Tag: 2015

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Kenyan counterpart on steps to control terrorism in the last 12 months.

    James Duddridge

    Co-operation on security and counter-terrorism is an important part of our bilateral relationship with Kenya. The Prime Minister discussed the subject with President Kenyatta during their meeting in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on 28 September. The Foreign Secretary also discussed the issue with the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed in the margins of the same event, where they signed a bilateral Security Compact aimed at enhancing our security cooperation. We continue to work closely with the Kenyan security agencies to counter the shared threat of terrorism. This includes working with Kenya to strengthen its borders, as well as in providing assistance on investigating and prosecuting terrorists in line with international human rights standards.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of projected savings in his Department arising from the imposition of civilian pay restraint in the 2015-16 financial year and each of the next five such years.

    Mark Lancaster

    The estimated Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian paybill saving in 2015-16 from pay restraint is £10 million.

    The Summer Budget confirmed that the Government would fund public sector pay awards at 1% for four years from 2016-17 onwards.

    The estimated saving for MOD civilians from this pay restraint is £254 million over the next five years as detailed below.


    2016-17     (£ million)


    2017-18     (£ million)


    2018-19     (£ million)


    2019-20     (£ million)


    2020-21     (£ million)

    7

    26

    52

    92

    77

  • Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many families with children living in bed and breakfast have been so accommodated for more than six weeks; and how many families with children were living in bed and breakfast accommodation in (a) each local authority in the East Midlands and (b) England in each year since 2010.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department for Communities and Local Government collects figures for the number of households in temporary accommodation as snapshot figures at the end of each quarter. Theattached table shows the number of families with children who were accommodated in Bed & Breakfast hotels (including shared annexes) on 31st December for each year 2010–2014, who were resident for more than 6 weeks, in the East Midlands and England.

    Numbers for individual local authorities have not been provided, as they generally relate to very small numbers of households and therefore risk disclosing personal information.

    The law is clear that bed and breakfast accomodation should only be used to house homeless in an emergency, and for no longer than six weeks.

  • 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 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian personnel, (b) uniformed personnel and (c) civil servants were employed at (i) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (ii) MOD Llanwrst, (iii) MOD Fairbourne and (iv) MOD Crickhowell in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    Information available on the number of personnel at each of the locations requested is provided in the tables below. The number of military personnel and civil servants is as at 1 October for each year. Data for military personnel can only be provided for the last nine years as prior to this information is not held centrally. The number of contractors can only be provided by financial year.

    The data has been rounded in accordance with data protection principles where ~ denotes less than 5.

    Military Personnel as at 1 October

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2007

    0

    ~

    20

    20

    2008

    0

    ~

    20

    20

    2009

    0

    ~

    20

    30

    2010

    ~

    10

    20

    30

    2011

    10

    10

    20

    30

    2012

    10

    10

    20

    30

    2013

    10

    10

    20

    10

    2014

    10

    10

    10

    10

    2015

    20

    0

    10

    20

    Civil Servant Personnel as at 1 October

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2006

    10

    10

    20

    10

    2007

    10

    10

    20

    20

    2008

    10

    10

    20

    20

    2009

    10

    10

    10

    20

    2010

    10

    10

    10

    20

    2011

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2012

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2013

    ~

    ~

    10

    10

    2014

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2015

    ~

    ~

    10

    10

    Contractors by Financial Year

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2007-08

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2008-09

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2009-10

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2010-11

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2011-12

    ~

    10

    10

    ~

    2012-13

    ~

    10

    10

    ~

    2013-14

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2014-15

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    “

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what grant her Department made available to the NSPCC for running the modern slavery human trafficking helpline between July 2014 to June 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    The NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline was launched in July 2014, as part of a wider awareness-raising campaign, to better support potential victims of modern slavery. For the period July 2014 to July 2015, £50,000 was made available to the NSPCC to run the modern slavery helpline. To support the launch of the helpline, training was provided by existing staff in the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre, the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and the Modern Slavery Unit to NSPCC call-handlers at zero cost.

    The NSPCC helpline routinely records the number of contacts made each month, how they are made, and by whom. The helpline also records the gender, age and nationality of potential victims, where that information is known or presumed. Between 31 July 2014 and 31 July 2015 the NSPCC modern slavery helpline received, in total, 849 contacts. These were comprised of 491 referrals, 107 advice cases and 251 enquiries. During the period 31 July 2014 to 31 July 2015 the helpline received a total of 57 contacts from potential victims themselves and in that same period the NSPCC made 272 referrals to the police. The NSPCC does not hold data on the number of contacts referred to the helpline by the police and other agencies that were subsequently referred back to those agencies.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Prime Minister, which (a) business organisations and (b) non-governmental organisations he met during his visit to the COP 21 climate change conference in Paris on 30 November 2015.

    Mr David Cameron

    Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and are available via the gov.uk website.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has in place to assess at the conclusion of any animal experiment whether the severity level expected by researchers before the experiment corresponded to what the actual severity level was.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office has published detailed guidance (see: Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), which describes the requirements the Home Office places on researchers in the assessment of retrospective severity. At the end of a series of regulated procedures the project licence holder is required to classify the actual severity of the series of procedures carried out using observations taken from the animals during day-to-day monitoring. This information has to be reported to the Home Office annually, and at the conclusion of a programme of work, and following implementation of 2010/63 EU was published for the first time in the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2014.

    Where appropriate, Home Office Inspectors cross-check and assess these records against the severity categories set out in project licences.

    All project licences using non-human primates, cats, dogs and equidae, all those involving procedures classified as severe as well as those for education and training purposes or using endangered animals, are also required to be assessed retrospectively. In such cases, the Secretary of State requires an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body to conduct the retrospective assessment, which has to be submitted to the Home Office within three months in order that an inspector can complete the assessment on behalf of the Secretary of State.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make one of the qualifying criteria for children under three years of age to access the mobility component of the disability living allowance possession of a blue badge by either of a child’s parents.

    Justin Tomlinson

    I refer the honourable lady to the answer provided to her on 2 November (13660).

  • Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department was first made aware that employer pension payments were not being made by SSI UK.

    Anna Soubry

    There is a statutory process in place for the reporting of missing pension contributions. Managers of pension schemes are required to report any material non-payment of contributions to The Pensions Regulator within 90 days of those contributions falling due. There is no role for my department in this process.

    In insolvency situations, such as SSI’s liquidation, unpaid pension contributions can be claimed from the Redundancy Payments Service within specified legal limits. If there are unpaid contributions, then the manager of the pension scheme will submit a claim to the Redundancy Payments Service on behalf of employees.

    As part of his role as liquidator of SSI UK, the Official Receiver will look into all aspects leading to the company’s failure, including the directors’ conduct.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust deals effectively with the issues of racial discrimination and harassment identified by the Care Quality Commission.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) is monitoring and working closely with Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust to support the Trust to address these issues.

    We are advised by the TDA that the Trust’s Race Equality Workforce Engagement Strategy involves multiple work streams led by area specific engagement groups to address specific issues and challenges across all areas and levels of the Trust. It was launched at the joint Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Network and Trust conference in October 2014.

    A programme board was established and the first meeting was in February 2015. Programme board meetings are co-chaired by the Chief Executive and the Chair of the BME Network in order to provide oversight, performance management and governance of the race equality action plans developed by the various engagement groups.

    We are assured by the TDA that the Trust followed procedures correctly in appointing the Chairman of the Trust to hear a right of appeal from nine BME members of staff against the decision of Henrietta Hill QC.