The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has received from the Austrian government on a person suspected of rape in Linz, Austria, who is now resident in the UK.
Mr David Lidington
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not received any representations from the Austrian government on this alleged case.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on protecting the rights of citizens with dual British and Chinese nationality living in Hong Kong.
Mr Hugo Swire
During his meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on 5 January and in London on 4 February, the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), stressed the importance of respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all residents of Hong Kong. He also made clear our expectations that the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law for Hong Kong should be respected. During those meetings, China reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
During the visit to London by Hong Kong Chief Executive C Y Leung on 15 and 16 October 2015, the Foreign Secretary and I also discussed with him the importance of Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and the need to preserve the rights and freedoms which are enshrined in the Joint Declaration.
The Foreign Secretary’s most recent six-monthly report to the House, published on 11 February (covering the period 1 July–31 December 2015), urged “the Chinese and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region governments to reassure the people of Hong Kong that the fundamental rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents will continue to be fully protected, and respected by all, in accordance with the Joint Declaration and Basic Law.” The report also stated that “while we assess that during the reporting period ‘One Country, Two Systems’ has, in very many areas, continued to function well, there have been some areas which have given grounds for concern. These revolve principally around the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, including academic freedom and the freedom of the press.” We will continue to raise such issues with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.
We aim to provide consular assistance to all British citizens, and to dual nationals in their country of other nationality in exceptional circumstances, in line with our consular guidance. We acknowledge that some countries do not accept dual nationality.
In the case of British citizen Mr Lee Po, the Government continues to call at the highest level on the Chinese Government for his
immediate return to Hong Kong. Despite formal requests which we continue to make, we have not been granted consular access to Mr Lee. We also stand ready to provide consular assistance to Mr Lee’s family.
The Government will continue to monitor rights and freedoms in Hong Kong through the Foreign Secretary’s six-monthly reports.
The full report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/six-monthly-report-on-hong-kong-july-to-december-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide dedicated funding to HM Revenue and Customs for the investigation and tackling of tax evasion and avoidance through the use of offshore companies, in light of the leaked documents relating to the operations of Mossack Fonseca.
Mr David Gauke
The Government has introduced tough new powers and game-changing measures to tackle offshore and onshore tax evasion, and as recently as the summer Budget 2015 gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an additional £800 million to invest in expanding compliance and tax evasion work. This is expected to recover £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years.
The Government is introducing a criminal sanction for corporates facilitating tax evasion, and launching a taskforce, jointly led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). Drawing on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, NCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), its purpose will be to swiftly obtain and analyse the Mossack Fonseca papers and take rapid action where there is evidence of wrongdoing. The taskforce will look beyond tax into all potential areas of financial crime and other regulatory breaches.
The taskforce will provide a progress report to the Chancellor and Home Secretary later this year. The report will set out the their initial assessment of the information in the Panama papers and proposed actions for further analysis and strategy for pursuing any evidence found of wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.
Additional resourcing of £10m will ensure that the taskforce’s work can be done on top of departmental commitments. Where resource is moved into the task force, existing roles will be back filled as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there will be UK ministerial attendance at the International AIDS Conference in Durban this year.
Baroness Verma
The UK government will be represented at the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on ending AIDS at the UN headquarters in New York in June 2016 and the International AIDS Conference in Durban in July. Precise attendance has still to be finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-07-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the people previously claiming Disability Living Allowance at the higher component of (1) mobility, or (2) care, how many have been assessed for (a) the higher rate, or (b) the standard rate, of (i) the mobility component, or (ii) the daily living component, of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in each year since PIP was introduced.
Lord Freud
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) registrations, clearances and claims in payment for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) is published on Gov.UK.
In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards can be found from Stat-Xplore, which is a tool for exploring DWP’s statistics.
The Department does not have verified data on the number of DLA claimants who have had their award changed as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many deaths have occurred in the last five years following abortions provided through the NHS and carried out by the private sector.
Nicola Blackwood
Data from abortion notification forms (HSA4) indicates that between 2011 and 2015, the most recent five years for which data is available, there was one death relating to a termination funded by the National Health Service and carried out by the independent sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what role he expects the Single Source Regulation Office to have in the procurement of the Successor class submarine.
Mr Philip Dunne
All contracts related to the Successor programme that meet the conditions set out in Section 2 of the Defence Reform Act will be Qualifying Defence Contracts (QDCs) as defined by the Act and so subject to reporting to the Single Source Regulation Office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wigley on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the context of the 2021 Census topic consultation, they will consider including a question on the date when persons who were not born as UK citizens acquired UK citizenship.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken was to resolve enquiries from hon. Members about tax credit cases; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that time.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Tax Credit Office aims to prioritise and respond to representations from hon. Members as soon as possible. HMRC do not routinely record and collate performance against specific timescales for such representations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter to his Department from the hon. Member for Ashfield of 4 January 2016 on the GP surgery in Underwood.
Alistair Burt
I replied to the hon. Member on 28 January.