The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners were BAME in (a) 2010 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.
Andrew Selous
Some 21,917 prisoners (26% of the prison population) declared themselves BAME as at 31 December 2015, compared with 23,657 (28%) on 30 June 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-02-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what work they are doing to promote the UK’s insolvency regime to the European Commission as it develops its plans for an insolvency directive.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My officials have regular discussions with Commission officials on this matter. Insolvency experts have also had such discussions to ensure they are aware of the features and strengths of our insolvency regime. The Commission has announced its intention to publish a legislative initiative on corporate insolvency in late 2016. This is to be preceded by a consultation to be published this spring. The Government will be responding to the consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the EU’s decision-making process is for (a) humanitarian and (b) military interventions; who is involved in those decision-making processes; and what the timetable for those processes is.
Mr David Lidington
The EU’s humanitarian assistance is administered primarily by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO). Approved implementation partners submit project proposals to ECHO in response to its Humanitarian Implementation Plan. ECHO has a number of decision-making procedures available to it: the delegation procedure, where ECHO has delegated powers for emergency humanitarian work up to a limit of €3m and a maximum duration of three months); and the empowerment procedure, where the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection may take decisions relating to emergency operations up to €30m (maximum €10m for non-urgent decisions) for a maximum of six months. These decisions are subject to a consultation procedure within the Commission. Emergency decisions exceeding €10m and non-urgent decisions exceeding €2m (and all other decisions not covered by the delegated or empowerment procedures) require the approval of the Humanitarian Aid Committee (of representatives of all EU Member States). These decisions can be made by consensus or by voting, simple majority or Qualified Majority Voting, depending on the circumstances. The voting procedure has not been used in the Humanitarian Aid Committee as yet. The timeframe for the Commission’s approval will depend on the urgency of the humanitarian crisis.
EU military interventions fall under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. Proposals are framed by Member States and the European External Action Service. A military intervention requires two Council Decisions: one to establish the mission; and, once planning is complete, another to launch the mission. All CSDP Council Decisions require unanimity. Timescales for military interventions depend on a range of factors, such as operational urgency and planning requirements.
There are other Commission-administered programmes, aside from those administered by ECHO, which have humanitarian aspects. Typically, under these programmes, the Commission is responsible for framing proposals with decision-making involving a committee of Member States.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on granting that Institute the power to be able to approve cancer drugs for use off-license.
George Freeman
Clinicians can prescribe any treatment, including an unlicensed product or a product not licensed for a particular indication, which they consider the best available medicine to meet the individual clinical needs of their patient, subject to their primary care organisation agreeing to fund this treatment.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) already produces Evidence Summaries which critically review the best available evidence for significant uses of unlicensed or off-label medicines. They help commissioners and clinicians to make evidence-based prioritisation, treatment and funding decisions where there are no clinically-appropriate licensed alternatives.
Ensuring that patients get timely access to any new treatment, including off-label medicines in new indications, is complex and the Department is committed to working with stakeholders including NICE, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the General Medical Council, patient and professional groups, and charities to co-ordinate activities and set plans in place that will make this easier. This includes work to look at more systematic inclusion of off-label uses of drugs in the British National Formulary and development of case studies looking at re-purposed medicines and their pathways from research results into clinical practice.
Alongside these, the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will, in due course, provide the National Health Service with a newly created database which will provide a mechanism for collecting and sharing information on innovative treatments including off-label drugs and medicines in development. Now that the Act has received Royal Assent the work to implement its provisions can begin.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times he has visited Wales in his official capacity since the last UK general election.
Mike Penning
Details of all ministerial meetings are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/moj-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department provide any alternative support for people who have been refused a Start-up loan due to their credit score.
Margot James
The Start Up Loans Company assess applications based on a range of factors including business viability and affordability. If an application does not meet the lending criteria an applicant will be signposted to a number of credit reference agencies to obtain a copy of their credit report. Additionally, they will be signposted to other lending organisations and charities that may be able to help them.
There are also other Government supported schemes to help people who want to set up and grow a business. The 39 Growth Hubs across England provide support to help businesses start-up and grow with the Business Support Helpline also providing information and guidance. In addition, individuals and small businesses can access the British Business Bank’s Business Finance Guide, which aims to ensure individuals understand the finance options available to them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding per head was received for childcare in (a) the Enfield North constituency, (b) Enfield and (c) London in the latest period for which figures are available.
Caroline Dinenage
Funding for the free early years entitlements is allocated on a local authority basis. In 2016-17, the relevant hourly funding rates per child for local authorities in London (including Enfield) were as follows:
|
Local authority |
Three and four year old entitlement |
Two year old entitlement |
|
Enfield |
£4.16 |
£5.28 |
|
Greenwich |
£5.29 |
£6.07 |
|
Barking and Dagenham |
£4.27 |
£5.28 |
|
Barnet |
£4.80 |
£5.53 |
|
Bexley |
£3.97 |
£5.28 |
|
Brent |
£6.24 |
£5.53 |
|
Bromley |
£4.10 |
£5.28 |
|
Croydon |
£4.80 |
£5.28 |
|
Ealing |
£5.95 |
£5.53 |
|
Harrow |
£4.55 |
£5.53 |
|
Havering |
£4.19 |
£5.28 |
|
Hillingdon |
£5.16 |
£5.53 |
|
Hounslow |
£3.98 |
£5.53 |
|
Kingston upon Thames |
£3.93 |
£5.53 |
|
Merton |
£4.10 |
£5.53 |
|
Redbridge |
£4.34 |
£5.28 |
|
Richmond upon Thames |
£3.79 |
£5.53 |
|
Sutton |
£4.72 |
£5.53 |
|
Waltham Forest |
£5.14 |
£5.28 |
|
City of London |
£7.87 |
£7.08 |
|
Camden |
£9.17 |
£6.07 |
|
Hackney |
£7.50 |
£6.07 |
|
Hammersmith and Fulham |
£6.62 |
£6.07 |
|
Islington |
£8.41 |
£6.07 |
|
Kensington and Chelsea |
£6.73 |
£6.07 |
|
Lambeth |
£7.86 |
£6.07 |
|
Lewisham |
£6.12 |
£6.07 |
|
Southwark |
£8.64 |
£6.07 |
|
Tower Hamlets |
£8.21 |
£6.07 |
|
Wandsworth |
£5.19 |
£6.07 |
|
Westminster |
£7.20 |
£6.07 |
|
Haringey |
£5.63 |
£5.28 |
|
Newham |
£5.17 |
£5.28 |
All funding rates for three and four year olds are exclusive of the Early Years Pupil Premium which is an additional funding stream for disadvantaged children.
We have recently consulted on a new early years national funding formula, and our proposed formula from 2017-18 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/early-years-funding-changes-to-funding-for-3-and-4-year-olds
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many terrorism-offence related suspects on police bail are understood by her Department to have broken bail and left the UK since January 2013.
Mr John Hayes
Individuals suspected of terrorism-related offences can be arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) or the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT). The decision on which power of arrest to use is an operational judgement for police, and will depend on the circumstances of the case.
Individuals arrested under TACT cannot be released on police bail. By contrast, those suspected of terrorism-related offences arrested under PACE must be bailed once the grounds for detention no longer apply. Figures for the number of terrorism-related suspects on police bail that have been ordered to relinquish their passports, or have relinquished their passports, are not collected.
As the Secretary of State for the Home Department said in the House on 05 January 2016, figures for the number of people who have absconded whilst on police bail for terrorism offences are also not collected.
Figures for those who fail to surrender to bail are collected, but these figures are not separated into categories of offence. These figures are publically available and can be found as follows: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if the Government will make it its policy to bring forward legislative proposals to allow heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships; and if she will make a statement.
Caroline Dinenage
In 2014, after the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was passed, the government carried out a review of the operation and future of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, including a thorough public consultation on potential changes to civil partnership. Views were invited on three options: abolishing, or phasing out civil partnerships; or extending them to opposite sex couples.
The review found that there was no clear consensus on the future of civil partnerships. A majority of respondents to the consultation were against extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples and several important organisations thought it was too soon to consider making changes to civil partnerships until the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples is known. Given the lack of any consensus the government has no current plans to make changes to the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
On 29 January 2016, the High Court dismissed a legal challenge to the lack of availability of civil partnerships to opposite sex couples. The Court ruled unequivocally that the current regime of marriage and civil partnership does not disadvantage anyone nor does it infringe anyone’s right to family or private life. We also welcome the Court’s view that it is entirely reasonable for the Government to wait to see the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples before deciding on the way forward.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) arrests, and (2) convictions, for diesel laundering there were in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not break down statistics for oils convictions to separate out those arising from diesel laundering. Total arrests and convictions for oils offences in Northern Ireland for the last complete three years for which figures are available were as follows:
|
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
|
|
Arrests |
8 |
0 |
13 |
|
Convictions |
9 |
9 |
5 |
The figures for arrests and convictions in any particular year do not correspond as investigations and prosecutions do not always reach conclusion in the year that they commence.