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Tag: 2015

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce the incidence of money-laundering in the UK.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government’s Anti-Money Laundering regime has a clear aim: to make the UK financial system a hostile environment for illicit finances, whilst minimising the burden on legitimate businesses and reducing the overall burden of regulation.

    In Europe, we worked hard during the negotiation of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive to encourage European partners to match our level of ambition in combatting money laundering. The Directive was formally adopted in June 2015 and it will be transposed into UK law by June 2017. The Government plans to publish a consultation on the changes early next year. The consultation will run for a full 12 weeks. We will consult on areas where the Directive gives us options or discretion on how we transpose its provisions.

    Domestically, HM Treasury and Home Office have worked closely together to draw up the UK’s first National Risk Assessment (NRA) of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which was published on 15 October 2015. The NRA is the next step in ensuring that our anti-money laundering regime is robust, proportionate and responsive to emerging threats. The NRA found that while the UK’s response to money laundering and terrorist financing risks is well developed, more could be done to strengthen the UK’s anti-money laundering regime. The Treasury and Home Office are working together on a comprehensive Action Plan to address these issues, to ensure that the UK continues to lead the global fight against illicit financial flows.

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the contribution of the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hon. Member for East Devon, of 22 October 2015, Official Report, column 1264, what training was provided to the election observers supported by Government funding referred to in that contribution.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The United Kingdom funded the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in training and deploying some 5000 Burmese civil society observers throughout the country. These national observers were trained to evaluate the quality of the electoral process at polling stations and to rapidly report incidents on the day. The presence of national and international observers was a key part of the United Kingdom’s strategy for deterring fraud in Burma’s elections on 8 November.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals applying for leave to stay in the UK who successfully appealed against a rejection from UK Visas and Immigration through the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have not yet been issued with the right to stay in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office considers applications on their own merits and takes great care to get decisions right first time, recognising the difficulty that errors can cause legitimate applicants. Where applicants are granted leave to remain the UK, we take all reasonable steps to issue their visas accordingly. The requested information cannot be accurately defined on our internal systems. To provide this information a manual reconciliation of existing work in progress and appeals implementations would be required. Manual reconciliation of individual cases would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2015 to Question HL381, what steps he has taken following allegations of breaches of bribery and corruption laws by Soco International in Virunga National Park; what guidance his Department provides on the exploration of natural resources by UK listed companies operating in national parks and UNESCO wold heritage sites; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    We are aware of allegations of breaches of bribery and corruption laws made against Soco International in relation to its activities in the Virunga National Park, and have ensured that the relevant law enforcement agencies both here and in the Democratic Republic of Congo are aware of the allegations.

    Foreign investment in sectors such as hydrocarbons and the extractive industries can play a vital role in boosting the development of countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping lift people out of poverty. Such investment must be conducted responsibly and sustainably, in compliance with local law and conforming to international standards. The government encourage all British companies to uphold the highest of standards, but where they do not it is important that allegations of wrongdoing are investigated and perpetrators are held to account. Anyone with evidence of serious fraud, bribery or corruption should pass this to the Serious Fraud Office.

    The government also encourages UK companies to observe the international standards for responsible conduct of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and provides a National Contact Point for the Guidelines complaint process. It was under the UK National Contact Point process that World Wildlife Fund and SOCO reached their 2014 agreement for SOCO to end its operations in Virunga.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects to report on his review of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

    Mr David Lidington

    We aim to produce a revised version of the UK National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights early in 2016, meeting the previous Coalition Government’s commitment to do so. The NAP that will be laid before Parliament will reflect the broad range of activity related to business and human rights already taking place across government, including on tackling modern slavery. The review process has involved wide consultation across government as well as with businesses and civil society organisations.

  • Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chris Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects on traffic flow and congestion of the omission of the planned Junction 7 from the M61; and what representations his Department has received on how to mitigate those effects.

    Andrew Jones

    The most recent assessment of the M61 was undertaken by the Highways Agency between 2012 and 2015 as part of the South Pennines Route Strategy. This utilised the advice and expertise of local councils and stakeholders. The final report was published in 2015 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416749/South_Pennines.pdf.

    It identified traffic flow and congestion issues on the M61 where it merges with the M6 to the north and also where it approaches the M60 to the south. However no particular traffic flow and congestion problems were identified between Junctions 6 and 8.

    Highways England will revisit the evidence for the M61 as part of preparing the next iteration of Route Strategies.

    “

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when compensation will be made available for those individuals infected by contaminated bloods.

    Jane Ellison

    As liability has not been established in the majority of cases, therefore it would not be appropriate to talk about payments in terms of compensation. Where liability has been established in a small number of individuals affected by HIV, hepatitis C or both infections through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products before 1991, compensation has been paid. A consultation on proposals to reform the current payments schemes will be published in January 2016.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the benefits of teaching first aid in schools on public health outcomes.

    Edward Timpson

    This Government believes that the teaching of first aid skills is important. The Department for Education works closely with expert organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance who provide learning materials to schools, including life-saving training kits produced by the British Heart Foundation. These kits provide young people with first-hand experience of life-saving skills and we have promoted the use of these via the termly school email and social media channels.

    How first aid is provided is up to teachers and is taught as part of personal, social, health and economic (PHSE) education in schools. In line with the continued drive to reduce bureaucracy and burdens on schools, we do not ask schools to routinely collect data on this.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to encourage British Muslims to join the armed forces to tackle ISIL.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence is working up plans to meet the Government’s commitment to increase the number of black, Asian, ethnic minority (BAME) recruits into the Armed Forces to 10% by 2020, and have allocated additional resources for this purpose.

    Diversity and inclusion is a Defence Board priority and we recognise that there are challenges we need to address and we are engaging with all communities that are under-represented in the Armed Forces to consider ways and means of doing so.

    Some examples of actions we have taken that are aimed at increasing BAME, including Muslim, recruitment are:

    Highlighting the benefits of a career in the Armed Forces including the ability to develop a trade or gain professional skills; as well as being a force for good, for example through conducting humanitarian operations.

    Trying to build mutual understanding between the Armed Forces and local communities including highlighting the role that Muslims have played in operations from World War One to the present day.

    Tackling the perception that there are no role models for Muslims in the Armed Forces.

    The Armed Forces have recently (October 2015) won two of the seven awards being presented at the Race for Opportunity Awards. The Armed Forces Muslim Association, of which the Chief of Defence Staff is patron, won the Public Sector Employee Network Award and the Royal Air Force won the Future Workforce Award for their STEM/Employability Skills programme.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of how many people were recorded as homeless in each county region in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department for Communities and Local Government collects and publishes data on statutory homelessness in England at a local authority district level only.

    The figures for the number of households accepted as statutorily homeless for each local authority district are available within Live Tables 784 and 784a at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness

    This Government has provided more than £500 million to tackle and prevent homelessness since 2010. This has resulted in local authorities preventing 935,800 households from becoming homeless since then.