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  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they and the major aid agencies have made for protecting refugees who are still in, or are crossing, south-east Europe this winter.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK has so far provided nearly £16 million to ensure migrants and refugees arriving in and travelling through Europe are provided with warmth, comfort and lifesaving humanitarian support and protection during the winter. DFID is funding humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration, as well as humanitarian NGOs in southern Europe and the Balkans. These organisations are tailoring interventions to meet the needs of children, families and older people. This includes medical assistance, special transport services to help keep families together and support the most vulnerable, referral of children and other vulnerable people to specialised services, and efforts to reunite families that have become separated during their journey. We have also delivered in-kind assistance via the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism. Through this, the UK has provided migrants and refugees in Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia with blankets, sleeping bags and tents so that 11,000 people in each country are provided with warmth and comfort during the winter.

  • Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are changing the availability of podiatric services to diabetics, and if so, based on what criteria.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Podiatry services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups working with local partners and based on the need of the local population, resources available and evidence based practice. These commissioning decisions are informed by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Clinical networks provide opportunity to adopt and disseminate best practice.

  • Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Hamwee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 25 November (HL3549), how many of the family reunion visas scheduled were granted on the basis of exceptional compelling compassionate circumstances outside the Immigration Rules, broken down by country and year.

    Lord Bates

    The number of applications for Family Reunion Visas that were subsequently issued Outside of the Immigration Rules can be found in the table below.

    It is not possible to give a breakdown by country or nationality.

    Year

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Total

    Number of applications granted outside the rules

    77

    30

    18

    12

    137
  • Lord Clark of Windermere – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Clark of Windermere – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clark of Windermere on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what restrictions there are on army officers being selected by a political party as a candidate for an elected post, such as police and crime commissioner.

    Earl Howe

    Members of the regular Armed Forces of the Crown are disqualified from membership of the House of Commons by the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and from election to the European Parliament by the European Parliamentary Act 1978. Such personnel must therefore apply for permission to retire voluntarily or resign or be granted a free discharge from the Service before their formal adoption as a Parliamentary candidate or prospective candidate. Such personnel must complete their last day of service before their formal adoption as a candidate or prospective candidate.

    No regular Service personnel or members of the Reserve Forces when serving on a full time Service commitment or additional duties commitment shall issue an address to electors or in any other manner publicly announce themselves or allow themselves to be publicly announced as a candidate or a prospective candidate for election to:

    UK Parliament, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament or Parliament of the Irish Republic for any Parliamentary constituency;

    the Northern Ireland Assembly or the National Assembly for Wales for any Assembly constituency;

    any legislative assembly of the Commonwealth; or as a

    Police and Crime Commissioner.

    Any person to whom this applies and who desires to stand as a candidate or who seeks election as described above must make an application through normal Service channels to retire voluntarily or to resign or to be granted a free discharge. Such an application should be made as early as possible. Approval of an application will depend on the exigencies of the Service. On leaving the Service, an unsuccessful candidate will have no right to reinstatement. A candidate or prospective candidate must take all steps within his power to ensure that no public announcement of his candidature is made before he has retired, resigned or been discharged.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many families with household incomes (1) over £50,000, and (2) over £100,000, per annum they estimate will benefit from free childcare and at what cost.

    Lord Nash

    The Spending Review announced the largest ever investment in free childcare which will give working families the help they need. From September 2017 we are introducing 30 hours of free childcare a week for the working parents of three- and four-year olds, alongside the existing universal early education entitlement.

    We have introduced an income cap so that, when at least one parent has an income of £100,000 or more, that family will not be eligible to take up the extra free 15 hours. This means that the extra 15 hours of childcare are therefore focused on those working families that most need help with their childcare costs.

    We do not hold information on the household income of the families entitled to free childcare.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many special advisers were employed on 1 November 2009, and at what total annual cost, and what were the figures on 1 November for each year thereafter.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Information on the number and cost of special advisers for 2009 and subsequent years is available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2015 will be published shortly.

  • Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on claimants of the extension of time for personal independence payment reassessments referred to in the OBR forecasts of November 2015; and what steps he is taking to address the concerns of people on disability living allowance whose reassessments will take longer to process as a result.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government is committed to delivering Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a safe and secure way, ensuring that we continue to roll it out to existing recipients of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) based on capacity, to ensure an effective and efficient service for claimants. Full PIP roll out started in July this year in a controlled way, allowing us to test, learn and improve the service before we ramp up at scale. From October, in line with previously published plans, we began the full rollout of PIP nationally. There are no delays in the claiming system and we are currently working at business as usual capacity. Existing DLA claimants are being kept informed about reassessment activity, including when or under what circumstances they may be invited to claim PIP, through a range of communication measures including information provided in the annual uprating letter or through information available on www.gov.uk.

    “

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which faith-based organisations Ministers of his Department have visited since June 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    There has been one visit undertaken by a DWP Minister to a faith-based organisation since June 2015.

    Minister

    Organisation

    Date

    Justin Tomlinson MP

    The Message Trust

    6Th October 2015
  • Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the average salary is of a (a) male and (b) female special adviser in the Government Equalities Office.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The government publishes a list of special advisers in post on an annual basis. This includes information on their pay bands, and information about individuals’ actual salaries. The annual list for 2015 will be published shortly.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what account the Airports Commission took of the concern raised by its expert advisors that the failure to account for high value-added international sectors in measuring the agglomeration benefits of the three shortlisted projects was a significant limitation.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

    The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.