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Tag: 2016

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the number of occasions on which bailiffs have seized operational equipment from private providers of NHS services; what the details are of each such occasion; and what steps his Department takes to prevent this happening.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department does not hold this information. The National Health Service body commissioning a service from the private sector should ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to ensure access to essential operational equipment in the event of one of its suppliers getting into financial difficulties.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Church of England has made an assessment of the effect of the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund on the fabric of English cathedrals.

    Dame Caroline Spelman

    The First World War Centenary cathedral Repairs Fund has currently allocated £3.45million of the £40million total, this has as so far enabled 116 vital repair and restoration projects across 57 Anglican and Catholic cathedrals to be undertaken.

    Lincoln Cathedral has received £1.18 million for repairs to turrets and roofs, typical of the costs faced for high-level cathedral repairs involving extraordinarily complicated scaffolding. These repairs have gone a long way to complete the major repairs but with any building of this size and age constant maintenance is needed.

    The final grants are currently being processed, as the grants scheme comes to a close there will be a programme of formal evaluation to assess the wider social and economic benefits the projects have contributed, such as increased employment, training, volunteer opportunities and tourism. A copy of this evaluation will be made available to all Members early in 2018 so as to ensure it covers all works the Fund has invested in.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the analysis commissioned by Amnesty and Saferworld which concludes that the transfer of weapons capable of being used in the conflict in Yemen to Saudi Arabia constitutes a breach by the UK of its obligations under domestic and international law.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of reports on alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition and take these very seriously. We have regularly raised with Saudi Arabia the need to comply with international humanitarian law in Yemen, and continue to engage with them on this. We have offered advice and training to demonstrate best practice and to help ensure continued compliance with international humanitarian law. The UK is satisfied that we are not in breach of our international obligations. The UK operates one of the most rigorous and transparent export control regimes in the world. All exports of arms and controlled military goods are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant information at the time of the application, to ensure compliance with our legal obligations. A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the UK Licensing Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

  • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 January 2016 to Question 20771, how many staff are employed in the Coalition Communications Cell; and what the annual operating budget of that unit is.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There are currently nine full time equivalent members of staff working in the Coalition Communications Cell, including two secondees from Canada and the Netherlands.

    The operating budget is the amount the Prime Minister announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 which is £10 million; this covers staff costs and all project activity over two financial years. In addition, we are working with Coalition Partners to seek additional resources.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to counter people trafficking.

    Karen Bradley

    We are committed to tackling people trafficking and all forms of modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to tackle modern slavery, ensures that perpetrators can receive suitably severe sentences up to life imprisonment, enhances support and protection for victims and places a duty on large businesses to report on what they are doing to stop modern slavery occurring in their global supply chains. We have successfully lobbied for the establishment of the first ever UN Sustainable Development Goal to end modern slavery and are working with a range of international partners to tackle slavery and its causes. We are also piloting a new approach to identifying and supporting potential victims of slavery through the National Referral Mechanism and we have appointed an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to spread best practice in the UK and overseas.

  • Anne Marie Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Anne Marie Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Marie Morris on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Department has paid in fines to the EU since 2010.

    George Eustice

    As from financial year 2010/11 Defra has accrued £336m for disallowance following the conclusion of EU audits, broken down by financial year as shown in the table below. This relates to a number of different Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Schemes over a number of historical scheme years as disallowance is paid in arrears. These are the only fines that have been imposed on Defra by the EU since 2010.

    Disallowance (*) £m

    10/11

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    181

    42

    2

    30

    81

    (*) Reflects the sums the European Commission have ruled cannot be reimbursed (i.e. the amounts they have “disallowed”).

    “

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what priority issues were discussed and conclusions reached at the UK-US bilateral annual stocktake of the UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement on atomic energy matters in April 2016; who attended that stocktake from which organisations; and what the cost was of that stocktake.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK/US Stocktake took place in April 2016 and was hosted by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). UK attendees were from the MOD and the Atomic Weapons Establishment and US attendees from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense, the US Air Force, the US Navy and Department of Energy Laboratories. No priority issues were discussed. As usual, technical and programme updates and discussions of collaborations took place. The costs were approximately £2500.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from her Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what she estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my hon Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (John Penrose) UIN 38825.

  • Nia Griffith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nia Griffith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government about financial support for victims of contaminated blood.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jane Ellison) wrote to Vaughan Gething on 13 July 2016 to inform him of the publication of the Government Response to the Consultation on Reform of Financial and Other Support for those infected and affected by NHS supplied blood, and offered to arrange a call to discuss this further.

    Officials from the Department and the Welsh Government have been working together over the past few months on the issue of scheme reform, including a workshop in London in March to consider the themes emerging from the England consultation, and regular phone conferences.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by his Department are non-UK nationals.

    Ben Gummer

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.