Tag: 2016

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the details of the cooperative arrangement her Department has with the Department of Homeland Security which enables their officials to operate as immigration advisers to airlines operating out of UK airports.

    James Brokenshire

    We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.

    US officials have operated as immigration advisers at UK airports since 2007 in an advisory capacity which reflects an established global practice. They hold no authority in the UK, and can only make recommendations to carriers on whether to allow travel

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had with NHS England on increasing the amount of funding available to GP practices.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has regular discussions with NHS England on various measures to support general practice, including funding.

    NHS England has confirmed that it will increase funding for general practice by an average of 4.5% each year to 2020/21.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to make a final decision on the proposed closure of his Department’s Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Executive Board’s plan is to communicate its decision to staff, together with its response to the consultation on the proposal, during the week beginning 23 May.

  • Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Judith Cummins on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support the expansion of cultural infrastructure in Bradford as part of the Northern Powerhouse policy initiative.

    Greg Hands

    We are committed to investment in cultural infrastructure in the Northern Powerhouse, including in Bradford. For example, Arts Council England has provided £1m to support the Yorkshire Festival, which runs from 16 June to 3 July in various locations across Yorkshire, including Bradford. In addition, we are currently inviting bids from cities to host the Great Exhibition North. This will celebrate the art, design and culture of the North and the £15m Legacy Fund will pave the way for further cultural investment in the Northern Powerhouse.

  • 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 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials have left his Department since 13 July 2016.

    Ben Gummer

    Between 13 July 2016 and 13 September 2016, 71 staff left my Department. The majority of these departures, 50 in total, were planned exits (loans and fixed-term appointments ending, retirements, transfers out to other Departments, and voluntary exits).

    Of those staff who left the Department, six were employed in the Government Digital Service. Over the same period, 67 staff joined the Government Digital Service.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the procedures put in place by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure there is no disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been recognised as a Disability Confident Employer.

    HMRC has a long-standing and wide variety of measures in place to assist disabled job applicants and to prevent disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures. For example: discussing with disabled applicants their precise needs where they require assistance during the recruitment process; providing selection panels access to a specialist HR team with expert knowledge of the type of adjustments that can reasonably be made, whether it’s ensuring that the test and interview environment is particularly suitable for disabled candidates, providing selection material in alternate formats, offering signers for deaf candidates, allowing extra time for tests, accepting paper applications instead of the usual on-line applications process and so forth; and providing clear information to job applicants about the departmental vacancy filling complaints process.

    HMRC guarantees an interview to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Further, HMRC has introduced unconscious bias training for all its staff including of course those taking part as selectors. It enables them to question personal beliefs and ensure objective evidence gathering in the recruitment process. In addition, all selectors must have completed diversity awareness training before undertaking recruitment work. More recently, HMRC is addressing the issue of ‘recruiter confidence’ when working with disabled colleagues by creating a bespoke disability awareness workshop that is being rolled out to all managers and recruiters.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether there have been any changes to the Government’s policy on arms export licences since the Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2014, 9WS.

    Anna Soubry

    The framework for arms export licensing remains as set out in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, known as the Consolidated Criteria. This was last updated by the Written Ministerial Statement of 25 March 2014.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have initiated any discussions in the past decade on global migration issues.

    Lord Bates

    The Government undertakes extensive engagement on global migration issues with international partners through multilateral and bilateral discussions. The frequency of engagement has increased since the migration crisis in summer 2015 and focuses on the root causes of the crisis and its consequences. UK participation in the Valletta Summit and the Khartoum Process are key parts of this engagement.

    In order to tackle the unprecedented levels of illegal migration to the EU, we are prioritising interventions upstream in countries of origin and transit to reduce the need for migrants to leave their country of origin or move on from a safe third country. Action is being taking through regional initiatives, including Regional Development and Protection Programmes and overseas aid, including £1.12 billion of support to Syria. We are supporting work to strengthen the EU’s external border and joint action on human trafficking to crack down on those who profit from this vile trade. The Government recently announced that it will work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to resettle unaccompanied children from conflict regions. We have asked the UNHCR to make an assessment of the numbers and needs of unaccompanied children in conflict regions and advise on when it is in the best interests of the child to be resettled in the UK and how that process should be managed. This new initiative builds on the Government’s existing commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees during this Parliament. More than 1,000 vulnerable Syrians refugees – around half of them children – have already been resettled through the scheme.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has received on alleged breaches of international environmental law by UK firm Vedanta Resources in Zambia.

    Justine Greening

    Vedenta Resources has no formal relationship with our DFID Zambia office.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 on Question 30222, when he expects that data on secondary breast cancer will be complete.

    Jane Ellison

    Data on breast cancer recurrence has been mandated in the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) for diagnoses from 1 January 2013. The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) in Public Health England (PHE) estimates about one-quarter of recurrences are currently submitted. NCRAS will support trusts to improve their submission of data by producing reports on the number of recurrences submitted by each National Health Service trust. These will enable the identification of best practise to be shared, and enable us to engage with trusts that are not submitting data.

    Data on all cancer recurrence has been mandated in COSD since 31 July 2015.

    In addition further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect relapse and recurrence data on all cancers.