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  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance and support her Department is providing to refugees based in Turkey; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Turkey hosts almost 2.1 million refugees from Syria, the highest number of refugees of any country in the region surrounding Syria. We commend the generosity that Turkey has shown towards those fleeing the conflict in Syria. The UK has allocated £34 million to support Syrian refugees in Turkey, including food, shelter and primary healthcare. The UK is also working in partnership with Turkish institutions on targeted projects to build their capacity to tackle irregular migration. The EU is currently working in partnership with the Turkish government to explore options for increased support to Turkey. The UK is engaged in this process.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential role of agroecology in African rural development.

    Grant Shapps

    Agro ecological approaches have an important role to play in specific contexts, including in Africa, but DFID does not prescribe technical approaches centrally. The best approaches for interventions are identified in consideration of the specific context of implementation. DFID is supporting a wide range of programmes with agro-ecological components, from soil and water conservation and land use management to climate resilience and conservation agriculture. On the research front, DFID supports the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research programme as well as the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Research and Learning in Africa. The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme supports farmers to adapt agricultural systems to be climate resilient. The full range of our programmes can be found on our Development Tracker: http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

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  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received of allegations of India blocking foreign aid to Nepal.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We are deeply concerned about the impact of the border blockages and resulting fuel crisis in Nepal. This has affected all sectors of the economy and has affected the humanitarian relief effort and the supply of reconstruction materials.

    The UK has urged all parties to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue. I issued a statement on 13th October expressing concern that much needed humanitarian supplies are yet to reach many people still living in temporary shelter.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to tackle the blockage of foreign aid to Nepal across the Indian border.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We are deeply concerned about the impact of the border blockages and resulting fuel crisis in Nepal. This has affected all sectors of the economy and has affected the humanitarian relief effort and the supply of reconstruction materials.

    The UK has urged all parties to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue. I issued a statement on 13th October expressing concern that much needed humanitarian supplies are yet to reach many people still living in temporary shelter.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with local councils on their housing Syrian refugees.

    Richard Harrington

    The expansion of the scheme needs careful and meticulous planning to ensure we get it right. Local authorities will play a vital role as we look to harness the strong offers of support and assistance from across the UK.

    This is a voluntary scheme whereby local authorities sign up to accept refugees on a voluntary basis. We are working closely with those local authorities that have indicated they wish to be involved as well as with the Local Government Association.

  • 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 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 11793, how many full-time equivalent staff her Department allocated to responding to North West of England hon. Members’ enquiries on their constituents’ immigration issues on 1 September (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    As stated in my previous reply of 22 October to Question 11793, it is not possible to provide the Hon. Member with all the information requested as it is not readily available or held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

    UKVI requires many of its staff, as part of their roles, to contribute to dealing with immigration enquiries from Members. This can include providing contributions to Parliamentary Questions, Ministerial briefing or for a Select Committee hearing. Since 1 September 2015, UKVI has had dedicated MP Account Management teams whose job is to handle MP enquiries relating to their constituents.

    The team designated to responding to members from the North West of England has a total of 9.8 full-time equivalent staff.

    Other members of staff will also contribute to the preparation of responses.

    The North West MP Account Manager team has performed at a high level and the results will shortly be seen following via the Member of Parliament satisfaction survey results which will soon appear on the Gov.uk website.

    Published statistics confirm that UKVI’s overall service to Members has continually exceeded its service standard since Q4 2014. The Hon. Member can access this information at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-august-2015.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with shooting organisations on the cost of firearm licences.

    Mike Penning

    There have not been any recent Ministerial discussions with shooting organisations on the cost of firearm licences.

    Following a public consultation on a proposal to increase firearms licensing fees, a new fee structure was introduced in Great Britain on 6 April 2015.

    The Firearms Fees Working Group will be reconvened in the New Year to oversee the first annual review and representative members will be invited to attend.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of senior civil servants from her Department are from a lower socio-economic background.

    Karen Bradley

    In September 2014, the Government published data on the socio-economic status of recent entrants to the SCS:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/359079/socialmobility_revised.pdf

    There is an ongoing review into the most effective and appropriate definition for social mobility which we will align with in future years. This work is being led by The Bridge Group, a charitable policy association promoting social mobility, as part of research they are undertaking on social mobility in the Fast Stream. The Outcome of this review will also inform future data collection on socio-economic status more widely and assist us in our further efforts to increase representation of people from less well-off backgrounds at all levels within the civil service.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants of her Department are members of trades unions; how many working hours of facility time are taken by such civil servants; and what estimate she has made of the cost of that facility time to her Department.

    Karen Bradley

    Trade union membership is a matter between the individual member and their trade union. We do not hold current details of the number of staff within the Home Office who subscribe to a trade union.

    We provide quarterly returns to the Cabinet Office on the number of staff who are trade union representatives and who take paid facility time and the associated cost to the Department. These are then published as transparency data on Gov.uk. The last published data, covering the quarter from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014, shows that the cost to the Department of facility time for 334 union representatives was 0.08% of the total paybill, which is within the Cabinet Office guideline of 0.1% of paybill.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ronnie Cowan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many spousal visa applications in which the sponsoring partner resided in Scotland have been (a) submitted and (b) refused in each year since 2012.

    James Brokenshire

    Information relating to the residence of sponsors is not available from centrally collated statistical databases, and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost by examination of tens of thousands of individual case files.