The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what land and property in Oldham his Department has identified for disposal as part of the One Public Estate programme over the next five years.
Matthew Hancock
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 5 February 2016 to UIN: 25342.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Scott Mann on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects on rural communities of disbursements from the community transport minibus fund.
Mr Patrick McLoughlin
The Community Transport Minibus Fund will provide over 300 organisations with a new minibus so that they can continue to provide vital services to help elderly residents, people with learning and physical disabilities and those who do not have access to a commercial bus service.
Approximately one third of the organisations obtaining vehicles through the Fund are based in rural areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces take longest to process applications from the Disclosure and Barring Service; and what the average processing time for such application is for each police force in England.
Karen Bradley
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) processes applications in date order and is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.
The table below shows the average time spent by each police force in England to process disclosure applications between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.
|
Force Name |
Average Days Taken By Force |
|
Avon And Somerset |
7.4 |
|
Bedfordshire |
3.5 |
|
Cambridgeshire |
10.9 |
|
Cheshire |
10.7 |
|
City of London |
9.0 |
|
Cleveland |
8.6 |
|
Cumbria |
13.8 |
|
Derbyshire |
14.8 |
|
Devon And Cornwall |
4.7 |
|
Dorset |
76.6 |
|
Durham |
15.3 |
|
Essex |
16.2 |
|
Gloucester |
11.1 |
|
Greater Manchester |
12.8 |
|
Hampshire |
11.4 |
|
Hertfordshire |
10.5 |
|
Humberside |
9.8 |
|
Kent |
18.5 |
|
Lancashire |
5.0 |
|
Leicestershire |
7.7 |
|
Lincolnshire |
9.2 |
|
Merseyside |
8.2 |
|
Metropolitan |
85.2 |
|
Norfolk |
1.6 |
|
North Yorkshire |
17.9 |
|
Northamptonshire |
17.1 |
|
Northumbria |
13.9 |
|
Nottinghamshire |
10.9 |
|
South Yorkshire |
21.7 |
|
Staffordshire |
10.7 |
|
Suffolk |
8.8 |
|
Surrey |
13.1 |
|
Sussex |
17.5 |
|
Thames Valley |
60.3 |
|
Warwickshire |
7.2 |
|
West Mercia |
9.3 |
|
West Midlands |
21.2 |
|
West Yorkshire |
12.3 |
|
Wiltshire |
4.8 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who on the Government’s warnings index is known to have travelled to which destinations during the Semaphore eBorders system national power outage in June 2015.
James Brokenshire
Home Office systems are used for the purposes of border and national security and the detection and prevention of crime. It is longstanding policy not to discuss the specific data held on these systems, the source of the data or how it is used for national security reasons.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking in response to the outcome of the EU referendum to maintain the existing border between Gibraltar and Spain.
Mr David Lidington
The outcome of the EU referendum does not affect the United Kingdom’s steadfast and longstanding commitment to Gibraltar. We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their wishes. Furthermore, the UK will not enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.
Ensuring a well functioning Gibraltar-Spain border is one of our top priorities. This has not changed. It will take some time for our future relationship with the EU to become clear, but there will be no immediate changes in Gibraltar’s circumstances. There will be no initial changes in the way people can travel or the way services can be sold. Over 12,000 people will still be able to commute across the Gibraltar-Spain border every day, including a significant number of Spanish workers. As we move forward in negotiating the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, we will work in partnership with the Government of Gibraltar to ensure Gibraltar’s interests are protected and advanced.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the peace process in Ukraine.
Sir Alan Duncan
The Foreign Secretary has discussed the Minsk Peace Process to resolve the on-going conflict in eastern Ukraine with a range of European partners and counterparts, including bilaterally with Foreign Ministers from France and Poland as well as multilaterally at recent EU and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe summits. The Foreign Secretary has also discussed the conflict with President Poroshenko and Foreign Minister Klimkin of Ukraine during a recent visit to Kyiv, and stressed the need for progress on Minsk implementation during a phone call last month with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 15 December 2014 to Question 218111, what conclusions were reached by the Taskforce of business representations and government departments established to access how to limit the negative impact on business and jobs of the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal of 4 November 2014 in the case Bear Scotland and over v Mr David Fulton and others.
Nick Boles
The previous Government involved the Holiday Pay Task Force in discussions leading to the introduction of the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014. These regulations were introduced to limit backdated holiday pay claims to two years and have applied to Employment Tribunal claims for unlawful deductions from wages made on or since 1 July 2015. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) believes that the regulations are helping to limit the negative impact on business of the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision in Bear Scotland.
BIS is continuing to monitor the impact of this and other court decisions relating to holiday pay. We regularly discuss the situation with a wide range of interested parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the health benefits of cranberries and their role in preventing the incidence of urinary tract infections in women and children; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
The research database, Cochrane, published a study in 2012 which assessed the effectiveness of cranberry products in preventing urinary tract infections in susceptible populations. Researchers found that there is no objective evidence for the benefit of cranberry juice in preventing urinary tract infections. Therefore the Department has not taken steps to promote the consumption of cranberry products.
The UK five year Antimicrobial Resistance strategy set out the need to stimulate the development of new antibiotics, rapid diagnostics and novel therapies. The DH commissioned the Wellcome Trust to undertake a review of alternative treatments in 2014. The review concluded that while many approaches have potential, there is a continued need for conventional antibiotics to treat the majority of infections for the foreseeable future.
A paper, summarising the review “alternatives to antibiotics – a pipeline portfolio review” was published in the Lancet in January 2016. This is available at the following link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00466-1
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-03-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to answer the letter dated 12 January 2016 from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. Lyons, transferred by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Harriett Baldwin
HMRC officials are looking into this case and the Right hon. Member will receive a reply in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that UK Government aid to the Palestinian Territories is not used to help finance violence or terrorism.
Mr Desmond Swayne
No UK aid is used for payments to Palestinian prisoners, or their families. The UK’s direct financial assistance to the PA is used to pay the salaries of public sector workers only. Our support is provided through a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank, which carries out close monitoring of Palestinian Authority expenditure. Only named civil servants from a pre-approved EU list are eligible. The process is subject to independent auditing.