The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government will announce the decision on the resettlement of the Chagos Islanders.
James Duddridge
No date has yet been set for a decision. The Government is still considering its policy in this area and will announce developments to Parliament and the public in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Prisk on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in which month the Pye Tait Review of retentions in the construction industry will be published.
Anna Soubry
The main aim of the Pye Tait research is to provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the costs and benefits of the contractual practice of holding retentions in construction.
My Department is currently working with Pye Tait to finalise this research. It will be published alongside a consultation document later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Byron Davies on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the future of volunteer gliding schools in Wales.
Mark Lancaster
I am fully supportive of Air Cadets having access to opportunities for gliding. To achieve this we require a laydown of Volunteer Gliding Squadrons that meet the needs of all of our Cadets.
However, we continue to consider if there are viable site options in Wales which can be explored further, and I am due to meet with my hon. Friend shortly to discuss this matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Kenya.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK recognises Kenya’s commitment to human rights as set out in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution and Bill of Rights, and demonstrated through its implementation of recommendations from its United Nations Universal Periodic Review in 2015.
We welcome recent reforms such as the announcement by President Kenyatta on 24 October that all death sentences have been commuted to life terms. We encourage the government to take steps formally to end the death penalty in Kenya.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of how many museums and galleries charged for entry in (a) 2005 and (b) 2010; and what estimate his Department has made of how many museums and galleries plan to introduce such charges in 2016.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Thanks to an excellent Spending Review settlement in November 2015 – the Government is honouring its manifesto commitment to keep entry to the permanent collections of our national museums free.
Through the Arts Council England, DCMS is increasing funding for major partner museums to £22.6 million to enable greater regional spending. In addition to this, regional museums can bid for funds from ACE’s £10 million per year Resilience Fund. We are also investing millions of pounds to boost local and regional museums – for example, £5 million towards a new South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum and £2.5 million to the Manchester Museum of Science andIndustry.
Spend on DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries was £389.7 million in 2014/15. In 2005 spend was £397.4 million and in 2010 it was £474.7 million. The Heritage Lottery Fund is also a major source of support to museums. To date, HLF has supported a total of 38,000 projects with £6.6 billion across the UK with around one third of this being allocated to museums, including support for capital projects, acquisitions and skills development.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to develop the model of co-location of urgent and emergency primary care services with A&E.
Jane Ellison
In August 2015, NHS England published Safer, faster, better: good practice in delivering urgent and emergency care, which can be found here:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/trans-uec.pdf
This provides guidance to help frontline providers and commissioners re-design urgent and emergency care services, including considering locating urgent care centres in emergency departments. Safer, faster, better notes that urgent care centres co-located with emergency departments provide an opportunity to stream patients with less serious illnesses and injuries to a service that is resourced to meet their needs, while reducing crowding in emergency departments. It also sets out that to preserve flow, urgent care centre staff and cubicles must wherever possible be entirely separated from those used for patients with life-threatening or serious injuries or illnesses or who are going to be admitted. The guidance also includes that where urgent care centres are co-located with emergency departments, there must be appropriate integration, with shared governance arrangements and clearly defined protocols for the two-way transfer of patients.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for which activities consent is determined by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The activities for which the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has the delegated authority to consent/refuse are for Oil Transfer Licences within UK ports and harbours and for Ship-to-Ship Transfers within the designated Southwold area off the Suffolk coast.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what contribution her Department is making to Government steps to reduce the incidence of serious youth violence.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education is working with the Home Office on a series of measures to reduce the incidence of serious youth violence.
In January 2016, the Home Office published its Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation approach. Among its priorities, this publication describes action to protect locations where vulnerable young people can be targeted, including pupil referral units and residential children’s care homes. New regulations and guidance, introduced in 2015, make it clear that homes can prevent a child leaving the home where there is an immediate risk to their safety – which would include where a gang was seeking to lure a child away for involvement in gang activities. The Department for Education has also undertaken a stock-take of frontline practice in relation to missing children, which will inform and help to shape ongoing work to strengthen and improve practice with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.
The Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation publication also states that the Department for Education continues to focus on action to improve school attendance. Regular attendance plays a vital role in keeping young people away from gang involvement and other crime and antisocial behaviour. The Department has, from September 2015, reduced the threshold for ‘persistent absence’ from 15% to 10%, emphasising the message that attending school should be a priority for every pupil.
In March 2016, the Home Office published its Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, outlining measures to strengthen the Government’s response to knife crime. This publication notes that the Home Office is working with the Department for Education to deliver prevention messages in schools; teaching school pupils to recognise and challenge unhealthy and exploitative relationships, to prevent them from being abused or from engaging in abuse themselves. We are working with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association to train teaching staff in areas that seek help, to help them to teach young people to recognise and avoid exploitation and abuse.
The Modern Crime Prevention Strategy also highlights that the Department for Education will work with the Home Office on how best to raise awareness in school age children about the risks of carrying knives, and the role schools can play to build resilience in children and young people so they do not give in to peer pressure to carry knives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the likelihood of (a) full ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty and (b) the commencement of negotiations on the proposed Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Strategic Defence and Security Review restated that the Government sees entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and successful negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty as key steps towards multilateral disarmament. While we cannot predict when other States will take the decisions necessary to achieve these goals, we continue to pursue both objectives, which were strongly supported in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ declaration at their meeting in Hiroshima.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Condon on 2016-06-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the disruption to rail passengers in Kent on 6 June, what action they are taking to ensure a more reliable service for rail passengers travelling between Kent and London terminals.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
My Hon Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Claire Perry MP, as Rail Minister, chairs a monthly meeting with Network Rail, train operators in the South East, Transport Focus, and Department for Transport officials. This group monitors performance and passenger experience and it is absolutely committed to identifying improvements and ensuring rail passengers see the benefits of these improvements being delivered. Network Rail and Southeastern both need to show much greater improvement in their ability to fix faults quickly and communicate with their passengers more effectively. The Department will ensure that lessons are learned from the disruption in Kent that day.