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Tag: 2015

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Amnesty International’s report highlighting an increase in the number of political prisoners in Burma, what steps they are taking to raise the cases of those prisoners, and to promote the rule of law and the need for reform to meet proper standards of justice in Burma.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have welcomed the release of hundreds of political prisoners under the current Burmese government. But we have also spoken out vociferously about the worrying tempo of arrests, detentions and sentencing of political activists in the lead up to the elections on 8 November.

    We have regularly raised our concerns with the government of Burma at the highest levels. Most recently, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), raised this issue directly with the Minister for the President’s Office, U Aung Min, during his visit to Burma in July. Officials from our Embassy in Rangoon meet regularly with civil society on this issue and we lobby on individual cases. We also raise our concerns publicly in our Annual Report on Human Rights and in multilateral fora such as the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, where the UK has co-sponsored Resolutions calling for the unconditional release of all political prisoners. We will continue to work with the incoming Burmese government to make progress on this important issue.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As has been the case under successive Administrations, civil servants, including special advisers, may routinely accompany their Ministers on official visits. Information relating to Ministers’ overseas visits are published on my Department’s website, as part of the Government’s wider transparency agenda.

    All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

  • Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering making further reductions in the maximum university visa refusal rate in relation to Highly Trusted Sponsor status.

    Lord Bates

    Highly Trusted Sponsor status was replaced with Tier 4 Sponsor status in April 2015.

    The maximum permitted visa refusal rate for Tier 4 sponsors was reduced from 20% to 10% in November 2014 to make sure that the colleges and universities who directly benefit from student migration help prevent abuse, and to ensure that institutions are only offering places to genuine students with an appropriate level of English.

    Since the new rate was introduced, visa applications from students wishing to study at the UK’s world-class universities have continued to rise. Latest figures show that visa applications from university students are now 17 per cent higher than they were in 2010, and visa applications to Russell Group universities are 33 per cent higher than in 2010.

    We will continue to keep the visa refusal rate under review but we have no imminent plans to change the maximum permitted rate.

  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on advertising the Right to Buy scheme in each month of 2015.

    Brandon Lewis

    My Department has run two targeted campaign bursts during 2015 to make sure eligible council and housing association tenants are aware of their opportunity to buy their home at a discount, through the Right to Buy scheme and to give them up-to-date information on changes to the discount rates and eligibility criteria.

    We are currently in the middle of a burst of the campaign so figures for October and November are provisional and may not reflect all costs incurred. The monthly breakdown of invoiced expenditure for 2015 is:

    January – £5,100
    February – £68,600
    March – £299,300
    April – £0
    May – £100
    June – £0
    July – £200
    August – £600
    September – £64,700
    October – £155,000
    November – £171,200

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the breakdown of the lay magistracy by socio-economic profile.

    Lord Faulks

    No information is recorded which would give an accurate indication of magistrates’ socio-economic status.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2015 to Question 17676, on military bases, whether those beds spaces have been consistently present and utilised in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The bed spaces at Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Grantown-On-Spey, Joint School for Adventurous Training Instructors (JSATI) Llanrwst and FDTC Fairbourne have remained constant over the last five years. Since August 2015, FDTC Crickhowell has increased the bed spaces available from 80 to 260, at Cwrt-Y-Gollen Cadet Training Centre, which is adjacent to FDTC Crickhowell.

    Bed space use is driven by the training requirement.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of UK GDP is spent on science and research in the UK, and how that figure compares with other countries in the EU.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The UK invested 1.7% of GDP in research and development in 2013, compared to an EU28 average of 1.9%.

    The UK has a world-class science and research base and achieves a high rate of return for its investment. With 0.9% of global population, 4.1% of researchers and 3.2% of R&D expenditure, the UK accounts for 6.4% of articles, 11.6% of citations, and 15.9% of the most highly cited articles. We are the most productive science base in the G7, and rank first amongst comparable major research nations for Field Weighted Citations Impact.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on child protection of the recommendations of HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ thematic report on Behaviour management and restraint of children in custody, published in November 2015.

    Andrew Selous

    Restraint is only be used as a last resort, when young people are putting their own safety and the safety of others at risk.

    The recent report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons welcomed our new arrangements, which are designed to limit the use of physical restraint on young people in custody as far as possible.

    The report does raise some concerns over how the new system is operating and we will carefully consider its recommendations.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what contact, if any, they have had with the Assad regime in Syria over the last two months.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Since the closure of the Syrian Embassy in London in August 2012, the British Government has had only limited contact with the Assad regime in relation to consular matters. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), last wrote to the Syrian Foreign Minister in August 2015 about a consular case.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial support her Department has provided to (a) the Convention on Migratory Species and (b) the Preventing Poisoning Working Group of the Convention on Migratory Species in the last five years; and what her policy is on continuing financial support to these organisations.

    Rory Stewart

    The UK has paid £1,261,317 in subscriptions to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) between 2011 and 2015.

    The UK provided £25,000 towards the Preventing Poisoning Working Group in 2012.

    With the Spending Review concluded, Defra is now looking at what this settlement means in terms of the detailed allocation of its budgets, including the future funding of the CMS.