The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in 2013; and to whom such payments were made.
Mr Shailesh Vara
It would incur a disproportionate cost to obtain this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8612, on female offenders, what steps he is taking to ensure that addressing domestic abuse as a factor associated with offending by women remains a core part of the work of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders.
Caroline Dinenage
The Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board on Female Offenders and its updated membership are set out below.
Board members have considerable understanding of and expertise in addressing factors underlying women’s offending, including domestic abuse, and will take full account of these as the Board takes forward its programme of work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8612, on female offenders, if he will publish the updated membership and terms of reference of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders.
Caroline Dinenage
The Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board on Female Offenders and its updated membership are set out below.
Board members have considerable understanding of and expertise in addressing factors underlying women’s offending, including domestic abuse, and will take full account of these as the Board takes forward its programme of work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in 2014; and to whom such payments were made.
Mr Shailesh Vara
It would incur disproportionate cost to obtain this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department was in each year since 2010.
Mr Shailesh Vara
To obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions the Government has had with the Afghan government on relieving poverty in Afghanistan.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK government played a leading role in the Senior Officials Meeting in Kabul in September 2015 at which a new Mutual Accountability Framework for development and poverty reduction was agreed between the Afghan government and the international community. Several UK Government Ministers have had conversations with their Afghan counterparts recently to discuss issues of mutual interest including poverty reduction.
The UK also holds quarterly development cooperation meetings with the Afghan government to discuss its bilateral aid programme, as well as regular thematic discussions with Afghan ministers and officials.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of (a) the level of humanitarian need and (b) access for the provision of humanitarian support in Yemen.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is now one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. According to the UN, 21 million Yemenis – more than 80% of the population – are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of those, over 6 million people are facing severe food shortages, with households struggling to meet their daily needs. In particular, 1.8 million children require access to life-saving nutrition services. In Hodeidah city alone, UNICEF have warned that 96,000 severely malnourished children are at risk of dying.
The UK is one of the largest donors to the crisis in Yemen and has announced £75 million to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, focused on the most urgent life-saving needs. UK aid is providing vital medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the international humanitarian response.
The conflict has resulted in restrictions on imports of commercial and humanitarian supplies to Yemen and intense fighting on the ground, which has severely constrained access and limited the operational capacity of humanitarian partners across the country. The UK continues to call on all parties to the conflict to facilitate unimpeded and immediate humanitarian access to all people in need in Yemen, and to lift any restrictions on commercial and humanitarian shipping, including of fuel for civilian use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on ensuring police record instances of Islamophobic hate crime.
Karen Bradley
Hate crime has no place in Britain and this government is determined to make further progress to tackle this crime. We have asked police forces in England and Wales to record anti-Muslim hate crime as a specific category in the recorded crime statistics from April 2016. This will help forces to build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to hold them to account. Addressing the harm that Islamophobia causes is a key part of our new Counter-Extremism Strategy which will be published later this month.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will conduct a review of the process for applying for leave to remain in the UK to improve it for applicants.
James Brokenshire
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is committed to continuous improvement in the service it gives to applicants. Current initiatives include greater use of online applications and payments and the development of new digital services. Further opportunities to improve the service for example, working more closely with sponsors (employers and educational institutions) to provide support to customers are under consideration. In April 2015 UKVI as a whole achieved the Customer Service Excellence accreditation which is testament to its focus and progress in this area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum seekers are dispersed and (b) refugees are resident in each (i) local authority and (ii) parliamentary constituency.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office publish figures on the number of asylum applicants living in dispersed accommodation (under Section 95), by local authority, in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The latest release for April-June 2015 is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2015
Figures on Section 95 support by local authority (including those in dispersed accommodation) are published in table as_16q, in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455576/asylum4-q2-2015-tabs.ods
We are unable to provide the number of refugees living in each Local Authority and parliamentary constituency, as once refugee status has been granted the individual is not required to keep the Home Office updated on their current location.