Tag: 2016

Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on recent illegal entry into Gibraltarean waters by Spanish vessels.

Mr David Lidington

The Government continues to make diplomatic protests to Spain with respect to all incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Since the agreement of August 2015 to prioritise safety at sea and to step up law enforcement cooperation, there have been fewer incursions that have raised safety concerns and work on improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies is ongoing. Neither I nor the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ), have therefore had cause to raise incursions into BGTW with our Spanish counterparts since my response to Written Question 11709 on 22 October 2015.

01/01/2023
David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the legality of US airstrikes in Libya before authorising use of RAF Lakenheath for airstrikes in Libya on 19 February 2016.

Michael Fallon

I confirmed in a statement on 19 February 2016 that I had authorised the request. Permission was granted once I was satisfied with the legality of the operation.

01/01/2023
Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s planned expenditure on wi-fi provision for public libraries is for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities. However, the Government provided funding in 2015-16 which means that by March 2016, free WiFi will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. In total, 70 local authorities will have received funding of around £2.7 million to upgrade or install WiFi in 1017 public libraries. In addition, through the Government’s super connected cities programme, WiFi was previously installed in 288 libraries across 14 cities, UK-wide by the end of March 2015.

01/01/2023

Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what records the Government holds on how many job opportunities have been lost due to the time taken for Disclosure and Barring Service checks to be made.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service is a non-departmental public body which provides access to appropriate criminal record information for employers through its disclosure service for England and Wales. It also makes independent barring decisions about people who have harmed, or where there is considered to be a risk of harm to, a child or vulnerable person within the workplace. Given the sensitive nature of this work and the reliance on police forces to provide locally held intelligence, it would not be appropriate to introduce competition.

Whilst no assessment has been made of the affect of timeliness on the number of job opportunities which may have been lost, the impact which delays may have on applicants is recognised. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and is working closely with those forces whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.

The average end to end time taken to complete a DBS check, including the time taken by police forces, is listed in following table.

Financial Year	Average calendar days for a disclosure to be processed
13/14	11.5
14/15	14.4
15/16	14.5

The proportion of checks which took longer than (a) eight weeks (b) 12 weeks and (c) six months is listed in the following table.

Financial Year	Disclosures which took longer than 8 weeks	Disclosures which took longer than 12 weeks	Disclosures which took longer than 6 Months
% of Disclosures	% of Disclosures	% of Disclosures
13/14	2.6%	0.8%	0.0%
14/15	4.9%	2.1%	0.1%
15/16	5.2%	3.5%	0.3%

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01/01/2023

Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of staffing levels for Ofcom in each year up to 2028.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Ofcom decides resource allocation and staffing levels based on the activities identified in its annual planning process. For 2014/15 the average resource cost was £63.8m and average number of staff was 787. The 2015/16 figures will be published and laid before Parliament in July.

01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help define the fair share contribution for the global shipping sector as part of the International Maritime Organisation’s work on tackling climate change.

Mr John Hayes

With greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping expected to grow as others sectors act to reduce theirs, the UK Government is clear that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) should take further steps to reduce emissions and improve the energy efficiency of ships, in line with the long term goal set out in the Paris Agreement of keeping the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees.

At the 69^th session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee, there was broad support from Member States and industry for proposals to define international shipping’s fair share of global greenhouse gas emissions. The UK strongly supports the establishing of a Working Group at the 70^th session of the Committee (MEPC70) to discuss how the Organization should take this work forward and will play an active part in this group.

01/01/2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps have been taken to prevent taxi drivers charging extra to disabled people.

Andrew Jones

Government is committed to building transport networks that work for everyone, including ensuring that disabled people have the same travel choices as other members of society.

Nobody should face discrimination when accessing transport services, and it is unacceptable for any provider to charge a disabled person extra on account of their disability.

The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to access their services, and Sections 168 to 173 specifically prevent a taxi or Private Hire Vehicle driver from charging an assistance dog owner extra.

I have also committed to commencing Sections 165 and 167, which will require drivers to provide assistance to passengers in wheelchairs and prevent them from charging more.

01/01/2023
Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to attend the World Health Organisation meeting in March 2016; and what her policy is on proposals to be discussed at that meeting on creating a system of health research which prioritises need and efficiency over profit.

Mr Nick Hurd

Arrangements for the meeting at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March 2016 are at an early stage. DFID officials will be in discussion with WHO senior managers about UK representation at the meeting.

The UK Government supports systems that separate the market incentives to produce a drug or vaccine from the Research & Development process, that prioritise public health need over profit and that work in partnership with a wide range of different organisations, covering the public, private and philanthropic sectors. The proposals to be discussed at the meeting at the WHO in March are one element of a wider system. The UK is the second largest government supporter of the development of new products through product development partnerships, which prioritise need over profit.

01/01/2023
Alison McGovern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to implement the recommendation of Professor Steve Field in his report on how the NHS treats transgender people.

Jane Ellison

Specialised gender identity services are directly commissioned by NHS England.

NHS England has considered the outcomes of the listening exercise conducted by Professor Field and has put in place a significant programme of work to improve healthcare services for transgender and non-binary people. A dedicated task group has been established to provide leadership and coordination of NHS England’s work to improve transgender and non-binary people’s experience of the National Health Service, and NHS England holds a Transgender Network event twice a year. Regular updates on NHS England’s work to improve gender identity services are given on NHS England’s website by the Regional Director of Specialised Commissioning (London) who chairs the task group.

A Clinical Reference Group for Gender Identity Services has been established, comprising professional and lay experts. This group makes recommendations to NHS England on clinical matters. Issues around the standardisation of pathways across gender identity services and clinical protocols are being considered as part of the current work to develop a service specification that, it is proposed, will describe how NHS England will commission these services in the future. The process for developing a proposed service specification has included a period of public consultation.

01/01/2023
David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24408, if she will discuss with the Sustainable Energy Association and other relevant bodies how to achieve the potential for buildings to contribute to the Government’s goals on reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC officials and ministers will continue to discuss, with a range of stakeholders, the options for buildings to contribute to reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty. Our approach is to consider the overall use of energy in buildings, and not energy efficiency or heat in isolation.

01/01/2023