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 Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with Kofi Annan and members of the new panel investigating the conflict in Rakhine State in Burma.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
On 15 September, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Honourable Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma), spoke on the phone with Kofi Annan, Chair of the new Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. He commended Mr Annan on his appointment and expressed the UK’s support for the work of the Commission. We welcome State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s initiative in establishing this Commission, whose work will play an important part in providing independent advice on how to resolve intercommunal tensions in Rakhine state.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to (a) maintain and (b) increase real terms funding for marketing of domestic tourism after 2015.
David Evennett
The British Tourist Authority received a very positive Spending Review settlement, with a stable budget over the next four years for both Britain and England activity, an increase in overall GREAT funding and the new £40million Discover England Fund. The Fund will be administered by VisitEngland and will benefit both domestic and international tourism, making it easier for all visitors to book, access and enjoy our tourism offer.
Following the floods caused by storms Desmond and Eva,, £1million has also been provided for a promotional campaign to encourage British families to take holidays in the North of England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2015-12-14.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when HM Revenue and Customs plans to respond to the letter to that body from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 21 October 2015 on Tax credit application, our case reference ZA1147.
Damian Hinds
HMRC replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 16 December 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department were employed to work on human rights in 2014-15; and what the cost of these employees was to the public purse.
Mr Philip Hammond
As I said in my published article marking Human Rights Day, human rights work "is the responsibility of all British diplomats". Calculating the proportion of each UK diplomat’s time spent on human rights work, and their associated cost, would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on recruitment agency fees in each of the last six years.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has made payments to recruitment agencies in the last six years as follows:
|
Calendar Year |
Total Payments |
|
2010 |
£120,905 |
|
2011 |
£143,785 |
|
2012 |
£283,725 |
|
2013 |
£372,937 |
|
2014 |
£583,086 |
|
2015 |
£121,879 |
This expenditure relates to recruitment to the permanent Senior Civil Service across the MOD, including the Trading Funds. It represents the costs of searches, advertisements, response handling, assessment and support to selection panels. The figures do not include expenditure on Contingent Labour, the process used to engage temporary staff through recruitment agency contracts.
Generally, recruitment to the MOD for all grades below the Senior Civil Service is carried out by Defence Business Services who do not make use of external recruitment agencies when appointing MOD Crown Servants. This is not the case in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), which is now a bespoke trading entity. Since 2013, DE&S has made use of agency support in recruiting staff in order to ensure it has access to suitably qualified and experienced personnel to fill specialist vacancies. DE&S expenditure is as follows:
|
Calendar Year |
Total Payments (£ million) |
|
2013 |
1.75 |
|
2014 |
2.0 |
|
2015 |
0.5 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to provide funding for demand-side-response projects in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round.
Andrea Leadsom
No. Demand-side-response projects are not eligible for the CfD. They are supported through the Capacity Market. Details are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/electricity-market-reform-capacity-market
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their plans to strengthen UK contributions of military, police and civilian personnel both in operational activities and at headquarters level of the UN.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Strategic Security and Defence Review sets out the Government’s plan to: double the number of military personnel the UK contribute to UN peacekeeping operations; increase UK law enforcement and civilian experts on UN peace operations and in UN headquarters; and continue to train international peacekeepers.
We are working with the UN to finalise the new military deployments announced in September 2015 by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron). The UK will deploy up to 70 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in Somalia, and 250-300 to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. We will continue to identify and offer policing expertise where UK skills match UN missions’ requirements, with the objective of steadily increasing the number of officers the UK deploys. We will also continue to support British candidates for senior positions in the UN, and deploy civilian staff with relevant expertise to key roles in UN missions and at UN headquarters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with (a) OFGEM and (b) the National Grid on encouraging the construction of new combined cycle gas turbine power stations.
Andrea Leadsom
Ministers and officials are in regular contact with OFGEM and National Grid including in relation to the prospects for new gas power stations.
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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