Category: Speeches

Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Attorney General, how many Crown Prosecution Service staff worked on (a) referrals for suspected non-compliance with minimum wage legislation and (b) prosecutions for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland

All cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the purposes of considering a prosecution for an offence contrary to national minimum wage legislation, are dealt with by the Specialist Fraud Division. The number of people dealing with such cases at any given time depends on the number of cases received and how they are allocated.

01/01/2023
Lord Bruce of Bennachie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bruce of Bennachie on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Ethiopia in the wake of reported deaths following demonstrations in and around Addis Ababa.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government is deeply concerned about the demonstrations in Oromia and reported deaths of a number of students. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development, my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd), raised our concerns with the Ethiopian deputy prime minister on 11 December and urged the authorities to exercise restraint. Our chargé d’affaires repeated this message with the Ethiopian state minister for foreign affairs on 15 December. Our Ethiopia travel advice was updated on 18 December to reflect our concerns about the security situation in the affected areas. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.

01/01/2023
Baroness Kramer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kramer on 2016-01-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total cost of the advertising campaign for the National Living Wage.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The total budget allocated for the National Living Wage advertising campaign is £4.95 million. The campaign will run to the end of April and we expect to come in under budget.

The Government’s new National Living Wage is a step up for working people, so it is important workers know their rights and that employers pay the new £7.20 from April 1 this year. Britain deserves a pay rise and as a One Nation Government we are making sure it gets one. The campaign will tell people about their entitlements and is targeted at employers, and workers currently earning the National Minimum Wage.

01/01/2023
David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests were made to her Department for a change of conditions of leave lifting the condition of no recourse to public funds in financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

James Brokenshire

The data requested is not available for each of the years requested and can only be provided from December 2014. The number of submitted applications for a change of conditions to allow recourse to public funds between December 2014 and 30 September 2015 is as follows:

Period

Number of Applications

December 2014 – March 2015

930

April 2015 – September 2015

1660

This response represents the closest reply that can be provided within the constraints of our data reporting system.

The data provided is considered Management Information and is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of National Statistics.

01/01/2023

Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU members states have won appeals to prevent their deportation in each of the last 10 years.

James Brokenshire

The table below shows the number of EEA foreign national offenders who have won their appeal against deportation over the last 10 years.

Calendar Year	No of Appeals allowed
2006	69
2007	40
2008	35
2009	49
2010	110
2011	121
2012	152
2013	130
2014	83
2015	59
Total	852

(1) All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

(2) A foreign national offender (FNO) is someone who is not a British citizen and has been remanded in custody, convicted, and given a custodial sentence in the United Kingdom for any offence. An FNO can be convicted and have served their sentence while on remand, so may not have been sent to prison.

(3) Figures relate to main applicants only and exclude dependants.

(4) Figures relate to appeals lodged between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2015. Appeal outcomes may have been reached in the same or in subsequent years.

(5) Appeal Allowed figures only show the final appeal outcome and do not include any previous appeal outcomes for that individual case. They include those determined in both the Lower and Upper Tiers.

The table below shows the total number of EEA foreign national offenders removed over last the 10 years.

Calendar Year	EEA FNO Removals
2006	480
2007	523
2008	633
2009	748
2010	933
2011	1,147
2012	1,653
2013	2,121
2014	2,962
2015	3,310

(1) The figures quoted have been derived from management information from the Home Office databases and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

(2) A Foreign National Offender (FNO) is defined as an individual with a criminal case on the Home Office’s Case Information Database, and may include individuals with asylum cases.

(3) Total EEA FNO removals figures relate to those cases that have been deported, administratively removed or voluntarily departed from UK.

01/01/2023

Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29629, if the Government will make it its policy to introduce targeted sanctions against individual members of the Maldivian government if the recommendations of the Commonwealth Action Group are not implemented in the next 12 months.

Mr Hugo Swire

Following its meeting on 20 April, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) set a revised deadline of September for clear and measurable progress to be delivered in the six areas of concern, identified at their previous meeting in February. It will be for CMAG to assess what progress has been made by September and to decide what collective action may be required. If CMAG assesses sufficient steps have not been taken, the UK will carefully consider appropriate bilateral action to help support reform efforts in the Maldives.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is making to help prevent the displacement of Bedouin people in southern Israel; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have been encouraging the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to find a satisfactory solution to this issue, respecting the equality of all of Israel’s citizens.

01/01/2023
Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lingfield on 2016-07-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to address delays in the production of education, health and care plans in cases where (1) plans are produced by a local authority outside the timescale specified in regulations, and (2) plans are not produced for the start of a new school or academic year where a young person is transferring to a new stage of education at the age of (a) 16, and (b) 18.

Lord Nash

Local authorities are responsible for fulfilling the statutory duties on special educational needs (SEN) and disability placed upon them by the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice. This legal framework sets out clearly the process and timescales for producing Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans; and the process for determining the school placement of children and young people with EHC plans.

Local authorities must issue final EHC plans within 20 weeks of commencing an assessment. Data published in May showed that 59.2% of EHC plans were issued on-time, excluding exception cases. Some areas are managing 100%. We have emphasised to local authorities that, where there are delays, they need to communicate clearly about them with families.

The SEND Code of Practice is clear that EHC plans must be issued in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education, to allow for planning and, where necessary, commissioning of support and provision at the new institution. The Children and Familes Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2014, as amended by the Children and Families Act 2014 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2015, require local authorities to prioritise the review of statements of SEN or Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for children and young people approaching the end of an educational phase.

Young people aged 19-25 are only able to draw on high needs funding from the Education Funding Agency where they have an EHC plan. Because some local authorities may not complete all the necessary transfers from LDAs to EHC plans by 1 September, EFA-funded institutions can continue to deliver programmes to 19-25 year olds where the young person has a Learning Difficulty Assessment and is receiving high needs funding, and where the local authority is in the process of an EHC assessment but has not finalised the EHC plan.

The Department does not set targets for the performance of individual local authorities. The Department monitors very closely nationally-published data on local authority performance on SEN and disability and provides support and challenge as appropriate.

01/01/2023
Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost of the NHS Citizen scheme has been to date; and what assessment he has made of its success since its creation.

Mr Philip Dunne

A total of £4.2 million has been spent on the NHS Citizen programme in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and the programme has a budget of £1.3 million for 2016/17.

The Department’s annual assessment of NHS England in 2015-16 states that NHS England has made good progress against its duties to involve patients and the public. In the Department’s previous assessment, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State praised the positive work of the NHS Citizen programme and how it is building on its strong brand by expanding activity to ensure that Citizen Voice is locked into NHS England priority delivery areas and in the development of Sustainability and Transformation Plans.

01/01/2023
Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what weighting was given to the (a) disciplinary records of and (b) number of signatures of ongoing complaints against bidders in the procurement process for legal aid duty solicitor contracts.

Mr Shailesh Vara

13 temporary staff were employed through the Brook Street Agency and a Crown Commercial Services Recruitment framework and were selected by the Legal Aid Agency and interviewed by permanent members of staff to ensure their suitability. These individuals made up 19% of the overall assessment team. In addition contracts were entered into with legal practices to provide additional resource.

The key criteria for employment were analytical skills and the ability to conduct a qualitative assessment. A legal or procurement background was considered an advantage but not essential, given that they would be supervised by permanent staff from the Legal Aid Agency.

The procurement was undertaken in line with the Public Contract Regulations and applicant organisations were required to pass a number of stages of assessment in order to be considered suitable to hold a duty provider contract. The criteria against which organisations were assessed is set out in the Information For Applicants which govern this procurement process.

01/01/2023

Period	Number of Applications
December 2014 – March 2015	930
April 2015 – September 2015	1660