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Tag: 2015

  • Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will direct HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary to investigate Kent Police’s handling of a complaint of alleged corruption within the BBC in Tunbridge Wells made by a constituent of the hon. Member for North Norfolk.

    Mike Penning

    The role of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) is to inspect the efficiency and effectiveness of forces. If an individual is unhappy with the way a force has handled a specific matter, then they are able to make a complaint, either through the force directly, or via the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) or the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The Home Office does not intervene in individual complaint cases. It would be for the force to determine whether a complaint should be subject to a local investigation or referral to the IPCC under part 2 of the Police Reform Act 2002. The handling of police complaints must be customer focused, simple to understand and transparent throughout. Through the Policing and Criminal Justice Bill we will increase accountability and transparency in the complaints system by strengthening the role of directly-elected PCCs, and by reforming the IPCC to ensure that it has the powers it needs to secure public confidence and investigate complaints effectively.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of congestion in urban areas on the number of buses that have to remain in service, in particular in Manchester.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The bus market outside London is deregulated, with the vast majority of services provided on a commercial basis by private sector bus operators. The impact of congestion in urban areas on the number of buses that have to remain in service is one for bus operators and local transport authorities to consider.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to reply to Question 15306, tabled by the hon. Member for Hammersmith on 16 November 2015.

    Caroline Dinenage

    I refer the honourable member to the answer which I gave in PQ 15306, answered on 17th February 2016.

  • Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morris of Aberavon on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons interviewed by police, but not charged, have had their names released on the decision of a senior police officer because of the threat to life, detection of further crime, or because of public interest or confidence, in the last period for which figures are available.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office does not hold this information. However, the decision to release names and/or details of suspects in a criminal investigation are decisions for the police, which are guided in making such decisions by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Guidance on ‘Relationships with the media’.

    A key principle of the guidance is that the police have a duty to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of information (including personal data) which must be balanced against the duty to be open and transparent whenever possible.

    There are clearly great risks in naming suspects and the guidance makes clear that decisions should only be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the police should not release the names of those who are arrested or suspected of a crime unless they have clearly identified circumstances to justify disclosure.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding the Rail Delivery Group received from the public purse in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013, (d) 2014 and (v) 2015.

    Claire Perry

    The information requested is in the table below.

    Year

    Amount

    Source

    2011-12

    N/A

    2012-13

    N/A

    2013-14

    N/A

    2014-15

    £1,189,417 £151,987

    Network Rail[1] Directly Operated Railways[2]

    2015-16 (1 April 2015 to date)

    £1,832,625[3]

    Network Rail

    [1] Network Rail was reclassified as a public body by the Office for National Statistics on 1 September 2014. The figure shown is Network Rail’s contribution to the Rail Delivery Group from September 2014 – March 2015.

    [2] Rail Delivery Group charged Directly Operated Railways for the first time in 2014-15.

    [3] The figure shown is based on a full year contribution of £2,443,500.

  • Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have received from the UN or other independent sources about the number of (1) deaths of, and (2) injuries to, (a) Palestinians, and (b) Israelis, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a result of attacks for each of the last three years; what information they have on the number of perpetrators brought to justice for such attacks in the last 12 months; and what representations they have made to the government of Israel in the past 12 months on those issues.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs website, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) in 2013 there were 38 Palestinians fatalities and 3,800 injured; in 2014 there were 2,310 Palestinian fatalities and 16,626 injured; and so far from 1 January 2015 to 16 November 2015 there have been 106 Palestinian fatalities and 10,626 injured. According to the same website, there were 77 Israeli fatalities in 2014 in the OPTs; and so far from 1 January to 16 November 2015 there have been 14 Israeli fatalities in the OPTs.

    We regularly discuss these issues with the Israeli government, both our condemnation of the attacks and the need to ensure justice for victims, and for the need for the perpetrators to be arrested and brought to justice. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv most recently discussed these issues with the Israeli Ministry of Justice on 3 November 2015.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of housing benefit claims in respect of which a request for backdating was approved resulted in the payment of arrears for a period of (a) less than one month, (b) one month only, (b) between one and three months and (d) between three and six months in the most recent period for which figures are avilable.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Information on the number of Housing Benefit claims that were backdated is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Sammy Wilson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Sammy Wilson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the taxation of travel expenses for councillors in Northern Ireland.

    Mr David Gauke

    A new exemption from tax and National Insurance Contributions for councillors’ travel expenses will take effect from 6 April 2016. This was legislated for in the Summer Finance Bill. It will apply to travel expenses paid to councillors across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.

  • Lord Watson of Invergowrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Watson of Invergowrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Watson of Invergowrie on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the response by Lord Nash of 23 November to the 10th Report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee on the Education and Adoption Bill, whether it is possible to amend the definition of a coasting school in primary legislation using the powers in clause 15 of that bill.

    Lord Nash

    It is not possible to amend the definition of a coasting school in primary legislation using the powers in clause 15 of the Education and Adoption Bill. Clause 15 can only be used to make transitional or savings provisions about the coming into force of the Bill, or to make provision consequential to any provision of the Bill. Neither of these grounds would apply to an amendment to the definition of a coasting school. It would not have to be done as a consequence of the Bill, as the Bill already gives a means and procedure for defining coasting.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gavin Robinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a pension was provided to (a) full and (b) part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment who latterly served in the Home Battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment.

    Mark Lancaster

    Full time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) had an automatic entitlement to become members of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme. Part-time members of the UDR were engaged under different terms to the full time regular members of the Regiment. These terms were similar to those of the Territorial Army and reflected that part-time engagements were often on an irregular, intermittent and short-term basis.Part-time membersof the UDR were not members of an Armed Forces Pension Scheme.

    There are no plans to review the pension entitlement for former members of the Ulster Defence Regiment.