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Tag: 2016

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been their contribution to the current battle for Ramadi; what is their estimate of the resident population of Ramadi in (1) 2004, (2) 2009, (3) 2015, and (4) now; what is their assessment of where the people who have left that city are now living; and what contribution they are making to the support and help for these displaced people.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Royal Air Force’s close air support operations continue to play a key role in the Coalition’s support to the Iraqi Security Force’s in the battle for Ramadi. A lack of official data in Iraq makes population estimates unreliable. The best population estimates we have for Ramadi are 455,000 in 2004 and 376,000 in 2011. The planning figure used by the UN Development Programme stabilisation work is 500,000. The majority of the population of Ramadi had already left when Daesh entered the city, with most fleeing to host communities or camps. The UN estimated the residual population of the city at approximately 12,000-15,000 people. The UK has provided £79.5million in humanitarian support across Iraq since June 2014. The UK is the biggest donor to the UN emergency pooled funding mechanism and provides support through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other international bodies for those displaced.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what stage they have reached in their consideration of amending legislation in order to ensure that convicted murderers who persist in refusing to reveal the location of bodies of victims are prevented from being released on parole; and when they expect to introduce legislation to that effect.

    Lord Faulks

    I can sympathise with the anguish caused to the families of victims where the whereabouts of their loved one is unknown and the offender wilfully fails to co-operate. Such behaviour is already taken into account by the court when sentencing the offender, and by the independent Parole Board when assessing an offender’s eligibility for possible release. The Prisons Minister has written to the Parole Board asking it to consider reviewing its guidelines on this issue.

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether relatives of British nationals murdered abroad are entitled to financial compensation from them, and if so, how much compensation they have paid since 2010.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government provides two compensation schemes for victims of crime, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (the Scheme) 2012 and the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme (VOTCS) 2012. Both schemes are administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

    The Scheme is designed to compensate blameless victims of violent crime where the incident took place in Great Britain or a “relevant place” as outlined in Annex C of the scheme. Close relatives of a British citizen may also be eligible for compensation under the scheme. Under the Scheme compensation is only available to those who can demonstrate they are ordinarily resident in the UK at the time of the incident or have another defined connection to the UK.

    In fatal cases, compensation may be awarded to qualifying relatives who also satisfy the Scheme’s residency criteria. The meaning of qualifying relative is outlined in paragraph 59 of the Scheme. The CICA does not keep information on the nationality of the deceased in fatal applications, so we cannot identify the amount of compensation paid.

    Compensation for relatives of British nationals murdered abroad is not available under the two schemes provided by the Government. UK residents injured as a result of a crime of violence in another country within the European Union (EU) or outside the EU may be able to apply for compensation from that country. The CICA can assist with applications to other EU countries.

    The VOTCS was introduced to compensate victims of terrorism injured in incidents outside the UK on or after 27 November 2012. A person may be eligible for an award under VOTCS if they sustain a qualifying injury, which is directly attributable to their being a direct victim of a designated terrorist act. Close relatives bereaved as a result of a designated act may also be eligible for an award. The VOTCS applies to the whole of the United Kingdom.

    Claims under the VOTCS can be made by those who have a clear and sufficient connection to the UK, as evidenced by their residence and citizenship. British, European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss citizens who have been resident in the UK for three years immediately before the designated act may be eligible for an award. Data on the value of awards made under VOTCS from 2013 to 2016 are set in the table below.

    Year

    Amount of awards

    2013

    £206,607

    2014

    £11,200

    2015

    £309,541

    2016

    £11,000

    Total

    £538,348
  • David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Burrowes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will apply the family test to the Finance Bill and publish the results.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government carefully considers all relevant legal obligations – including the Family Test – when formulating policy. This includes policies implemented via the Finance Bill or other legislation.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people of each nationality detained for over (a) six and (b) 12 months between 2005 and 2015 for the purpose of removal were successfully removed.

    James Brokenshire

    The table attached shows the number of people removed on leaving detention, by nationality who were held for over six and over twelve months.

    Published statistics relating to immigration detention are only available from 2010 onwards. It is not possible to provide pre-2010 figures and this information could be provided only by examining individual case records, which would result in disproportionate cost.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what information her Department holds on gender pay gaps by sector in the Liverpool City Region.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Gender pay gaps are calculated by comparing the median male hourly wages (excluding overtime) with the median female hourly wages, as a proportion of the male wage.

    The department does not hold this data by city regions or by sector for city regions.

    The following link to Table 5 of the Office of National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) for 2015 provides the average hourly wages for males and females on a regional industry basis: http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/regionbyindustry2digitsicashetable5

    “

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims have been made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months; of those, how many have been accepted; and how many applicants have been allowed to proceed to the UK.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The number of asylum claims made in France over any given period, and their outcome, is a matter for the French authorities.

    The Dublin Regulation is the mechanism for determining responsibility for considering an asylum claim. If accepted for transfer to the UK, the asylum claim is considered in the UK after the individual has been transferred.

    The Home Office has accepted responsibility to consider the asylum claims of over 80 unaccompanied minors from France under Dublin since the start of the year and many more are in train.

    Dublin transfer requests involving children are now generally processed within 10 days by a dedicated team in the Home Office. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis. A senior Home Office official has been seconded to the French Interior Ministry to help speed up the process of identifying children who may qualify for transfer to the UK.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what redress is available to those who do not feel that they have obtained parity of esteem as promised in the Belfast Agreement 1998.

    Lord Dunlop

    I have nothing further to add to my earlier responses on parity of esteem.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent their proposed new restrictions on lobbying by charities extend the existing restrictions imposed by charity legislation.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The announcement on 6 February was on a new clause for all government grant agreements. This new clause makes clear that grant recipients must not use the grant funding for political campaigning and lobbying unless it is expressly authorised in the grant agreement.

    Charities remain free to lobby the government, subject to charity law restrictions. They simply cannot use government grant funding to do so.

  • Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Morris of Aberavon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morris of Aberavon on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 25 February (HL Deb, col 389), when they first made representations to the EU Commission as regards allegations of dumping of Chinese steel; when action was taken by the Commission; and what assessment they have made of whether the Commission took effective and prompt action.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The European Commission currently has 37 measures in place against steel products, 16 of which concern imports from China.

    The government makes regular representations to the European Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. The government judges each anti-dumping investigation on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers. We have supported industry calls for action in recent cases, for example in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurance that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence.

    Given the current crisis in the steel industry, we continue to press the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel.