The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Sharon Hodgson on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of kinship carers which are affected by the benefit cap.
Justin Tomlinson
We do not collect data on the number of kinship carers subject to the benefit cap.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations are contributing to the new bridge across the South Western Main Line south of Clapham Junction station giving access to Emanuel School, and how much they are each contributing.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Network Rail is an arm’s-length public sector body and the sources of funding contributions towards the construction of the new bridge are a commercial matter for the company.
Network Rail advises that the new bridge across the South West Mainline was privately funded by one organisation. Network Rail has signed a confidentially agreement with this organisation which does not allow the release of commercial information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which railway schemes will be funded out of the £13 billion funding that has been allocated to the Northern Powerhouse, and what is the expected cost of each individual scheme.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
During the March 2015 budget, funding of £13bn was identified to maintain and improve transport infrastructure in the north. A variety of railway schemes have already been completed across the north of England as part of our long term investment in building the Northern Powerhouse, such as the recently transformed Manchester Victoria station, and work is progressing on other schemes including work to prepare the railway between Manchester and Preston via Bolton for electrification which is under way at Farnworth Tunnel. Sir Peter Hendy’s review of Network Rail’s enhancements programme is still in progress. A firm list of schemes and costs cannot be produced until this process is completed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people aged (1) 21 and over, and (2) under 21, are known to have returned to the United Kingdom from a conflict zone since January 2014; and of those, how many were (a) charged with an offence and convicted, and (b) not charged but were put under supervision and entered into programmes of deradicalisation.
Lord Bates
Figures on the number of people who have returned to the UK from all conflict zones are not available. However, the Police have estimated that around 700 people from the UK who are of concern are thought to have travelled to the Syria/Iraq region since the start of the conflict, and that around half of those have returned. All decisions on handling returnees from Syria or Iraq are taken on a case-by-case basis. For some, prosecution for terrorist offences is the right course of action, and this will be a decision for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. For others, it may be that support from mental health or social services might be more appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the extension of the Separation Barrier in the Cremisan Valley and its effect on Christian families who previously occupied that land.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have raised the issue of the separation barrier though Cremisan Valley with the Israeli authorities on several occasions, most recently on 1 September. On 9 July, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), issued a press statement which was clear that the UK is deeply concerned by the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision of 6 July to allow the construction of 1.2km of the Separation Barrier through the Cremisan Valley. If built, this section of the Separation Barrier will restrict 58 Palestinian families from accessing their land, which will have a detrimental effect on their livelihoods.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the fifth UN joint statement on human rights in Bahrain, they have discussed with the government of Bahrain the cases of opposition leaders Sheikh Ali Salman, Ibrahim Sharif, Fadhel Abbas, and Majid Milad; and if so, with what results.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have previously raised these four cases with the Government of Bahrain, including at the highest levels. We continue to do so on a regular basis. Following the UN joint statement on 14 September on human rights in Bahrain, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), discussed human rights and political reform with the Bahraini Ambassador.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the funding allocated for the Northern Powerhouse will be spent on (1) repairs of potholes and damaged carriageways, and (2) other highway maintenance that would normally come out of annual revenue budgets; and how much of such spending will be allocated to (a) the Highways Agency, and (b) local highways authorities.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Department for Transport is allocating £1.3billion capital funding between 2015 and 2021 to local highway authorities that fall within the Northern Powerhouse for local highways maintenance. This funding can be used to repair potholes. The funding is not ring-fenced and it is entirely for each highway authority to decide, based on their needs and priorities, as to how this funding is spent. In addition the funding the Department for Transport allocated to local highway authorities in England to improve road conditions was £1 billion more over the last Parliament compared to what was provided between 2005 and 2010.
Local authorities are able to use revenue funding for maintaining their local highways and this is allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant.
The Department for Transport is funding a local highways maintenance project in Sheffield as well as street lighting schemes in Blackpool, Knowsley, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Oldham, Redcar & Cleveland, Rochdale, South Tyneside, Sunderland and Wakefield, through the Private Finance Initiative.
In addition we are also allocating £2.9 billion for improvements to the strategic road network within the Northern Powerhouse managed by Highways England as set out in the Road Investment Strategy published in March 2015 for the period between 2015 and 2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many ships were on the United Kingdom register in 2005, and in each year thereafter to date.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The number of ships over 100 GT on the UK register in 2005 and to date are detailed below. All totals were correct at 31st December in the respective year.
December 2005 1,438
December 2006 1,456
December 2007 1,481
December 2008 1,550
December 2009 1,553
December 2010 1,503
December 2011 1,469
December 2012 1,401
December 2013 1,360
December 2014 1,327
The figure for 2015 – 1,328 is up to and including 31st August.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning Israel offering refuge to Palestinians fleeing Syria.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have not made any representations to the Government of Israel on this issue.
The UK has pledged £1billion to date – our largest ever humanitarian response to a single crisis – to provide humanitarian assistance and long-term support to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people living in Syria and refugees across the region, which includes Palestinian refugees who have also been affected by the crisis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-09-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that criterion 8 of the consolidated EU Licensing Criteria document is consistently applied to all export licences.
Anna Soubry
The Department for International Development (DFID) is responsible for assessing licence applications against Criterion 8. DFID considers export licence applications destined to all International Development Association eligible countries and may also ask to see applications in respect of other countries of concern. Further information on DFID’s role is given in the Government’s Strategic Export Controls Annual Report for 2014, which was presented to Parliament on 16 July 2015 and is also available on the gov.uk website.