Tag: 2016

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they recognise Islamic State’s treatment of the Yazidi people as an act of genocide.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The situation is desperate for many communities within Syria and Iraq. We condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population in Syria and Iraq who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality.

    As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and other ministers have explained in response to similar questions, it is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred should be a matter for the international judicial system rather than legislatures, governments or other non-judicial bodies. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations of International Humanitarian Law, and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes.

    Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology. That’s why the UK is playing a leading role in a Global Coalition of 66 countries and international organisations to respond to Daesh’s inhumanity.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many projects in Lancashire have been funded directly under the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

    Greg Hands

    The Northern Powerhouse is creating a single Northern economy that is greater than the sum of its parts. Lancashire will benefit from pan-Northern projects including the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy, Shale Wealth Fund, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and membership of Transport for the North. Lancashire will directly benefit from investments including a £251.11m growth deal, two Enterprise Zones, a National College for Onshore Oil and Gas at Blackpool, £56,000 for the refurbishment of the Muni theatre in Pendle and numerous transport schemes. Government does not hold information on the specific number of projects in Lancashire.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the next set of National Diet and Nutrition Survey data will be published.

    Jane Ellison

    The next report of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey is being prepared and will be published as an Official Statistic; the publication date will be announced in advance in accordance with the Official Statistics Code of Practice.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made by the East Midlands Ambulance Service on reducing patient handover times to local hospitals.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement advises that East Midlands Ambulance Service is working with hospital trusts, clinical commissioning groups, NHS Improvement and NHS England to reduce handover delays. For example, since November 2015 at Leicester Royal Infirmary 1-2 hour delays have reduced by 67% and delays of more than two hours have been reduced by 76%. This has resulted in the average handover time reducing by 38% from 39 minutes to 24 minutes.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the ban on khat.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Khat was controlled as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in 2014.

    The 2015/16 Crime Survey England and Wales found that 0.06% of adults aged 16 to 59 in the general population had used khat in the last year, equivalent to around 20,000 people. This is similar to 2014/15 (0.05%) but a statistically significant fall compared with 0.2% in the previous two survey years when khat was measured (2010/11 and 2011/12).

    We will continue to monitor the situation in relation to khat as appropriate, including through recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Our approach to drugs remains clear: we must prevent drug use in our communities and help dependent individuals to recover, while ensuring our drugs laws are enforced.

  • 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 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the Health Protection Agency study on the health effects of emissions from municipal waste incinerators to be published.

    Nicola Blackwood

    Public Health England funded study by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) at Imperial College and the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London investigating the potential link between emissions from municipal waste incinerators and health outcomes is ongoing. It is expected that papers from the project will be submitted by SAHSU to peer reviewed journals in spring 2017, and papers to be published later in the year.

  • Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what formal mechanisms they have in place to consult Muslim women.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Government Ministers and officials regularly speak with a range of British Muslim women to seek their views on key issues. The Prime Minister hosted a Community Engagement Forum on 14 January with sixteen influential Muslim women, to discuss their role in Britain today and the importance of tackling issues of forced gender segregation, discrimination and isolation. In addition, four of the cross-Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group’s ten independent members are themselves Muslim women. The Group discusses a range of issues, for example, hate incidents on public transport which disproportionately affect visibly Muslim women.

    My Department funds a number of projects that work with Muslim women including community based English language courses, women’s empowerment initiatives and the development of leadership and networking skills. As part of this, my officials regularly engage with the project leads, associated charities and participants on relevant issues affecting Muslim women.

    My rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has commissioned Louise Casey to carry out a review on how to boost opportunity and integration in our most isolated and deprived communities. She will report on her findings in due course.

  • 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 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 5 January 2016, Official Report, column 18, what the baseline year is for the commitment to train 10,000 more nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals over the course of the Parliament.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government has committed to remove the cap on the number of students studying nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions from 2017/18. This will enable universities to offer up to 10,000 additional places for students to start these courses by the end of the parliament.

    The Department of Health, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with health and education partners will work together prior to implementation in 2017 to determine how these additional places are appropriately baselined (and monitored) against those commissioned for National Health Service workforce planning purposes.

  • Lord Wasserman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Wasserman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wasserman on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Chief Constables, or equivalent, in England and Wales are (1) female, and (2) members of the BME communities, and how those figures compare to those on 1 March 2011.

    Lord Bates

    The Government is clear that increasing diversity in our police forces is not an optional extra. It goes right to the heart of this country’s historic principle of policing by consent. We must ensure that the public have trust and confidence in the police, and that the police reflect the communities they serve.

    The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of chief officers by gender and ethnicity on the Gov.uk website, using self declared diversity data. As well as chief constables, the chief officer group also includes assistant chief constables and deputy chief constables, and their equivalents in the Metropolitan police and City of London police. The data is provided in the attached tables (The Association of Chief Police Officers referred to in the data has been replaced by the National Police Chiefs’ Council).

    The statistics do not separate chief constables from the chief officer cohort, therefore we are unable to provide a breakdown relating to chief constables specifically.

    The Home Office does not collect information about how many chief constables, or equivalent, in England and Wales have a university degree.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much each local authority received from the Planning Enforcement Fund in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department received six applications for enforcement grants before the deadline for submitting applications and all were successful.

    Two grants were made in the financial year 2014-15 to Staffordshire County Council (£8,010) and Stratford-on-Avon District Council (£3,200).

    Four grants were made in the financial year 2015-16 to Bath and North East Somerset Council (£7,993.75), London Borough of Camden (£8,184.50), Chelmsford City Council (£2,755) and South Gloucestershire Council (£3,291.66).