Tag: 2015

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-10-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made on human rights in China.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We pay close attention to the human rights situation in China and outline a range of our concerns in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

    Bilaterally, we are one of only a few countries to maintain an annual human rights dialogue with China: the most recent dialogue was in Beijing in April. Ministers also consistently raise human rights issues. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised the matter of detained lawyers during his visit to China in August. I raised concerns over a proposed draft non-government organisation law with Ambassador Liu Xiaoming in June.

    We also make representations through international mechanisms. In a statement to the Human Rights Council on 21 September, the UK made clear that it remained concerned by reports of the detention of human rights lawyers since 9 July 2015, and urged the Chinese authorities to release these lawyers.

  • Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Hollobone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on the provision of medical supplies to NHS facilities in (a) Northamptonshire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England of the introduction of the new IT system at NHS Supply Chain’s Regional Distribution Centre in Rugby.

    George Freeman

    NHS Supply Chain services are delivered by a logistics partner DHL, under the management of NHS Business Services Authority. DHL has been upgrading the main logistics IT system across its warehousing network and on 5 October 2015 commenced the upgrade at its warehouse in Rugby. Various technical issues have been encountered and, as a result, DHL has had to implement contingency measures.

    Whilst there has been an administrative impact on some National Health Service trusts, we are not aware of any impact on ‘front line services’ in Northamptonshire and the East Midlands – the area served by the Rugby warehouse. DHL has been able to meet requirements from its remaining network and it expects all current issues to be resolved by 23 October 2015. When the issues have been resolved the NHS Business Services Authority will then address any ‘due compensation’ to NHS trusts affected.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-10-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are engaged in the Organised Immigration Crime Task Force; and in which countries those people are deployed.

    James Brokenshire

    The Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce brings together officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue and disrupt organised immigration crime. The Taskforce builds on existing extensive law enforcement capability in the UK and overseas to tackle organised immigration crime and target criminal networks in source and transit countries. The Taskforce will exploit every opportunity to smash the gangs’ criminal operations. There are currently 52 officers in post. It is expected that 89 of the operational posts will be filled by the end of 2015 with all posts in place by the end of March 2016. In addition to posts in the UK, officers have been deployed to Europe and East, West and North Africa. While we continue to fill the additional posts we have temporarily flexed resources from across Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce partners to prioritise tackling people smuggling.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Tyrie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2015-10-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 28 of his Department’s consultation paper, Proposal on the provision of court and tribunal services in the South East Region, published in July 2015, on what statistical basis the figure of 78 per cent of court usage capacity was calculated; and if he will publish the data underlying that calculation.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The utilisation figure for Chichester Combined Court of approximately 78% quoted in the consultation was based on Crown Court work only (1928 hours) and only took account of the two Crown Court rooms in the Combined Court. Chichester Combined Court also hears county court work and held 1069 hours of work giving a total of 2997 hours. This provides an overall utilisation figure of approximately 60% for the four rooms (two Crown Court and two used for County Court work) at Chichester Combined Court. This adjustment will also be published in the consultation response document.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on which dates (a) the full Cycling Shareholder Forum, (b) the safety sub-group of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum and (c) the High Level Cycling Group have held meetings in the last 12 months.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The last Cycling Stakeholder forum meeting was on 24th June 2014, and the last safety-sub group meeting was held on 13 July 2013.

    The High Level Cycling Group has met within the last 12 months. The most recent meeting was on 13 July 2015. Previous meetings were held on 8 September 2014 and 30 April 2014.

    We are in the process of reviewing our arrangements for stakeholder engagement, as part of the work we are doing to form the governance structure for the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his most recent estimate is of the number of children living in poverty; and if he will publish such data for each region and parliamentary constituency.

    Priti Patel

    Estimates of the number and proportion of children in relative and absolute low-income are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series.

    Due to small sample sizes figures for constituency level are not available as robust estimates cannot be produced for local level geographies. However, HBAI does provide 3-year average estimates of the number and proportion of children in relative and absolute low-income for each region in the UK. Analysis by region is presented as three-year averages as single-year estimates are considered too volatile. Figures are presented in financial year estimates and are available up to 2013/14

    The latest publication is available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-19941995-to-20132014

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  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to attract high-skilled migrants and international students to the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government is very clear that the UK is open for business. The UK benefits from immigration, but not uncontrolled immigration. We will continue with the immigration reforms we have pursued since 2010 to reduce net migration and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest. Reducing net migration is compatible with continuing to attract the brightest and best to come here to study and work. We continue to welcome skilled workers filling gaps in our labour market, we have introduced new routes for the exceptionally talented and graduate entrepreneurs, and there is no limit on the number of international students coming to study at our world class universities.

  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effects of the provisions of the Housing and Planning Bill on the total amount of spending on housing benefit in each of the next five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government will continue to assess the impacts of the Housing and Planning Bill as it progresses through Parliament. We will publish our assessments on Parliament’s website at

    http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/housingandplanning/documents.html.

    These will be updated as further assessments are undertaken.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the measures contained within the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation’s European Model Law for the promotion of tolerance and the suppression of intolerance.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    In the UK we have a strong legal framework against all forms of hate crime and discrimination. Many of the aims suggested in the European Model Law for the promotion of tolerance and the addressing of intolerance are reflected in our current approach and we welcome input and views on how we can improve our work.

  • Andrew Bingham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Bingham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bingham on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the availability of NHS dentist places in (a) High Peak constituency, (b) Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group and (c) Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary and secondary care dental services to meet local need. NHS England advises that oral health needs assessments for general dentistry are being conducted for areas that include Tameside and Glossop and Derbyshire.

    Overall, access continues to increase with the latest access data showing 30 million patients were seen by a dentist in the 24 month period ending 30 June 2015. This is 1.7 million more patients than May 2010.

    There is further to go, and this is why the Government is committed to increasing access still further through reform of the dental contract to incentivise dentists to focus on prevention as well as treatment and, by seeing patients at intervals appropriate to their clinical need, freeing up spaces for additional patients to be seen.