Category: Speeches

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees are in the process of seeking asylum to be reunited with family members who are already in the UK, under the terms of the Immigration Act 2016.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Between 12 May and 1 October 2016 over 50 children who meet the criteria in Section 67 of the Immigration Act were accepted for transfer. Over 35 have already been transferred to the UK and many more are in train.

    The Government can only give figures for those who have been accepted for transfer to the UK; the number of unaccompanied child refugees in the process of seeking asylum in other Member States is a matter for that Member State.

  • Lord Boateng – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2015-11-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of (1) the role of law enforcement in Sub-Saharan Africa in deterring and apprehending people smugglers, and (2) the capacity of those forces to fulfil that role.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    At the Valletta Summit on 11 and 12 November, EU and African leaders made clear their shared determination to provide a comprehensive solution to irregular migration that deals with the root causes as well as responds to the consequences. Both European and African law enforcement agencies have an important role to play in delivering that solution. A key tenet of the Action Plan agreed at the Summit was to strengthen further our collective efforts to prevent and fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings through effective border management, enhanced intelligence-sharing and the implementation of the relevant legal frameworks. Through the new EU Trust Fund on migration, as well as bilateral activity, we will help build the capacity of law enforcement agencies in Africa to go after the criminal gangs and smuggling networks that profit from human misery. In Valetta the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced further funding for the UK’s Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce, now totalling £50million for 2015-2020. The Taskforce brings together officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service with the task of pursuing and disrupting organised crime groups involved in the people smuggling trade in countries of source, transit and destination.

  • Lord Rana – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Rana – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rana on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of India regarding the termination of UK aid to India in 2016.

    Baroness Verma

    In November 2012, the Secretary of State for International Development announced the UK would end our programme of financial aid grants to India by the end of 2015. That is exactly what we are doing. We will responsibly fulfil commitments to existing financial grant aid projects – all of which will be completed by end of 2015 – after which we will only provide support in the form of private sector expertise and technical assistance.

    The post-2015 transition plan was agreed in 2012 following extensive consultation with the Government of India (GoI), and has been reviewed annually with the GoI, including most recently in October 2015.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs which will be created at Barrow shipyards by the Successor submarine project; and what estimate it has made of the anticipated duration of employment of those jobs.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We expect the Successor submarine programme will sustain thousands of jobs at Barrow into the 2030s. These jobs will ensure that the UK retains and develops its world leading skills at Barrow and a wide range of companies across the nation, making a significant contribution to the UK economy.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the written answer by Baroness Verma on 18 February (HL5913), which 17 countries their Flagship female genital mutilation (FGM) programme supports, how much aid each of those countries receives annually from the UK, and how much aid from the UK is spent annually on programmes to end female genital mutilation in those countries.

    Baroness Verma

    DFID’s regional FGM programme is providing up to £35 million in funding to end FGM in 17 high prevalence countries: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.

    This funding is apportioned over a five year period from 2013-2018 and the breakdown by country is not readily available. Six of these countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Uganda) have DFID country programmes. Information on the budget allocated to each of these countries is published on our Development Tracker online.

    In Sudan, DFID’s regional programme to end FGM is complemented by a country programme providing £12m over five years to support the scale up of initiatives to end FGM across the country.

  • John Mc Nally – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    John Mc Nally – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mc Nally on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the installation and use of audio-visual displays on public transport vehicles.

    Andrew Jones

    I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 3rd March 2016, UIN 28574,

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=28574.

    “

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the South Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group is going ahead with its proposals to tender out its £227 million Out of Hospital Programme in the light of (1) the review of such contracts that is being conducted following the review by David Stout into the causes of the termination of the Uniting Care Partnership Contract, and (2) the criticism by the local acute Foundation Trust of that process.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England advises that it is reviewing how this type of contract is assured. We understand that South Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s procurement has been placed on hold until the appropriate assurance is in place.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how the £40 million that was allocated to the Supertram scheme for Leeds that was cancelled in 2005 was spent.

    Claire Perry

    The Department of Transport did not provide any funding for the Leeds Supertram or Leeds New Generation Trolleybus schemes. Any expenditure committed so far is the responsibility of the promoters – West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the letter to his Department from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 5 May 2016 on neighbourhood plans, reference ZA3476.

    Brandon Lewis

    I replied to the hon. Member on 11 July 2016.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, who is responsible for deciding which heroin addicts are provided with heroin in line with his Department’s policy set out on page 31 of the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published by his predecessor in March 2016.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The prescribing of injectable opioids, such as methadone or diamorphine (pharmaceutical heroin) as substitutes for illicit heroin, as outlined in the Government’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published in March by the then Home Secretary, has been an option for many years but since the late 1960s, prescribing of diamorphine for the management of addiction has been restricted to licensed addiction specialists.

    The decision to prescribe injectable diamorphine for the treatment of dependence is a clinical matter, for a clinician to take in conjunction with the patient. Advice to guide these decisions is contained in Chapter 5 and Annex 8 of the 2007 UK Guidelines on the Clinical Management of Drug Misuse and Dependence. The guidelines advise that:

    – “injectable opioid treatment may be suitable for a small minority of patients who have failed in optimised oral treatment.”;

    – “clinicians providing injectable opioid treatment should encourage patients not to regard it as a lifelong treatment option and should regularly review their patients and the continuing necessity for this unusual and expensive treatment”; and

    – The use of diamorphine “alone does not constitute drug treatment…it should be seen as on element or pathway within wider packages of planned and integrated drug treatment”.

    The guidelines are currently being reviewed by an Expert Working Group, to take into account developments in the evidence base. In July 2016, the Expert Working Group published their draft update for consultation. The consultation has closed and the responses are being considered by the Expert Working Group.

    Diamorphine is licensed as a medicine by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Clinicians wishing to legally prescribe it for the treatment of dependence need to obtain a licence for that purpose from the Home Office and to comply with all other legislation relevant to the safe management, use and supply of medicines which are controlled drugs.