Tag: 2015

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what emergency arrangements are in place to care for those who are affected by bombings in Syria.

    Earl of Courtown

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

    We continue to closely monitor the humanitarian impact of airstrikes in Syria. DFID’s partners are activating their own contingency plans and have scaled up their interventions to meet the evolving needs of the population. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold all provisions of International Humanitarian Law.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on security of Médecins Sans Frontières clinics in areas of conflict.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is essential that there is a rigorous process to determine the circumstances surrounding the airstrike on the Médecins Sans Frontières trauma centre in Kunduz in order to prevent something like this occurring again. We await the conclusions of the investigations currently being undertaken by NATO and by the Governments of the United States and Afghanistan, and any lessons that these offer. The UK Government has high regard for Médecins Sans Frontières and the work they undertake around the world.

    We are also aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition – including alleged airstrikes resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure – and take them very seriously. We have raised our concerns with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and have received repeated assurances that they are complying with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances. We are also concerned by reports of alleged IHL violations by Houthi-Saleh forces, including the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes; and the targeting of aid workers and restrictions on humanitarian access. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL and international human rights law.

  • Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how the religious character of a faith school will be maintained if the school is converted into an academy.

    Lord Nash

    When a faith school becomes an academy it retains its religious character by virtue of Section 6 of the Academies Act 2010. The academy’s religious character is protected through provisions within the academy’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State and the academy trust’s articles of association. Once a faith school becomes an academy any change to its religious character would only take place with the consent of the relevant religious body and the Secretary of State.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not hold records of the number of staff who are members of a trade union. This is a matter for the trade unions.

    The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time and the cost of its provision, on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 and is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time

    “

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last five years, how many planning appeals were made against local authority decisions on major housing schemes; what was the average time taken by the Planning Inspectorate to deal with those appeals; how many took longer than six months; how many have so far been made this year, and of those how many have taken, or are scheduled to take, longer than six months.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The table below shows the number of planning appeals made against local authority decisions on major housing schemes (10 or more houses). It shows the average time taken, how many took longer than six months, how many have been made so far this year and of those, how many have taken or will take longer than six months.

    s78 planning appeals for major dwellings (10+)

    Start Date

    Number of decisions

    Average days to decide

    Number of appeal decisions that exceeded 6 months (start to decision)

    2010-2011

    626

    163

    142

    2011-2012

    473

    146

    57

    2012-2013

    397

    166

    86

    2013-2014

    495

    162

    117

    2014-2015

    587

    166

    230

    2015-2016

    392

    185

    157

    Number of decisions in progress that are beyond 6 months (in age) = 62

    “

  • David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on ensuring that policy and border staff share information on the illegal wildlife trade with Interpol, Europol and World Customs Organisation.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force are in regular contact with all the Organisations listed and regularly use their systems to communicate and share Intelligence on IWT to the global community .They are also represented on the EU Enforcement Working group that covers the Illegal wildlife trade.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of the Government’s spending on infrastructure since 2010.

    Greg Hands

    In 2010, the government launched the Infrastructure Cost Review seeking to improve the cost effective delivery of infrastructure projects and programmes. In 2014, the Cost Review reported savings of around 15% – worth around £3billion per annum – by addressing a number of drivers of high costs. But more can and is being done, working closely with infrastructure clients from public and private sectors to continue to bear down on costs and improve delivery performance.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, following the report on Yemen of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs published on 18 August 2015, what consideration she has given to providing additional humanitarian support to that country.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    On 27 September 2015, the UK committed an additional £20 million in new life-saving aid to Yemen. This followed the publication of the UN report and other assessments of need that demonstrated the deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

    This new funding is to key partner agencies operating on the ground including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and NGOs via UN OCHA’s (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund. DFID’s overall contribution of humanitarian assistance to Yemen for 2015-16 is now £75 million, making the UK the 4th largest donor to the international humanitarian response.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of public appointments filled by women.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and​ has aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women. We are making ​good ​progress, with 44% of new appointments made to women in 2014-2015 and a higher proportion of all public appointments (new appointments and reappointments) went to women last year than at any other point since records began.

    The Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office supports departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Steps we are taking to increase diversity include streamlining the application process​, placing an emphasis on ability over previous experience,​ and increasing awareness of opportunities by using a central website, social media and engaging with ​different ​diversity networks​ and groups.

  • David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has to pay a daily rate or fee to members of the review committee he has proposed on securing the decisive role of the Commons on financial matters and secondary legislation; and what rate he plans to set for that work.

    John Penrose

    The Government has asked Lord Strathclyde to lead a review to examine how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to (i) its primacy on financial matters; and (ii) secondary legislation. Lord Strathclyde will be supported by a panel of experts and further details will be announced in due course.