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Tag: 2016

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on steps to remove foreign national offenders from UK prisons to their home countries.

    Andrew Selous

    The Secretary of State for Justice and the Home Secretary have regular bilateral meetings where they discuss progress on removal of FNOs. As announced in the Prime Minister’s speech on 8 February, MoJ officials have also been working closely with the Home Office to introduce a legal requirement for defendants appearing in court to provide their name, date of birth and nationality. This will enable earlier identification of foreign national offenders and help with the removals process.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34699, when her Department expects to (a) receive advice from the UK Export Committee on Pesticides about the two applications for emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoids and (b) make a decision on whether to grant such authorisation.

    George Eustice

    The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) considered these applications at its meeting on 4 May. I expect to receive its advice shortly.

    The decision on whether or not to grant the authorisations will be made once the ECP and other experts have concluded their examination of the applications and the Government has received and considered their findings.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the Government is proposing to raise the small claims limit to £5000 rather than to £3000.

    Dominic Raab

    The Government is determined to crack down on the compensation culture and has announced reforms, including raising the small claims limit, to tackle the problem. These reforms will build on previous measures taken by the MoJ to control costs, tackle fraud, strengthen the medical evidence process and reduce incentives to pursue trivial whiplash claims. £5,000 is considered to be the appropriate level for the small claims limit and the rationale for this will be set out in the consultation document which will be published in due course.

  • 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 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending visa-free access to the UK to Nepalese citizens.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. There are currently no plans to change the visa requirements for Nepalese citizens.

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    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 for UK-based airlines of the Single European Sky when the UK leaves the EU.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government is considering carefully all the potential implications arising from the UK’s exit from the EU for our aviation industry. This includes the implications for UK-based airlines relating to Air Traffic Management and the Single European Sky after the UK leaves the EU.

  • Baroness Jolly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Baroness Jolly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jolly on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many foreign nationals received training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in each year between 2005 and 2016.

    Earl Howe

    Defence has a long and proud tradition of training overseas military and civilian personnel at its training establishments throughout the UK and this is an essential ingredient of Defence Engagement. Training establishments such as Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) offer international students prestigious courses which remain highly prized. Courses currently undertaken by foreign nationals are the Commissioning Course, the Army Reserve Commissioning Course, the Professionally Qualified Officer Course and the International Trainer Development Course.

    These courses expose international partners to UK policy, and promote concepts of accountability, human rights and transparency. They are important in building skills which enable other countries to deal appropriately with their own internal problems, thereby contributing to regional security. The courses are paid for by a combination of self and UK funding. Information on the number of foreign nations in receipt of training at RMAS is provided in the attached table.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve food hygiene safety in schools, children’s clubs and nurseries that failed to meet satisfactory standards in inspections last year.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Local authorities are responsible for food hygiene inspections of schools, children’s clubs and nurseries at which food is served regularly to children. Food hygiene legislation requires these premises to be registered as food businesses. The Food Standards Agency, which sets policy for and monitors enforcement of food safety legislation by local authorities, has advised that approximately 99% of educational establishments and caring establishments, including schools, children’s clubs and nurseries, have satisfactory or better food hygiene standards.

    Local authorities work with food businesses to make improvements in any premises that fail to meet satisfactory standards during inspections and may take a range of enforcement actions as considered appropriate in the circumstances of each case. The honourable member for Bolton North East or members of his constituency may contact the relevant local authority or the Food Standards Agency for detailed information about specific premises that are of concern to him.

  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 9 February (HL5469), of those tested, how many were subsequently diagnosed with (1) hepatitis B, (2) hepatitis C, and (3) HIV, over the same time period.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on people in prison tested for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) via the Sentinel Surveillance Study. This system does not currently receive reports from all prisons in England where testing occurs currently 28 prisons report data. Table 1 below shows data from this system on the total number of prisoners tested positive for BBVs in the calendar years 2012-2014. Similar information from this study for the year 2015 will not be available until mid-2016. NHS England also collects data on levels of testing for BBVs in prisons via the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance. The numbers of positive tests for BBVs in these data are presented in Table 2 using currently available data. The higher number is due to the greater coverage of prisons by this dataset.

    Table 1: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons for calendar years 2012-14

    2012

    2013

    2014

    hepatitis B

    60

    51

    49

    hepatitis C

    456

    400

    327

    HIV

    16

    19

    16

    Source: PHE Sentinel Surveillance Study

    Table 2: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons from April 2015 to December 2015

    April 2015 – December 2015

    hepatitis B

    743

    hepatitis C

    2164

    HIV

    1777

    Source: NHS England

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people from other EU member states receive support through the Work Programme.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The information requested, for those participating in the Work Programme by nationality, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimates she has made of the proportion of cases in which the previous convictions of a foreign offender were (a) checked by the police and (b) passed on to prosecutors in court in each of the last three years.

    James Brokenshire

    No figures are held centrally to show the proportion of cases in which previous overseas conviction records of arrested foreign nationals were checked by the police. However, the UK is rolling out nationally a semi-automated process so that when an arrest record is created in a custody suite, an overseas criminal conviction request is prompted. The aim is to ensure that in all cases overseas criminal convictions will be obtained when a foreign national is arrested in the UK.

    In the last three years (2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16) 39,028, 60,226, and 95,156 requests respectively, were made by the police to EU Member States for previous convictions of foreign nationals under the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), an increase of over 140% in that time. In those same years, 19,018, 34,549 and 38,890 requests respectively were made by the police to countries outside the EU for previous convictions of foreign nationals, an increase of over 100% in that time.

    No figures are held on the numbers of overseas criminal records which are subsequently passed on to the courts. However, to increase the amount of overseas criminal conviction information available to the courts, the Digital First programme, led by the National Police Chiefs Council, is working to improve the information on Digital Case Files to prompt police to ensure that overseas criminal convictions are obtained and passed on to the courts to inform criminal proceedings and sentencing.