Tag: 2014

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which countries currently receive United Kingdom international aid; and how much was paid to each of those countries in (1) 1995, (2) 2000, (3) 2005, (4) 2010, and (5) 2013.

    Baroness Northover

    Information on the countries currently receiving United Kingdom international aid; and how much was paid to each of those countries in (1) 1995, (2) 2000, (3) 2005, (4) 2010 has been placed in the House of Lords library. Figures for 2013 are currently being compiled and will be published in Statistics on International Development in October 2014.

  • Toby Perkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Toby Perkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the additional cost to small businesses of abolishing the percentage threshold scheme for recovering statutory sick pay.

    Mike Penning

    The Department for Work and Pensions has published an impact assessment outlining the abolition of the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS) and introduction of the new provision of health assessments and occupational health advice available at the following link:

    <http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111108468/impacts>

    “

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many displaced people they estimate to be in Darfur, Sudan; how many visits Department for International Development staff have paid to Darfur in the last two years; and which organisations they support there.

    Baroness Northover

    According to the latest update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 15 June 2014, the cumulative number of verified Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Darfur who have been displaced since January 2014 and have yet to return to their areas of origin is 264,528. This figure is in addition to the estimated number of over 2 million people who, at the end of 2013, have been living in longer term displacement. It is not possible to determine retroactively the number of visits that have occurred over the past two years but DFID staff do travel regularly to Darfur. To date in 2014, there have been a total of six separate visits with a total of eight DFID staff participating, including two by the Head of DFID Sudan.

    DFID has provided support to a wide range of development and humanitarian organisations working in Darfur both directly and through different joint funds such as the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) and the Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund (DCPSF). Direct funds go to organisations including the following: the World Food Programme, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision Sudan, Oxfam America, Norwegian Church Aid Sudan and United Methodist Committee on Relief. Organisations getting funding through the joint funds include agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations, International Organisations, International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) and National Non-Governmental Organisations (NNGOs).

  • Dr William McCrea – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Dr William McCrea – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr William McCrea on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there has been in (a) gross and (b) net immigration into Northern Ireland in the last three years.

    Nick Hurd

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

  • Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider investment by the Commonwealth Development Corporation in luxury construction projects is consistent with the Department for International Development’s overall objectives in developing countries.

    Baroness Northover

    In 2013, CDC’s 1,300 investee companies directly employed over a million people, and created more than 68,000 net new jobs.

    Individual investments are fully decided by CDC and the Government has put in place strict rules which require commitments to deliver jobs, economic development and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authorities (a) did and (b) did not complete local data matching after the confirmation dry run with the Department for Work and Pensions’ database and electoral register.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that this information was provided to the Hon. Member in the answer to his Question 191356.

  • Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laming on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure there are sufficient beds in acute mental health services.

    Earl Howe

    The Government has made it clear that beds must always be available for those who need them. The 2014-15 Mandate to NHS England states that every community must develop plans to ensure no one in mental health crisis will be turned away. In February 2014 we published the mental health Crisis Care Concordat, which describes the roles and responsibilities for improving outcomes for people experiencing a crisis. This makes it clear that local commissioners should commission a range of mental health services that allows beds to be readily available for people in urgent need. Local areas are expected to commit to and agree to deliver their own ‘Mental Health Crisis Declaration’.

  • Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ms Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Karen Buck on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what change there has been in the number and proportion of homeless households in nightly booked temporary accommodation in London since March 2010.

    Kris Hopkins

    [Holding Reply: Monday 17 March 2014]

    The Department does not collect information specifically on numbers of homeless households in nightly-booked temporary accommodation.

  • Lord Morrow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Morrow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morrow on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to follow the Northern Ireland initiative of test and vaccinate or remove” in relation to badgers carrying bovine tuberculosis as opposed to any replication of the cull.”

    Lord De Mauley

    The Northern Ireland Executive has begun a five-year ‘test and vaccinate or remove’ tuberculosis research project on badgers in a 100km2 area of County Down. We currently have no plans to adopt this approach in England although we will of course be interested in the outcome of the research in Northern Ireland.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received (i) a conditional discharge, (ii) a fine, (iii) a community order and (iv) a suspended prison sentence.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Department for Work and Pensions operates a tough series of specific penalties for benefit fraud that run alongside the criminal justice system. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 toughened penalties for those who commit, or attempt to commit benefit fraud. We have introduced a financial administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution which, for the first time, can be applied to attempted fraud.

    The Government has also introduced a tougher loss of benefit penalty to restrict benefits to people convicted of benefit fraud or who have accepted an administrative penalty. Benefits can be reduced for periods of 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 3 years, dependent on the number of benefit fraud offences committed within a specified period, where the latest offence results in a conviction.

    Judges make their decisions independently of Government based on the facts of each case. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years in prison.

    The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ court found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud, with sentencing outcomes and the average custodial sentence length by gender, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.

    Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.