Tag: 2016

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total amount of lost revenue to the United Kingdom from the tax avoidance of UK citizens revealed by the Panama Papers.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs does not have access to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ data, but are exploring every avenue, nationally and internationally, to obtain it, so they can pursue the dishonest minority who seek to hide and dodge their taxes.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Egyptian government on the disconnection of power lines providing electricity to Southern Gaza; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware that there are power shortages in Gaza, leading to severe power restrictions and blackouts. We have discussed this issue with Egyptian officials.

    We regularly raise the humanitarian situation in Gaza with the Egyptian government. The UK will continue to urge the parties to prioritise progress towards reaching a durable solution for Gaza, and to take the necessary practical steps to ensure Gaza’s reconstruction and economic recovery.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the extent to which current and planned staffing levels at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are sufficient to enable the Commission to fulfil its statutory obligations.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body. It makes its own decisions about the allocation of its resources and its procedures for planning changes to its staffing against its business needs as set out in its one-year Business Plan and three-year Strategic Plan.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the commitments in the Belfast Agreement 1998, what representations they have received from the Irish government about the continuing status of Northern Ireland as part of the UK.

    Lord Dunlop

    The Government has regular discussions with the Irish Government on a range of issues in accordance with the well-established three stranded approach laid out in the Belfast Agreement. As one of the negotiators of that Agreement, the Noble Lord is aware that Northern Ireland’s constitutional position is based on the principle of consent, which is fully supported by both the United Kingdom and Irish Governments.

    The Belfast Agreement stated that “the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union and, accordingly, that Northern Ireland’s status as part of the United Kingdom reflects and relies upon that wish”. The Government has no reason to believe that there has been any change in this position.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with meningitis in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) which is a major cause of bacterial meningitis in England. The data do not distinguish between IMD presentation as meningitis or septicaemia. National data on the number of cases of IMD in England are published by PHE based on the number of laboratory confirmed cases.

    Table 1: Number of laboratory confirmed cases of IMD in England by epidemiological year: 2010/11 to 2014/15.

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Cases of IMD

    1,009

    730

    769

    636

    724


    Source:     PHE Health Protection Report, 2015

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) trustees and (b) directors of academies and academy chains are paid salaries in excess of £142,500.

    Edward Timpson

    The information is available about each academy trust in the notes to their financial statements which are published online by the Department for Education and at Companies House.

    “

  • 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 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23092, how the figure of 10,000 for the number of additional training places universities will be able to provide by the end of the current Parliament was calculated.

    Ben Gummer

    As announced by the Chancellor in the Spending Review in November 2015, the Government has committed to remove the cap on the number of students studying nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions from 1 August 2017. This will enable universities to offer up to 10,000 new training places for students to start these courses in this Parliament.

    This reflects estimates on the level of unmet demand for places in the current system where, as an example, for nursing, around two out of three nursing applicants who currently apply for a place are turned down.

    The Government is working with health and higher education delivery organisations to determine an appropriate baseline as part of implementing the reforms.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the extra restrictions placed on both Muslims and Christians wanting to worship in Jerusalem this year due to the Jewish festival of Purim.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not raised this specific issue with the Israeli authorities, we remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It remains difficult for Palestinians to enter East Jerusalem for religious worship. We continue to work closely with the Quartet and EU partners to call on Israel to ease access restrictions.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Turkish counterpart to (a) re-open Turkey’s borders to Syrian asylum seekers and (b) conduct independent investigations on alleged attacks on Syrian asylum seekers by Turkish border guards.

    Mr David Lidington

    We are aware of the allegations of the use of lethal force against civilians trying to cross the border from Syria into Turkey. We are unable to verify these allegations, as is the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The allegations have been strongly refuted by the Government of Turkey. We regularly raise with the Government of Turkey issues relating to the management of the border with Syria and the treatment of refugees. Turkey is hosting over 2.7million Syrian refugees. We understand that the Turkish government has made preparations to accept more Syrian refugees should conditions in Syria necessitate so, but that its approach is to enable humanitarian aid to be provided to affected populations in northern Syria.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to discuss a UK ban on live exports as part of the negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.

    George Eustice

    The priorities for negotiating our exit from the EU will be a matter for the new Prime Minister and her Cabinet.