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Tag: 2015

  • David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on tackling the illegal wildlife trade in each of the last five years.

    Rory Stewart

    Over the past five years, the total amount of funding committed by Defra to tackling the illegal wildlife trade is as follows:

    Financial Year

    Total committed

    2010/11

    £224,535

    2011/12

    £226,000

    2012/13

    £162,000

    2013/14

    £2,089,773

    2014/15

    £5,278,744

    In December 2013, Defra and DFID announced that £10m of funding would be made available over the period 2014/15 – 2017/18 to help developing countries tackle the illegal wildlife trade, to be administered by Defra. In March 2015, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development announced that an additional £3m would be made available for this purpose.

    The DFID funding is largely distributed through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, for which I announced the opening of a second round of applications in August 2015. In addition, Defra has supported projects which will help tackle the illegal wildlife trade through the Darwin Initiative and through direct awards to organisations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We also supported the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in March this year.

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners are presently held at HMP Holloway.

    Lord Faulks

    As published on the MOJs website, on Friday 30 October 2015 there were 544 prisoners held in HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Holloway.

    A figure for Friday 27 November 2015 will be published on the 11 December 2015 on the Ministry of Justice website.

    Individual prison population and capacity information for every prison in England and Wales, as well as the total population and useable operational capacity of the prison estate is published monthly on the Ministry of Justice website.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospitals in the North East are treating brain tumour patients with stereotactic radiosurgery; and how many patients have been treated in each such hospital in each year since NHS England was created.

    Jane Ellison

    There was no recorded activity of stereotactic radiosurgery or radiotherapy in 2013-14 for hospitals in the North East¹.

    ¹Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre, Hospital Episodes Statistics database 2013-14.

    Notes:

    1. 2013-14 is the latest data available.
    2. Return is based on using the codes supplied by the classifications service (A10.7 Stereotactic radiosurgery on tissue of the brain and Y91.5 Megavoltage treatment for hypofractioned stereotactic radiotherapy).
    3. There are no specific OPCS-4.7 codes that classify stereotactic ablative radiotherapy. The terms stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy are sometimes used synonymously.
  • Baroness Gardner of Parkes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Gardner of Parkes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gardner of Parkes on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will clarify the measures that can be taken to enable works to be carried out when they are wanted or needed by a majority of leaseholders in leasehold residential properties.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The maintenance and repair of a block of flats containing leasehold properties is normally the responsibility of the landlord and will be set out under the terms of the lease. This responsibility can pass to a Right to Manage Company where leaseholders have exercised and acquired that right, allowing them to exercise direct control over how their block is maintained.

    Landlords, or those who have acquired the Right to Manage, have a contractual obligation under the terms of the leases to carry out necessary works to the properties that they are responsible for maintaining. Where works are suggested by a majority of leaseholders that are not essential to the repair or maintenance of the property, we would expect landlords to engage with their leaseholders to discuss the feasibility of the suggested works, but there are no plans to legislate to obligate landlords to carry out such work.

    There are also no plans to legislate to provide a limited time within which non-resident leaseholders who fail to respond to a proposal for qualifying works, are deemed to have agreed to the proposed works. The statutory consultation process (known as section 20) gives leaseholders the ability to have a greater say on proposed works to their property by making observations. It does not require leaseholders to make observations, but any observations that are made must be made within a specified time limit. The landlord (or Right to Manage Company) is therefore in the knowledge that subject to observations made, they are able to proceed with necessary works.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 10040, whether she plans that the Protocol to the 2014 Forced Labour Convention will be ratified before the end of 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government intends to ratify the Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention. We are taking forward the formal ratification process and we expect this to be complete within three months.

  • Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cases of diversion or extinguishment of paths that pass through gardens, farmyards or business remain outstanding.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    We aim to make it easier to divert or extinguish paths that pass through gardens, farmyards or commercial businesses through the Stakeholder Working Group’s reform package. Local Authorities handle the actual diversion and extinguishment orders and therefore hold the relevant information on the number of outstanding applications. The Government does not collect this information.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) deaths from and (b) cases of HIV, TB and malaria that will be prevented as a result of her Department’s £1 billion commitment to the Global Fund from 2014 to 2016.

    Grant Shapps

    From a standing start in 2002, the UK’s unwavering support has enabled the Global Fund to keep 8.1 million people alive with HIV therapy, distribute 548 million mosquito nets, detect and treat 13.2 million cases of TB, and has contributed to a decline of one third in the number of people dying from the three diseases since 2002 in Global Fund countries.

    The UK remains a strong and active supporter of the Global Fund and has pledged a contribution of up to £1 billion between 2014 and 2016 for the Global Fund’s 4th replenishment, subject to a 10% donor share cap. The UK’s contribution is estimated to dramatically improve the lives of millions of people – saving approximately 580,000 lives by preventing 8.4m new malaria, HIV and tuberculosis infections.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will make provision for large goods vehicles driving apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement.

    Nick Boles

    Through our reforms, more than 1300 employers are designing new apprenticeships standards that are more responsive to the needs of business. 194 standards have been published with over 150 new standards in development, including the new Large Goods Vehicle Driver standard.

    Subject to final approval, this new apprenticeship standard will provide the sector with an excellent opportunity to develop a new generation of drivers in a way that meets their specific requirements.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the refugee crisis in Lebanon.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    To date, the UK has pledged over £1.1 billion in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, with £304 million being allocated to meet the immediate needs of refugees and to support host communities in Lebanon. This makes us the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

    As part of the No Lost Generation initiative, DFID has pledged a total of £80 million of this allocation to support education in Lebanon, including support for the Lebanese Government’s ‘Reaching All Children with Education’ RACE scheme toexpand the public education systemto include an additional 200,000 Syrian refugees and improve the quality for Lebanese students.

    DFID also works in Lebanon to alleviate the impact of the humanitarian crisis through advocacy focused on civilian and refugee protection, humanitarian access for aid, and improving the effectiveness and funding of the international response.

    For more information and to stay up to date with what DFID is doing in response to the Syria crisis in Lebanon and across the region, please see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-the-latest-updates-on-uk-aid.

    “

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women’s refuge services (a) take steps to improve the level of reporting and (b) contribute to data gathering on cases of domestic violence and forced marriage.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims is a key priority of this Government. As announced at Summer budget we have carried out, along with Home Office, a review of domestic abuse services, working closely with the Women’s sector using much of their data and we recognise how important data reporting is. Since 2003, the Government has supported UKRefugesOnline to maintain a database of domestic abuse services. In the Summer Budget we allocated an additional £131,000 of funding to support additional caseworkers at the helpline. It is for local commissioners to draw up agreements on data collection with domestic abuse service providers to support their local area Domestic Abuse Strategies.