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Tag: 2016

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will produce a strategy on how the UK’s steel requirements will be met over the next (a) 12 months and (b) five years.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government’s believes that the best way to meet the UK’s steel needs over the next twelve months and five years is to ensure a viable future for the steel industry in Britain, as well as to work for fair and open global steel markets. To this end we have taken action on the five short-term asks of the steel industry, for example on unfairly-traded imports, energy costs, procurement, and emissions regulations.

    A new Steel Council will provide a forum for industry, unions and government to consider how to improve the competitive position of the UK steel sector in the longer term. We will continue to work actively with partners in this sector, local taskforces and the EU and International Community to support our steel industry.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of barriers to humanitarian agencies reaching people in need in Yemen.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Conflict is making humanitarian access within Yemen extremely difficult. Humanitarian agencies report that they are constrained in reaching areas of greatest humanitarian need and delivering assistance for a number of reasons including bureaucratic requirements imposed by the authorities, access challenges for international staff, insecurity in a number of districts, and a proliferation of checkpoints across the country.

    We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to take all reasonable steps to facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access. We work with trusted and impartial partners such as UN agencies and NGOs who have good access and a strong track record of delivering and monitoring assistance in difficult and dangerous places.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which immigration removal centres were inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners related to the use of property interference by immigration officers in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    There has been no change in Immigration Rules in relation to the use of property interference by immigration officers. Part III Sections 55(1) and (2) of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 amended the Police Act 1997 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in 2013 to empower officials within the Home Office exercising immigration functions to seek authority for property interference solely for the purpose of preventing and detecting serious crime. Immigration removal centres themselves cannot seek property interference authorisations.

    The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) scrutinise every application for property interference made by immigration officers upon authorisation and also retrospectively oversee any use of the power to ensure compliance. The OSC publish an annual report, which refers to the overall use of these powers by public authorities including the Home Office.

    The Home Office does not provide information on individual Immigration Removal Centres visited by the OSC, or investigations carried out within them.

    The Investigatory Powers Bill will replace the current oversight regime with a powerful In-vestigatory Powers Commissioner who will have the support, powers, resources and tech-nical expertise to continue to ensure that these powers are being used fully in accordance with the law.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will develop plans to include TV Licensing in the Tell Us Once service.

    Priti Patel

    We are currently reviewing the strategic approach, to support citizens in the wider bereavement journey to support the Government’s 2020 vision and the better use of data across government. This review will include the Tell Us Once Service and the Department for Culture Media and Sport.

  • Lord Chadlington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Chadlington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to provide sanitary products to women sleeping rough.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    One person without a home is one too many, and nobody should ever have to sleep rough. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million, including a new £10 million fund to support innovative ways to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, and a new £10 million Social Impact Bond to support rough sleepers with the most complex needs.

    We recognise that the needs of female rough sleepers can be different from male rough sleepers, and we expect local authorities to commission services to meet the needs of all those in their local areas. Many commission female-only homelessness projects, which offer women the essential facilities and support they need.

  • Lord Porter of Spalding – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Porter of Spalding – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in creating parity of esteem between mental and physical health and how they are currently measuring this.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government is committed to achieving parity of esteem for mental and physical health. The Government welcomed the publication of The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and Future in Mind: Promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing to transform mental health services by 2020, which is a significant step forward in achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health. We continue to work with NHS England and other arm’s length bodies to embed the recommendations set out in these reports into our national policies and we are committed to reporting regularly and transparently on our progress. Copies of both reports are attached.

    We will be holding NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate to ensure that we deliver the commitments set out in these reports.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of parents with mental illnesses there are in (a) pre-primary, (b) primary and (c) secondary schools in the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department does not collect information on the number of children at any stage of school whose parents are suffering from mental illness.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, 26 January 2016, Official Report, column 146, when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary plans to write to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley, on breaches of contracts and fines at G4S-run establishments.

    Andrew Selous

    I committed to write to the honorable lady on this point at the latest Justice Orals. The Ministry of Justice are currently considering the honorable lady’s question and I will provide her with a written response shortly.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the extent to which the policies of broadcasters recruiting members of the public for quiz or game shows or similar programmes discriminate against people with disabilities.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Broadcasters are subject to the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which legally protects disabled people from discrimination in the delivery of services and in wider society. This government is actively encouraging the industry to be proactive in increasing diversity on and off screen – including by increasing the representation of disabled people. Ed Vaizey hosted a conference in January that raised the wider issue of lack of representation of disabled people in the creative industries.

  • Edward Leigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Edward Leigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Leigh on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support efforts to bring an end to the conflict in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is committed to peace talks between the Syrian parties, under UN auspices in Geneva and continues to work closely with the International Syria Support Group. The UK encouraged the UN Special Envoy for Syria and the Syrian opposition to include women in the negotiations. The UN established a Women’s Advisory Board and the opposition’s negotiating team includes women.