Category: Speeches

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months are still being processed; and how long is the average process time for such cases.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The number of asylum claims made in France over any given period, and their outcome, is a matter for the French authorities.

    The Dublin Regulation is the mechanism for determining responsibility for considering an asylum claim. If accepted for transfer to the UK, the asylum claim is considered in the UK after the individual has been transferred.

    The Home Office has accepted responsibility to consider the asylum claims of over 80 unaccompanied minors from France under Dublin since the start of the year and many more are in train.

    Dublin transfer requests involving children are now generally processed within 10 days by a dedicated team in the Home Office. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis. A senior Home Office official has been seconded to the French Interior Ministry to help speed up the process of identifying children who may qualify for transfer to the UK.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

    Alun Cairns

    The Wales Office does not record how many of its staff are members of trades unions. No civil servant working at the Wales Office currently claims facility time.

  • Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Coffey on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children have committed criminal offences in the last three years; what the (a) age and (b) gender was of each such child; what offence was committed in each such case; and what distance away from home each child had been placed when the offence was committed.

    Edward Timpson

    The numbers of looked after children who were convicted or subject to a final warning or reprimand in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by age and gender is published in Table 4 of the statistical first release ‘Outcomes for Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England as at 31 March 2014’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/outcomes-for-children-looked-after-by-local-authorities.

    The Department for Education does not collect information on the type of offence committed or the location of each child at the time of the offence.

    “

  • Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what budget his Department has allocated for cycling-related road improvements in each of the next five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will set out the Government’s plans for investing in cycling and walking.

    The Government recently reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking, with SR2015 announcing funding support ofover £300m. This includes delivering the £114m Cycle City Ambition programme in full, which includes improved cycling infrastructure on roads, and a new ‘Access’ fund for sustainable travel building on the legacy of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. In addition, the Road Investment Strategy for 2015-20 includes plans to improve 200 sections of the roads network for cyclists. All other funding streams will be considered as part of the process for developing the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

    It is also worth noting that from within the record £6 billion to be allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.

    SR2015 also announced an additional £250m for a potholes action fund, which will benefits both motorists and cyclists.

  • Lord Sharkey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Sharkey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what help and advice is available to Muslim students who wish to progress to higher education but for whom an interest-bearing student loan would be a violation of their religious principles, and where that help and advice can be accessed.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government is aware that some students, whose religious beliefs may prevent the taking out of a loan that bears interest, may feel unable to take advantage of student loans. In April 2014 BIS conducted a consultation on an alternative finance product for undergraduate students. Upon review of consultation responses, the Government supported the introduction of a Takaful Alternative Finance product available to everyone. This work is ongoing and subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government hopes to introduce the system through new legislation.

    All students can access advice and guidance on the financial support available to them from Student Finance England on the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/contact-student-finance-england

    “

  • Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what dates between May 2015 and January 2016 inclusive, meetings took place in which ministers from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport discussed the future of Channel 4.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Details of Ministerial meetings, and Permanent Secretary meetings, with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and are available via the gov.uk website.

    Historic records of internal government meetings are not kept.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cases of child labour and child domestic servitude have been recorded by the National Referral Mechanism in the last three years.

    Lord Bates

    Data on the number of child cases of forced labour or domestic servitude recorded through the National Referral Mechanism is already publically available on the National Crime Agency website and can be found here: www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.

    The National Referral Mechanism is designed to gather evidence in order to determine whether someone is considered to be a victim of ‘slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour’ or ‘human trafficking’ in line with the offences set out in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Whether an individual is considered to be a victim of either of these offences in the form of domestic servitude or forced labour will be determined on the indicators present and the facts of each case. Additional consideration is given to the particular vulnerabilities of children and their inability to consent.

    Information on how many cases of domestic servitude have been prosecuted where the victim was a child or how many cases of domestic servitude have been recorded which involved more than one person from the same family is not recorded centrally.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of how many non-extremist opposition fighters in Syria have fought against Daesh since 21 December 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We share the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s assessment that opposition numbers have held up despite recent pressure and that there are significant numbers of non-extremist opposition inside Syria. Numbers in groups fighting Daesh are likely to have increased.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to become a founding donor of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies when it is launched at the World Humanitarian Summit 2016.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided on 24 May to Question number 37332.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39360, on his Department’s reorganisation, whether graduates taking part in the cross-government graduate scheme can take up policy roles in his Department based outside of London.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Executive Board announced on 26 May that from January 2018 all policy roles will be based in our single HQ and policy centre in London.