Tag: 2016

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has provided to the Courts and Tribunal Service on obtaining and using overseas conviction data in criminal proceedings.

    James Brokenshire

    Most criminal records requests made by UK authorities are made by the police, where a subject has been arrested and is the subject of an investigation.

    Where an investigation leads to a criminal prosecution, Prosecutors are required to make the courts aware of all convictions, including overseas convictions, in bail and sentencing hearings. Further, section 144 and schedule 17 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 makes it clear to judges that convictions from foreign jurisdictions should be considered during criminal proceedings, whenever they are available.

    In the last three years (2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16) 39,028, 60,226, and 95,156 requests respectively, were made by the police to EU Member States for previous convictions of foreign nationals under the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), an increase of over 140% in that time.

    In those same years, 19,018, 34,549 and 38,890 requests respectively were made by the police to countries outside the EU for previous convictions of foreign nationals, an increase of over 100% in that time.

    To improve the availability of overseas convictions data in criminal proceedings, the Digital First programme, led by the National Police Chiefs Council, is working to improve the information held on Digital Case Files to ensure that overseas criminal convictions are routinely obtained and passed on to the courts.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Highways England traffic officers have moved heavy goods vehicles from live lanes to (a) hard shoulders and (b) emergency refuge areas in the last 12 months.

    Andrew Jones

    Highways England does not specifically record how many Highways England traffic officers have moved heavy goods vehicles from live lanes to hard shoulders or emergency refuge areas.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to strengthen the code of conduct for special advisers.

    Ben Gummer

    An updated Code of Conduct for Special Advisers will be published in due course.

    I would add that a revised version of the Special Adviser Code of Conduct was published in October 2015, taking into account recommendations from the (then) Public Administration Select Committee at the end of the last Parliament. The Code ensures high standards of integrity and professionalism, whilst recognising the political dimension of the advice and assistance that special advisers provide to Ministers.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of students in receipt of publicly-funded bursaries studying at the Greenwich School of Management for degrees validated by Plymouth University did not attend their examinations in the academic years 2014–15 and 2015–16.

    Viscount Younger of Leckie

    Information on the proportion of students attending examinations at Higher Education Providers is not held centrally.

    Progression rates are not produced separately for those students receiving student support.

    Published statistics in respect of Alternatives Providers, including the Greenwich School of Management, are available in the Experimental Statistical First Release ‘Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained on undergraduate designated courses at alternative providers in England 2014/15’. This can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/15-06-2016/sfr235-alternative-providers

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  • Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to support charities in Northern Ireland.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    Support for charities is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Government does however, support the Big Lottery Fund (BIG), which plays a vital role in supporting the charity sector in Northern Ireland.

    The Chancellor announced in the Spending Review that BIG’s funding will be maintained and Northern Ireland will receive £27.3m.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Government Actuaries Department relating to firefighters’ pensions in its report dated 28 August 2015.

    Mike Penning

    The Government has determined that the principles of the Ombudsman’s decision in the Milne v Government Actuary’s Department case should be applied to other affected individuals, including retired firefighters and police officers in England.

    Redress will be paid to affected individuals via their relevant pension scheme, and we will be providing fire and rescue authorities and police forces with necessary grant to cover the cost of these payments.

    Pension administrators will have now completed the majority of calculations and the majority of payments to individuals will be made by April 2016. This does not preclude payments being made earlier in many cases. I trust that authorities will make payments as soon as is practical and understand that some have already done so.

  • 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 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 24 February (HL5812) concerning the Belfast Agreement 1998, why they did not answer the question and whether equality between those islands” includes parity of esteem for all on those islands.”

    Lord Dunlop

    I have previously responded to the Noble Lord’s question by explaining that paragraph three of the Declaration of Support in the Belfast Agreement commits the participants involved in the multi-party negotiations that led to the Agreement ‘to partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between these islands’. I also explained that the United Kingdom Government is committed to affording due respect and parity of esteem to all the people in Northern Ireland as underpinned by the Agreement and in accordance with the obligations on the Government to promote equality and prevent discrimination across the United Kingdom. I have nothing to add to this.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement recommendation 8 in the executive summary of Public Health England’s March 2015 report entitled, Public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, on working with relevant colleges, faculties and boards overseeing professional training to include mental health within public health curricula.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) has worked with the Faculty of Public Health (FPH), Royal Society for Public Health and Royal College of Psychiatrists in developing and implementing the public mental health leadership and workforce development framework. More recently the Royal College of Nursing, Chartered Institute for Environmental Health (CIEH), Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and Institute for Health Visitors have endorsed the framework and signed up to its Call to Action. Mental health has been made a presidential priority for the FPH, CIEH and ADPH. PHE has provided information and guidance to inform the recent FPH curricula review, the Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework review and the new Mental Health Skills and Knowledge Framework. PHE has also presented the framework to the United Kingdom People in Public Health Board, Skills for Care Mental Health Board, Health Education England Mental Health Advisory Board and the forthcoming Health Education England Public Health Advisory Board.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of investment in public mental health intervention in each of the last three years.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Previously, spend on public mental health has been a sub-category of the miscellaneous reporting category and most councils would have captured this spend locally. From 2016-17, mental health spend from the public health grant has its own dedicated reporting category and the information will be available nationally.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have claimed employment and support allowance after a paper-based review were refused a paper-based review upon re-assessment for that allowance in each year since 2009-10.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is not available.

    The decision as to whether a paper-based review is appropriate is made by the Healthcare Professional. Their decision on whether to do so is based on evidence provided by the claimant to support their claim including all medical evidence from the claimant’s GP, hospital doctor or other appropriate clinicians.