The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the trends in the prison population for (a) white and (b) non-white prisoners over the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Selous
This information is published and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on its decision not to renew the position of National Clinical Director for Adult Neurology from March 2016.
Jane Ellison
Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director, has undertaken a review of the National Clinical Director (NCD) resource designed to focus clinical advisory resources on areas where major programmes of work are currently being taking forward, or areas identified as priorities for improvement. As a result NHS England has proposed to change the way in which clinical advice is received in speciality areas in the future.
Where there will no longer be a specific NCD role, NHS England will secure expert clinical advice from its clinical networks, through its relationships with professional bodies and by appointing clinical advisors. For neurology, it is planned that advice will be provided through a range of sources such as: clinical leads and members of the NHS England-funded neurology clinical networks; the Neurology Clinical Reference Group; and the Royal Colleges. It is expected that these new arrangements will be in place from 1 April 2016.
The Neurology Intelligence Network (NIN) is a joint partnership programme between Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England to support the generation and dissemination of neurology-related health intelligence. The NIN, which is currently funded by PHE, faces no change to its current resource for the next financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of China’s record in observing the agreements made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong.
Mr Hugo Swire
During his meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on 5 January and in London on 4 February, the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), stressed the importance of respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all residents of Hong Kong. He also made clear our expectations that the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law for Hong Kong should be respected. During those meetings, China reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
During the visit to London by Hong Kong Chief Executive C Y Leung on 15 and 16 October 2015, the Foreign Secretary and I also discussed with him the importance of Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and the need to preserve the rights and freedoms which are enshrined in the Joint Declaration.
The Foreign Secretary’s most recent six-monthly report to the House, published on 11 February (covering the period 1 July–31 December 2015), urged “the Chinese and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region governments to reassure the people of Hong Kong that the fundamental rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents will continue to be fully protected, and respected by all, in accordance with the Joint Declaration and Basic Law.” The report also stated that “while we assess that during the reporting period ‘One Country, Two Systems’ has, in very many areas, continued to function well, there have been some areas which have given grounds for concern. These revolve principally around the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, including academic freedom and the freedom of the press.” We will continue to raise such issues with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.
We aim to provide consular assistance to all British citizens, and to dual nationals in their country of other nationality in exceptional circumstances, in line with our consular guidance. We acknowledge that some countries do not accept dual nationality.
In the case of British citizen Mr Lee Po, the Government continues to call at the highest level on the Chinese Government for his
immediate return to Hong Kong. Despite formal requests which we continue to make, we have not been granted consular access to Mr Lee. We also stand ready to provide consular assistance to Mr Lee’s family.
The Government will continue to monitor rights and freedoms in Hong Kong through the Foreign Secretary’s six-monthly reports.
The full report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/six-monthly-report-on-hong-kong-july-to-december-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the implications of the leaked documents relating to the operations of Mossack Fonseca for HM Revenue and Custom’s policy on investigating and tackling tax evasion and avoidance using offshore vehicles.
Mr David Gauke
The Government has introduced tough new powers and game-changing measures to tackle offshore and onshore tax evasion, and as recently as the summer Budget 2015 gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an additional £800 million to invest in expanding compliance and tax evasion work. This is expected to recover £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years.
The Government is introducing a criminal sanction for corporates facilitating tax evasion, and launching a taskforce, jointly led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). Drawing on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, NCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), its purpose will be to swiftly obtain and analyse the Mossack Fonseca papers and take rapid action where there is evidence of wrongdoing. The taskforce will look beyond tax into all potential areas of financial crime and other regulatory breaches.
The taskforce will provide a progress report to the Chancellor and Home Secretary later this year. The report will set out the their initial assessment of the information in the Panama papers and proposed actions for further analysis and strategy for pursuing any evidence found of wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.
Additional resourcing of £10m will ensure that the taskforce’s work can be done on top of departmental commitments. Where resource is moved into the task force, existing roles will be back filled as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Low of Dalston on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the Department for International Development is taking to encourage other donors to fund the Education Cannot Wait fund at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.
Baroness Verma
The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. This includes via UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their programme and timetable for the reception of 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
We continue to work with local authorities and International Partners to deliver the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament. We are on track to do this. The number resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the availability of suitable accommodation and support in the UK. Progress on resettlement is indicated in quarterly immigration statistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bone on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Scottish businesses and trade bodies in Scotland about opportunities for overseas trade.
David Mundell
Both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland and I have undertaken a series of visits and meetings over the summer with key sectors of Scottish industry and business. The purpose of these meetings is to understand any concerns and ideas, including opportunities for overseas trade.
The Scotland Office also works closely with the Department for International Trade, including on initiatives such as the Exporting is GREAT campaign, which toured Scotland in August and September. This campaign exists to inspire and support more first-time exporters to trade overseas and promote the growth it can bring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of victims of human trafficking from (a) Benin, (b) Nigeria, (c) Uganda and (d) Zimbabwe who applied for asylum were successful in their application between 2010 and 2015.
James Brokenshire
In total 420 individuals of the listed nationalities were confirmed as victims of trafficking between 2010 and 2015 of which 338 had an associated asylum claim split as follows: a) Benin [1], b) Nigeria [264], c) Uganda [62] and d) Zimbabwe [11]. The proportion of successful asylum claims for those cases where a decision had been made were: a) Benin [0% (0)], b) Nigeria [74% (156)], c) Uganda [85% (46)] and d) Zimbabwe [88% (7)]
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.2 of the Government response to the 49th Report from the Committee of Public Accounts, Session 2014-15, for the effective management of tax reliefs, if he will (a) list and (b) place in the Library the external research reports commissioned by his Department which covers the use of tax reliefs.
Mr David Gauke
A full list of external research reports commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), with links to the full reports, is published on the HMRC website here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-revenue-and-customs-research-report-collection
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with the Secretaries of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Work and Pensions and Energy and Climate Change and with the Chancellor of the Exchequer since the announcement of job losses this week by Tata Steel.
Stephen Crabb
I have had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills about the steel industry in Wales. We are committed to doing everything we can to level the playing field for the UK Steel industry. We are actively engaged with the Welsh Government and our officials are working together to support individuals affected by last week’s announcement, as a matter of priority.