Category: Speeches

Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the outcomes were of Chief Constable David Shaw’s review of the publication of taser data and other use of force by police officers; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the findings and recommendations of that review.

Mike Penning

Data is not recorded centrally on the number of times the police have deployed Taser devices on psychiatric wards. A Taser record is completed by police officers each time a Taser is used. However, this record does not currently show the detailed geographical or type of location.

Police Use of Taser statistics are published by the Home Office and most recently on 28 April 2016. These provide a snapshot of Taser use.

We have been very clear that the public need greater transparency and that is why the Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to lead an in-depth review of the publication of Taser data and other use of force by police officers.

The review recommended that the police record and publish the ethnicity, age, location and outcome of all serious use of force by police officers, including physical restraint and Taser. Pathfinder forces started to collect this data from April this year, and it is anticipated that the collection will form part of the 2017-18 Home Office Annual Data Return.

A copy of Chief Constable David Shaw’s review will be placed in the House library. The review contained no data on the number of times the police have used Taser in mental health settings.

01/01/2023
The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to negotiate extending reciprocal social security arrangements to overseas countries so as to facilitate an annual increase in the state pension for British citizens who retire to those countries.

Lord Freud

The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so – for example in countries where a reciprocal agreement is in place that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this or to assess the impact of British citizens’ choosing to retire abroad.

01/01/2023
Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has established to safeguard 16 and 17 year olds who are victims of sexual exploitation.

Karen Bradley

Tackling child sexual exploitation is a top priority for this Government. Significant progress has been made since the launch of the “Tackling CSE” report in March 2015. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to collaborate across force boundaries, to safeguard children, to share intelligence and to share best practice. All forces are training all police staff to respond to child sexual abuse, including call handlers, PCSOs, police officers, detectives and specialist investigators. And in January we will be launching a new national whistleblowing helpline for any employee – regardless of sector -to report bad practice in relation to child abuse. We have delivered the vast majority of a £7 million funding programme to support non-statutory organisations that have experienced a surge in demand on their services. This funding is to support the victims and survivors of sexual abuse, including children of all ages.

01/01/2023
Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evidence his Department holds on the prevalence of off-label prescribing among (a) specialist clinicians, (b) GPs, (c) nurses and (d) other medical professionals.

George Freeman

The Department does not hold the information requested. The Health and Social care Information Centre has published information on prescribing data by British National Formulary chapter.

Where clinically appropriate, off-label prescribing is supported in guidance given to prescribers by both the General Medical Council and by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Prescribing in this way is part and parcel of normal every day clinical practice. It is very common in paediatric and palliative care.

Discussions relating to the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill are considering how a potential database covering off-label use could be constituted.

01/01/2023
Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what statistical information his Department holds on the age, gender, ethnic group and religious identification of people in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold this information. We consult a number of published sources, including the Government of Bahrain and those from international organisations such as the United Nations and World Bank.

01/01/2023

Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who applied to university in each of the last six years.

Joseph Johnson

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on application and entry rates for full-time undergraduate courses.

The tables show the proportion of 18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds who applied to university by the main January deadline (application rate) and the proportion of 18 year olds that accepted a place during a UCAS application cycle (entry rate).

Table 1: Application rates for English 18 year olds from POLAR3 quintile 1 areas (for entry in year)
2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
15.2%	18.0%	18.6%	17.9%	18.9%	20.4%	21.0%	22.0%

Table 2: Entry rates for English 18 year olds from POLAR3 quintile 1 areas (for entry in year)
2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
13.6%	14.2%	15.1%	15.1%	16.4%	17.8%	18.5%

Notes:

Data published by UCAS covers full-time undergraduate applications. Table 1 shows the application rates by the main January deadline.
Data for entry rates in Table 2 include acceptances across the whole application cycle.
Disadvantage is measured by POLAR quintile 1 an area based measure of low participation.
Source of data for application rates: UCAS ‘Application rates by the January Deadline’ report for the 2016 cycle (underlying data for Figure 14) – published in February 2016.
Source of data for entry rates: UCAS ‘2015 End of Cycle’ report (underlying data for Figure 65) – published in December 2015.

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01/01/2023

Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-03-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individuals recorded in (a) HM Revenue and Customs’ and (b) the Department of Work and Pension’s computer systems who were nationals of another EEA member country at time of registration for a National Insurance (NI) number and are recorded as having arrived in the last four years using the earlier of his or her arrival date or NI number registration date have either (i) paid NI contributions over the previous year, (ii) paid PAYE income tax over the previous year and (iii) claimed benefits or tax credits over the previous year.

Mr David Gauke

I refer the honourable members to the recent HMRC release.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-credit-statistics-on-eea-nationals

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01/01/2023
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevenson of Balmacara on 2016-03-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the not-for-profit company that sets and co-ordinates the 11 plus exam in Buckinghamshire is subject to the public sector equality duty.

Lord Nash

The Department for Education holds no responsibility for the 11 plus exams. These are commercial products which local authorities and independent schools implement at their discretion.

The 11 plus exam, or newly-named ‘Transfer Test’, in Buckinghamshire is developed by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at the University of Durham, which is an independent educational supplier. Private and voluntary organisations are subject to the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 when they carry out public functions. The duty may therefore apply to CEM’s public functions only, but the Department cannot advise on this.

01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many UK seafarer (a) officers and (b) ratings employed in the offshore supply vessel sector have been made redundant in each month since June 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill

We do not hold this information.

01/01/2023
Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what research and development her Department is funding into the potential role of agroforestry in improving soil health and condition and prevention of erosion.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Department for International Development supports a number of research programmes that assess the use of agroforestry to promote soil health and prevent as well as reduce erosion. This includes, for example, work with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the global Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research programme (CCAFS).

My Department also supports a wide range of development programmes with agro-ecological components, from agroforestry, soil and water conservation, land use management to climate resilience and conservation agriculture. These include, for example, The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), and Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED). The full range of our programmes can be found on our Development Tracker website.

01/01/2023