Tag: 2016

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who are eligible to receive the winter fuel payment and have voluntarily chosen not to receive it in each of the last three years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Details of the number payments made to individuals and households are publicly available on the GOV.UK website.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/winter-fuel-payments-caseload-and-household-figures

    The voluntary relinquishments requests for the past three years are as follows:-

    2013 139

    2014 78

    2015 82

    “

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens in each country who are in prison and facing the death penalty.

    James Duddridge

    We are currently aware of 13 British nationals in detention abroad who have been sentenced to death. There are a further 54 cases of British nationals who are under trial, appeal or at a pre-trial stage that could lead to a death sentence. Cases with a potential death penalty sentence in Pakistan make up the biggest number (31).

    We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. If a British national has been sentenced to death or faces a charge that carries the death penalty, we will raise the case at whatever stage and level we judge to be appropriate.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to ensure that people from Iraq who have been displaced as a result of the current fighting in that country have access to assistance.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UN’s latest assessment is that over 3.3 million Iraqis have been internally displaced, with over 10 million people across Iraq requiring some form of humanitarian assistance. The UK is working with the Government of Iraq, Kurdistan Regional Government, United Nations, and non-governmental organisations to make sure that humanitarian support is provided to the most vulnerable, including internally displaced persons (IDPs).

    Since summer 2014, the UK has pledged £129.5 million of humanitarian support for Iraq. This includes £50 million of additional assistance announced on 20 July 2016. Through our contribution, as the largest donor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund, UK funding has helped a number of programmes supporting IDPs leaving Fallujah.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish sustainability and transformation plans.

    David Mowat

    Local areas will submit an updated plan to the national health and care bodies for review at the end of October, with further public engagement and consultation taking place from this point. We expect that areas will publish a version of their Sustainability and Transformation Plans between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will undertake public engagement during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement and, where required, consultation.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia in relation to the death sentence imposed on Abdullah ah-Zaher; and whether they will consider taking action in the event of representations on this, and similar cases, going unheeded.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government is very concerned about the case of Abdullah al-Zaher. We have raised these cases at a senior level in the Government of Saudi Arabia. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, especially in cases which do not meet the minimum standards defined by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This includes the execution of a minor and the use of the death penalty for a crime which is not deemed “the most serious”. We take every opportunity to make the Saudi authorities aware of our views.

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

    Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 8 December 2015 (HL3862), what legal basis the World Health Organization’s treaties have in English law.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Where the United Kingdom is party to a treaty which is in force, the United Kingdom government must comply, as a matter of international law, with its obligations under the treaty in good faith. This is required by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

    Where a particular obligation under a treaty has not been implemented in domestic legislation it does not directly form part of English law and the English courts do not have jurisdiction to apply it. However, there is also a strong presumption in the common law that all domestic legislation will, where possible, be interpreted so as to ensure that the United Kingdom is acting compatibly with its treaty obligations.

  • Anne McLaughlin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne McLaughlin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne McLaughlin on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time was for an application for British citizenship from submission of initial application to decision in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    The average length of time taken to consider an application for British citizenship in the period 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015 was 108.89 calendar days. This is the most recent period for which statistics on the number of applications considered have been published. The service standard for citizenship applications is to decide 98.5% of cases within 6 months (183 calendar days).

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU member states who have served custodial sentences have been deported back to their country of nationality at the end of their sentence.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office seeks to deport EEA nationals or their family members on grounds of public policy or public security where that person’s conduct repre-sents a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society.

    The table below shows the number of EEA nationals deported on the basis of a criminal conviction, where their presence in the UK is not considered conducive to the public good.

    Year

    EEA FNO Removals (1)(2)(3)

    2011/12

    1,275

    2012/13

    1,727

    2013/14

    2,306

    2014/15

    3,026

    2015/16 (up to end of Q3)

    2,584

    (1) A Foreign National Offender (FNO) is defined as an individual with a criminal case on the Home Office’s Case Information Database, and may include individuals with asylum cases.

    (2) Quarterly Foreign National Offender (FNO) removals are published as National Statistics and available in table 7 of latest the published "Immigration Statistics release" https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015

    (3) Total FNO removals figures relate to those cases that have been deported, administratively removed or voluntarily departed from UK.
  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to Ministers: quarterly return October to December 2015, published on 24 March 2016, whom he met during the visit to Saudi Arabia that began on 27 October 2015; and what the agenda was at those meetings.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    During his visit to Saudi Arabia on 27 October 2015 the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) met His Majesty King Salman, Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defence His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Commander of the National Guard His Royal Highness Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, and Foreign Minister His Excellency Adel Al Jubeir. The agenda of these meetings covered regional issues, human rights, security cooperation and migration.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the use of antibiotics.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy is an ambitious programme to slow the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance, which was published in 2013. The Strategy aims to prevent infection, protect the antibiotics that we have and promote the development of new drugs and alternative treatments. Each of these initiatives will contribute to reductions in the inappropriate use of antibiotics.

    Implementation of our Strategy has met with success in primary care. Between April and December 2015, two million fewer prescriptions were dispensed compared to the same period in 2014, a reduction of 7.9%.

    Globally, the United Kingdom has been at the forefront of successful negotiations of the antimicrobial resistance resolution at World Health Organization last year, with equivalent resolutions relating to food and agriculture and animal health. A key part of this work is aimed at reducing the risk of infections and improving antimicrobial stewardship.

    We are also aiming to raise the profile of antimicrobial resistance yet higher through a successful high level meeting on antimicrobial resistance at the UN General Assembly in September this year.

    Furthermore, we will use the recently published recommendations from Lord O’Neill’s Review on antimicrobial resistance to address the global challenge of unblocking the antibiotic pipeline and reducing unnecessary antibiotic usage in both the human and animal health sectors.