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Tag: 2014

  • Heidi Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Heidi Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his most recent estimate is of the average cost of housing an individual in (a) a probation hostel and (b) approved premises for 12 months.

    Jeremy Wright

    On release from custody, offenders who meet the referral criteria may be accommodated in an Approved Premises (AP). (APs were formerly known as Probation & Bail Hostels.)There are 100 APs in England & Wales, providing supervised accommodation for offenders under probation supervision. They also house a small number of defendants on bail.

    Most APs are managed by probation trusts and funded out of the total grant paid to the trust by the National Offender Management Service. The AP element is not separately identified. Because of this funding arrangement, it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

  • Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the European Commission and her counterparts in EU member states on compensation requests to Israeli authorities for EU-funded aid projects demolished by the Israeli authorities.

    Mr Alan Duncan

    DFID and the EU regularly lobby Israel against the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure, and the forced transfer of people in Area C and East Jerusalem.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will take steps to ensure the negotiations between her Department and Praxis result in the continuation of the Secret Garden Service provided by that organisation.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The decision to invite Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to take over management of Hillsborough Castle will provide a secure future for the castle and bring considerable economic benefits to the surrounding area.

    To deliver those benefits, HRP need control of the site currently used by Praxis in order to construct the infrastructure necessary to enable substantial visitor numbers to be welcomed to Hillsborough.

    The terms of Praxis’ use of the Walled Garden site were always clear that they would need to leave if given one month’s notice. Praxis confirmed over a year ago that they would leave if given one month’s notice.

  • Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when officials of his Department in Harare last met the Zimbabwean government director of pensions to discuss distribution of the funds reserved for payment to overseas pensioners; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Simmonds

    We continue to pursue a resolution to the non-payment of Zimbabwe civil servant pensions and are in regular contact with the interested parties, including the Overseas Service Pensioners Association (OSPA) and the Federal Pensioners Association in Harare.

    UK officials last spoke with the Director of Pensions at the end of January and are still pursuing a response from the Zimbabwean Civil Service Commission to our letter from December 2013. We have also raised the issue since with other interlocutors, including the Zimbabwean Ambassador in London.

  • Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Harriet Harman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last discussed with his Nigerian counterpart the recent abduction of schoolgirls in that country; and when he next intends to raise this issue.

    Mark Simmonds

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) spoke to Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on 18 April about the case. The Foreign Secretary expressed the UK’s sympathies about this outrageous crime and offered UK assistance to Nigerian efforts to recover the girls.

    Officials at our High Commission in Abuja have met their Nigerian security and military counterparts regularly since the abductions and have repeated the Foreign Secretary’s offer of assistance.

  • Fiona O’Donnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Fiona O’Donnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona O’Donnell on 2014-04-30.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will next meet representatives of energy-intensive industries to discuss the EU Commission’s draft Environmental and Energy State Aid Guidelines.

    Nicky Morgan

    Treasury ministers meet with a range of stakeholders on an ongoing basis, including energy intensive industries. For instance the Chancellor recently visited Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plant. The Chancellor has written to representatives of energy-intensive industries about the Environmental and Energy State Aid Guidelines and instructed officials to meet with them to discuss this issue.

  • Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weatherley on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will take steps to ensure that revenue created by shops in publicly-funded museums and galleries will be safeguarded following the repeal of section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is keen to support the revenue-generating activities of publicly-funded museums and galleries wherever possible. For most artistic works, copyright owners already need to provide permission before publicly-funded museums and galleries are able to make copies. The change in law will mean that permission from copyright holders will need to be sought for all artistic works.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department will take to engage with smaller (a) international non-government organisations and (b) non-governmental organisations in its future work on disability.

    Justine Greening

    DFID already works closely with many INGOs and NGOs working on disability. In the UK, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for International Development chairs regular civil society outreach meetings with UK based NGOs working on disability, and DFID officials work with BOND’s Disability and Development umbrella group for NGOs. Similarly, DFID country offices work closely with local civil society organisations including those working on disability.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of China on the persecution of Christians in (a) Zhejiang Province and (b) elsewhere in eastern China.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We have concerns about restrictions on freedom of religion and belief in China, and I raise them regularly with my Chinese counterparts. We are aware of particular recent cases, such as the demolition of Sanjiang church in Zhejiang Province and the arrest of Pastor Zhang in Henan Province, and we raise them publicly through our Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

    As the Honourable Member will recall, on 1 May, in a debate on the floor of the house on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, I also expressed my concern about violations of the right to freedom of belief in China, in particular the closure of house churches and the treatment of Falun Gong. We also plan to raise our wide range of concerns directly with Chinese officials during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to ensure that he receives independent scientific advice on the safety, effectiveness and humaneness of the second year of the badger cull pilots in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

    George Eustice

    Natural England, as the independent licensing authority, is the most appropriate organisation to continue carrying out the field monitoring of cage trapping and shooting to ensure that licence conditions and best practice guidance requirements are complied with. The outcome of this monitoring, together with the outcome of post-mortem examinations carried out by trained vets will be made publically available after the culls are completed, and will inform the decisions made about next steps.