Tag: 2016

  • Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carol Monaghan on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people with spouses or partners with UK citizenship have been granted a visa to enter the UK in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The available information is shown in the table attached.

    Information on spouses or partners of UK citizens is not available as it is not held on centrally collated statistical databases and could only be produced at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case files.

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

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information police forces hold on the (a) nationality and (b) ethnicity of those (i) arrested for (ii) convicted of sexual assaults against women.

    Mike Penning

    Under the annual data requirement (ADR), police forces are required to submit data to the Home Office on the ethnicity and sex of persons arrested for sexual offences. These data cannot be broken down to identify the number of arrests for sexual offences against women. Data on the nationality of persons arrested are not collected centrally.

    Police forces hold a range of personal information on the Police National Computer (PNC) and local police databases on those arrested and convicted of any offence, including sexual assaults against women.

    Additionally, the personal information of anyone cautioned or convicted for a sexual offence listed in Schedule 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, including sexual assault, is held on the police dangerous persons’ database, Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR).

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to answer Written Questions 29167 and 29238, tabled on 1 March 2016 and Written Question 29372, tabled on 2 March 2016.

    Joseph Johnson

    I have replied to the hon Member.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Prime Minister, whether he discussed the ban on the export of Welsh lamb and beef to the US with President Obama during his recent visit.

    Mr David Cameron

    President Obama and I discussed a wide range of issues including promoting the increased free trade between the EU and US. At the same time the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was in Washington DC meeting the US Secretary of Agriculture to discuss opening the US market to the exports of UK beef and lamb.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-05-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of removing in April 2015 the need for the Information Commissioner’s Office to prove that substantial” damage had been caused by nuisance calls or spam text messages on the number of (1) investigations that have taken place

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government has not assessed the impact of the 6 April 2015 change in threshold, relating to the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR).

    The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) intends to conduct an assessment on the long term impact of the change to PECR in 2016-17, taking into account the result of any appeal judgements.

    Since the change in threshold to PECR, there has been a significant increase in enforcement action and the level of fines issued to organisations that breach the rules. The ICO recently imposed its largest fine of £350,000, on Prodial Ltd for making over 46 million automated nuisance calls and more fines against rogue companies are in the pipeline.

    The ICO has also published a list of all fines and investigations for breaches of the rules before and after the change to PECR in April 2015, this is available at:

    https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/enforcement/

  • Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Docherty-Hughes on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in Central and South America on the economic, social and political situation in Venezuela.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    This Government shares international concerns about the situation in Venezuela. Inflation and shortages of food and medicine are having a significant impact on ordinary Venezuelans, with many traveling temporarily across the border with Colombia to purchase basic goods.

    Earlier this year 60 Venezuelan non-governmental organisations called on the Venezuelan Government to accept humanitarian aid, highlighting the reported scarcity of 80% of medicines and medical supplies.

    We continue to encourage constructive dialogue between the Venezuelan Government and opposition political parties. We have raised our concerns over the deteriorating situation in the country directly with Venezuelan Ministers, urging respect for human rights and democratic values. We continue to encourage the Government to change its stance on humanitarian aid.

    Our Embassy in Caracas promotes human rights, democracy and good governance. In April, Venezuela was designated a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights priority country for 2016/17. This allows us to expand our work, collaborating with both Venezuelan and international partners, including using British Overseas Development funding, to help resolve issues around food and medicine shortages.

  • Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of establishment of the Fundraising Preference Service on charitable donations.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The fundraising preference service is a recommendation of the 2015 review of fundraising regulation led by Sir Stuart Etherington. Its development has been charity sector-led and it will be implemented by the independent fundraising regulator.

    The government welcomes the proposals for a fundraising preference service. It will give greater control to the public about how and whether they are approached with targeted charity fundraising requests. It will be particularly useful for people who feel inundated with such requests. It will also help charities to ensure that they target their fundraising material only at those people who want to receive it. The fundraising preference service will be an important element in restoring public trust in charity fundraising, which will be of long term benefit to charities.

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many miles of river and waterway bank the Environment Agency (a) strengthened and (b) raised in the last 12 months.

    Rory Stewart

    The Environment Agency is responsible for over 22,600 miles of main river. Strengthening and raising of rivers and waterways is part of the Environment Agency’s ongoing capital programme.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the finding in the annual report to Parliament of the Lord Chief Justice, dated 16 January 2016, that the UK’s system of justice has become unaffordable to most; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    As the Justice Secretary said in June, we have a two nation justice system at present. Those who have benefitted financially need to do more to protect access to justice for all and we are discussing with the profession how this can be taken forward.

    As the Lord Chief Justice made clear in his annual report, the investment the Government is making to modernise our courts and tribunals is a significant step, and one which will enable us to tackle many of the issues he identified.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what metrics she uses in monitoring human rights abuse (a) by governments and (b) in countries in receipt of UK aid.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID works closely with the FCO to assess and monitor the civil and political rights context in the countries where it has programmes. DFID draws on the FCO’s annual Human Rights and Democracy Report, which takes international human rights obligations as its starting point, and assesses FCO country specific updates to that report. It takes into account the views of a range of sources including EU and other development partners, and civil society reports.

    DFID provides aid to governments when it is satisfied that they share Britain’s commitments to reducing poverty and to respecting human rights. Before providing aid to a partner government, DFID assesses their commitment to four Partnership Principles. These include a commitment to poverty reduction; respecting human rights and other international obligations; improving public financial management, promoting good governance and transparency, and fighting corruption; and strengthening domestic accountability.