Category: Speeches

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will call on the government of Israel to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on torture to visit places of arrest and holding of suspects in the West Bank, together with prisons and detention centres in Israel.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have no plans to call on the Israeli authorities to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on torture to visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the role will be of (a) Leonardo helicopters and (b) that helicopter’s production facility in Yeovil in the long-term support work for the AH-64E Apache when it enters service between 2022 and 2024.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Leonardo Helicopters will continue to lead on providing support to our existing Apache Mk 1 helicopters until they are retired from service in 2023-24.We have yet to decide the support arrangements for our new AH-64E Apache helicopters beyond the initial period of support that will be provided through the US Government.

    The Ministry of Defence has signed a Strategic Partnering Arrangement with Leonardo Helicopters that will ensure that we continue to work together to enhance national prosperity through export success, and that the right innovation and technologies are available in the UK to meet our future defence requirements.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on the removal of asbestos from public buildings.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, responsibility for managing the risk from asbestos in non-domestic (including public) buildings rests with the individual duty holder. This is the owner or person with responsibility for maintaining the building. The duty holder must assess for the presence of asbestos and put in place a plan to manage any resulting risk. This includes: monitoring the condition of asbestos-containing materials; arranging for repair or enclosure/encapsulation if required; or, in those cases where the assessment shows this to be necessary, arranging for their safe removal.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to ensure and monitor the security and wellbeing of individuals deported from the United Kingdom to potentially dangerous home countries.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of individuals once removed from the UK as they have been found not to need protection and therefore that they are not at real risk of harm. Each case is considered on its individual merits including, where relevant, the reasonableness of internal relocation.

    Returns are only undertaken when the Home Office and courts deem it is safe to do so.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kit Malthouse – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kit Malthouse on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK police forces have a dedicated unit dealing with the prosecution and identification of (a) sexual offences against children and (b) other online offences; and which UK police forces also hold specialist expertise in child protection and safeguarding.

    Karen Bradley

    Tackling child sexual abuse including online child sexual exploitation is a top priority for this Government. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to safeguard children, collaborate across force boundaries, share intelligence and share best practice.

    The College of Policing and the National Policing lead have set the requirement on all forces to train all new and existing police staff including police officers, detectives and specialist investigators to respond to child sexual abuse.

    We are committed to supporting the police to tackle these horrendous crimes. We have made £1.7 million available to fund Operation Hydrant, which co-ordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support a new network of regional co-ordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling child sexual exploitation.

    The Government will also continue to invest in law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional and local levels to ensure they have the capacity to deal with the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber-dependant crime and cyber-enabled fraud, including support for the Regional Organised Crime Units, who have a dedicated Cyber Crime Unit each. As the Chancellor also announced last week, spending on the UK’s cyber security programmes will be almost doubled over the next five years, with £1.9 billion funding.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the creation of the Syrian Democratic Assembly in Northern Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The creation of the Syrian Democratic Assembly to act as the political branch of the Syrian Democratic Forces was agreed at the Democratic Syria Conference for Opposition Forces held between 8-9 December. This conference brought together Syrian Kurdish and Arab parties that reside in Northern Syria. They discussed the future of the country after four years of war and agreed that the Syrian crisis must be solved through negotiation, the fight against terrorism and political change through a transition followed by free and fair elections and a new constitution.

    It is important that all parties, including the Syrian Democratic Assembly, work towards the shared goal of a political settlement to the conflict based on the Geneva Communiqué. The UK will continue to work through the International Syrian Support Group towards that goal.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents relating to safety of children in secure training centres and young offender institutions have been raised by Barnardo’s advocates with (a) Youth Justice Board monitors and (b) local children’s safeguarding boards in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    Although youth offending is down, reoffending rates are far too high and the care and supervision of young offenders is custody is not good enough.

    That is why the Justice Secretary has asked Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of youth justice. He will report back later this year with recommendations on how to improve the treatment of young people in our care.

    The Table below is based on quarterly information provided to the Youth Justice Board by Barnardo’s and includes all safeguarding issues raised with a Barnardo’s advocate. When a safeguarding issue is raised with a Barnardo’s advocate, they will make a referral through the establishment’s safeguarding process, which is agreed with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). The YJB monitors continually check whether referrals are being made when they should be. Cases can also be directly referred to the LADO by any member of staff, a Barnardo’s advocate, or a YJB monitor.

    Table 1: Number of safeguarding incidents reported to Barnardo’s advocates in STCs and under-18 YOIs: July 2013-June 2015

    July 2013 to June 2014

    July 2014 to June 2015

    STCs

    29

    26

    Under-18 YOIs

    172

    208

    Notes:

    • The July 2014 to June 2015 data include Hassockfield STC and Hindley YOI which were decommissioned part way through this period
  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Halifax constituency will be affected by changes to employment and support allowance for new claimants in the work-related activity group.

    Priti Patel

    Forecasts for Employment and Support Allowance are made only at the national level. As such, the information requested is not available.

  • Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a mandatory dog-breeding licence for any household planning to produce two or more litters per year; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    We are reviewing certain local authority licensing schemes, including the breeding and selling of dogs. The public consultation on this issue closed on 12 March. The consultation proposed that anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs, or who breeds more than two litters in a twelve month period, would need a licence.

    We also proposed to prohibit the sale of puppies under eight weeks of age in all cases. We are currently analysing the 1,500 or so responses before making any firm decisions.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the retention of case files for victims of serious child abuse in local authority-provided care.

    Edward Timpson

    Paragraphs 7.10 and 7.11 of Volume 2[1] of the guidance and regulations to Children Act 1989 (on care planning, placement and case review) explains how a local authority should retain and safe keep all looked after children’s case files.

    Paragraphs 4.21 et seq of Volume 3[2] of the same guidance (on transition to adulthood for care leavers) includes information about access to records for people who have spent all or part of the childhood or adolescence in local authority care.

    [1]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441643/Children_Act_Guidance_2015.pdf

    [2]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397649/CA1989_Transitions_guidance.pdf

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