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  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what reports she has received from (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other police forces of delays in processing Disclosure and Barring Service applications; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.

    The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), not meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS and Home Office officials maintain a close oversight of the progress being made by assessing weekly reports and through regular attendance at the Group.

    It is a priority of the MPS, DBS and the Home Office to see improvements as quickly as possible and I will continue to monitor the situation closely.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of men in the UK who are in polygamous marriages.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reunite lone refugee children in mainland Europe with family members in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    Unaccompanied children in other EU countries should be able to access the support needed in those countries. The European countries in which they arrive have international obligations and a duty to provide adequate protection and support to refugees within their territory.

    We are working closely with UN agencies, NGOs and the Member States involved to ensure that protection is provided. We will provide further resources to the European Asylum Support Office to help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

    The Government remains concerned about the needs of vulnerable children on the move in Europe and the Balkans, and the needs of those who become stranded along the route. The UK has therefore increased its aid to refugees and migrants, including children, in Europe and the Balkans to £46 million, divided among the most affected countries and including specific support of £2.75 million to UNICEF, which will benefit 27,000 children. In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) is creating a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children in Europe, the Refugee Children Fund for Europe.

    This will include targeted support to meet the specific needs of unaccompanied and separated children who face additional risks. The support will be delivered through a range of UN agencies and NGOs. Unaccompanied children that have a close family link to the UK and claim asylum in another EU country may be entitled to be transferred to the UK under the family unity provisions of the Dublin Regulation. We want to ensure we reunite children with any close family in the UK as quickly and as safely as possible, and we work closely with EU partners on this issue.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of reports by the Chief of Staff of Europol that 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees may have disappeared in Europe in 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    Unaccompanied children in other EU countries should be able to access the support needed in those countries. The European countries in which they arrive have international obligations and a duty to provide adequate protection and support to refugees within their territory.

    We are working closely with UN agencies, NGOs and the Member States involved to ensure that protection is provided. We will provide further resources to the European Asylum Support Office to help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

    The Government remains concerned about the needs of vulnerable children on the move in Europe and the Balkans, and the needs of those who become stranded along the route. The UK has therefore increased its aid to refugees and migrants, including children, in Europe and the Balkans to £46 million, divided among the most affected countries and including specific support of £2.75 million to UNICEF, which will benefit 27,000 children. In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) is creating a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children in Europe, the Refugee Children Fund for Europe.

    This will include targeted support to meet the specific needs of unaccompanied and separated children who face additional risks. The support will be delivered through a range of UN agencies and NGOs. Unaccompanied children that have a close family link to the UK and claim asylum in another EU country may be entitled to be transferred to the UK under the family unity provisions of the Dublin Regulation. We want to ensure we reunite children with any close family in the UK as quickly and as safely as possible, and we work closely with EU partners on this issue.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to assist unaccompanied child refugees in Europe.

    James Brokenshire

    Unaccompanied children in other EU countries should be able to access the support needed in those countries. The European countries in which they arrive have international obligations and a duty to provide adequate protection and support to refugees within their territory.

    We are working closely with UN agencies, NGOs and the Member States involved to ensure that protection is provided. We will provide further resources to the European Asylum Support Office to help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

    The Government remains concerned about the needs of vulnerable children on the move in Europe and the Balkans, and the needs of those who become stranded along the route. The UK has therefore increased its aid to refugees and migrants, including children, in Europe and the Balkans to £46 million, divided among the most affected countries and including specific support of £2.75 million to UNICEF, which will benefit 27,000 children. In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) is creating a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children in Europe, the Refugee Children Fund for Europe.

    This will include targeted support to meet the specific needs of unaccompanied and separated children who face additional risks. The support will be delivered through a range of UN agencies and NGOs. Unaccompanied children that have a close family link to the UK and claim asylum in another EU country may be entitled to be transferred to the UK under the family unity provisions of the Dublin Regulation. We want to ensure we reunite children with any close family in the UK as quickly and as safely as possible, and we work closely with EU partners on this issue.

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 37 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, what progress her Department has made on the establishment of a national task force of specialist professionals to support local authorities where child sexual exploitation is a particular concern.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government’s ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ report launched in March 2015 announced the establishment of a new national taskforce to help local areas faced with significant concerns relating to high volumes of child sexual exploitation.

    We are currently finalising the way the taskforce, to be known as the Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit, will work. The Response Unit will be launched in the Spring.

    The Response Unit will provide help to local areas experiencing particular issues and/or high volumes of child sexual exploitation cases by offering a range of support including advice from expert practitioners who have first-hand experience of tackling child sexual exploitation.

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 14 of the document Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation, published by the Government in March 2015, when her Department plans to consider an extension of the offence of wilful neglect.

    Karen Bradley

    As the honourable Member for Rotherham will recall, during the passage of the Serious Crime Bill in the last session of Parliament, the previous Government made a commitment to undertake a public consultation on the options for reporting child abuse and to lay a report before Parliament on the outcome of the consultation within 18 months of Royal Assent of the Serious Crime Act (i.e. by September 2016). This commitment was extended in March 2015, under the Government’s Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Report, to consult on options for imposing sanctions for deliberate or reckless failures to take appropriate action in relation to child abuse or neglect, where it is a professional responsibility to do so.

    The Government will launch its consultation exercise in Spring 2016, to run for twelve weeks and will then consider carefully the need for any further statutory measures in the light of responses. This will enable the Government to lay proposals before Parliament by September 2016, as it has committed to do.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many domestic violence refuge places there were in (a) London and (b) each London borough on (i) 1 January 2010 and (ii) 1 January 2016.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Data on the number of domestic violence refuge places is not held centrally. It is for local areas to assess their needs for domestic abuse services and to make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation, including refuges and support for victims of domestic abuse.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that out-of-hours GP services have access to patients’ medical records.

    Alistair Burt

    Summary Care Records are being introduced to improve the safety and quality of patient care. The Summary Care Record is a single electronic record held centrally so will give healthcare staff faster, easier access to essential information and help to give patients safe treatment during an emergency or when their general practitioner (GP) surgery is closed.

    55.06 million people have had a Summary Care Record created and the Summary Care Record is currently enabled in 102 out of 154 Out of Hours GP Services.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of whether common system failures contributed to the deaths of Sam Morrish in Devon in December 2010 and William Mead in Cornwall in December 2014; and what steps his Department is taking to address those failures.

    Ben Gummer

    The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman’s report into the death of Sam Morrish, published in June 2014, made several recommendations for local National Health Service organisations involved in Sam Morrish’s care to implement. NHS England advises that these have now been implemented.

    We are advised by NHS England that there has been ongoing dialogue with the Sam Morrish’s family, including their full involvement in development of an integrated care pathway for paediatric sepsis, which has been piloted in the South Devon and Torbay area and is currently being evaluated.

    The (NHS England South) Regional Quality Surveillance Group is responsible for ensuring that all the national recommendations outlined in NHS England’s report on the death of William Mead, in December 2014, are implemented.

    The Department will be keeping track of progress on this front.