Tag: 2015

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has held with the government of Nigeria on the situation in Biafra.

    James Duddridge

    The UK fully supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria and President Buhari’s commitment to work for a secure and prosperous Nigeria for all Nigerians. President Buhari has recently concluded the appointment of a new Government. We will continue to underline the importance of freedom of expression and acting in accordance with the rule of law with all parties, including the new Nigerian government.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the reasons in the discrepancy between the proportion of granted asylum claims which are made to people from Pakistan and the proportion of applicants under the detained fast-track procedure who are from that country.

    James Brokenshire

    The basis of an individual’s asylum claim is not recorded on Home Office systems. It is not therefore possible to differentiate Pakistani applicants claiming for reasons of religious persecution and discrimination from Pakistani applicants claiming for one or more other reasons in the Detained Fast Track (DFT) or the non-detained process.

    Certification under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 is not requested by an applicant. It is applied by the Secretary of State in circumstances where the applicant’s claim is refused and considered to be so lacking in merit as to be clearly unfounded.

    The number of initial certified refusals for Pakistan main asylum applicants, from year ending September 2013 to year ending September 2015, was 604. The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications and decisions on a quarterly and annual basis. The information supplied on certified refusals is based on initial decisions which do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period.

    No assessment has been made of any difference that might exist between grant rates in respect of Pakistani applicants in the DFT process when it operated, and cases entering the non-detained process at the same time. However, as the DFT process avoided claims involving particular complexity and/or vulnerability, and prioritised cases which appeared to be late or opportunistic, it is to be expected that the DFT would have fewer grants than the non-detained process.

  • 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 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the number and proportion of people receiving consultant-led mental health treatment within 18 weeks of referral is not recorded centrally; and what plans he has record such information.

    Alistair Burt

    The number and proportion of people receiving consultant-led mental health treatment is recorded within the monthly consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times collection, but is not separately identifiable. Data are separately identifiable for 18 high volume specialties, but most mental health treatment is not consultant-led.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 17668, if he will collect information on how much has been spent from the public purse on providing legal aid for asylum seekers who wish to purse immigration appeals.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The information is not held centrally.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of still births; and what steps he is taking to improve communication between coroners and health professionals to inform such steps.

    Ben Gummer

    On 13 November 2015, the Government announced an ambitious campaign to halve the national rates of maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths and brain injuries in babies by 2030.

    To help meet these aims trusts will receive a share of over £4 million of government investment to improve outcomes for women and babies. This includes:

    – a £2.24 million fund to help trusts buy monitoring or training equipment to improve safety;

    – a £500,000 investment in developing a new system for staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death; and

    – over £1 million investment to roll out training packages developed in agreement with expertise from the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care.

    Stillbirths are certified by a registered medical practitioner if they are present at the stillbirth or examined the baby, or in the absence of a registered medical practitioner, by a midwife. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 provides the legal framework for the coroners role, which is limited to investigating the cause of deaths. Stillborn babies are not legally classified as having died because they did not show signs of independent life after birth.

    Medical professionals will only refer a case to the senior Coroner if there is reason to suspect that a baby’s death may have been violent or unnatural. This includes babies who only briefly showed signs of independent life and/or where there is doubt about whether a child was born alive or was stillborn.

    One of the powers available to a coroner is the power to make a Rule 43 report. If the coroner feels that the evidence gives rise to a concern that circumstances creating a risk of other deaths will occur or continue to exist, he/she may make a Rule 43 report, which is sent to the organisation that has responsibility for the circumstances. A recipient of a Rule 43 report must send a written response within 56 days. The response must give details of any action which has been or is proposed will be taken, or provide an explanation when no action is proposed.

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assistance his Department provides to local authorities and frontagers to (a) maintain un-adopted roads and (b) ensure safety and the public right of way on un-adopted roads.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department does not provide any assistance to local authorities and frontagers to maintain un-adopted roads, or to ensure safety and the public right of way on un-adopted roads.

    Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty to maintain roads that are maintainable at public expense, namely adopted roads. However, where repairs are needed to remove danger to traffic in a private street, section 230 of the same Act gives the power to the street works authority to require the owners of the premises fronting the street to carry out specified repairs within a given time-scale

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with West Yorkshire Police on the review commissioned by the Office of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, and conducted by Greater Manchester Police, into the conviction of Mr Danny Major.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Secretary cannot comment on individual cases. This remains a matter for the Office of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and West Yorkshire Police.

  • Neil Coyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the judgment in the case of R v Secretary of State [2015] EWHC 3382 (Admin).

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government is considering the judgment and will set out its position in due course.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recommendations his Department has made to the government of (a) Guernsey and (b)Jersey on the definition of legitimate interest in the management of central registers of beneficial ownership.

    Dominic Raab

    The Prime Minister has made clear that he would like a publicly accessible central register of company beneficial ownership to be the new international standard.

    The Government is in dialogue with the Crown Dependencies about UK policy in this area and progress on the wider G20 transparency agenda.

    The role of my Department is to manage the constitutional relationship between the UK and the Crown Dependencies.We have discussed the subject of beneficial ownership with the Crown Dependencies where it impacts on that relationship but it is not my Department’s role to make specific recommendations.

    The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom. They are self-governing Dependencies of the Crown with their own legislative assemblies, administrative, fiscal and legal systems and courts of law.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions the contract with Concentrix regarding child tax credits and other benefits makes concerning the time within which decisions must be made about the eligibility for such benefits once they have been withdrawn, and what assessment they have made of how the company has performed against any such requirements in respect of the number of cases in which that period has been exceeded.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix UK Limited, signed in May 2014, provides additional capacity to review and correct tax credit claims that are potentially based on incorrect information.

    Full details of the contractual arrangements, including agreed performance indicators put in place in respect of the intervention service, can be found on gov.uk.

    HMRC regularly monitors the performance of contractors but, due to the commercially sensitive nature of this information, it does not disclose such information.