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  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on UK membership of the UN 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK has a proud record of providing protection to those who need it and will continue to do so, in accordance with our obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

    As the Home Secretary said in her speech to the Conservative Party conference, in the longer term we want to work with other countries in the EU and the UN to look at the international definitions of asylum and refugee status.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many single destitute asylum seekers were granted accommodation and support under section 4 of the Immigration and Nationality Act in the last year because they were (a) unable to leave the UK due to medical reasons and (b) taking all reasonable steps to leave the UK; and how many such applications were made within 21 days of that person’s appeal rights being exhausted.

    James Brokenshire

    Our records indicate that a total of 105 destitute asylum seekers were granted accommodation and support under section 4 of the Immigration and Nationality Act in the last year (2015) due to pregnancy, medical reasons or because they were taking all reasonable steps to leave the UK.

    A full breakdown of categories is given below:

    (a) unable to leave the UK due to medical reasons – 42 (including 6 due to late pregnancy)

    (b) taking all reasonable steps to leave the UK – 63

    (c) how many of these applications were made within 21 days of that person’s appeal rights being exhausted:

    – Medical – 1

    – Steps to Leave – 5

    This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce knife crime in Greater Manchester.

    Mr John Hayes

    Tackling knife crime is a priority for this Government. Knife crime offences recorded by the police remain 14% below the level of offences in 2010.

    However we recognise there is always more to do and we are currently reviewing action to be taken on knife crime. We will be setting out the measures in the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy which will be published shortly.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the demolition of the Calais camp known as the jungle on the number of migrants entering into the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK and French Governments have been working closely for many months to address the situation in Northern France, and are committed to resolving it together.

    The Joint Declaration, signed by the Home Secretary and the French Interior Ministry in August 2015, committed both countries to a package of work to improve physical security at the ports, to coordinate the law enforcement response, to tackle the criminal gangs involved in people smug-gling and to reduce the number of migrants in Calais.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers are on duty each night of the week in each division of Greater Manchester Police.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold the requested data centrally. The deployment of a police force’s available workforce is an operational decision for chief officers, in conjunction with their police and crime commissioners.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to announce the outcome of proposals to assist unaccompanied refugee children from conflict regions.

    James Brokenshire

    As announced on 28th January, the Government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to scope the extent of the need to resettle in the UK unaccompanied refugee children in the exceptional cases where it is in the child’s best interests to do so. Discussions with UNHCR are ongoing. It is important that any proposal is considered carefully to ensure it is in the best interests of the children.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the level of human trafficking and exploitation in the UK.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government is taking significant steps forward in tackling the abhorrent crime of modern slavery. We passed the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 which gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to tackle human trafficking and modern slavery, places a duty on large businesses to report on the actions they are taking to prevent modern slavery in their global supply chains and ensures that perpetrators can receive suitably severe sentences of up to life imprisonment.

    We have also enhanced support and protection for those victims of this crime. We have extended the definition for those who are entitled to support under the government-funded victim care contract and we are piloting a new model of the National Referral Mechanism to ensure we have the right processes in place for identifying and supporting victims.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the UK was paid under the European Health Insurance Card scheme for the treatment of UK-registered patients in European Economic Area countries in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The United Kingdom European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) means that people living in the UK are able to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.

    EEA countries reimburse the UK for the cost of the National Health Service providing treatment to EEA EHIC holders, just as the UK reimburses other EEA countries for the cost of them providing healthcare to UK EHIC holders.

    The Department does not hold information on how many people have used their UK EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in another EEA country in any 12 month period. This is because data on UK EHIC usage is recorded by individual treatment episode rather than the card holder.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27614, where the additional funding for children and young people’s mental health services in 2015-16 that was not allocated to clinical commissioning groups has been allocated; how such funding will be spent; and in what ways such funding has been spent to date.

    Alistair Burt

    An ambitious national programme of work is in place to support local transformation. Pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27614 the remaining £68 million is being spent centrally this financial year across the course of this Parliament on workforce and system development to deliver the following:

    ― expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme;

    ― improvements to perinatal mental health care;

    ― investment, centrally in inpatient services for children and young people;

    ― building workforce capability; and

    ― supporting innovation and development of online support.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that psychological therapies are available to deaf people.

    Alistair Burt

    It is the responsibility of local providers and commissioners to make the reasonable adjustments required by the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.

    In order to reduce unacceptable variation in the provision of accessible information and communication support to disabled people, including adult sign readers, NHS England published a statutory accessible information standard. The standard sets out that all organisations providing NHS services must take steps to ensure that people receive information that they can access and understand, and receive communication support if they need it. Organisations must comply in full with the standard by 31 July 2016. Many local authorities provide interpreters within talking therapy settings.

    There is ongoing activity by NHS England and the Department to encourage access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) services by the under-represented groups. Over the last spending review we invested over £400 million into the IAPT programme to ensure access to talking therapies for those who need them. The Prime Minister recently announced £1 billion to start a revolution in mental health. NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce reported in February 2016, setting out transformative plans using that additional funding, including for IAPT.

    Additional funding will enable NHS England to put in place a five year plan to improve IAPT services across the country, increasing access to evidence-based psychological therapies to reach 25% of need, and helping 600,000 more people to access care each year by 2020 with a focus on people living with long-term physical health conditions.