The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has asked President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka to resign as Chairperson in Office of the Commonwealth in the light of the decision to investigate potential human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
Mr William Hague
Any decision on the Chair-in-Office role is for all Commonwealth Heads of Government to take by consensus.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to (a) criminalise a pattern of partner abuse and (b) ensure that the police are not required only to treat each incident comprising such a pattern as a separate crime.
Norman Baker
Domestic abuse is already a crime. There are a number of offences that make domestic abuse illegal, including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and assault. The cross-Government definition is clear that domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
Assault can extend to non-physical harm, and this can include psychological, financial, and emotional abuse. Stalking and harassment legislation, which criminalises a course of conduct, can apply to intimate partner relationships.
Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse across all police forces. HMIC published its findings in March 2014, emphasising that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is, and pointing out that the police use the full range of tools already available to them.
The Home Secretary will chair a national oversight group to oversee delivery against each of HMIC’s recommendations on which I will also sit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed reduction in solar farm support under the Renewables Obligation on planned community-owned or shared ownership schemes.
Gregory Barker
The Government published the second part of our UK Solar PV Strategy Part 2 [1] on 4 April 2014. We made clear in that document that we are considering the implications of current trends of deployment in solar PV on the financial incentives available in Great Britain under the Renewables Obligation and small-scale Feed-in-Tariffs. We will issue a public consultation shortly proposing changes to financial support for solar PV.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-solar-pv-strategy-part-1-roadmap-to-a-brighter-future
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many meetings of the Government industry solar strategy group have taken place since it was established in 2012; and on what dates that group met.
Gregory Barker
The Solar PV Strategy Group has met three times, on the following dates:
They plan to meet again early this summer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-05-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 785W, on conditions of employment, what estimate he has made of the number of indirect employees of his Department who are on zero-hour contracts.
Stephen Hammond
My Department employs no individuals via contingent labour contracts on a zero hour basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-05-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Freeview about reasons to extend full Freeview services to (a) Monmouth constituency and (b) all other parts of the UK that are currently not provided with such services.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.
We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.
Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-05-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to how many immigration appeal hearings the Home Office failed to send a presenting officer in each of the last four years.
James Brokenshire
I will write to the Rt Hon. Member.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka; what recent representations he has made to the government of Sri Lanka about the arrest and detention of human rights defenders; and what recent discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart about the use of that country’s Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Mr Hugo Swire
We continue to have serious concerns about respect for human rights in Sri Lanka, in particular continued intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders and activists. We have consistently made clear to the Sri Lankan government the importance of safeguarding freedom of expression and protecting human rights defenders, and continue to urge the Sri Lankan government to uphold their international human rights obligations and to ensure that civil society, human rights defenders and activists are allowed the space to act freely.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Report for 2013 and the quarterly updates to the report, which are available online, includes Sri Lanka as a ‘Country of Concern’ for human rights and outlines our assessment more fully.
I made clear to the Sri Lankan government following the arrest of Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen – who have now been released – that it is important that human rights defenders are not subject to intimidation and have a right to freedom of expression. We are also aware of the arrests of Mrs Jeyakumari Balendran and others in Sri Lanka. Officials at our High Commission in Colombo have raised concerns with the Sri Lankan government, in particular on the lack of clarity around the evidence against the suspects and the charges brought.
We have previously raised concerns with the Sri Lankan government about the length of time individuals can be detained without charge under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. On 27 March, the UN Human Rights Council agreed a resolution which calls on the Sri Lankan government to make progress on human rights issues and to implement Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations, which includes the re-evaluation of detention policies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Huppert on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to improve cross-departmental working on promotion of the UK’s arts and health sector in order to improve mental health care and wellbeing.
Mr Edward Vaizey
I recently chaired a roundtable meeting on arts and health, which was attended by the co-chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, representatives from academia and health and Government officials, including from the Department of Health. DCMS will continue to work closely with the Department of Health on the promotion of the UK’s arts and health sector in order to improve mental health care and wellbeing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 25 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr M Woronycz.
Mr David Lidington
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) responded to the right hon. Member on 1 May 2014.