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  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage investment in infrastructure in the north and east of Sri Lanka; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID does not have a bilateral programme with Sri Lanka. However, the UK continues to provide assistance through a share of its contributions to multilaterals working in Sri Lanka, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Inclusive growth is a major thrust of the ADB’s Sri Lanka strategy, with projects that support investment in infrastructure in the north and east of the country, as well as elsewhere.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment has been made of the humanitarian situation in (a) Madaya and (b) other Syrian cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We are seriously concerned about the acute humanitarian situation in Madaya, Rural Damascus. Madaya has been surrounded by regime and allied forces since July 2015, leading to sharply deteriorating conditions for an estimated 40,000 people, most of whom are women and children. Around 20,000 residents currently face life-threatening deprivation of the basics for survival. Prior to 11 January 2016, humanitarian assistance was last delivered on 18 October, as part of a joint UN/ Syrian Arab Red Crescent/ICRC convoy, that provided assistance to Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kefraya under the terms of a ceasefire agreement.

    The UK is deeply concerned that nearly 400,000 people live in besieged areas and roughly 4.5 million in hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Due to constrained humanitarian access, we are unable to provide a systematic and updated picture of humanitarian needs across besieged and hard-to-reach areas. The appalling numbers of people living in besieged areas is indicative of the continued flouting of International Humanitarian Law and disregard for civilian lives by the regime, Daesh and armed groups inside Syria.

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We have provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.

    In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to provide aid to people in (a) Madaya and (b) other cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We also co-sponsored and lobbied hard for the passage of UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which call on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.

    The UK has provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya.

    On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the hard to reach town of Madaya, and the besieged areas of Foah and Kefraya. Two further convoys have been given permission. The convoy is expected to meet survival needs of the 40,000 persons inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya. DFID funding to UN agencies is directly supporting the current convoy with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits.

    The UK worked with partners in the UN Security Council to put humanitarian access in Madaya, and across Syria, on the Security Council’s agenda on Monday 11 January.

    In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her Department’s policy to support the G7 Initiative on Climate Risk Insurance.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK supports the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative and is committed to contributing to meeting the collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

    UK support under the Initiative includes contributions to the African Risk Capacity and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative. In September the Prime Minister announced that the UK would provide at least £5.8 billion of climate finance over the next five years which will include support for climate risk insurance.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what national guidelines her Department provides to police authorities on the closure of motorway lanes in the event of motorway traffic accidents.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office has issued no guidance. How the police handle road traffic incidents is an operational matter for individual police Chief Officers, in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners .

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been granted leave to remain since 2000.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office publishes data on asylum initial decisions in Table as_01 (Asylum data tables Volume 1) of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. A total of 166,445 main applicants have been granted asylum or an alternative form of protection since January 2000. An annual breakdown of this total is provided in the attached table.

    A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics April – June 2015, is available from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have been granted asylum since 2000 have been (a) granted indefinite leave to remain after five years and (b) deported.

    James Brokenshire

    The term ‘deportations’ refers to a legal definition of a specific set of removals. Deportations are a specific subset of removals which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. The deportation order prohibits the person returning to the UK until such time as it may be revoked. Published information on those deported is not separately available. As such, the question has been interpreted as referring to enforced removals. In an enforced removal, it has been established that a person has breached UK immigration laws and / or has no valid leave to remain in the UK. They have declined to leave voluntarily and the Home Office enforces their departure from the UK.

    The tables set out below provide a) asylum-related grants of settlement (indefinite leave to remain) from 2005 and b) the total number of enforced removals of people granted asylum at initial decision, from 2009 to 2014.

    The figures on asylum-related grants of settlement (indefinite leave to remain) relate to grants of settlement following appropriate residence eligibility periods, to individuals previously granted refugee status, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave or exceptional leave to remain. This may include some individuals who receiving asylum-related grants prior to 2000.

    Information on asylum-related grants of settlement and persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK are published in the Home Office’s Immigration Statistics. The latest edition, Immigration Statistics: July to September 2015, is available from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will adjust the points-based visa criteria to reflect differences in regional average income levels.

    James Brokenshire

    Salary requirements form part of the criteria for Tier 2 of the Points Based System for immigration – the skilled work route. For the future, the Government intends that employers should only bring in workers from outside Europe where they have genuine skills shortages or require highly-specialised experts. In June last year, we commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to achieve this, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers.

    Among other things, the MAC was asked to advise on minimum salary levels, and to consider the regional impact of all its recommendations. The MAC has now submitted its advice to the Home Secretary and is expected to publish the report shortly. We will consider the findings carefully.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to allow US border guards to patrol UK airports.

    James Brokenshire

    The US operates border pre-clearance facilities at a number of international airports to allow passengers on flights to the US to clear US customs and immigration controls before they arrive in the US. The US Government seeks to negotiate such arrangements with the relevant UK airports, as any interested airport would need to adapt its operations accordingly. However the introduction of pre-clearance operations would also require approval by the UK Government. We continue to discuss pre-clearance with the US but no formal agreement has yet been reached.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on proposals by the European Commission to establish a EU border guard.

    James Brokenshire

    The proposal for a European Border and Coast Guard builds on provisions of the Schengen aquis in which the UK does not participate; the UK will not therefore be bound by the new regulation. The new proposal will however allow the UK to continue the same arrangements as those we have currently with Frontex, whereby we are able to support operations and other activities with the agreement of the Frontex Management Board on a case by case basis.

    The UK is supportive of steps to increase the security of the external Schengen border – we have a strong interest in effective management of the EU’s external border, not just in combating illegal migration, and cross-border crime but also as part of the EU-wide counter-terrorism effort.