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  • Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the implications of its decision to remove border staff at the ports of Stranraer and Cairnryan for UK security.

    James Brokenshire

    The ferry crossings between Stranraer, Cairnryan and Northern Ireland are domestic routes and are therefore not subject to immigration border controls.

    Home Office Immigration Enforcement in Northern Ireland and Police Scotland work in close partnership to detect illegal migrants who are already in the UK and travelling on these ferries. Detections have increased year on year since the current partnership arrangement was introduced in 2011.

  • Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Government’s immigration policies on the number of international students enrolling in UK universities.

    James Brokenshire

    We have an excellent offer for international students who wish to study at our world-leading institutions and there remains no limit on the number who can do so. As a result, the UK remains the second most popular destination in the world for international higher education students, and our excellent universities continue to attract large volumes of overseas students.

    Annual visa applications from international students to study at British universities are now 17 per cent higher than they were in 2010, with visa applications to our elite Russell Group universities up by 39 per cent since 2010.

    The most recent figures produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency also show a 6 per cent increase in the number of full-time non-EU new enrolments to UK higher education institutions between 2012/13 and 2013/14.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s target is for time taken to respond to letters and emails from hon. Members; what the average time taken by her Department to respond to such letters and emails is; and how many such letters and emails received between 1 January and 30 September 2015 remained unanswered after eight weeks.

    Karen Bradley

    Target times for replying to correspondence from hon. Members differ in operational and non-operational areas of the Home Office. Information for the period 1 January to 30 September 2015 is included in the attached table. Across the department correspondence unanswered after eight weeks is approximately 0.3% of that received.

    Volume

    Target

    Average response time

    Unanswered after 8 weeks

    UK Visas and Immigration, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force

    25,111

    20 working days

    9 working days

    21

    Home Office HQ

    4,608

    15 working days

    11 working days

    78

    HM Passport Office

    2,522

    15 working days

    12 working days

    2
  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of those listed in table P.04 of the September 2015 Statistical Bulletin 04/15, Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation: Arrests, outcomes and stop and search, Great Britain, financial year ending 31 March 2015, were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of offences.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Home Office does not hold the requested information on the number of persons in custody for terrorism-related offences and domestic extremism/separatism who were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of offences, broken down by self-declared religion.

    Table P.02 of the statistical bulletin ‘Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation: Arrests, outcomes, and stop and search, Great Britain, quarterly update to September 2015’ contains statistics on the number of persons in custody for terrorism-related offences and domestic extremism/separatism by type of prisoner. This includes those who have been remanded, convicted, as well as deportation cases, broken down by self-defined ethnicity.

  • Fiona Mactaggart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Mactaggart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons she selected St Mary’s University, Twickenham, to host a specialist international centre for research into modern slavery and human trafficking; and whether any other institution was considered for this role.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government welcomes research into modern slavery, including the work that St Mary’s University is undertaking on behalf of the Santa Marta Group. The Home Office has no record that either Ministers or its officials played any part in the selection process.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what level of co-operation there is between the National Crime Agency and authorities in the Republic of Ireland on combatting organised criminal activities taking place between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

    Mike Penning

    The Common Travel Area between the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies and the free movement of goods within the EU mean that close liaison and co-operation between UK and Irish law enforcement partners against serious and organised crime is both vital and valued by both sides. The National Crime Agency has dedicated resources currently working with Irish law enforcement agencies to tackle the threat from organised crime that affects both our countries.

    On 17 November 2015, the Northern Ireland Office published ‘A Fresh Start: The Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan’. The National Crime Agency will be involved in discussions with the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Office, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and Immigration Enforcement in relation to the implementation of the agreement.

  • Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government plans to phase increases to funding for NHS England over the next five years; and what the Barnett consequentials of decisions on such phasing will be.

    Alistair Burt

    The Spending Review announced on 25 November the level of funding that the NHS in England would receive by 2020-21. The NHS will be receiving £10 billion more per year in real terms by 2020-21 than in 2014-15, which fully funds the NHS’ own plan – the ‘Five Year Forward View’. £6 billion of that £10 billion will be delivered by 2016-17. This is set out in the attached table.

    The exact budget profile for NHS England will be set out in the Mandate to NHS England, due to be published shortly.

    Under the Barnett Formula, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive a population-based proportion of changes in planned spending on comparable United Kingdom Government services in England. Changes in each devolved administration’s spending allocation, is determined by:

    – the quantity of the change in planned spending in departments of the United Kingdom Government; and

    – the extent to which the relevant United Kingdom programme is comparable with the services carried out by each devolved administration and each country’s population proportion.

    The allocation of public expenditure between the services, including health, under the control of the devolved administrations is for the devolved administrations to determine.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust services.

    Jane Ellison

    The Chief Inspector of Hospitals Inspection within the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May 2014 rated the Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust as “Requires Improvement”. In 2015 the CQC rated the Trust as ‘Inadequate’. The Trust is urgently implementing the action recommended.

    In addition, the Trust is actively engaged with the Emergency Care Improvement Programme to ensure that the Trust can deliver the accident and emergency standard by March 2016.

  • Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing the national living wage into social care from April 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    These estimates are a matter for HM Treasury.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions Ministers of his Department have had with Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group about providing a polyclinic in the eastern part of the London Borough of Harrow; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    There have been no discussions between Health Ministers and Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on this matter.

    NHS England has advised us that there are already two practices offering walk-in appointments in the west of the Harrow CCG area. We understand that the CCG is planning to establish a third primary care hub with the same service specification in the east of the Borough.