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  • Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial assistance they provide to charities and NGOs in Israel.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We currently supply funding for projects delivered by twelve non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem); ten through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund and two through the Bilateral Programme Budget. The following ten Israeli NGOs deliver projects through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund: The Peres Centre for Peace; Injaz – Centre for Professional Arab Local Governance; Kids Creating Peace; Yesh Din; Gisha; Peace Now; Terrestrial Jerusalem; The International Peace and Cooperation Centre; Rabbis for Human Rights; and the Jerusalem Community Advocacy Network. We also fund projects delivered by the following NGOs through the Bilateral Programme Budget: Burj Al Luqluq Youth Centre and Silwan Youth Centre.

  • Lord McKenzie of Luton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord McKenzie of Luton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McKenzie of Luton on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve health and safety risk management skills in the construction sector.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government’s role in Health and Safety is to set the framework in which companies have to operate. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 sets out general duties that employers owe to their employees. This is supplemented by more tailored regulations embodying the requirement to assess risks and identify measures required to deal with them. These include the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015, which integrate health and safety into the management of construction projects throughout the entire supply chain.

    In addition to the general framework for health and safety law, the Health and Safety Executive regulates health and safety in hazardous industries, including construction, through the use of permissioning regimes. These regimes include those set out in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

    Safety requirements for the sector are established by construction employers and representative bodies. Many of the requirements are embedded in qualifications, training courses and basic health and safety tests required by the sector to obtain skills cards, such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme. Courses such as the Site Supervisors’ Safety Training Scheme are endorsed by Build UK as the standard training for all supervisors working on member sites.

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what special steps have been taken to give better effect to Dublin III’s family reunion provisions in Italy and Greece, and what further steps they plan to take.

    Lord Bates

    As announced on 28 January the Government will provide further resources to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), to help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy to identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU. We will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation and have UK experts currently deployed in the Greek and Italian Dublin units to assist with the process and transfer of anyone eligible under family unity provisions contained in the Regulation. We continue to liaise closely with EASO to identify and provide resource where it is needed.

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent from the public purse on defending the case The Queen on the application ZAT, IAJ, KAM, AAM, MAT, MAJ and LAM v Secretary of State for the Home Department, and how much they estimate will be spent on their appeal.

    Lord Bates

    The Secretary of State’s legal costs currently stand at £53,747.82. It is not possible to estimate how much will be spent on the appeal at this juncture.

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been deported by the UK to each EU country under the terms of Dublin III per year since that Regulation came into force.

    Lord Bates

    The Dublin III Regulation came into force on 1 January 2014. The table below indicates the number of removals per EU country in that time.

    Dublin Convention III returns to EU countries (2010 to 2015)

    The number of removals under Dublin Convention III regulation for 2010-2015 as indicated by our records are shown in the table below.

    Destination of Return

    2014

    2015

    Austria

    20

    35

    Belgium

    35

    35

    Bulgaria

    *

    15

    Croatia

    5

    *

    Cyprus

    *

    *

    Czech Republic

    *

    *

    Denmark

    *

    10

    Estonia

    0

    0

    Finland

    *

    *

    France

    20

    40

    Germany

    20

    45

    Greece

    0

    0

    Hungary

    10

    30

    Ireland

    40

    40

    Italy

    80

    150

    Latvia

    0

    0

    Lithuania

    *

    *

    Luxembourg

    0

    0

    Malta

    5

    *

    Netherlands

    10

    15

    Norway

    10

    10

    Poland

    *

    *

    Portugal

    0

    *

    Romania

    *

    *

    Slovakia

    *

    5

    Slovenia

    *

    0

    Spain

    5

    5

    Sweden

    10

    15

    Switzerland

    15

    5

    Totals 285 455

    NOTE “*” represents figures below 3.

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the most common three grounds for refusing a take charge request since Dublin III came into force.

    Lord Bates

    The Dublin III Regulation came into force on 1 January 2014. The 3 most common reasons for the refusal of take charge requests by the UK have been Articles 6.5 and 8 (both of which relate to the legal presence of a qualified relative of the minor in another Member State) and Article12.4 (which requires the Member State to take charge following the expiry of certain residence and entry visas).

  • Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many take charge requests the UK has received from each EU country per year since Dublin III came into force; how many of those were successful; how many involved minors; and how many of those requests involving minors were successful.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to reinforce the Royal Navy’s operations in the Aegean Sea in order to save more lives and to arrest more traffickers.

    Earl Howe

    I refer the noble Lord to the statement I made to this House on Monday 7 March (Official Report, column 1079). The Royal Navy has deployed Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Mounts Bay and a Wildcat helicopter to support NATO activity in the Aegean Sea. These will work alongside three Home Office vessels: VOS Grace, which has been deployed since November; the cutter Protector, which is en route to the region; and a further cutter that is expected to start operations later this month.

    In addition to RFA Mounts Bay, there are five NATO ships on station at the moment. Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Turkey have each deployed a ship.

    NATO ships will provide information to enable Greek and Turkish civilian authorities to intercept migrant vessels and arrest traffickers. It is not an interdiction or search and rescue operation, but RFA Mounts Bay would give assistance to any vessel it found in distress, in accordance with international obligations.

    With regards to sufficiency, we note the substantial contribution being made by the UK and other members of NATO, but we always look to see what further contributions members of the Alliance can make.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress as regards refugees and migrants they are seeking from the planned France–UK, internal EU, EU–Turkey and UNHCR meetings; and whether they will report to Parliament on the results of those meetings.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Government has regular discussions with EU and non-EU partners on refugees and migration. The Government’s consistent focus is on securing a durable and comprehensive solution to the current migration crisis, which tackles the causes of migration as well as the consequences. The UK-France Summit Communiqué contains information on our bilateral cooperation in this area. The Government will report the details of all relevant meetings to Parliament as appropriate.

  • Lord Bradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Bradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2016-03-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individual prisoner screening assessments for learning disabilities were undertaken in each prison in England in each of the last five years.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is currently auditing prison screening for learning disabilities, but this information is not collected centrally at present.