheld at formal Stage 2 in each of the last three years.
Robert Buckland
1) The following table shows the number of complaints upheld at Stage 2 in the past three years:
|
Year |
Stage 2 Complaints -Upheld |
|
2013/14 |
34 |
|
2014/15 |
50 |
|
2015/16 |
50 |