Category: Speeches

Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Question 27310, on how many occasions other than cases in which an objection was submitted the Schools Adjudicator has judged a school’s admission arrangements not to be compliant with the Schools Adjudicator’s Code in the last two years.

Nick Gibb

The Schools Adjudicator has the power, under Section 88H of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, to consider objections to a school’s determined admission arrangements. She also has the power, under Section 88I of the Act, to consider whether admission arrangements that come to her attention by other means comply with the School Admissions Code.

Data on the number of cases considered by the Adjudicator and their outcome can be found on page 20 of the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s annual report for 2014/15. The report can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/osa-annual-report.

The Adjudicator does not publish data broken down in the way requested.

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01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much the Government has contributed to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ appeal for the Burundi humanitarian response in 2016; what steps she is taking to encourage international partners to contribute to that fund; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK is very concerned about the ongoing political and human rights crisis in Burundi, and the flow of refugees to neighbouring countries. DFID has contributed £21.15 million in Tanzania and Rwanda towards the UNHCR regional refugee response plan since April 2015 to support shelter, food, healthcare and livelihoods assistance for Burundian refugees. The 2016 Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan was published in January and appeals for $313.8 million to support 330,000 refugees in Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. DFID is currently reviewing the 2016 allocation to this appeal and intends to release further funds in coming months. DFID is also supporting refugees in the DRC and Uganda through existing programmes and the provision of technical advice. DFID has deployed a humanitarian adviser to the region in support of the response and to monitor funding provided so far.

DFID officials across the region are working closely with national and international counterparts – including UNHCR, the EU, World Bank, NGOs and other donors – to ensure that humanitarian needs in Burundi and the region are met. We are encouraging developmental donors in Burundi to re-programme funds quickly to maintain the basic functions of the state – such as health centres – and working with the international financial institutions (IFIs) to respond to the growing needs and develop programmes that support the resilience of existing systems.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Burundi was published in March 2016 and appeals for $62.3 million to support 1.1 million people. DFID is currently reviewing a potential contribution to the appeal, and is undertaking contingency planning should the situation deteriorate.

DFID continues to monitor the situation closely with the FCO, and liaises regularly with interested and influential parties such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, in order to pressure the international community to act and focus attention on the crisis.

01/01/2023

Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department’s properties and in which locations are classified as void.

Penny Mordaunt

The number and locations of properties classified as void as of 24 May 2016 are shown in the table below:

County	Voids
ABERDEENSHIRE	5
ANGUS	20
ARGYLL AND BUTE	237
AVON	42
AYRSHIRE	21
BEDFORDSHIRE	194
BERKS	276
BUCKS	183
CAITHNESS	1
CAMBS	373
CHESHIRE	50
CLWYD	1
CORNWALL	46
*COUNTY ANTRIM	647
*COUNTY DOWN	397
COUNTY DURHAM	16
CUMBRIA	14
DEVON	202
DORSET	151
DUMBARTON	4
DUMFRIES	3
DURHAM	8
DYFED	45
EAST SUSSEX	2
EAST YORKSHIRE	4
EDINBURGH	169
ESSEX	155
FIFE	221
GLOUCESTERSHIRE	88
GWENT	45
GWYNEDD	53
**HANTS	1074
HEREFORDSHIRE	8
HERTS	176
INVERNESS-SHIRE	58
ISLE OF BENBECULA	3
KENT	483
LANCASHIRE	86
LEICESTERSHIRE	162
LINCOLNSHIRE	294
LONDON	86
MIDDLESEX	163
MIDLOTHIAN	43
MORAY	121
NORFOLK	209
NORTH LANARKSHIRE	4
NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE	3
NORTH YORKS	522
NORTHUMBERLAND	67
NOTTINGHAM	58
ORKNEY ISLANDS	1
OXON	361
OXON	1
PEMBROKE	4
PERTH	3
POWYS	64
RENFREWSHIRE	26
ROSS AND CROMARTY	1
SHETLAND ISLANDS	1
SHROPSHIRE	223
SOMERSET	90
SOUTH GLAMORGAN	111
SOUTH YORKS	2
ST ANDREWS	3
STAFFORDSHIRE	83
STIRLING	1
SUFFOLK	281
SURREY	222
SWINDON, WILTS	19
TYNE AND WEAR	12
WARWICKSHIRE	69
WEST MIDLANDS	9
WEST SUSSEX	14
WEST YORKS	2
***WILTS	1294
YORKSHIRE	29
(blank)
Total Voids	10219

Of these properties 4623 were vacant for more than 12 months.

*The majority of void properties in Northern Ireland are awaiting demolition while 59 have been gifted to the NI Executive.

**Void properties in Hants have been retained due to short term Ministry of Defence requirements and plans have been made to release many of these for disposal.

***In the Wiltshire region a number of properties remain void to accommodate Army personnel returning to the area from Germany as a result of the Army Basing Programme.

01/01/2023

Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he has received from non-governmental organisations on the reported use of arms sold by Britain to Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

Mark Garnier

There have been no representations from non-governmental organisations on the reported use of arms sold by Britain to Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

01/01/2023
Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much Welsh steel will be used in the construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.

Alun Cairns

The UK Government does not hold the specific figures requested. The decision to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation will provide a huge boost to the regional economy including South Wales. Construction at the Hinkley site will provide 26,000 jobs and apprenticeships, and 64% of the project’s costs will be spent in the UK.

Welsh companies are already taking advantage of the opportunities this project presents, for example, Express Reinforcements in South Wales was given preferred bidder status for a £100m contract to supply 200,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel for the project.

I would encourage businesses in Wales to register with EDF in order to take advantage of upcoming supply chain opportunities.

01/01/2023
Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times the joint central and local government working group referred to in paragraph 3.3 of their response to the consultation on reforming support for failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants has met, and whether they will publish the minutes of that group’s meetings.

Lord Bates

The working group has so far met on two occasions, on 10 September and 6 October. Formal minutes of these meetings were not taken. It is anticipated that a further meeting of the working group will be held shortly.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they plan to make to the state government of Telangana about following the example of the state government of Andhra Pradesh in introducing rules to prevent the sexual exploitation of Dalit women and girls through the Devadasi and Jogini systems of ritualised prostitution.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

This is ultimately a matter for the Union Government of India and state governments. Nevertheless, the British Government has worked closely with the Union and state governments in India to strengthen the protection of women’s rights and would welcome any legislative change that provided further protection to women and girls.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many G4S employees in contracted-out facilities have been charged with a work-related criminal offence since 2010; and in which facility was each such person employed.

Andrew Selous

A total of 10* G4S employees in the 8 contracted-out facilities they run on behalf of the Ministry of Justice have been charged with a work-related criminal offence since 2010. The vast majority of staff working in these facilities are honest, hard-working professionals. There is no place for criminal behaviour within prisons and secure training centres.

*All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to address inequalities in cancer incidence across England resulting from smoking.

Jane Ellison

We know that smoking causes over a quarter of cancer deaths in the United Kingdom and that these deaths disproportionally occur in the poorest areas and most vulnerable populations.

The Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in England. Addressing the health inequality caused by smoking will be one of the key priorities underpinning this strategy and we are working with partners across the system to embed locally, the success we have had reducing prevalence nationally.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for the UK of the introduction of citizenship by investment schemes by EU member states; and what steps she has taken to increase transparency in that area.

James Brokenshire

I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave on 9 March to Question 29833 from the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter) and to Question 29873 from the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Kelly Tolhurst).

01/01/2023