Tag: 2016

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) men and (b) women who will be in receipt of the state pension in each of the next 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The requested information is available from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in the table below.

    Forecast number of State Pension recipients (Great Britain and Overseas) by gender: 2015/16 – 2020/21

    Recipients of State Pension (thousands)

    Men

    Women

    2015/16

    5,523.1

    7,399.0

    2016/17

    5,648.6

    7,274.3

    2017/18

    5,765.3

    7,118.7

    2018/19

    5,850.8

    6,956.5

    2019/20

    5,822.0

    6,844.7

    2020/21

    5,804.7

    6,794.1

    Source: Budget 2016 medium term forecasts

    Projections beyond 2020/21 will be published in due course.

    These numbers include State Pension claimants living in Great Britain or Overseas.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether improving the accessibility and clarity of the rules covering family reunion, and ensuring that those rules were more flexibility applied, would prevent perilous journeys being undertaken by children seeking asylum in the UK.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Our family reunion policy is intended to allow immediate family members, who formed part of a family unit before the refugee fled their country, to reunite in the UK with the refugee and rebuild their lives together. Those family members can apply from the country in which they are resident.

  • The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry on 2016-07-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the human rights situation in Bangladesh, especially in relation to the right to freedom of religion or belief.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Our assessment is that the rise in extremist attacks has increased pressure on religious minorities, including Hindus, in Bangladesh.

    The former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), most recently talked to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh about the importance of countering extremism in the margins of the G7 meeting in Japan on 27 May. The former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), raised this with Foreign Minister Ali on 5 July. The British High Commissioner regularly discusses these issues with Bangladesh government ministers.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 400, on applying the results of experiments on animals to human patients, tabled on 5 September 2016.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government considers that the carefully regulated use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving the understanding of how biological systems work and in the development of safe new medicines, treatments and technologies.

    At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), in particular through funding for the National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), and also through ongoing UK-led efforts to encourage greater global uptake of the 3Rs.

    Advances in biomedical science and technologies – including stem cell research, in vitro systems that mimic the function of human organs, imaging and new computer modelling techniques – are all providing new opportunities to reduce reliance on the use of animals in research.

    As part of this, Innovate UK, the NC3Rs, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council have produced a Non-animal Technologies Roadmap for the UK.

    The Roadmap offers an approach for the UK to develop, exploit and deploy new non-animal technologies for long-term economic and societal benefit. Integral to this strategy have been two Innovate UK industry-led competitions which have awarded approximately £7m in grant funding; “Developing non-animal technologies” and “Advancing the development and application of non-animal technologies”.

    EU and UK law requires safety testing on animals before human trials for new medicines can begin and animal research still plays an important role in providing vital safety information for potential new medicines.

    The Early Day Motion (EDM 400) rightly draws attention to the UK life science sector’s Concordat on openness in animal research which was launched in 2014, and provides new opportunities for transparency and debate in this area.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time for a decision on an asylum application was in each of the last 10 years; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for such decisions.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows the average time, in calendar days, from date of claim to date of decision including the number and percentage of cases that received a decision in six months. Figures for the year 2015 are not available.

    Year of Application

    Apps

    Mean

    Median

    Decisions in 6 Months

    As a % of Apps

    2005

    26,939

    133.90

    46

    23,671

    87.87%

    2006

    25,020

    165.06

    52

    21,065

    84.19%

    2007

    24,732

    191.38

    62

    19,722

    79.74%

    2008

    27,182

    223.65

    97

    19,944

    73.37%

    2009

    25,759

    159.22

    71

    20,985

    81.47%

    2010

    20,012

    82.11

    29

    18,391

    91.90%

    2011

    21,211

    115.89

    32

    18,131

    85.48%

    2012

    21,315

    161.70

    30

    16,098

    75.52%

    2013

    24,960

    181.78

    46

    15,874

    63.60%

    2014

    26,070

    141.32

    135

    19,287

    73.98%

    The exercise in the financial year 2014-15 to clear all straightforward cases with a claim date preceding 1 April 2014 led to a rise in the average time for some of the years above most notably 2008.This required the progression of a number of cases far older than 12 months which would have influenced the average decision times on those cases.

    The Home Office continues to target resources to drive down the waiting time for decisions and currently strives to give decisions on all straightforward cases within 6 months, a timescale which it has been consistently meeting since April 2014.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost of the badger cull was in 2015; how much of that cost was for policing that cull; and what proportion of that cost was spent in (a) Somerset, (b) Gloucestershire and (c) Dorset.

    George Eustice

    Bovine TB is the greatest animal health threat to the UK. Based on current expenditure it will cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next decade if we do not take rigorous action now. The Government is delivering a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the disease and protect the future of our dairy and beef industries. This includes strengthening cattle testing and movement controls, improving biosecurity, and badger control in areas where TB is rife.

    Total Government costs for the 2015 badger culls have not yet been finalised.

    Policing costs for 2015, which will be funded by Defra, were as follows:

    (a) Avon and Somerset: £555,514

    (b) Gloucestershire: £553,005

    (c) Dorset: £694,728.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for refugee family reunion from each country of nationality of such applicants were (a) submitted, (b) decided and (c) granted in 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The published statistics relate to the ‘Family: other’ category, the vast majority of which are for family reunion. Data for applications, decisions, of which grants and refusals, withdrawns/lapsed, and grants by nationality, is given in the attached tables.

    The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, October-December 2015’, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what provisions there are to enable UK citizens to check whether their names and data are held on the World Check database operated by Thomson Reuters Accelus; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) confers a number of rights on individuals in respect of the processing of their personal data by UK organisations. Subject to certain exemptions, section 7 of the DPA gives individuals the right to request a copy of information which an organisation holds about them. An individual can exercise this right, commonly known as ‘subject access’, by making a written subject access request to the organisation.

    If an individual would like to find out what information Thomson Reuters holds about them in World-Check, they can email contact@world-check.com. Further information about individuals’ rights concerning the processing of their personal data by Thomson Reuters Accelus can be found on their website at:

    https://risk.thomsonreuters.com/world-check-privacy-statement

    “

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel following reports from Physicians for Human Rights in Israel that wounded Palestinians have been deliberately left untreated by Israeli medical orderlies for as long as two hours.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not made representations to the Government of Israel about this particular issue, we have concerns about treatment of Palestinian detainees. We have raised these concerns with the Israeli authorities on many occasions, including at Foreign Minister, Attorney General and National Security Adviser levels. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly monitors this issue and meets with Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI). Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv met a group of Israeli civil society organisations, including PHRI, on 3 February.

  • Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the people previously claiming Disability Living Allowance at the higher component of (1) mobility, or (2) care, how many have been assessed for (a) the higher rate, or (b) the standard rate, of (i) the mobility component, or (ii) the daily living component, of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in each year since PIP was introduced.

    Lord Freud

    The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) registrations, clearances and claims in payment for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) is published on Gov.UK.

    In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards can be found from Stat-Xplore, which is a tool for exploring DWP’s statistics.

    The Department does not have verified data on the number of DLA claimants who have had their award changed as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.