The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims against prison staff were made by prisoners in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous
NOMS defend robustly all claims brought and successfully defend two thirds of claims brought by prisoners. It is not possible accurately to separate prisoner compensation claims against prison staff from other similar claims (e.g. assaults by other prisoners).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-03-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much is being spent on advertising the Married Couple’s Allowance; when the campaign started; and for how long they intend it to run.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
As of March 24 2016, 585,487 couples had successfully applied for Marriage Allowance, including apporoximately 181,00 who applied in March.
The campaign ran until 31 March and final figures are not yet available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure the protective award is made to employees made redundant who worked across several establishments within one business.
Nick Boles
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has no power to make a protective award to employees; the decision to make a protective award lies with the Employment Tribunal. The Employment Tribunal considers the facts of each case and decides whether to make a protective award, and if so, which employees are eligible, based on the circumstances of each case presented to it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-03.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many births were recorded at (a) West Cumberland Hospital and (b) Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle in 2015.
Mr Rob Wilson
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 Royston Smith on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with on demand television providers on extending the provision of subtitles.
Matt Hancock
Yes. Furthermore, Ofcom, as the regulator for video on demand services, is currently consulting on the accessibility of on demand programme services and proposed steps to ensure their services are progressively made more accessible.
We have requested an update from broadcasters, content providers and platform operators in Spring 2017 setting out their progress in increasing the provision of access services on video on demand services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Turkmenistan.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Turkmenistan is featured as a Human Rights Priority Country in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights Report – a clear indication of our continuing concern about the human rights situation in the country. We continue to call for the Turkmen Government to move forward with its reform programme, to secure full the implementation of the national human rights action plan, and to create an effective human rights ombudsman in order to give effect to the individual rights and freedoms set out in the newly adopted Constitution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the role of the Free Syrian Army in the conflict in Syria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Free Syrian Army is a collective term used by a range of moderate opposition groups in Syria who are fighting the regime and ISIL. The Free Syrian Army call for a pluralistic system that respects the rights of all Syrians. They reject terrorism and terrorist tactics, and have condemned Islamic extremism. They have been fighting both the regime and ISIL in Syria for over two years with success in a number of areas, in particular in Idlib and Aleppo in Northwest Syria and in Dera’a Province in the South.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the effect of the reductions in funding to S4C proposed in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Stephen Crabb
I have regular meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which provide opportunities to discuss a range of issues, including matters related to funding of services across Wales.
The Government is committed to Welsh language programming and to the future of S4C. The majority of S4C’s funding comes via the BBC and last week’s spending review settlement on the Government element of S4C’s funding therefore represents a modest reduction in its overall funding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2015 to Question 19365, on housing benefit, (a) when the evidence review began, (b) who has been commissioned to undertake that review and (c) when he expects that review to be published.
Brandon Lewis
A copy of the specification for the review has been put in the Library of the House.
The Review began in January 2015. The Department of Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government commissioned Ipsos MORI in partnership with Imogen Blood and Associates and Housing and Support Partnership Limited to undertake the evidence review. The report will be published later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect people living in the vicinity of (a) Heathrow and (b) RAF Northolt from (i) drones and (ii) unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mr Robert Goodwill
A cross government working group led by the Department for Transport is undertaking a detailed analysis of the range of risks posed by drones. This work is ongoing and kept under constant review. Further work is now proceeding to capture and evaluate potential mitigation measures and strategies. Initial guidance on tackling the risks has been provided to constabularies across the UK.
Work is also underway to qualify the specific level of risk posed by small drones to commercial air transport. We are talking to both the Civil Aviation Authority and airports to find technical solutions to the problems around airports, these include mandated geo-fencing or frequency jammers. The CAA has also worked with major drone manufacturers on the geo-fencing capabilities of their products, which has included providing a list of locations such as airport control zones.