Tag: 2015

Toby Perkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to UK Defence in Numbers, published by his Department in August 2015, how many of the 125 Tornado Combat aircraft referred to in that document are combat ready.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Defence in Numbers booklet is a snap shot of the UK’s Defence capability and how we are spending the fifth largest Defence budget in the world. As well as giving details on civilian and personnel numbers and current operations, it also includes a list of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment holdings, the vast majority of which are in service and deployable. We will continue to review the Defence in Numbers booklet to ensure that it best reflects the breadth of defence equipment.

The pieces of equipment listed in the Defence in Numbers booklet that are not capable for use on the front-line are: Jet provost aircraft, BAE-125 aircraft, Wessex helicopters, Challenger 1 battle tanks, FH70 Towed Howitzers and Chieftain Armoured Vehicles. These platforms are used in either a training or ceremonial capacity.

Currently 90 Tornado aircraft remain in the operational fleet and are, or could be, returned to combat ready status; this number includes aircraft undergoing periodic deep maintenance and modification which are not immediately available for operational use.

January 1, 2023
Lord Dobbs – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how many peers receive the daily press coverage service of the House of Lords Press and Media Team.

Lord Laming

63 members of the House of Lords currently receive the House of Lords Press and Media Team’s daily media summary, in addition to 6 Members’ staff and 180 staff of the House of Lords Administration. Any Member who wishes to receive the summary should contact the Press and Media Team (lordspressoffice@parliament.uk).

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January 1, 2023
Lucy Powell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) applications and (b) requests for decisions in principle her Department has received on proposals for expansions of grammar schools on new sites in the last five years; and when each was received by her Department.

Edward Timpson

Local authorities are the decision makers when a maintained school proposes to expand onto an additional site. Local authorities, rather than the Department, would therefore hold the records for such proposals.

Since April 2012, when the Education Funding Agency was established, the Department has received applications from two schools for expansion on to an additional site. These were both initially received in July 2013.

January 1, 2023
Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what emergency arrangements are in place to care for those who are affected by bombings in Syria.

Earl of Courtown

The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

We continue to closely monitor the humanitarian impact of airstrikes in Syria. DFID’s partners are activating their own contingency plans and have scaled up their interventions to meet the evolving needs of the population. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold all provisions of International Humanitarian Law.

January 1, 2023
Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on security of Médecins Sans Frontières clinics in areas of conflict.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

It is essential that there is a rigorous process to determine the circumstances surrounding the airstrike on the Médecins Sans Frontières trauma centre in Kunduz in order to prevent something like this occurring again. We await the conclusions of the investigations currently being undertaken by NATO and by the Governments of the United States and Afghanistan, and any lessons that these offer. The UK Government has high regard for Médecins Sans Frontières and the work they undertake around the world.

We are also aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition – including alleged airstrikes resulting in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure – and take them very seriously. We have raised our concerns with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and have received repeated assurances that they are complying with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances. We are also concerned by reports of alleged IHL violations by Houthi-Saleh forces, including the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes; and the targeting of aid workers and restrictions on humanitarian access. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL and international human rights law.

January 1, 2023
Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how the religious character of a faith school will be maintained if the school is converted into an academy.

Lord Nash

When a faith school becomes an academy it retains its religious character by virtue of Section 6 of the Academies Act 2010. The academy’s religious character is protected through provisions within the academy’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State and the academy trust’s articles of association. Once a faith school becomes an academy any change to its religious character would only take place with the consent of the relevant religious body and the Secretary of State.

January 1, 2023
Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not hold records of the number of staff who are members of a trade union. This is a matter for the trade unions.

The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time and the cost of its provision, on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time

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January 1, 2023

Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last five years, how many planning appeals were made against local authority decisions on major housing schemes; what was the average time taken by the Planning Inspectorate to deal with those appeals; how many took longer than six months; how many have so far been made this year, and of those how many have taken, or are scheduled to take, longer than six months.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The table below shows the number of planning appeals made against local authority decisions on major housing schemes (10 or more houses). It shows the average time taken, how many took longer than six months, how many have been made so far this year and of those, how many have taken or will take longer than six months.

s78 planning appeals for major dwellings (10+)
Start Date	Number of decisions	Average days to decide	Number of appeal decisions that exceeded 6 months (start to decision)
2010-2011	626	163	142
2011-2012	473	146	57
2012-2013	397	166	86
2013-2014	495	162	117
2014-2015	587	166	230
2015-2016	392	185	157
Number of decisions in progress that are beyond 6 months (in age) = 62

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January 1, 2023

David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on ensuring that policy and border staff share information on the illegal wildlife trade with Interpol, Europol and World Customs Organisation.

James Brokenshire

Border Force are in regular contact with all the Organisations listed and regularly use their systems to communicate and share Intelligence on IWT to the global community .They are also represented on the EU Enforcement Working group that covers the Illegal wildlife trade.

January 1, 2023
Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of the Government’s spending on infrastructure since 2010.

Greg Hands

In 2010, the government launched the Infrastructure Cost Review seeking to improve the cost effective delivery of infrastructure projects and programmes. In 2014, the Cost Review reported savings of around 15% – worth around £3billion per annum – by addressing a number of drivers of high costs. But more can and is being done, working closely with infrastructure clients from public and private sectors to continue to bear down on costs and improve delivery performance.

January 1, 2023