The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he had with the President of the French Republic on Anglo-French co-operation on nuclear weapons during his visit to France on 3 March 2016.
Mr David Cameron
President Hollande and I discussed our shared interest in building on our strong bilateral defence co-operation, but on this occasion, did not discuss nuclear weapons issues in any detail.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how he plans to assess the effectiveness of the recent campaign to encourage people to make a will.
Dominic Raab
My Department has evaluated the Choice not Chance campaign which ran in England and Wales during March 2015 with the aim of promoting the use of wills, lasting powers of attorney and organ donation. We consider the campaign was successful in promoting the making of wills. We were unable to obtain figures for wills made during the campaign but the campaign page on gov.uk received 3,515 views and 19 campaign tweets resulted in 1,268 “click throughs” for more information. Further, the question of making a will is often considered at the same time as the question of making a lasting power of attorney. During the campaign 35,525 lasting powers were made (a 42% increase over the corresponding period in 2014) and 85,743 people accessed the online LPA tool (a 66% increase in average page views compared to the previous 6 months). A further success is that our campaign materials continue to be used by practitioners.
The law of succession in Northern Ireland is devolved.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which family courts have a designated safe space for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable individuals.
Mr Shailesh Vara
Safe areas are available for vulnerable victims and witnesses at every venue where the Family Court routinely conducts hearings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal offences were committed on family court premises in each year since 2010.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The information requested is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department’s (a) Senior Civil Servants and (b) core policy civil servants are based in London.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID has 88 Senior Civil Servants (SCS) of which 45 (51%) are based in London. DFID has 225 roles designated as having a policy element of which 139 (62%) are based in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the Government is providing for Yazidi women who have been enslaved by Daesh; and if she will make a statement.
Mr Desmond Swayne
To date, the UK has committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. This assistance is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across Iraq, including the most vulnerable groups, such as Yazidis. All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity.
The UK is the largest donor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund which, amongst other projects, has funded specialist protection and rehabilitation for escapees of Daesh terror in Iraq.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what guidance her Department has issued to the (a) Ministry of Defence and (b) Home Office on international humanitarian law on UK operations in the Mediterranean.
Mr Desmond Swayne
UK military forces operating in the Eastern Mediterranean are subject to rules of engagement which ensure compliance with international law. DFID does not in general issue guidance on international humanitarian law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will publish the memoranda of understanding between her Department and the Ministry of Defence on international humanitarian law.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID does not have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Defence on International Humanitarian Law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that Members of Parliament are providing good value for money in communications to their constituents using franked House of Commons envelopes.
Tom Brake
Under the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament, Members are personally responsible and accountable for the way they use resources provided at public expense. The House of Commons provides each Member with prepaid envelopes and stationery up to a value of £9,000 a year. In addition, specific rules on prepaid envelopes, available via the Members’ Handbook, preclude their use for communications within Parliament, or for circulars or business, personal or party political purposes. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is responsible for enforcing the rules on the proper use of prepaid envelopes and stationery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what average time was taken by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to complete its complaints process in each year since 2005.
Mike Penning
Home Office officials work closely with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to monitor how they are delivering their objectives. The IPCC provide regular performance information to the Home Office, including information on the timeliness of completed cases, which are scrutinised closely by my officials as part of the business and corporate planning process. The Home office is working with the IPCC to develop appropriate performance measures for 2016-17, including more streamlined public access to IPCC timeliness information.
On 7 March, the Home Secretary announced plans to reform the IPCC’s Governance, to make it more effective and more responsive to the public. These plans were published on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-independent-police-complaints-commission-structure-and-governance We continue to provide additional funding to support the IPCC to expand to deliver an increased volume of timely, high quality investigations. I will ask the IPCC to write to the Honourable Member in response to the request for average times to complete the complaints process, and will ask for this response to be made available in the House Library.