Tag: 2016

Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has a policy on resettling refugees from Syria who have previously been living in Syria as Palestinian refugees.

James Brokenshire

The UK operates three resettlement programmes: Gateway, Mandate and the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

Only UNHCR registered Syrian nationals are eligible under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme, which has been expanded to resettle 20,000 individuals during this Parliament. We work closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

Gateway and Mandate are not nationality specific.

The Gateway Protection programme resettles UNHCR recognised refugees from a small number of targeted locations.

The Mandate resettlement programme resettles individuals from anywhere in the world who have been recognised as refugees by UNHCR, and judged by them to be in need of resettlement; and who have a close family member in the UK who is willing to accommodate them.

01/01/2023
Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the figures on central government spend with small and medium-sized enterprises, published on 5 December 2015, how much of the £12.1 billion was spent in 2014-15 with businesses located in the OL1, OL2, OL3, OL4, OL8, OL9 and M35 postcode areas.

Matthew Hancock

The Crown Commercial Service only collects regional spend data for direct spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so the following figures, which are taken from the Governments Spend Analytical tool, Bravo, do not incorporate spend through the supply chain.

Direct spend with SMEs of £205,978,657.91 was reported in 2014-15 for the North West of England.

During the same period, the following amounts were reported as going to small businesses in the requested locations:

OL1 – £2,706,290.86

OL2 – £18,611.30

OL3 – £54,984.10

OL4 – £66,325.40

OL8 – £83,737.93

OL9 – £566,399.25

M35 – £76,074.91

01/01/2023
Vicky Foxcroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what contribution his Department is making to Government steps to reduce the incidence of serious youth violence.

Andrew Selous

We continue to play an active role in cross-Government work to tackle gangs and prevent youth violence.

Youth reoffending is too high which is why the justice Secretary has asked Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of youth justice. He will report back later this year with recommendations.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many property interference authorisations were granted to each immigration removal centre inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire

There has been no change in Immigration Rules in relation to the use of property interference by immigration officers. Part III Sections 55(1) and (2) of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 amended the Police Act 1997 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in 2013 to empower officials within the Home Office exercising immigration functions to seek authority for property interference solely for the purpose of preventing and detecting serious crime. Immigration removal centres themselves cannot seek property interference authorisations.

The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) scrutinise every application for property interference made by immigration officers upon authorisation and also retrospectively oversee any use of the power to ensure compliance. The OSC publish an annual report, which refers to the overall use of these powers by public authorities including the Home Office.

The Home Office does not provide information on individual Immigration Removal Centres visited by the OSC, or investigations carried out within them.

The Investigatory Powers Bill will replace the current oversight regime with a powerful In-vestigatory Powers Commissioner who will have the support, powers, resources and tech-nical expertise to continue to ensure that these powers are being used fully in accordance with the law.

01/01/2023
Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to nationally commission (a) minor ailments services and (b) minor eye conditions services.

George Freeman

There are no plans to commission either service at a national level. Those with a minor ailment may visit a pharmacy, walk in centre or practice nurse for treatment and those concerned they may have a minor eye condition can visit their general practitioner, optical practice or pharmacy.

Services for minor ailments are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups who are also able to commission services from local optometrists to provide treatment for minor eye conditions. This ensures that services are commissioned to reflect local need.

01/01/2023
Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to eradicate the presence of asbestos on school sites in England and Wales.

Lord Nash

The issue of asbestos in schools is a serious one and the government is supporting those that are legally responsible for managing asbestos in schools.

The Health and Safety Executive, which is the lead regulator on managing asbestos advise that as long as asbestos is in good condition and unlikely to be damaged or disturbed, it is not a significant risk to health to pupils and students during the course of their daily activities. On this basis, the department has provided targeted guidance to schools on the effective management of asbestos in their schools and has recently concluded a voluntary data collection exercise to understand how duty holders are managing asbestos in their schools.

The department directly funds the removal of asbestos through schemes such as the Priority Schools Building Programme and provides capital funding for asbestos management and removal where appropriate for those schools that have identified that asbestos is in poor condition or poses a high risk of deterioration.

The department is not committing to the removal of asbestos in all schools as blanket and accelerated removal of asbestos in schools is potentially more dangerous and may involve greater risk to school children and staff.

It is the aim of the government that, over time, as more school buildings are replaced and refurbished, all asbestos will be removed from schools.

01/01/2023
The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Listowel on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to continue to improve quality of early education for two-, three- and four-year olds, including increasing graduate leadership.

Lord Nash

The Government wants all children to have access to quality early education, as this makes a difference to their outcomes in later life. That is why we have taken the following steps to support the quality of early years provision:

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) helps early years providers to prepare young children for school and improve their life chances by requiring them to deliver high-quality provision. The 2015-16 EYFS Profile results show that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 69% in 2016 compared to 52% in 2013.

We work closely with Ofsted to ensure a robust regulatory and inspection framework to drive continuous improvement in quality. The sector has responded positively and the latest statistics show that 86% of early years providers were rated “good” or “outstanding” as of 31 March 2016.

The quality of the workforce continues to improve, with 87% of staff in full day care settings now qualified to level 3. The Department is also developing a workforce strategy that will aim to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff.

The Government recognises that graduates play an important role in improving quality in the early years, and that is why in 2013 we introduced the early years initial teacher training programme which leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status. We have made a significant investment in this programme by providing funding for course fees and bursaries to eligible trainees, and also funding for employers to support trainees. As such, the number of graduates in the workforce continues to rise, and between 2008 and 2013 the proportion of full day care staff with a degree or higher increased from 5% to 13%.

01/01/2023
Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of her Department’s performance in adhering to the statutory time limit for responding to Freedom of Information requests.

Nick Gibb

The Secretary of State publishes statistics on the Department’s performance in responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

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01/01/2023
Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have represented themselves as litigants in person in (a) civil, (b) criminal and (c) family courts in 2015-16 to date.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Ministry of Justice does not collect information centrally on Litigants in Person in civil related court cases, criminal court cases or family court cases.

01/01/2023

Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many International Civil Aviation Organisation category (a) A and (b) B Airprox incidents there were in the (i) Scottish Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region and (ii) London Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region involved foreign military aircraft in each year since 2010; and in each of those incidents what the (A) type of foreign military aircraft involved and (B) country of origin was.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There were 2 Category (Cat.) (A) and 1 Cat. (B) Incident(s) in the Scottish Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region (Scottish FIR/UIR) and 1 Cat (A) and 4 Cat. (B) incidents in the London FIR/UIR.

The table below outlines the type of military aircraft involved in each incident in both regions since 2010.

Airprox No	Date	Risk	Location	Aircraft Type	Country of origin
2012060	27/04/2012	A	LONDON FIR	KC135 STRATOTANKER	USA
2015009	04/02/2015	B	LONDON FIR	F15 EAGLE	USA
2013037	16/05/2013	B	LONDON FIR	F15 EAGLE	USA
2015111	14/07/2015	B	LONDON FIR	C5 GALAXY	USA
2015123	30/07/2015	B	LONDON FIR	F15 EAGLE	USA
2012057	24/04/2012	A	SCOTTISH FIR	C130 HERCULES	USA
2010163	13/10/2010	A	SCOTTISH FIR	SAAB JAS39 GRIPEN	Not recorded
2013149	10/10/2013	B	SCOTTISH FIR	MIRAGE 2000	France

The associated Airprox reports can be found on the UK Airprox board website (www.airproxboard.org.uk) under ‘Reports and Analysis’.

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01/01/2023