Tag: 2016

Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to (1) review the long-standing advice by the Department of Health against eating fatty foods, and (2) publish revised advice.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Government advice is that people should base meals on starchy carbohydrates, especially wholegrain; eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day; and cut back on food and drinks high in saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently reviewing evidence on saturated fat and health. A draft report is planned for public consultation at the end of 2017. Current advice will remain in place until the SACN has completed its review.

01/01/2023
Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that social media websites remove abusive and threatening posts.

Sarah Newton

We expect social media companies, and internet platforms, to have robust processes in place and to act promptly when abuse is reported; including acting quickly to removing inappropriate content, and where appropriate, suspending or terminating the accounts of those breaching the rules in place.

We are working with the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) to keep children and young people safe online. UKCCIS brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to help to keep children and young people safe online. UKCCIS is co-chaired by Ministers from Department for Education, Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sport.

In December 2015 we published guidance to encourage responsible practice from industry, and ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way.

The Criminal Justice Act 2015 strengthened two existing communications offences: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 which can now be used to prosecute misuse of social media. The police now have longer to investigate either offence, and the maximum penalty for the former has been increased to two years imprisonment.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that ammunition used by Boko Haram in Nigeria is manufactured in Sudan.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are not aware of any reports that Sudanese-manufactured ammunition has been used by Boko Haram. We fully support the EU arms embargo on Sudan as well as the UN arms embargo on Darfur.

01/01/2023

Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications for the High Speed 2 (a) need to sell scheme and (b) exceptional hardship scheme have been received from constituents in Chesham and Amersham constituency; how many of those applications have been completed with the property now in the ownership of the Government or HS2 Ltd; how many of those properties in the ownership of the Government or HS2 Ltd have been (i) sold, (ii) rented and (iii) remain vacant; for how many of those applications that have been accepted the price has not been agreed; how many of those applications are awaiting a decision on whether they will be accepted; how many of those applications have been rejected; and of those rejected how many times each such application has been rejected and for what reasons.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information requested is in the table below:

Chesham and Amersham constituency
	(a) Need to Sell (NTS) scheme	(b) Exceptional Hardship Scheme (EHS)

Applications received	34	49
Applications accepted	17	12
Applications rejected	8	31
Applications withdrawn	1	6
Applications pending a final decision	8	0
offers made	12	12
offers accepted	10	9
offers declined/no longer active	0	3
Properties acquired	6	9

How many of those properties in the ownership of the Government or HS2 Ltd have been:
(i) sold	0
(ii) rented	10 (with 2 under offer)
(iii) remain vacant	3

(a) Need to Sell (NTS) scheme	(b) Exceptional Hardship Scheme (EHS)
Total number of unsuccessful applications (of which were reapplications)	8 (1)	31 (5)*
Unsuccessful for reasons including criterion 1 (Property Type)	1	1
Unsuccesful for reasons including criterion 2 (Location of property)	2	18
Unsuccesful for reasons including criterion 3 (Effort to Sell and impact of blight)	3	23
Unsuccesful for reasons including criterion 4 (No prior knowledge)	0	0
Unsuccesful for reasons including criterion 5 (NTS-Compelling reason to sell/EHS- Exceptional Hardship)	6	25

*of the five rejected reapplications none are from the same applicant.

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01/01/2023

Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-02-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the finding of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year An Unholy Mess that a significant number of religiously selective schools are asking parents for information they do not need, and are not allowed to ask for, such as the predicted grades of their children, and how this could be prevented in future.

Lord Nash

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant without undue delay. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the serviceability and spares situation of the UK-based tank fleet; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank serviceability and spares situation is routinely assessed to identify issues. A recent in-depth assessment was undertaken and additional repair funding allocated to maintain the capability. Furthermore, a Life Extension Programme is currently in the assessment phase.

01/01/2023
Paul Beresford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Beresford on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will arrange a meeting between the Photo Marketing Association and the Passport Office to discuss ensuring that future digitally-supplied ID photographs meet International Civil Aviation Organisation compliance standards and are supplied by photographic professionals.

Mike Penning

Photographic requirements for the British passport are set out in www.gov.uk and are fully compliant with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. HMPO does not currently require passport photographs to be supplied by photographic professionals and there are no plans to change this.

The PMA is a member of the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) with whom HM Passport Office has been actively discussing our digital services to ensure open and transparent engagement with all photographic providers.

01/01/2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will establish a treatment programme to support the rehabilitation of young Yazidi and other women.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is committed to supporting the victims of Daesh’s brutality. Through our Human Rights and Democracy Fund we are supporting a project that offers survivors of sexual violence, including from the Yezidi community, access to health and psychiatric support. This project plans to reach 2,400 women across Erbil, Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk and Zakho. We have also translated the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict into Kurdish, to build further the capacity of Kurdish human rights, justice and healthcare professionals to respond to and document these crimes.

We are providing £750,000 to help implement Iraq’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to support women’s involvement in conflict resolution and the response to gender-based violence. More widely, the UK is providing £79.5 million to the humanitarian response in Iraq. This assistance is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including the most vulnerable groups, such as Yezidis. All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity.

01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential effect on (a) businesses and (b) the local community in Paisley of the decision to close the Post Office branch and replace it with a franchise.

George Freeman

Post Office Limited runs and operates its directly managed Crown post offices. Changes to its network and proposals to franchise of some of its Crown branches are the operational responsibility of the Post Office. The Post Office’s proposals for franchising some of its Crown branches are part of its work to ensure its branch network is sustainable in the long term and ensure that Post Office services remain on our high streets across the country. The change from a Crown to a franchise branch has been undertaken successfully in many locations across the UK and helps sustain Post Office services in these locations, and each change is subject to local consultation.

Over 97% of the UK’s post office network is run on a franchise or agency basis.

01/01/2023
Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to (a) improve public awareness of the law and (b) make it easier for the law to be understood by people without legal expertise.

Sir Oliver Heald

Information is provided on the ‘crime, justice and the law’ section of the GOV.UK website to help the public be aware of their rights and the law. In addition, the legal services regulators have a duty to promote public understanding of citizens’ legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the “Legal Choices” website, which provides information to help with decisions on whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services the public might choose.

01/01/2023