The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support the armed forces is providing to Iraqi forces related to the conflict with Daesh in Falujah.
Penny Mordaunt
As part of Coalition forces, the RAF is conducting airstrikes against Daesh targets in support of ISF operations in Fallujah.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time a person making an initial inquiry claiming social security benefit spent on the telephone in the last 12 months.
Caroline Nokes
The DWP’s benefit claim lines handle calls both enquiring about claiming benefit and making a claim to benefit. The average length of calls to these lines for the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 was 00:12:56. For some benefits, systems require that the data collected includes time spent updating records after the conversation has ended.
Data sources: Operational Management Information System (OPMIS) and data supplied by outsource partners.
Please note this information is derived from the Department’s management information designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. As DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-13.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process used by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in drawing up its advice on appointments to be taken by former Ministers and former civil servants.
Ben Gummer
I refer the honourable gentleman to my answer of 17th October, given in response to PQ 47620.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the present arrangements for the free movement of persons throughout the European Union are appropriate, in the light of the current level of population movement.
Lord Bates
The Prime Minister clearly set out in his speech and his letter to the President of the European Council the issues we are seeking to tackle through the EU reform negotiations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department plans to continue to spend £500 million per year on tackling malaria.
Mr Nick Hurd
The UK Government is committed to remain a world leader in tackling global diseases like malaria.
In the recent Spending Review we announced the Ross Fund, which will provide £1 billion to support research and implementation to tackle malaria and other infectious diseases. This will be one part of DFID’s balanced portfolio of investments in malaria control, delivered through bilateral and multilateral channels, support to health systems and service delivery and support to research.
The UK has pledged a contribution to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria of up to £1 billion between 2014 and 2016, subject to a 10% donor share cap. This will dramatically improve the lives of millions of people, saving approximately 580,000 lives by preventing 8.4m new malaria, HIV and TB infections. Our future contributions to the Global Fund are being considered as part of the Spending Review.
We will lay out further investment plans in the future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many children have died due to accidents related to blind cords in each of the last five years.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on which Royal Navy ships were repairs carried out from March 2011 following the review of electrical and propulsion systems; and what the cost of those repairs was.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, highlighted sixteen recommendations to improve the reliability of the Type 45 Destroyer’s Power and Propulsion system. Fourteen of the recommendations have been completed across the class.
The remaining two recommendations, involving modifications to existing training procedures and documentation, have been incorporated into day to day business.
Implementation of these recommendations has directly contributed to an improvement in reliability.
All but one of the fourteen tasks were implemented under the Type 45 Destroyer Contract For Availability (CFA) arrangement with BAE Systems, at no additional cost to the Ministry of Defence.
The only task not covered under the CFA contract cost a total of £24,000 for the six Type 45 ships.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to (a) China, (b) Laos, (c) Vietnam and (d) Myanmar on the repatriation of North Korean defectors from those countries to North Korea.
Mr Hugo Swire
We regularly raise the treatment of North Korean refugees in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Security Council and the Human Rights Council. We raise our concerns around refoulement regularly at the annual UK-China Human Rights Dialogue and through our Embassy in Beijing. In addition, we work directly with the Chinese authorities on a number of projects to counter human trafficking, which seek to protect the most vulnerable from exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence. We made bilateral representations to Laos in 2013 (see written answer HL950) regarding the refoulement of DPRK refuges. We have not made any specific representations to Vietnam or Burma on DPRK refugees, but we continue to maintain a dialogue on human rights issues with these countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Beresford on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will arrange a meeting between the Photo Marketing Association and the Passport Office to discuss ensuring that future digitally-supplied ID photographs meet International Civil Aviation Organisation compliance standards and are supplied by photographic professionals.
Mike Penning
Photographic requirements for the British passport are set out in www.gov.uk and are fully compliant with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. HMPO does not currently require passport photographs to be supplied by photographic professionals and there are no plans to change this.
The PMA is a member of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) with whom HM Passport Office has been actively discussing our digital services to ensure open and transparent engagement with all photographic providers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Lopresti on 2016-04-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials work in his Department’s Referendum Unit; and what the estimated cost of that unit is.
Mr David Gauke
The Treasury does not have a Referendum Unit. The Treasury is appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe.