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Tag: 2016

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the implications for his policies are of the 19 January 2016 Motion for a Resolution of the European Parliament on the situation in Ethiopia and the report by UN special rapporteurs of 21 January 2016 on Ethiopia’s use of force against Oromo protestors; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The UK Government is aware of both the European parliament’s Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia and the UN special rapporteurs’ report on Ethiopia’s alleged use of force against protestors in Oromia. We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.

    We will continue to work with our partners, including the US, in urging the Ethiopian government to use restraint in their handling of the protests in Oromia.

  • 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 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 27 June 2016, Official Report, column 23, what the terms of reference are for the new EU Unit.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    A new EU unit will be set up in Whitehall, bringing together officials and policy expertise from across the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign Office and BIS. It will be based in the Cabinet Office and report to the Cabinet on delivering the outcome of the referendum, advising on transitional issues and exploring objectively options for our future relationship with Europe and the rest of the world from outside the EU. The funding for the unit is yet to be determined.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much (a) capital and (b) revenue expenditure his Department has given to local partnerships to date; and what estimate he has made of the value of his Department’s share in its joint ownership.

    Mr David Gauke

    As of March 2015, HM Treasury had made £800,000 of equity investments and provided £1,175,000 of loan stock to Local Partnerships. Local Partnerships has so far made £675,000 of repayments of loan stock to HM Treasury.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what anti-racism training is given to youth court magistrates.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    All judicial office holders are required to apply the law fairly and objectively regardless of the ethnicity of those who appear before them. A key principle of judicial training is that it should include the social context within which judges and magistrates operate, such as awareness of diversity issues. Additionally, the Judicial College, which oversees the delivery of judicial training on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice, maintains an Equal Treatment Bench Book to assist judicial office holders to deal fairly with those who appear before them. The Bench Book is publicly available at: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications/equal-treatment-bench-book/

    “

  • Martin Vickers – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martin Vickers – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Vickers on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many small businesses responded to the Government’s consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (a) number and (b) proportion of those respondents answered (i) yes, (ii) no and (iii) otherwise to Question one of that consultation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by specific question as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have registered for free flood warnings provided by the Environment Agency; and what steps she has taken to ensure that more people so register.

    Rory Stewart

    As of 1 March 2016 there were a total of 1,146,146 properties registered to receive flood warnings in England.

    Environment Agency staff work with communities to prepare them for flooding. They encourage people to fully register for the service by knocking on the doors of residents and businesses who are not registered to receive flood warnings, running local events and attending appropriate shows and seminars to encourage sign-up. Callers to the Floodline call centre are encouraged to register if they are not already on the system.

    Alongside work to encourage people to ‘opt-in’ to the service, the Environment Agency has automatically added 400,000 mobile phone numbers registered to locations at high risk of flooding provided by the company ‘EE’. They are currently working with 3 other major mobile phone companies to access their numbers too. This approach increases the number of people that the Environment Agency can automatically add to their warning system.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of unlawful marketing of knives in each year since 2010.

    Mike Penning

    Knife crime has no place on our streets and the government continues to work with the police and partners, including retailers, to ensure that we reduce violence and knife crime. There are strict laws on sales of knives and on how knives can be marketed, which are enforced by the police and Trading Standards. Anyone who markets a knife in a way that indicates or suggests that is suitable for combat or is likely to encourage violent behaviour faces a prison sentence of up to four years.

    There were no convictions for the offence of unlawful marketing of knives, in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2014 (the latest available), on a principal offence basis.

  • Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many tests for Vitamin D were carried out by pathology laboratories in England in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2013-14; and what the cost to the NHS was of providing such tests in each of those years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not held centrally. Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning laboratory testing locally.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects the first sale of higher value council housing allowed by the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to take place.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the Housing and Planning Act, local authorities have a duty to consider selling vacant higher value housing. Local authorities will know which homes will be defined as higher value, and therefore which homes they have a duty to consider selling, once Parliament has scrutinised and approved the regulations, including the higher value regulations which are subject to affirmative resolution.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the contribution of Scottish Gaelic language to British culture and the creative industries.

    Matt Hancock

    We recognises the important contribution Gaelic language makes to British culture and the creative industries. The Heritage Lottery Fund recently provided £4 million funding to reopen Lews Castle where over 20 community heritage societies have come together to shape the way the story of the Outer Herbrides is celebrated and shared. Interpretation is in Gaelic first with English subtitles throughout the museum.

    UK Government and its agencies are committed to working with the Scottish Government to help the creative industries continue to grow in Scotland, through the provision of broadband and mobile infrastructure, fiscal incentives, export promotion, advocacy and facilitation and the provision of official statistics.