Tag: 2016

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much compensation has been paid or committed to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The department has not paid or committed to pay compensation to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.

    The Business Support Helpline is available to businesses seeking advice on managing disruption.

    In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £250 million to finding a long term solution to Operation Stack.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the net earnings were from direct investment in UK companies in each year since 2010.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35188, if he will estimate the cost of collecting information on the number of personal independence payment assessment appointments which are cancelled.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Information on cancelled appointments, and the reasons for them, is not held centrally within the Department. In order to obtain this information we would need to ask our providers to clerically collate, prepare and quality assure this information. We estimate this would take in excess of 5 days to complete and the cost would be disproportionately excessive.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-07-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, what steps they are taking to reassure young pupils from European backgrounds who fear that they may be forced to leave the UK.

    Lord Nash

    As a matter of principle all children resident in the UK receive a free state-school education. We want to reassure European citizens living in the UK that there will be no immediate changes in their circumstances.

  • Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ramsbotham on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people who are deafblind, and those with complex needs, benefit from plans to halve the disability employment gap.

    Lord Freud

    The Government is committed to enabling all disabled people to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. Work is an important part of this, which is why the Government has committed itself to halving the disability employment gap.

    We will soon publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation to understand how every individual can have the opportunity to work and share in the economic and health benefits that work brings, regardless of their health condition or disability. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders that support deaf blind people as part of the Green Paper consultation.

    The feedback from the consultation and the work that we are doing to build and test the evidence base will help us to find out what really works to remove the barriers disabled people and people with health conditions face in getting and staying in work.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to releasing parts of one or both of the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus to facilitate a political settlement on the island.

    Earl Howe

    The UK will continue to support the efforts of President Anastasiades and Mr Akinci to reunite Cyprus through a just and lasting settlement. The UK has made a generous offer that, as part of a comprehensive settlement, we will cede a significant proportion of the land mass of the Sovereign Base Areas. However, the Sovereign Base Areas continue to have a significant operational value for defence that is expected to endure for the long term.

  • Lord Rea – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Rea – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rea on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent studies of driver impairment after drinking alcohol, and whether those studies support the current alcohol limit for drivers.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Sir Peter North’s 2010 Review of drink and drug driving made an assessment of various studies. The Coalition Government responded in March 2011 by setting out its position on maintaining the current limit. This Government agrees with that assessment and we do not believe any further studies have provided sufficient evidence to change that position. There are therefore no plans to change the current laws.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Lord Bates on 2 March (HL Deb, col 824), what qualifications they consider to be adequate for persons conducting the substantive interviews of asylum applicants, with authority to recommend acceptance or rejection of their claims; and what assessment they have made of whether gap-year and undergraduate students, after five weeks of training, have sufficient maturity and empathy to take such decisions.

    Lord Bates

    Decision makers working on asylum casework are graded at Executive Officer level except in the suspended Detained Fast Track operation where the predominate grade is Higher Executive Officer due to the requirement on some decision makers to also present appeals. The general entry requirement for direct recruitment to either grade is a minimum of 2 GCE A Level passes A-C and 5 GCSE passes including Mathematics and English. We have also employed staff on temporary contracts but have required them to have a minimum 2:2 Degree, preferably in law.

    We recruit high performing students from various universities as asylum decision makers on fixed term appointments and since 2009 have employed 11 law undergraduates of whom 2 are still employed. Applicants send in their CVs, and these are used to inform an initial sift of applications. Successful candidates are then invited to a competency based interview with Home Office staff which tests their maturity and suitability to carry out the role.

    At the end of the 5 week training, that all decision makers receive, there is a six month period of mentoring, continued assessment and quality analysis of newly qualified decision maker’s work that identifies whether an individual is performing the role to the required quality standards. Before any individual is signed off their initial probationary period and confirmed in role they must be considered to be performing the role to the previously referenced quality standards.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 16367, whether graduate schemes and internships will be supported by the apprenticeship levy.

    Nick Boles

    The levy will support apprenticeships at all levels, including degree level (Bachelors’ or Masters) apprenticeships. All apprenticeships must be paid jobs with on- and off-the-job training lasting at least a year.

  • Dominic Grieve – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dominic Grieve – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Grieve on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU member states have won appeals to prevent their removal from the UK in each of the last 10 years.

    James Brokenshire

    Information on how many EU nationals have won appeals to prevent their removal from the UK in each of the last 10 years is not held centrally.