The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, when he next plans to publish a Single Departmental Plan for his Department.
David Mundell
Single departmental plans for 17 Government Departments will be published in January 2016. The Scotland Office and other territorial offices are not required to produce single departmental plans.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2016 to 21399, what steps she has taken related to migrants in France who wish to seek international protection in the UK and not in France.
James Brokenshire
As informed in the response to 21399 the Government continues to work closely with France on a range of migration and security issues and we have no plans to change this constructive approach. The French Government remains committed to meeting its EU and international obligations and the opening of new places in its asylum system for those that claim asylum in Calais demonstrates this. The UK and French Governments are unified in their response to the migratory phenomenon and both governments recognise the importance of close partnership and collaboration to reach a long-term solution.
A person requiring international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country that they reach, a principle which is reflected in the Dublin Regulation. Any migrant currently in France who wishes to seek international protection should do so in France. The UK will consider a request from France to take responsibility of an asylum applicant on the basis of the family unity provisions contained in the Dublin Regulation if there are grounds to do so. A person must claim asylum in France before a responsibility request can be made and considered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-02-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on community cohesion of the introduction of fixed-term local authority tenancies.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Continuing to provide lifetime tenancies to households that may only experience temporary need compounds the situation that sees 1.2 million households on social housing waiting lists, and 236,000 social tenants forced to live in overcrowded conditions due to lack of suitably sized properties, while 380,000 households occupy social housing with two or more spare bedrooms. This is not a good use of scarce social housing and it is not likely to lead to strong and cohesive communities.
The provisions in the Housing and Planning Bill require that towards the end of the fixed term the landlord must review the tenant’s circumstances. Where they are broadly unchanged, the landlord will be able to grant a further tenancy in the same home.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many children were housed in temporary accommodation for longer than the six-week legal limit in (a) the London Borough of Lambeth, (b) London and (c) England and Wales in each year since 2010-11.
Mr Marcus Jones
We do not collect data on the numbers of children in temporary bed and breakfast style accommodation for longer than 6 weeks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Scotland who reach state pension age in 2016-17 will receive less than the full flat rate of the new state pension.
Justin Tomlinson
The Department cannot model the impact of the new State Pension at a regional or country specific level. Results for the whole of Great Britain can be found at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils in local authority maintained schools have (a) statements of special educational needs and (b) Education, Health and Care plans.
Edward Timpson
Information on the number and percentage of pupils with statements of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan by type of institution in the January 2015 School Census is available on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015 (Table 1A and 1D.)
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Chinese counterpart on releasing the Tibetan blogger Druklo.
Mr Hugo Swire
We plan to raise the case of Druklo (also known as Shokjang) at the next round of the UK-China human rights dialogue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England is operating a moratorium on the opening of new mental health beds in the areas of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and eating disorders; and if he will make a statement.
Nicola Blackwood
At present, annual expenditure on in-patient facilities for children and young people with mental health problems is £280 million this includes the expenditure on beds for those with children and young people who have eating disorders.
In 2014, the Government provided £5 million in 2014/15 to open an additional 56 beds, bringing the total to 1,442. Whilst there is no moratorium on the opening of new mental health beds , NHS England is currently undertaking a re-procurement of all Children and Young People’s Mental Health beds, so that services are commissioned which meet the needs of children and young people who require in-patient care and ensure that they are located appropriately.
The major £1.4 billion programme of investment over five years to transform children’s mental health services will increase the opportunities for earlier intervention in the community. This investment includes £150 million over five years to develop community eating disorder services for children and young people in every area of the country, as the evidence indicates that those with eating disorders recover better with this model of care.
NHS England will continue to work with clinical commissioning group commissioners to build integrated pathways of care that ensure that children and young people are only admitted to inpatient beds when it is clinically appropriate, and are discharged as soon as possible, with any appropriate follow-up care in place. For eating disorders, this will include the development of dedicated teams which will in time reduce the need for inpatient beds and shorten lengths of stay.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2016-10-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of progress made by the African Union pilot project to respond to the needs of victims of sexual violence in the Central African Republic.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
An early assessment suggested that progress on the pilot of the project to respond to the needs on victims of sexual violence was not as swift as we had hoped but that lessons were being learned. We are discussing with the African Union (AU) on how we can better coordinate efforts to address sexual violence in the Central African Republic (CAR).
The UK Government will continue to work with the AU and UN to support their efforts to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in CAR. We plan to use the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Rules Based International System Strategy Fund to support this work, particularly in regions outside of the Capital, Bangui.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the installed capacity required to meet the Government’s 2020 renewable heat target in each year from 2015 to 2020.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government does not have a renewable heat target for 2020, but by that year the UK is required to obtain 15% of its final energy consumption from renewable sources under the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This includes renewable heating, where the level of renewables has more than doubled since 2012/13 to reach 4.9% in 2014.
Progress towards the overall target is monitored via interim milestones. The UK is continuing to make progress; and we are set to meet the next interim target, which is an average of final energy consumption over 2013/14. The provisional figure, released on 25 June, showed 6.3% of final energy consumption for 2013/14 came from renewable sources, against a target level of 5.4%.