Tag: 2016

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to support Liverpool’s status as a City of Music as declared by UNESCO.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government will be providing over £12 million of public funding via the Arts Council to support arts organisations in Liverpool in 2015/16. The Arts Council has also supported major capital projects in Liverpool including over £16 million towards the redevelopment of the Everyman Theatre and over £7 million towards the refurbishment of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

    Venues in Liverpool such as Constellations, Lomax and the Zanzibar Club demonstrate the impact of Government’s approach to entertainment licensing, planning guidance and business rates relief, all aimed at supporting and promoting music across the UK.

    The Government supports the UNESCO Creative City Network, including Liverpool as a designated City of Music through its membership of UNESCO. The UK National Commission for UNESCO will be holding a workshop with Liverpool and the UK’s other Creative Cities to consider new opportunities and practical ways of working together to enhance the benefits that UNESCO accreditation brings, both nationally and internationally.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken as a result of the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons’ report on HM Prison Rochester, published in September 2015; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Selous

    HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ (HMIP) report on HMP Rochester was published on 13 January this year.

    Rochester prison faces a significant challenge from new psychoactive substances, which the Governor and his staff are determined to tackle. They have already put in place additional security measures, along with measures to increase awareness of substance misuse issues and extend support to overcome it. Progress has also been made since this inspection to improve safety and purposeful activity with more prisoners engaged in high quality work and training opportunities.

    The Governor will use the recommendations in this report to drive further improvements over the coming months. An action plan responding to all the recommendations in the report will be published at the following link in due course: http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspections/

    “

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

    Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of persons involved in each of the following proscribed terrorist organisations: (1) Continuity Army Council; (2) Cumann na mBan; (3) Fianna na hEireann; (4) Irish National Liberation Army; (5) Irish People’s Liberation Organisation; (6) Irish Republican Army; (7) Loyalist Volunteer Force; (8) Orange Volunteers; (9) Red Hand Commando; (10) Red Hand Defenders; (11) Saor Eire; (12) Ulster Defence Association; (13) Ulster Freedom Fighters; and (14) Ulster Volunteer Force.

    Lord Dunlop

    It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the number of people involved in these organisations. Involvement and support for illegal proscribed organisations can take many different forms and the true extent of involvement is often hidden.

    Statistics on charges brought in relation to support for paramilitary organisations can be found in Northern Ireland Terrorism Legislation: Annual Statistics 2014/15, Table 9 on the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465088/Terrorism_Bulletin_2014-2015.PDF

    The relevant information is also shown below for ease of reference:

    Table: Charges brought against persons detained in Northern Ireland under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000

    Number of Charges

    Offence

    19 Feb 2001-Mar 2013/14

    April-Sept 2014/15

    Oct-Mar 2014/15

    2014-15 Total

    Supporting a proscribed Organisation

    21

    0

    0

    0

    Making contributions to a proscribed organisation

    47

    0

    0

    0

    Dressing as a member of a proscribed organisation

    10

    0

    0

    0

    Source: Police Service of Northern Ireland

    “

  • Lord Moynihan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Moynihan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how long the washout time is for meldonium and whether UK Anti-Doping consider that an athlete who took meldonium when it was not considered a performance-enhancing drug and not on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list before January could have still tested positive in January, February or March.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    There is currently limited data available on excretion studies relating to meldonium and, as such, several studies are currently being conducted involving WADA accredited laboratories, which WADA will share when available. UK Anti-Doping is following the guidance of the World Anti-Doping Agency who recently issued a Notice regarding meldonium.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many European Arrest Warrant surrenders (a) to and (b) from each UK law enforcement agency there have been in each year since 2010; and what type of offence each of those surrenders related to.

    James Brokenshire

    These statistics are available on the National Crime Agency Website at: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/european-arrest-warrant-statistics

    Figures for Scotland were not included prior to 2015.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department carried out an assessment prior to the introduction of personal independence payments for existing disability living allowance recipients of the effect of that introduction on advice services such as Citizens Advice Bureaux.

    Justin Tomlinson

    No specific such assessment was carried out.

    Citizens Advice Bureaux have been, and continue to be, members of the Personal Independence Payment Implementation Stakeholder Forum and regularly engage with the Department on PIP issues.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Sudan about the arrest and continuing detention of Reverend Hasan Kodi Taour, Reverend Kuwa Shamal Kori, Abdelmonim Abdelmawla and Petr Jasek.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware that the four men in question remain in detention. Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum were present in court to observe the most recent hearing on 26 September, and are in close contact with the lawyers representing the defendants. We regularly raise our concerns over this case with the government of Sudan, most recently during the visit of the UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan to Khartoum in September. We will continue to monitor this case closely.

    More widely, freedom of religion or belief remains a consistent theme in our ongoing human rights dialogue with the government of Sudan. We consistently call on them to ensure all legislation is consistent with the commitment to their citizens in the Interim Constitution of 2005, within which religious freedom is enshrined.

  • Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maria Caulfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what equality impact assessment he has made of the effect of extending entitlement to the human papilloma virus vaccination only to designated categories of people and not to others.

    Jane Ellison

    In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.

    The Department is considering the JCVI’s advice and is undertaking a full equality analysis. The Department will confirm its plans in due course.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects Highways England operatives to attend to the day burning street lamps on the M67 between Denton and Hyde in Greater Manchester.

    Andrew Jones

    There was a fault in the lighting mechanism along the M67 Motorway. To ensure that the lighting was fully operational overnight, Highways England has attended to the lighting mechanism and temporarily bypassed the defective component. As a result, the lighting columns were temporarily lit both during the day and night. Highways England returned the lighting to its correct hours of operation on 15 February 2016.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether anyone has been prosecuted for human trafficking offences in circumstances where the victim has been found in a cannabis factory.

    Lord Bates

    The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided by reviewing individual case files, at disproportionate cost.