The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cancer mortality rate was in (a) Wealden constituency and (b) East Sussex in each of the last 10 years.
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 Paul Flynn on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assistance has been (a) asked for and (b) provided to Israel to assist in (i) emergency planning in the event of a radiological incident and (ii) radioactive waste management at the Dimona nuclear plant in Israel.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has not received any requests from, or provided assistance to, Israel on either emergency planning in the event of a radiological incident, or radioactive waste management at the Dimona nuclear plant.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities applied for monies from the Planning Enforcement Fund; and how many such applications were successful.
Brandon Lewis
The Department received six applications for enforcement grants before the deadline for submitting applications and all were successful.
Two grants were made in the financial year 2014-15 to Staffordshire County Council (£8,010) and Stratford-on-Avon District Council (£3,200).
Four grants were made in the financial year 2015-16 to Bath and North East Somerset Council (£7,993.75), London Borough of Camden (£8,184.50), Chelmsford City Council (£2,755) and South Gloucestershire Council (£3,291.66).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of Tier 2 skilled workers leaving the UK (a) voluntarily or (b) otherwise involuntarily as a result of the new £35,000 income requirement for settlement.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. The impact assessment is available on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.
Alternative routes available for Tier 2 workers unable to meet the minimum earnings threshold would depend on their individual circumstances. For the most part, economic migrants who wish to change their basis of stay in the UK are expected to leave and re-apply for an alternative visa from their home country. However, in-country switching is permitted in some categories, for example into Tier 1 routes aimed at high value migrants.
Tier 2 migrants who apply for settlement and do not meet the requirements will be refused. Those who do not qualify for an alternative route and have reached the maximum period of limited leave allowed under Tier 2 should make plans to leave the United Kingdom. Any migrant who has over stayed the validity of their visa or otherwise failed to regularise their stay in the UK may be removed if they refuse or fail to leave of their own volition. They may also be liable to prosecution under the Immigration Act 1971.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Miller on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to respond to the findings of the report published by the Children’s Commissioner and the NSPCC in June 2016, on a quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people, to ensure that children are not able to view pornographic material on (a) social media and (b) any other platform.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Government has noted with interest the findings of this report, and particularly that children were as likely to see pornographic content online inadvertently as they were to seek it out deliberately. This further strengthens the case for the action the Government is taking on the manifesto commitment to require age verification controls for access to online pornography, which will make it harder for children to access this content online. Our preferred approach was set out in our consultation published in February this year. Government is currently finalising our response to this consultation
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when her Department last made a formal assessment of the Palestinian National Authority’s adherence to its commitment to ensure that the human rights of all citizens are respected without exception as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between her Department and that authority; and if she will make a statement.
James Wharton
The last formal assessment of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) commitment to the Partnership Principles, including the PA’s commitment to respecting human rights, was carried out in May 2016. Our assessment is that the PA continues to deliver on the Partnership Principles, even under increasingly fragile and volatile conditions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote the role of women researchers in the global agriculture sector.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Government is committed to developing a strong, diverse research community. The Research Councils and National Academies share this commitment.
Government is working with its partner organisations to promote equality across all research disciplines and has established a Diversity Steering Group to guide this work.
To improve the diversity of research fellowship awards, the National Academies are working to encourage more applications from under-represented groups and to guard against discrimination in the selection process. Government has also commissioned the Research Councils to develop an action plan to improve the diversity of grant applications and peer-review rates.
As an international example, Government and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have jointly funded four research programmes involving collaborative projects between UK researchers and partners in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
All programmes have included research capacity building in developing countries and have had an increasing focus on integrating gender into agricultural research.
The most recent programme, Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) includes a studentship programme and of the twelve PhD students who have been appointed, eight are women.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-12-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 4 December (HL3456), what urgent action they are taking to remedy the shortage of male teachers and teaching assistants.
Lord Nash
We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom, regardless of their gender; evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve. We are pleased that the quality of entrants to initial teacher training, as measured by degree class, remains high, with 18 per cent of postgraduate entrants, a new record, holding a first-class degree. Recent figures show that 26 per cent of teachers in publicly funded schools in England are male. The proportion of men starting initial teacher training programmes in 2015/16 is 31 per cent. The proportion of entrants to the School Direct (salaried) scheme in 2015/16 who are male is 34 per cent.
Given this performance, the government does not feel that top-down targets for the recruitment of men into initial teacher training would be appropriate. Similarly, it is schools that employ teaching assistants and they are best placed to decide who are the most appropriate for that role regardless of gender.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the number of south Asian curry houses in each (a) region and (b) parliamentary constituency.
Anna Soubry
The Government does not hold information on the value of the curry industry, the number of curry houses, trends in the number of curry houses or the number of curry chefs.
Official statistics carry figures on the value and number of restaurants, takeaways and other food service businesses in general, but do not detail specific types of food being served. Similarly while the number of chefs and catering staff will be estimated there is no consideration of their specialisation in terms of cuisine.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 23552, how many times police cells were used to hold prisoners overnight who were aged (a) 15 to 17, (b) 18 to 20 and (c) 21 and over in each month in 2014 and 2015.
Andrew Selous
We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and will do so in a way that gives taxpayers the best possible value for money.
There are no plans to re-activate police cells under Operation Safeguard. No police cells have been used under Operation Safeguard since October 2008. This means the number of prisoners held temporarily overnight in police cells has fallen from over 50,000 in 2008.
Tables 1 and 2 show the number of prisoners, by the requested age groups, who were temporarily held overnight in police cells in England and Wales each month in 2014 and 2015. No prisoners aged 15 to 17 were held overnight in police cells in 2014 and 2015.
Table 1: 18 year olds and above during 2014
|
Date |
Total number of prisoners held in police cell |
18 to 20 year olds |
21 and over |
|
Jan – 14 |
168 |
4 |
164 |
|
Feb – 14 |
372 |
13 |
359 |
|
Mar – 14 |
175 |
7 |
168 |
|
Apr – 14 |
64 |
6 |
58 |
|
May – 14 |
46 |
2 |
44 |
|
Jun – 14 |
112 |
9 |
103 |
|
Jul – 14 |
274 |
8 |
266 |
|
Aug – 14 |
116 |
9 |
107 |
|
Sept – 14 |
62 |
0 |
62 |
|
Oct – 14 |
96 |
6 |
90 |
|
Nov – 14 |
149 |
9 |
140 |
|
Dec – 14 |
111 |
5 |
106 |
Table 2: 18 year olds and above during 2015
|
Date |
Total number of prisoners held in police cell |
18 to 20 year olds |
21 and Over |
|
Jan – 15 |
89 |
2 |
87 |
|
Feb – 15 |
112 |
1 |
111 |
|
Mar – 15 |
74 |
3 |
71 |
|
Apr – 15 |
107 |
5 |
102 |
|
May – 15 |
47 |
0 |
47 |
|
Jun – 15 |
113 |
4 |
109 |
|
Jul – 15 |
180 |
7 |
173 |
|
Aug – 15 |
63 |
3 |
60 |
|
Sept – 15 |
137 |
7 |
130 |
|
Oct – 15 |
174 |
4 |
170 |
|
Nov – 15 |
195 |
6 |
189 |
|
Dec – 15 |
151 |
3 |
148 |