Tag: 2016

  • Ranil Jayawardena – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ranil Jayawardena – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ranil Jayawardena on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that more classic literature is taught in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    All pupils in secondary schools should be encouraged to enjoy challenging titles and develop a confidence and ability to read the great classics of English and world literature.

    The Government is delighted that, following our call for action, Penguin is offering classroom sets of 100 classic books for the equivalent of £1 a copy. This will allow pupils to read a wide range of literature with the support of their teacher. I hope other publishers will follow, to make classic literature a feature of every classroom.

  • Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that public bodies under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 comply with their duty to pick up roadside litter.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government is committed to localism and the transfer of power to local communities. This is particularly relevant in dealing with litter, which requires a local approach, tailored to the characteristics of the area and the community in which the problems occur.

    It is up to councils to decide how best to meet their statutory duty to keep their relevant land clear of litter and refuse and how to prioritise this against other local services.

    Councils are responsible for keeping their “relevant land” clear of litter and refuse, including local roads. Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency) is responsible for clearing litter from motorways and some trunk roads. Standards of cleanliness for litter and refuse are set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, which provides a practical guide to the discharge of councils’ cleansing duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA).

    If a litter authority which is responsible for publicly-accessible land fails to keep land clear of litter and refuse, it can be taken to court. If the court agrees that the complaint is justified, it can issue a Litter Abatement Order (LAO) requiring the litter authority to clear land of litter within a certain time. The litter authority can also be ordered to pay the complainant’s costs.

    It is a criminal offence not to comply with an LAO – anyone not complying can be fined up to £2,500. They can also get further fines of up to £125 a day for each day the offence continues after conviction. Court action can be avoided if litter authorities clear the land within five days of being notified of the complainant’s intention to seek a Litter Abatement Order.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Network Rail’s planned Market Harborough rail-straightening works in Control Period 5 are fully funded.

    Claire Perry

    The planned work at Market Harborough to straighten the line and reduce journey times is part of this government’s £38bn investment in the railway over the period to 2019.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from (a) Burma, (b) Afghanistan and (c) Syria are held in immigration removal centres in England.

    James Brokenshire

    As at 31 March 2016, the latest published statistics, there were 66 Afghan and 19 Syrian nationals in detention in the UK. There were no Burmese nationals held in detention on the 31 March 2016.

    The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK within Immigration Statistics. Information on those in detention by nationality is available in the latest release, Immigration Statistics: January to March 2016, table dt_13_q from GOV.UK on the statistics web pages at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release.

    We are currently not enforcing returns to Syria, although Syrians may be removed to safe third countries, for example where they have been identified as the responsibility of an EU Member State.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of UK premises has access to ultrafast broadband; and what steps she is taking to increase the number of such properties.

    Matt Hancock

    There is no agreed definition of ultrafast broadband. According to the independent broadband information website thinkbroadband.com – who define ultrafast as download speeds of more than 100mbps – approximately 50% of UK premises have access to ultrafast broadband.

    Virgin Media have announced plans to extend their coverage by up to 4 million premises by 2019 through their Project Lightning roll-out. This roll-out has funding support from the UK Guarantee Scheme which has been put in place the government. BT also plan to make available ultrafast speeds to 10 million premises by 2020. Smaller providers, such as CityFibre, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic, are also investing to provide ultrafast services.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what correspondence she has received from members of the panel of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on the conduct of Dame Lowell Goddard between her appointment as Chair and the date of her departure from that position.

    Sarah Newton

    The Secretary of State did not receive any correspondence from panel members on the conduct of Dame Lowell Goddard between her appointment as Inquiry Chair and the date of her departure.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many recorded attacks there were against prison officers in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    We do not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. Any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.

    Statistics for assaults on staff are published in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin.

    The information requested may be found in the ‘Summary tables June 2006 to June 2015’ at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-bulletin-june-2015

    “

  • The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Durham on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to engage the African Union and the East African Community in efforts to stabilise the situation in Burundi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In the margins of the African Union (AU) Summit, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), met with the Chair of the AU Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the AU’s Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui and a number of African Foreign Ministers. We are exploring what more we can do to support the AU’s leadership, and have intensified our efforts at the UN and with our EU partners to halt the violence.

    The UK strongly supports the East African Community-led dialogue and sees it as crucial in finding a solution to stabilising the situation. The parties met for the first time on 28 December and the second round of talks is scheduled for 16 February. Alongside our international partners we continue to press them to engage.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Bridges of Headley on 25 February (HL6102 and HL6103), whether the Cabinet Office’s new rules on grant funding mean that (1) Citizen’s Advice, (2) the Territorial Army Rifles Association, (3) the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies, (4) English Heritage, (5) Imperial College, and (6) the Marine Management Organisations, can no longer make representations to them, Parliament or the European Commission, on legislation or policy.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The clause ensures that taxpayers’ funds are not diverted away from their intended purpose and wasted on political lobbying. The clause does not stop any grant recipients from campaigning using other sources of funding.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the incidence and nature of human rights violations in South Sudan.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The UK is deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in South Sudan. A range of reports indicate that sexual violence and attacks on civilians remain widespread and that war crimes and/or crimes against humanity may have been committed, if established in a court of law. Bilaterally we are raising our serious concerns directly with the Government of South Sudan and pressing for action. At the regional level we are calling on the African Union to rapidly establish the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. And internationally we are pressing for a UN arms embargo to be put in place. We also undertook extensive lobbying to help secure a new Commission for Human Rights for South Sudan at the UN Human Rights Council in March.