UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will establish a treatment programme to support the rehabilitation of young Yazidi and other women.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is committed to supporting the victims of Daesh’s brutality. Through our Human Rights and Democracy Fund we are supporting a project that offers survivors of sexual violence, including from the Yezidi community, access to health and psychiatric support. This project plans to reach 2,400 women across Erbil, Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk and Zakho. We have also translated the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict into Kurdish, to build further the capacity of Kurdish human rights, justice and healthcare professionals to respond to and document these crimes.

    We are providing £750,000 to help implement Iraq’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to support women’s involvement in conflict resolution and the response to gender-based violence. More widely, the UK is providing £79.5 million to the humanitarian response in Iraq. This assistance is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including the most vulnerable groups, such as Yezidis. All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity.

  • Lord Moynihan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Moynihan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2016-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in carrying out its assignment in Russia on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency, UK Anti-Doping has at any time (1) been asked for 30 days’ notice of tests by Russian authorities; (2) disputed payments for doping control officers; or (3) faced customs delays preventing the transport of blood samples to laboratories outside Russia within the 48-hour window needed for accurate testing or at any time been unable to match the tests being undertaken by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency to Russian athletes; and if so, on which occasions those events occurred.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    UK Anti-Doping has not been asked to provide 30 days’ notice by Russian authorities. UK Anti-Doping is not involved in the contractual agreement between the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and sample collection agencies. This would be a matter for RUSADA and the World Anti-Doping Agency. While UK Anti-Doping has encountered challenges due to customs delays, it does not discuss details of its testing programmes as doing so might undermine what it is trying to achieve and the processes involved.

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passenger interviews were undertaken with people of each (a) ethnicity, (b) religion and (c) nationality by UK Border Agency officials at each UK airport in the last five years; and whether each of those passengers was permitted to continue their journey after that interview.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Data on the number of interviews carried out at port is not available centrally. However, there is information already in the public domain on those who are subject to an intervention at the border and refused entry ie not permitted.

    This information can found via the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 12 October (HL Deb, col 1996), whether they will clarify when the noble Lords can expect to receive written responses to the points they raised during the debate.

    Lord Ashton of Hyde

    A letter was sent to the Noble Lord and deposited in the House of Lords Library on Thursday 21st October.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to improve broadband services in urban areas (a) generally and (b) for small and medium-sized businesses in 2015-16.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Access to broadband is of vital importance to small and medium-sized businesses, which is why the Government-funded Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has provided over 50,000 small and medium sized enterprises with access to high speed broadband.83 per cent of homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband services, and thanks to the Government’s investment in the superfast broadband rollout, this is set to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government is supportingseven pilot projects exploring options for delivering superfast broadband services to the hardest to reach parts of the UK.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what her policy is on extending the time in which women may take a pregnancy and maternity discrimination case against their employers to a tribunal from three to 12 months.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government awaits the final report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination and will carefully consider any recommendations from the Equality and Human Rights Commission before deciding on next steps.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether an incident of sectarian violence against Protestant families took place in Chiapas, Mexico, on 4 January; and what representations they have made about that incident to the government of Mexico.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While British officials in Mexico City have not yet been in touch with the Mexican authorities on this specific reported incident, our Embassy has for some time been in touch with a range of Mexico and UK-based non-government organisations about discriminatory violence against Protestant families in Chiapas. The most recent reported incident on 4 January seems to suggest an escalation in this violence. Our Embassy also regularly lobbies to ensure the perpetrators of all crimes are brought to justice and that all minority groups are respected and, where appropriate, offered protection.

    We continually raise the issue of freedom of religion or belief in bilateral and multilateral fora. This forms a core part of our human rights work and we frequently raise security and human rights concerns with Mexico. For example, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron); the then Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr Clegg), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), discussed human rights issues during the State Visit of President Enrique Peña Nieto to the UK in March 2015.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the UK’s outstanding public debt obligations are to China.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The majority of the government’s public debt is financed through the issuance of UK government bonds, known as ‘gilts’. Information on sectoral holdings of gilts is published on a quarterly basis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    The latest figures show that £426.9 billion of gilts (25.9% of the total stock) is held by overseas investors, of which £73.3 billion is held by foreign central banks. The government does not hold detailed information on the identity of foreign central banks or other individual investors holding these gilts.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications for consent determined by the Marine Management Organisation have required appropriate assessment of their effect on European wildlife sites since 2010.

    George Eustice

    The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) database was established in April 2011 and accurate data for marine licence applications determined by the MMO are limited to post 1 April 2011. However, I can confirm that since April 2011:

    • 50 fully determined marine licence applications have required an appropriate assessment;
    • 151 fully determined marine licence applications have required an environmental impact assessment;
    • 44 marine licence applications have been refused; and,
    • 3,849 fully determined marine licence applications have been approved, including 1,848 variations to an existing marine licence.
  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to fit airborne collision avoidance systems to Puma helicopters.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I can confirm that Traffic Advisory Systems are currently being installed in all Puma Mk2 aircraft, and this work is due to be completed by the end of March 2017.