Tag: 2016

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation her Department carried out prior to launching the UKVI Tier Two pilot involving the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Bath and Imperial College London.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office launched a Tier 4 visa pilot involving the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Bath and Imperial College London on 25 July. The pilot has been introduced to test the benefits of a differentiated approach within the education sector on the basis of compliance with immigration sponsorship requirements.

    The pilot is deliberately narrow in scope, with the institutions selected on the basis of their consistently low level of visa refusals. Visa refusal rates are part of the Basic Compliance Assessment, which requires all Tier 4 sponsors to meet three core requirements based on measures of visa refusals, enrolment and completion of studies.

    The limited nature of the pilot is intended to ensure that the outcomes can be adequately monitored, whilst minimising the risk of unintended consequences, before considering rolling-out the scheme more widely.

    The four selected institutions were consulted regarding its implementation. Should the pilot be successful and rolled out more widely, the Home Office will consult key stakeholders about its expansion.

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the new EU Package Travel Directive (2015/2302/EU); and what plans they have to implement that Directive in advance of the UK leaving the EU.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The UK Government was influential in negotiating the new EU Package Travel Directive (2015/2302/EU). In particular the new rules extend protection to holidaymakers who pull together the elements of a package themselves using online providers, as well as those buying one “off the shelf”.

    Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation including the updated Package Travel Directive.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are ensuring that the Lead Provider Framework procurement process is not used to continue employing expensive management consultants.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will make decisions about their requirements when procuring services from the Lead Provider Framework and evaluate responses in order to appoint to the provider that represents the highest quality and best value for money.

    The Framework contains nine accredited lead providers that bring together a range of partners and specialist organisations in analytical and intelligence services, contracting and transformation to ensure CCGs can source a diverse range of skills and expertise on a more efficient basis than employing management consultants.

    NHS England created the Lead Provider Framework to enable CCGs to access affordable commissioning support from at scale providers so they would not have to rely on expensive management consultants sometimes of variable quality.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students are taught in schools rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey and (c) the South East.

    Nick Gibb

    In the South East, 81% of pupils were taught in good or outstanding school as of 31 August 2015.

    Within the Local Authority area of Surrey, 89% of pupils were taught in good or outstanding schools.

    In the Woking constituency, 87% of pupils were taught in good or outstanding schools.

    This data is based on the most recent section five Ofsted inspection of all open schools as at 31 August 2015. The data includes the most recent judgements for predecessor schools of academy converters which have not yet been inspected as an academy. The data can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exploring-ofsted-inspection-data-with-data-view

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  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the review of the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates will commence, and what is the proposed timetable for that review.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The review of the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates is expected to commence this year with a view to recommendations being made within a year.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of new universal credit claims were processed within one month in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is currently not available.

    Additional breakdowns will be included in future Universal Credit official statistics as quality assurance of data from the Universal Credit systems progresses during 2016.

  • Mark Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Field on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the National Crime Agency’s National Referral Mechanism Statistics – End of year summary 2015, of the 1,104 potential victims of trafficking who presented in the Metropolitan Police Force area in 2015 (a) how many came from EU countries, (b) from which region each such person came and (c) where each such person was first recruited for trafficking.

    Karen Bradley

    Of the 1,104 potential victims referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2015 that presented in the Metropolitan Police Force area, 68 were EU nationals. The countries of origin of these EU nationals were: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the UK. Information on the region of origin and location of recruitment of potential victims is not available.

    All 1,104 potential victims who presented in the Metropolitan Police Force Area in 2015 were referred to the NRM by a first responder organisation. A breakdown of referrals is available from published NRM statistics on the National Crime Agency website and can be found here: www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics. Breakdowns of data about the London boroughs where potential victims presented are not available.

    The Salvation Army and its subcontractors provide support in different locations within England and Wales for adult potential victims given a positive reasonable grounds decision. Following a reflection and recovery period, victims are assisted to move on within the UK or voluntarily return to their home country. The Home Office does not hold data on what happens to individuals once they leave the service.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with her Irish Republic counterpart on security co-operation since the latest published security assessment of the threat posed by Irish republican terrorists.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    I am in regular contact with Irish ministers on security and other matters. Political and operational co-operation is strong and the Irish authorities are having considerable success disrupting the activities of dissident republican terrorists and bringing them to justice.

    I commend the PSNI and AGS for their work on tackling the terrorist threat and their efforts to keep people safe on both sides of the border. The establishment of the Joint Agency Task Force on organised crime adds another important dimension to this already effective co-operation.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many equal pay cases were not taken forward after post-claim conciliation in each year since 2010.

    Margot James

    We are currently collating this information and will place this in the Libraries in due course.

  • Lord Framlingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Framlingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Framlingham on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the UK exiting the EU, what steps they plan to take to tighten the rules governing the bio-security of imported trees and other plants.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    We are committed to protecting our borders from pests and diseases and we are promoting biosecurity internationally, at UK borders, and inland.

    We are considering the implications for plant health biosecurity and possible options as part of our planning for, and negotiations on, the UK’s exit from the EU.

    Continuing to deliver a risk-based, proportionate plant health regime, that effectively protects the UK from plant pests and diseases, whilst maximising the free movement of goods, remains one of the Government’s highest priorities.