The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he or Ministers in his Department will attend the heats and further stages of the Bar National Mock Trials Competition.
Mr Shailesh Vara
I am aware of this valuable initiative for school students organised by the Citizenship Foundation and funded by the Bar. While Ministers have no current plans to attend any of the stages, I wish this competition continuing success.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2015-12-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Upper Tribunal’s decision in MSM (journalists; political opinion; risk) Somalia [2015] UKUT 00413 (IAC), what plans they have immediately to revise their country-specific bulletins, and how they will now apply their discretion to asylum and immigration cases.
Lord Bates
We do not believe our country specific bulletins are at odds with the Upper Tribunal’s decision in MSM (Somalia) such that they require urgent revision. However, we are constantly reviewing our country information and guidance to ensure we reflect the most up-to-date situation and caselaw.
A fundamental principle of the 1951 Refugee Convention is that each case is considered on its own merits. That is the approach taken by the Home Office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how he plans to assess whether clinical commissioning groups in England have met the NHS England planning guidance requirement to give real terms spending increases to mental health services in 2015-16.
Alistair Burt
In total, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure in excess of their increase in allocation for the year. NHS England is tracking actual expenditure against those plans and it will report to the Secretary of State at the end of the year on whether those plans have been met.
Departmental Ministers meet the Chief Executives of NHS England and Monitor regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including funding for mental health services.
NHS England was formally established on 1 April 2013.Expenditure by NHS England on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2013/14 was £1.780 billion and £1.795 billion in 2014/15. NHS England’s planned expenditure on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2015/16 is £1.859 billion.
NHS England has published CCG level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15. Estimates for 2015/16 are not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what provision the Government made in the conditions of the sale of Royal Mail for suitable local alternatives to be provided in the event that local sorting or collection offices were closed.
Anna Soubry
Decisions on whether to close and re-locate local collection offices have always been operational matters for Royal Mail. The Government played no role in such decisions prior to the sale of Royal Mail.
Regardless of ownership, Royal Mail, as the United Kingdom’s designated universal service provider, is required to provide a universal postal service that meets the minimum requirements as set out under the Postal Services Act 2011.
It is the responsibility of the postal regulator, Ofcom, to ensure that Royal Mail provides sufficient access points to meet its universal postal service obligations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of slaughterhouses have CCTV.
George Eustice
The latest estimates from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are that 57% of red meat slaughterhouses and 69% of white meat slaughterhouses have some form of CCTV in use for animal welfare purposes. FSA estimate that 94% of cattle, 96% of pigs, 90% of sheep and 99% of poultry throughput now comes from premises with CCTV.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many civil servants in his Department are in the redeployment pool.
Brandon Lewis
A redeployment pool is one of the steps DCLG would take if staff were at the risk of redundancy. DCLG is currently not in a redundancy situation, therefore, we do not have a redeployment pool or staff in it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what impact assessment she has made of the proposed closure of the Visa and Entry Clearance Office in Dhaka; and if she will make a statement.
James Brokenshire
Decision making on UK visa applications lodged in Bangladesh was moved from Dhaka to New Delhi in September 2014. An internal assessment of the potential impact was completed in early 2014 which covered various aspects including decision quality and customer service. UKVI retains a small team in the British High Commission, Dhaka to carry out the remote printing of visas and local checks.
There has been, and will be, no change to the process for customers in Bangladesh. Customers are still able to apply in the same Visa Application Centres with applications being processed under the same global customer service standards of 15 working days.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, from where the Royal Navy will attain the remaining personnel necessary to crew the two new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Royal Navy has attracted significant investment as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, including an increase in personnel to 30,600 by 2025. This level of investment continues to ensure delivery of Continuous Carrier Capability from both Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of investments made through the British Business Bank has been made in the North East.
Anna Soubry
As at 30 June, the North East accounts for 5% of the finance facilitated by the British Business Bank. Given that the North East accounts for 3% of the small business population this means that the region enjoys more than its pro rata share of Business Bank investment.
I am pleased that since 2010, there are 11,800 new businesses in the North East. The historic Tees Valley devolution deal, worth £450million, and the North East Combined Authority deal, worth £900million, recently signed by the Chancellor will help drive locally led economic growth and a thriving business environment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios for keeping global temperatures below two degrees require (a) negative emissions technologies and (b) peaking of global emissions before (i) 2015 and (ii) 2020; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
Of the 204 emissions scenarios included in the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report database with climate model projections which are consistent with a more than 50% chance of keeping global warming below 2 °C by 2100:
(a)177 of these include negative emissions technologies; and
(b)noting that the scenarios do not consider emissions in 2015, but rather for each decade:
(i) 111 of the scenarios require emissions to peak by 2010; and
(ii) 46 additional scenarios require emissions to peak by 2020.
The remainder either do not report total emissions (11) or peak after 2020. The general features of the scenarios in this database show that delaying strong action to reduce emissions would increase the risk of exceeding 2 °C of warming and associated impacts, and require deeper emissions cuts in the future and/or a heavier reliance on negative emissions technologies at scale. This is why the Department is seeking ambitious global action on climate change in Paris.