The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what humanitarian aid they are providing to injured and displaced persons in North Korea following the recent flooding in that country.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK supports organisations such as the UN through core contributions. UN agencies are delivering humanitarian assistance to people affected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in the Health and Safety Executive have worked on processing safety case assessments from installation operators in the oil and gas industry in each of the last five years.
Justin Tomlinson
A part of the work of all inspectors and support staff working on offshore issues involves the processing of Offshore Safety Cases; scientists and others working at the Health and Safety Laboratories also contribute. From 2010 onwards representative annual offshore staffing levels were 112; 115; 116; 129 and 131. Current numbers for 2015 -16 are 148
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the legal position is on the use of prefixes or styles granted by virtue of honours in Commonwealth realms in the UK to (a) either to a citizen of a Commonwealth realm and (b) to a dual national who is also national of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; how such honours are recognised; and if he will make a statement.
James Duddridge
The recognition of foreign honours is a matter for the Royal Prerogative and is governed by convention, rather than by law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether contractors have housed asylum seekers in properties with doors that are all uniform or nearly uniform in colour in regions other than the North East.
James Brokenshire
Home Office officials are working closely with our housing providers to ensure that asylum seeker accommodation is not easily identifiable. I am not aware of a uniform door colour being the practice in any other region. My officials have also spoken to our housing providers to tell them that such a practice is not acceptable.
I was first made aware of this issue when The Times contacted the Home Office in mid-January. G4S has investigated correspondence and discussions on the issue of external door colour in the North East and has confirmed that it was raised in 2012 by a Middlesbrough local councillor and was considered by the G4S audit and assurance team, no complaints from asylum seekers relating to this matter were found and a response was issued.
As I said to the House on 20 January, I instructed officials to look into this issue as a matter of urgency and I expect that the audit will be concluded on the Home Office side very shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the UK Embassy in Israel has taken to monitor attacks on Christian places of worship.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv are in regular contact with representatives of churches on a range of issues, including concern about attacks on places of worship. The last attack occurred on 17 January when the Dormition Abbey compound of the Orthodox Church in the Old City of Jerusalem was vandalised with anti-Christian slogans. The ‘Tag Meir’ organisation has listed 44 cases of vandalism and arson on Christian and Muslim places of worship in Israel and the West Bank since December 2009.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-03-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of (1) how many health professionals will return to permanent NHS jobs as a result of price caps on agency staff spending, and (2) how many nurses will leave nursing as a result of those caps.
Lord Prior of Brampton
No formal assessment has been made by the Department to estimate the specific numbers of health professionals that will return to permanent National Health Service jobs as a result of the introduction of price caps on agency staff spending, or on the number of nurses that may leave nursing as a result.
Trust boards have primary responsibility for monitoring the local impact of the price caps and ensuring patient safety.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the freedom to receive information inside North Korea, and (2) the number of South Korean and US radio broadcasters that tailor and transmit programming to North Korean citizens.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea found that North Korean citizens are denied the right to access information from independent sources and all media is heavily censored. There are a number of US and South Korean broadcasters that are currently transmitting programming into North Korea, or have recently, including Voice of America and Korean Broadcasting System Korea Global Radio.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect that the proposals in the Education excellence everywhere White Paper, Cm 9230, will have on (a) Church of England and (b) Roman Catholic schools.
Edward Timpson
We value the important and longstanding role played by the Church of England and Catholic Church in our education system. Around 1,200 Church schools have already become academies. The White Paper is clear that Church schools’ role and their religious character will be protected as more become academies. We continue to work closely with the National Society and Catholic Education Service and recently published Memoranda of Understanding to provide a strong basis for our ongoing relationship with Church schools and their dioceses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2015 on the proportion of blood cancer patients who visited their GP more than twice before being referred to secondary care for diagnosis; and what support and guidance his Department has provided to GPs to enable them to identify the symptoms of blood cancer.
Jane Ellison
It is important that people with cancer have the best possible experience throughout their cancer pathway and are treated with dignity and respect.
The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes – A Strategy for England 2015-2020 in July 2015, and identified a key priority of establishing patient experience as being on a par with clinical effectiveness and safety. In May 2016 the National Cancer Transformation Board published Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: Taking the Strategy Forward outlining the detailed steps being taken to make this a reality.
In September 2015, the Government announced that by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. The packages will be individually designed to help each person, including those with blood cancer, live well beyond cancer. In April 2016 NHS England published guidance for commissioners on commissioning and implementing the recovery package effectively.
In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline includes new recommendations for haematological cancers. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold. Following publication of the updated guideline, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has worked in collaboration with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on a programme of regional update events for GPs to promote the new guideline. RCGP and CRUK have also worked to develop three summary referral guidelines for GPs to enable them to adopt the guideline. These are available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government’s view is that the human rights situation in Zimbabwe has worsened in recent weeks. We have been particularly concerned by police violence in response to recent protests and demonstrations. As set out in the EU Statement of 30 August, the freedom to demonstrate and present petitions is enshrined in the Zimbabwean constitution, along with other fundamental human rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, assembly and association.
This Government made a 2015 manifesto commitment to stand up for the rule of law and human rights in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe remains one of the 30 UK Human Rights Priority Countries, where we monitor and report regularly on human rights and support programmes designed to make abuses less likely. We regularly call, both bilaterally and in partnership with others, for an end to human rights abuses and the restoration of internationally accepted standards.