Tag: 2016

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the progress of the peace process in Burma in the light of the recent Union Peace Conference, 21st Century Panglong.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We welcome State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s peace initiative – the Union Peace Conference, 21st Century Panglong. It was the most inclusive peace conference to date and successfully brought most of the major players to the table. This was a significant achievement in its own right. The conference marks the beginning of a process, and there are now proposals to follow up at six-monthly intervals. We will continue to support this process as it moves forward to the next stage.

January 1, 2023
Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the environmental effects of the use of imported fox urine for the purposes of trail hunting.

Rory Stewart

The Government has no plans to make an assessment or issue guidance on the import and use of fox urine for the purpose of trail hunting.

January 1, 2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the report produced by Ernst and Young for his Department in February 2012 on development options and safety standards at RAF Northolt recommended that an Engineered Material Arresting System be installed at RAF Northolt; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 January 2016 to Question 24027. The Mott MacDonald report referenced in that previous answer was an Appendix to the Ernst and Young study of February 2012.

January 1, 2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 903912, what estimate her Department has made of number of postgraduate trainee teachers recruited in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb

The data requested has been attached to this answer and can be found in Table 1b at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2015-to-2016

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January 1, 2023
Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that developmental play services, including Portage, are a statutory service for disabled children under the age of two.

Lord Nash

The Government recognises that play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning and a child’s experiences in their first five years have a major impact on their future life chances. This is covered in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework for children from birth to five years of age.

The commissioning of support services for disabled children, such as Portage, is a decision for local authorities. Each local authority should consider the needs of its population, in collaboration with parent carers and early years providers, to ensure that support services in the area reflect local circumstances and need. The Children and Families Act requires all local authorities to publish a ‘local offer’, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available in their area across education, health and social care for children in their area who are disabled or have SEN, including those who do not have EHC plans. This should include details of any Portage services that are available for children aged 0 to 5 years.

The Department recognises the importance of Portage and has provided £150,000 to the National Portage Association through the voluntary and community sector (VCS) grants for 2015-16. The National Portage Association has been using their funding to build on existing grant-funded work to support and develop Portage services.

January 1, 2023
William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with (a) Big Six and (b) other combined cycle gas turbine generators on the potential effect of an expansion of electricity interconnectors on (i) the capacity market and (ii) long-term investment in gas-fired electricity generation.

Andrea Leadsom

Ministers and officials routinely meet with all stakeholders including the vertically integrated energy companies, independent generators and other capacity providers to discuss the energy market, their views on the Capacity Market and new interconnection as well as prospects for any planned investment in new gas power stations.

January 1, 2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding has been provided by her Department to WaterAid in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd

WaterAid received over £24million of DFID funding from April 2013 to March 2016. We have so far committed £4.7million in funding for April 2016 to March 2018.

DFID funding has contributed to WaterAid directly reaching more than 2 million people with safe water and over 3 million people with sanitation in the last year alone. In addition, our Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) funding, effective from 2011 until the end of 2016, enabled WaterAid to improve their overall organisational effectiveness by supporting them to develop stronger Monitoring and Evaluation systems; improve their Value for Money framework and supported growth and innovation throughout the organisation.

January 1, 2023
Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Ragwort Control Act 2003 in preventing the spread of ragwort.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The effectiveness of this Act is assessed annually by recording details of complaints and enforcement cases. Research undertaken for Defra in 2013 concluded that ragwort is not becoming more widespread.

The Ragwort Control Act 2003 contains provision for a Code of Practice for the management and control of ragwort.

Common ragwort is one of the five, so called ‘injurious weeds’ and is toxic to grazing livestock including horses, so the priority is to protect them where there is a risk of them ingesting dead, dying or green ragwort. The Government recognises the impact that ragwort ingestion can have and we ask that landowners take all reasonable steps to ensure that ragwort does not spread from their land onto adjoining land, where it poses a risk to grazing livestock, land used for grazing or to produce hay/forage. Where complaints are received and there is a genuine risk to grazing livestock then action to ensure compliance is taken with private individuals or public bodies.

January 1, 2023
Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Turkish counterpart on civilian casualties incurred as a result of Turkish government offensives in predominantly Kurdish areas of Turkey.

Mr David Lidington

The ongoing violence in the predominantly Kurdish areas of south east Turkey is extremely concerning. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill members of the Turkish police service and security forces in violent terrorist attacks. The Turkish Government has responded by striking PKK targets in Turkey and Northern Iraq. They have also launched large-scale security operations involving curfews in some towns and cities in order to clear them of suspected terrorists.

We are aware of reports of civilian casualties in the region, and a worsening humanitarian situation in certain areas in south east Turkey. The Turkish Government have said that 48 civilians lost their lives in clashes between 23 July and 23 December 2015. They also said that 93,000 people have fled their homes. We also understand that there have been investigations launched against elected officials and politicians. Any such investigations should be undertaken transparently and fully respect the rule of law.

We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians who have been caught up in the violence. As in any conflict, civilian casualties should be avoided and human rights need to be fully protected. We have been clear, in public and private, that PKK violence must end and we support a return to the peace process, in the interests of Turkey and the region. We stand ready to help in any way we can.

We continue to monitor the situation closely. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised to the Turkish government the need to respect human rights, avoid civilian casualties and return to the peace process. I raised these issues with my Turkish counterpart the last time we met in August 2015.

January 1, 2023

Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time equivalent personnel were employed by the (a) Royal Military Police, (b) Royal Naval Police and (c) Royal Air Force Police in each of the last six years.

Penny Mordaunt

The requested information, as at 1 April of each year, is provided in the following table:

Strength of Trained UK Regular personnel in the Royal Military Police (RMP), Royal Naval Police (RNP) and Royal Air Force Police (RAFP)

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
RMP	1,700	1,710	1,720	1,740	1,720	1,620
RNP	340	320	320	300	290	300
RAFP	1,480	1,450	1,360	1,200	1,110	1,140

Notes:

1. UK Regular Forces comprises Full-time personnel but does not include Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service personnel and Reservists.

2. RMP figures do not include approximately 2,900 Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) personnel and a small number of "staff" (Colonel and above) who have a late arm/corps of Provost. Recent MPGS personnel numbers are available in Table 1 of the Service Personnel Statistics report:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/499082/Monthly_Service_Personnel_Statistics_January_2016.xlsx

3. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.

January 1, 2023