The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the arrest of 13 Palestinian civilians at military checkpoints in the West Bank between 12 and 18 May.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have no plans to raise these arrests with the Israeli authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to tackle obesity in (a) the North East and (b) England.
Nicola Blackwood
We launched Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action on 18 August. A copy of the plan is attached and is available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department is investigating allegations that the Saudi-led coalition deployed UK manufactured cluster munitions; and whether UK military personnel or UK aircraft were involved in the deployment of such munitions.
Sir Michael Fallon
We are aware of reports, including from Amnesty International on 6 June 2016, of the alleged use of UK-supplied cluster munitions in the Saudi-led coalition campaign in Yemen. We take this allegation very seriously, have analysed the case carefully and raised the issue with the Saudi-led coalition.
The UK is not a member of the coalition and there are no Royal Air Force aircraft in coalition operations. British military personnel are not involved in carrying out strikes, directing or conducting operations in Yemen or in the targeting process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has for funding from the EU Solidarity Fund for relief payments for recent flooding.
Rory Stewart
We will consider all forms of support for those affected by the recent floods.
However, the EU Solidarity Fund would not compensate for private losses. It would take several months to receive the majority of the funds, and only provides for a fraction of the total costs of assessed damage. The Government’s priority has been to act quickly and deal with the urgent needs of those affected.
This is why the Government is providing nearly £200 million of additional aid to support those affected by the floods in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any members of the (a) National Tactical Response Group and (b) Tornado Teams have been injured during a call out in the last two years.
Andrew Selous
The number of National Tactical Response Team (NTRG) members who have been injured during a callout over the last 2 years is set out in the table below
No central records are held in respect of any injuries to Tornado staff, and this information cannot be obtained without disproportionate cost.
|
2014 |
2015 |
|
|
Members of NTRG who have been injured during a callout |
2 |
2 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hostage incidents in which a (a) prison officer and (b) prisoner was taken hostage have taken place in each prison establishment since January 2010.
Andrew Selous
Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. These figures demonstrate that the Prime Minister and the Justice Secretary are right and out prisons badly need reform.
We are already trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, training sniffer dogs to detect new psychoactive substances and have made it an offence to smuggle new psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively rehabilitate offenders.
Hostage incidents are rare occurrences. The table attached provides details of hostage incidents, broken down by establishment and victim type.
Note: These figures have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what planning his Department is undertaking to facilitate private sector investment in the scalability of the proofs-of-work aspects of blockchain technology; and what discussions he has had with the Bank of England on that topic.
Harriett Baldwin
Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.
The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.
As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.
Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.
It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.
The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which geological surveys undertaken by HS2 Ltd since 17 July 2013 have considered (a) subsidence and (b) the effects of shifting land movement owing to salt movement or other effects of salt mining in Eddisbury constituency.
Mr Robert Goodwill
No intrusive geological surveys have been carried out at this stage. HS2 Ltd has commissioned from a mining engineer (in consultation with the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board) a study of the historical subsidence effects and ongoing extractive processes in relation to salt. This includes review of ground movements in the time between two successive (2014 and 2015) HS2 LIDAR surveys of the route in Cheshire, and earlier where relevant third party LIDAR data has been made available.
A re-review of the usefulness of satellite interferometry to evaluate historical ground movement across Cheshire (including the Eddisbury constituency) is ongoing.
Following a route decision in autumn 2016 HS2 Ltd will begin production of a full Environmental Impact Assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he made his most recent assessment of UK compliance with (a) the Cluster Munitions Convention, (b) the Arms Trade Treaty and (c) the EU Consolidated Arms Export Criteria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
a) The UK provides an annual report to the Secretary-General of the UN on its compliance with the CCM. The UK submitted its last report on 29 April 2016. It completed destruction of its stockpile of cluster munitions in December 2013, more than 5 years ahead of the schedule set by the Convention.
b) The UK has signed and ratified the Arms Trade Treaty and is applying its standards through implementation of robust and transparent national export controls of all conventional arms and ammunition. As part of its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, the UK recently submitted its first annual report (covering 2015) to the Treaty Secretariat ahead of the 31 May 2016 deadline.
c) Each year the Government submits a report to Parliament on the UK’s Strategic Arms Export Controls. The most recent report, covering 2014, was published on 23 July 2015. The Government considers that it complies fully with the Consolidated Criteria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how GP practices will be able to access the planned additional investment in general practice of £2.4 billion per year by 2020-21.
David Mowat
The General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016, set out that investment in primary medical care will increase by £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21.
Total funding to primary medical care includes core funding for practices, funding allocated locally by clinical commissioning groups, and centrally allocated funding from NHS England for the measures to help boost the workforce, drive efficiencies in workload and modernise primary care infrastructure and technology that are set out in the General Practice Forward View. The £2.4 billion will be delivered by both national and local level mechanisms.
An advisory oversight group with patients and partners, including the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee and the Royal College of General Practitioners, will steer implementation of the General Practice Forward View. NHS England is holding a number of events between July and September 2016 across the country to discuss the General Practice Forward View and its implications for local plans with general practitioners.