Tag: 2016

  • Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

    Karen Bradley

    The previous Government signed the Istanbul Convention to show the strong commitment it placed on tackling violence against women and girls and this Government remains committed to ratifying it.

    The UK already complies with the vast majority of the Convention’s articles but further amendments to domestic law, to take extra-territorial jurisdiction over a range of offences (as required by Article 44), are necessary before the Convention can be ratified.

    We are currently considering the approach to implementing the extra-territorial jurisdiction requirements in England and Wales and will seek to legislate when the approach is agreed and Parliamentary time allows.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the conclusions and recommendations in the Hutton review of forensic pathology in England and Wales, submitted to the Minister of State for Crime and Prevention in March 2015.

    Brandon Lewis

    Since the completion of Professor Hutton’s review the Home Office Forensic Pathology Unit has been consulting with stakeholders on a range of options for implementing the Review’s recommendations. This includes an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of various options to take forward the main recommendation of establishing a ‘National Death Investigation Service’.

    Recommendations on the preferred option will be presented to Home Office Ministers in October 2016. In parallel, the Pathology Delivery Board, chaired by the Home Office, assessed all the recommendations and established a programme of work to address them individually. This programme has progressed to completion and is set to be formally signed-off at the next meeting of the Pathology Delivery Board, chaired by the Home Office, in November 2016.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the number of spaces which should be available for disabled people in music venues across the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The huge variation in size, type and location of music venues across the UK makes it impractical to require venue operators to make a specific number of spaces available for disabled people. However, we believe that everyone should have access to arts and culture – having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists, and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. Ialso recently held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people. Additionally, provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public (for example music venues), to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” to non-disabled people.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government,  further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5039) and 12 February (HL5911), whether they are now able to confirm that the stated aims of the application recently approved by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 had never included increasing knowledge about the causes of miscarriages”; and which of the purposes as set out in the previous Written Answer were instead deemed to be fulfilled by the project.”

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s role in granting a research licence is to ensure that any project fulfils one of the purposes set out in the legislation. The Person Responsible applied for the same purposes as those which were granted. These are set out in paragraph 1.18 of the minutes of the Licence Committee meeting held on 14 January 2016; a copy of the minutes is attached.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to announce new mast sites for the Emergency Service Mobile Communications Programme’s Extended Areas Service project.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office led Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is in ongoing discussions with EE as the supplier of Network Services for the new Emergency Services Network (ESN).

    The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme’s Extended Area Service is planning a number of new mast sites across the UK. The location of new mast sites will be announced in due course, once all the relevant permissions have been granted.

  • Lord Butler of Brockwell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Butler of Brockwell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Butler of Brockwell on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many treaties to which the UK is a party would have to be renegotiated if the UK were to leave the EU.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The process of withdrawing from the EU is untested and would contain numerous elements depending on the outcome of the negotiations with the rest of the EU that would follow a notification that the UK had decided to withdraw from the EU. There is little clarity on how this would work, including the number of treaties to which the UK is a party which would need to be renegotiated as a result. There are, for example, free trade agreements covering 53 markets to which the EU is party, which would need to be considered.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how the £68 million that was allocated to the the New Generation Trolleybus scheme for Leeds was spent.

    Claire Perry

    The Department of Transport did not provide any funding for the Leeds Supertram or Leeds New Generation Trolleybus schemes. Any expenditure committed so far is the responsibility of the promoters – West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants who receive social security benefits have paid cash for properties sold under the Right to Buy scheme to date.

    Brandon Lewis

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the main reasons for rejection of applications for Tier 1 entrepreneur visas have been in each of the last four quarters.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office does not hold the specific information in the format requested. To obtain the information would involve examining individual case records and would incur disproportionate cost.

    All visa applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Immigration Rules.

  • Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the most recent estimate is that his Department has made of the (a) civilian public sector, (b) civilian private sector and (c) military personnel required to work on the decommissioning of the Vanguard class submarines; and how many of those workers will be employed on decommissioning.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK’s Vanguard Class submarines will begin to leave service by the early 2030s as the Successor submarines are introduced into service. The detailed planning necessary for this work has yet to commence and it is not therefore possible at this time to make an assessment of the workforce that will be required.