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Tag: 2015

  • Lisa Cameron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lisa Cameron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much support her Department makes available to refugees who have experienced trauma.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID provides assistance to refugees through bilateral and central funding to a number of trusted UN and non-governmental organisations.

    Many refugees experience psycho-social and psychological trauma and/or distress, and support is provided in many forms of primary and secondary health care that include training in emergency first aid for health care workers, clinical management of rape and counselling support for survivors of sexual violence, mental health care, and also assistance with shelter, legal advice and family reunification for children that have been separated from their families due to forced displacement.

  • Julie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Julie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much Burnley received from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund in each year from 2010 to 2015.

    James Wharton

    The European Regional Development Fund during 2010 – 2015 has provided over £5 million in funding for Burnley.

    The breakdown of European Rgional Development Fund projects in Burnley are as follows;

    • £3.8 million invested into Burnley Bridge Business Park. The Fund undertook activity to remediate the brownfield site, provide infrastructure and deliver a first phase of commercial development totalling 9,309 sqm.
    • £940,000 invested into Weavers Triangle. The funding was allocated to support high quality civic and infrastructure work in a strategic area of Burnley.
    • £500,000 invested into Princess Way Gateway for civic improvements linked to the Burnley Education and Enterprise Park.

    In addition to the above direct capital investments, small and medium enterprises in Burnley have also benefitted from a number of business support projects operating at county and regional level. Not least the £7.8 million BOOST Lancashire Growth Hub of which the Fund has invested £3.4 million.

    The European Social Fund was managed as a national programme by the Department for Work and Pensions over that period.

  • Stephen Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Twigg on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will support a UN Inquiry into human violations against the Rohingya.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UK deplores the treatment of the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, who are subject to persecution and denied the most basic rights. We welcome the work of the highly effective UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, who has shone a spotlight on violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine. She has not characterised the treatment of the Rohingya as genocide, and neither did the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide in his 4 November statement on Burma’s elections. However, any judgement on whether genocide has occurred is a matter for international judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies. A UN investigation would require high level international support for which, we assess, there is little prospect of agreement at this stage. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations, irrespective of whether or not they fit the definition of specific international crimes. I and other British Government Ministers take every appropriate opportunity, both publicly and in private, to press the Burmese authorities to take urgent steps to address the situation of the Rohingya. I did this with senior Burmese Ministers during my visit to Burma in July, when I travelled to Rakhine State for the second time. Most recently, I raised the issue with the Burmese Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, in September in New York. After the 8 November elections, the UK will continue our efforts to address the serious ongoing human rights violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department are in the redeployment pool.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    As at 31 October 2015 the number of Ministry of Defence civil servants in the redeployment pool was 240 (rounded to the nearest 10).

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure that the skills of steel industry employees are maintained.

    Anna Soubry

    From my visits to Scunthorpe, Redcar, Port Talbot and Cardiff, I know first-hand what a dedicated and skilled workforce exists in the industry and am determined that they have a future, with the action the government has taken and will continue to take to help the industry.

    For those workers that have unfortunately lost their jobs, the government is committed to doing all we can to give them the support and training needed to quickly return to work. We have made available up to £80 million for Redcar and announced up to £9 million for Scunthorpe to support those who have been affected.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each county and unitary council area in the North West are currently receiving free school meals under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The number of children eligible and receiving free school meals (FSM) is available at regional and local authority level online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015.

    We do not hold information on the qualifying benefits of individual claimants.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the size of the current account balance in 2014.

    Mr David Gauke

    The current account deficit in 2014 was 5.1% of GDP, with this net borrowing from the rest of the world helping fund the budget deficit. The Government’s plan to repair the public finances through fiscal consolidation should in turn improve the current account deficit, as set out in the latest forecasts of the Office for Budget Responsibility.

    The Government is also working to boost UK exports, including a £20m package of support for first time exporters and working alongside a more effective UKTI and better export finance.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Pet Travel Scheme in tackling pet smuggling.

    George Eustice

    The carriers which carry out checks to ensure pets animals are compliant with Pet Travel Scheme rules are audited by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the results show that they are performing satisfactorily. In 2014, APHA audited close to 6,000 pets. Of these only 0.9% of the pets were found not to comply with the entry rules. These pets were either detained until their compliance could be established, re-exported or placed into quarantine.

  • Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he expects revenue to be generated to the public purse from the sale of assets, buildings and land in Northern Ireland during 2015-16; and if so for what amount.

    Greg Hands

    The devolved administrations have the capacity to generate income from asset sales and should do so where this is a sensible way of realising value for taxpayers and freeing up resources for investment.

    The Government has committed to securing good value for money for taxpayers by establishing UK Government Investments to deliver the sale of a wide range of publicly-owned assets.

    The Stormont House Agreement contains specific measures whereby the Treasury would allow the Northern Ireland Executive to retain the proceeds of specific agreed asset sales in their entirety, and give exceptional consideration to those funds being used for a combination of both capital and resource spending.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive mental health assessments on entering care; and what assessment he has made of recent trends in such figures.

    Alistair Burt

    Data is not collected nationally on the number of children entering care who receive a mental health assessment.

    Local authorities are responsible for making sure that a health assessment is carried out for every child they look after when they start to be looked after. The care planning regulations specify that this should include an assessment of the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Department for Education annually collects data from local authorities on the numbers of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months at 31 March who received their statutory annual health assessment during the year. At 31 March 2014, 88.4% of these looked-after children did so.