The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to issue statutory guidance for identifying and supporting victims as set out in section 49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Karen Bradley
Guidance for identifying and supporting victims will be published once the National Referral Mechanism pilot has concluded. The guidance is being developed in consultation with NGOs and frontline agencies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why cold calls regarding mortgages can be banned but not cold calls offering free pension reviews or unregulated pension investments.
Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prohibition on cold calling applies to financial promotion of mortgages by FCA regulated firms. Under the FCA rules, regulated entities (including mortgage providers) are not allowed to engage in real-time financial promotion of mortgages and therefore no legitimate market for telephone promotion and sales exists.
The Government tightened controls on cold calling earlier this year, when amending the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), making it a requirement for organisations making direct marketing calls to display their Calling Line Identification (CLI). These controls need time to bed in before considering whether further changes, specific to pensions, are appropriate. If there is a case for change, the Government will take the necessary action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the extension of Right to Buy on affordable housing supply.
Brandon Lewis
Under the 2012 reinvigorated Right to Buy, every additional home sold, as well as those homes sold to tenants through the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations, will result in an additional home being provided. This will lead to an increase in overall housing supply.
The Government exceeded its affordable homes target over the last 4 years by 16,000 homes, delivering 186,000 new affordable homes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many inspections were carried out by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) inspectorate into possible breaches of employment agency regulations in each of the last five years; how many breaches of regulations were identified in those inspections; how many people the EAS barred from operating employment agencies following those inspections; and how many of each of those cases related to employment agencies for supply teachers.
Nick Boles
The table below sets out the total number of cases completed by the EAS in the last five years. These figures relate to both complaints and inspections as we do not differentiate between cases which arise as a result of a complaint or an inspection.
|
Year |
Total number of cases (both complaints and inspections) |
|
2010/11 |
1,201 |
|
2011/12 |
1,050 |
|
2012/13 |
1,057 |
|
2013/14 |
760 |
|
2014/15 |
626 |
The table below sets out the total number of breaches of regulations identified by EAS in the past five years, both as a result of complaints and inspections.
|
Year |
Total number of breaches (found as a result of complaints or inspections) |
|
2010/11 |
2,065 |
|
2011/12 |
2,146 |
|
2012/13 |
1,479 |
|
2013/14 |
320 |
|
2014/15 |
186 |
The Employment Agencies Act 1973, as amended in 1994, makes provision for the Secretary of State, on application to an Employment Tribunal, to be able to seek to prohibit persons from carrying on, or being concerned with carrying on of any employment agency or employment business. The current list of prohibited persons can be found on www.gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/403653/employment-agency-standards-inspectorate_prohibited_people_list__4_.pdf
The table below sets out the number of people the EAS prohibited following inspections in the past five years:
|
Year |
Total number of prohibitions |
|
2010/11 |
8 |
|
2011/12 |
0 |
|
2012/13 |
2 |
|
2013/14 |
0 |
|
2014/15 |
1 |
One of the prohibitions above relates to a person who operated a supply teachers agency.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he intends to answer the letter to him dated 19 November 2015 with regard to Mr R Short.
Alistair Burt
I responded to the hon. Member’s letter of 19 November 2015 on 21 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to provide immediate legal advice, without cost, to former service personnel required to submit to an interview about allegations related to past service during the Troubles.
Penny Mordaunt
In accordance with its normal policy, the Department funds the provision of legal advice to current or former Service personnel whose conduct in the course of their duties in Northern Ireland is being investigated by the police with a view to possible prosecution. This support includes the services of a barrister wherever necessary. The support will be available from the point at which the individual is notified that the police wish to interview him or her as a suspect, which will of course be before any charge, and will continue until the determination of the proceedings. In addition, the Department works closely with Regimental Associations and other Service and veterans’ welfare organisations to ensure the provision of appropriate pastoral support.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he is making to (a) the UN and (b) his Thailand counterpart on the detention of Pakistani Christians fleeing religious persecution in Thailand despite being UN-registered asylum seekers.
Mr Hugo Swire
We are concerned about the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. We continue to work with the UNHCR in Thailand on a wide range of refugee issues. However, Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Once any form of legal immigration status expires, refugees and asylum claimants may be deemed to be in Thailand illegally even if they have registered with the UNHCR. Nonetheless, we have pressed the Thai authorities to apply international humanitarian norms and standards when handling these vulnerable groups. We are also working with the Thai authorities to improve conditions of detention.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent increases in the number of non-natural deaths in prisons; and what plans they have to improve mental health support for those in prison who are at risk of suicide.
Lord Faulks
Every death in custody is a tragedy. We are taking forward a wide range of work to reduce violence and the use of drugs, including new psychoactive substances, in prisons and to address the levels of suicide and self-harm.
All deaths in prison custody are subject to a police investigation, an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO), and a Coroner’s inquest. We are committed to learning from these investigations to inform the approach of both health and custodial services in identifying and supporting prisoners at risk.
All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harming themselves. The Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has recently reviewed compliance with the ACCT process and is working to implement the recommendations, which include improvements to multi-disciplinary working between prison and clinical mental health staff.
NHS England is implementing new prison clinical information systems which will improve the availability of clinical information to staff in prisons from the early days in custody.
In addition, the government has initiated a cross departmental Mental Health Taskforce, tasked with developing integrated mental health service pathways in the least restrictive settings and aimed at providing support and intervention to those in need of help at the earliest opportunity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 34978, what resources his Department plans to allocate to local authorities in Northamptonshire to develop their capacity to deal with flash floods in the next three years.
James Wharton
The Government provides funding to lead local flood authorities to carry out their duties in relation to managing and co-ordinating local flood risk under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Local flood risk includes surface water run off. Previously this was paid through a special grant by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. In 2016-17 this funding transferred into the Local Government Finance Settlement, which distributes Revenue Support Grant to local authorities.
Revenue Support Grant is an unringfenced grant. We have however protected the visibility of a number of named elements of funding within the Local Government Finance Settlement, including funding for lead local flood authorities, in order to signal the priority we attach to these issues and encourage local prioritisation.
This funding will be supplemented by a new section 31 grant to ensure that these elements of funding for lead local flood authorities are protected in real terms in each year of the Parliament. Ultimately it is up to each local authority to set its budget taking into account local priorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many coroners’ reports in the last five years have cited over-prescribing by online pharmacies as a (a) cause and (b) contributory cause of death; and what action the Government has taken as a result of those reports.
Caroline Dinenage
Until 31 March 2013 the Ministry of Justice published twice yearly updates on coroners’ reports to prevent future deaths. The relevant information can be found in the links below to the four reports which cover the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2013:
Reports since 1 April 2013 are posted on the Chief Coroner’s website at https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/related-offices-and-bodies/office-chief-coroner/pfd-reports/
Any review of the law relating to the operation of on-line prescribing would be the responsibility of the Department of Health.
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