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Tag: 2015

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the urgent call from UN agencies for respect for health premises and the right to health care in Jerusalem for Palestinians after Israeli security forces stormed an East Jerusalem medical facility on 29 October.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not responded to this issue specifically, we are clear that medical staff should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv met Physicians for Human Rights on 9 November to discuss trends in human rights violations against medical staff. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the urgent need to de-escalate the tensions.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    As has been the case under successive Administrations, civil servants, including special advisers, may routinely accompany their Ministers on official visits.

    Information relating to Ministers’ overseas visits are published on my Department’s website, as part of the Government’s wider transparency agenda.

    All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

  • Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of the current range of vocational qualifications offered to those serving prison sentences in England and Wales.

    Lord Faulks

    The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. The review is expected to report in the spring of 2016. A copy of the terms of reference can be found at gov.uk

    The Welsh Government provides prison education funding to NOMS in Wales to commission services and these are aligned to the Welsh Government’s learning and skills outcome requirements. Vocational courses represent more than 80% of the prisoner education in prisons in Wales and take account of offender needs and labour market information to increase prisoners’ employment opportunities on release.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17530, what information his Department holds on which foreign armed forces British military personnel were embedded within the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 November 2015 to Question 17530 to the hon. Member for Coventry South (Jim Cunningham).

  • Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they had with the Head of the Civil Service prior to setting up the review of House of Lords powers being undertaken by Lord Strathclyde.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

    Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

    Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

    The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

    Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

    Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

  • Emma Lewell-Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Emma Lewell-Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the financial value of the renewable energy sector supply chain.

    Andrea Leadsom

    A report on ‘The size and performance of the UK low carbon economy’ published by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills contains estimates of turnover, gross value added (GVA), and the number of jobs supported by the low carbon sectors across the UK.1

    There are 269,800 people employed across all low carbon sectors in the UK, including generation of electricity, energy efficiency, vehicles, low carbon heat, and production of fuels.

    There were 68,100 people employed collectively in the renewable energy sector supply chains in 2013. The supply chain firms are estimated to have had a turnover of £24.5bn in 2013, adding £9.9bn of value to the UK economy.

    [1] BIS (March 2015), The Size and Performance of the UK Low Carbon Economy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/low-carbon-economy-size-and-performance

    “

  • Baroness Stern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Baroness Stern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Stern on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what domestic legislation they consider to be relevant to the lethal operation of Reaper drones in Syria from RAF Waddington.

    Earl Howe

    The UK conducts all its military operations in accordance with international law (including International Humanitarian Law) and members of HM Armed Forces are subject to the criminal law of England and Wales at all times.

  • Graham Brady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Graham Brady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) target, (b) average and (c) longest time taken to approve individual funding requests are for diseases in the last 12 months for which data is available.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that its standard operating procedures published target to process individual funding requests is 40 days. This is for all cases no matter what their outcome.

    In the last 12 months for which data is available, NHS England has advised that the average approval time was 20 days, with the longest approval time being 66 days and the shortest being two days.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the likely impact of proposed changes to student loan repayment thresholds on repayment regimes for those students who take out 24+ Advanced Learner Loan and who study for an Access to HE qualification but then do not complete an HE qualification.

    Nick Boles

    Where a learner takes out a loan to fund an Access to HE Diploma course, and then goes on to complete their HE Diploma course, then the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan is written off.

    The impact of freezing the threshold for students who take out 24+ Advanced Learning Loans to study for an Access to HE qualification but do not complete an HE qualification will be similar to the impact for all 24+ Advanced Learning Loan borrowers.

    Estimates of the impact of freezing the repayment thresholds for 24+ Advanced Learning Loans borrowers are illustrated in the consultation document, which has been published here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freezing-the-student-loan-repayment-threshold

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  • Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 17 November 2015, Official Report, column 515, on non-hospital care, on what date he commissioned Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to examine pressures in the care home sector; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    Paul Johnson has not been commissioned to examine pressures in the care home sector, nor are there any plans to commission him or the Institute for Fiscal Studies to undertake such a review.