Category: Speeches

  • Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the correlation between smuggling rings which bring people into the EU and human trafficking gangs which exploit migrants for sex and slavery.

    Karen Bradley

    Organised crime groups are known to be involved in smuggling and trafficking operations, and in some cases both. We are working closely with operational partners including the National Crime Agency, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, as well as partners across Europe and Africa, to develop the intelligence picture on both of these crime types.We will continue to monitor the development of links between these two crime types.

    We are working with partners across Europe and Africa, including through the Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce to identify and disrupt organised crime groups facilitating irregular migration in source and transit countries.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many consultants’ contracts were terminated early in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what the cost of each such termination was in each of those years.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID does not hold specific information relating to termination of consultants’ contracts.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Liberia.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Liberia has made significant progress since the end of its civil war in 2003. However, Liberia’s second Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in 2015, highlighted continuing concerns over gender-based violence and victims’ access to justice; the length of pre-trial detention; investigative capacity of the police and judiciary; and the death penalty. The government of Liberia accepted 147 of the 186 recommendations made. The UK Government regularly presses for concrete action in these areas through our Ambassador in Monrovia and in multilateral fora.

    The UK is concerned about inflammatory statements by the Liberian opposition in the run-up to the country’s elections in 2017. In March, our Ambassador urged the Government of Liberia to show restraint by ensuring that their responses to such statements are proportionate.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the cost of the planned closure of several area electoral offices in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The Chief Electoral Officer is considering reform options for the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, with the support of the Northern Ireland Office. He has already set out his plans to relocate staff from two Area Electoral Offices (Newtownards and Ballymena) when office leases end in October 2016. No other decisions on the future of Area Electoral Offices will be taken until later in the year when the CEO has been able to consider responses to public consultation on wider reform proposals.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance he has issued to NHS Property Services on charging clinical commissioning groups for void space in any NHS Property Services’ properties.

    George Freeman

    Since NHS Property Services (NHS PS) was set up in April 2013, the full cost of running the Company’s properties and the services it provides has been recovered from the tenants, or in the case of any space that is unoccupied, the relevant commissioner for the property, either the local clinical commissioning group (CCG ) or NHS England.

    Alongside the introduction of more rational charging arrangements in April 2016, NHS PS are implementing a new approach to charges levied for vacant space, moving the risk of vacant space from sitting solely with commissioners to being shared between commissioners and NHS PS. This is to align the incentives for resolving issues of vacant space with those best able to take action.

    Under this policy, agreed with the Department and NHS England, charges to commissioners for “realisable” vacant space will come in the form of a fixed “vacating” fee, and will be paid when the tenant leaves. Following the payment of the vacating charge, all costs will revert to NHS PS. This will incentivise the Company to dispose of the property or sublet a lease as quickly as possible in order to minimise any costs not covered by the fixed fee.

    To facilitate this policy it is essential that CCGs have a clear, shared understanding of vacant and realisable space between themselves and local NHS PS representatives.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions took place between (a) his Department and the British Council and (b) the UK High Commission in Dhaka and the British Council in Bangladesh before the decision was taken to close that Council’s centres in that country; and what timetable is in place for reopening those centres.

    Alok Sharma

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK High Commission in Dhaka have maintained close contact with the British Council before and since the closure, following the 1 July terrorist attack at Holey Bakery. The Council has completed its security review and is taking the necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of its staff and buildings before reopening.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what measures his Department uses to assess the effectiveness of security at (a) airports and (b) ports of other countries offering connections to the UK.

    Mr John Hayes

    A) Airports

    Under international treaties administered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), all contracting states are responsible for the implementation of aviation security regimes in their own airports, to be applied according to a number of standards and recommended practices set out by ICAO.

    However, implementation of these aviation security standards around the world does vary and can be less effective when compared to those in the UK. The Department for Transport therefore works closely with a wide range of overseas governments to first assess their implementation and then assist them where necessary, to build their capacity and strengthen their aviation security, governance and procedures. We also work closely with airlines to implement additional security measures, where judged appropriate.

    B) Ports

    Under the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code it is the responsibility of the host state to implement effective security measures at their ports in accordance with the ISPS Code and based on that state’s assessment of the maritime security risks. The UK takes maritime security extremely seriously, and the Department has recently established an International Maritime Security Engagement programme to assess security standards at key foreign ports and to provide training in UK best practice to help raise standards.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals aged (a) between 15 and 64 and (b) over 65 from each EEA country were granted British citizenship in each year from 1997-98 to 2014-15.

    James Brokenshire

    The latest available Home Office immigration statistics on grants of British citizenship by age, sex, geographical region and year of grant are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, April-June 2015’ table cz_05 for 2002 to 2014, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

    Corresponding data for 2015 will be published on 26 May 2016. Information is not available for periods prior to 2002.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a further review of the tunnel boring machine advance rates for the High Speed 2 Chiltern tunnel has yet taken place.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 Ltd have carried out an extensive reviews of tunnel boring rates for comparable forms of tunnel (looking at the size of tunnel and type of tunnel boring machine used) as part of the work for the hybrid Bill development, including tunnels both in this country and overseas. Particular attention has been made to ascertaining the ‘hard average rate’ achieved on these tunnels, which is much more appropriate in calculating the overall time to complete a particular tunnel drive for its entire length from "machine in to machine out". HS2 Ltd have provided evidence from these applicable tunnel projects in front of the Select Committee and explained on several occasions how the tunnel drive rates from these other projects support the current assumed drive rate for the HS2 Chiltern Tunnel. No further review is considered to be required as there is no further appropriate evidence available.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, of 26 January 2016, Official Report, column 231, what steps he has taken to contact the Northern Ireland Executive in relation to the reform of charities legislation to include social investment; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    Charity law is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. Officials in the Office for Civil Society kept their counterparts in the Department for Social Development, Northern Ireland, informed of progress as the measures which are now contained in the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill were consulted on and developed.

    I have written to Lord Morrow MLA, Minister for Social Development, following the Third Reading of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill, to draw his attention to the debate and the provisions of the Bill.