Tag: 2016

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from the Kurdish Region in Iraq (a) applied for and (b) were refused entry clearance to the UK in the last six months for which figures are available.

    Karen Bradley

    For the purposes of this answer, ‘people from the Kurdish region of Iraq’ has been interpreted to mean people making visa applications at the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, UKVI’s application point in the Kurdish region. It is possible for people not ordinarily resident in the region to apply in Erbil, and for people from the region to apply at other locations, but worldwide data specific only to people from the Kurdish region could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The most recent figures available are from April 2015 to September 2015 and show A) the number of Entry Clearance applications made via the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, Iraq, to be 1790 and B) the number of refusals 1165. * The figures quoted are not provided under National statistics protocols but have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 27077, on arms trade: Saudi Arabia, what representations he has received on that legal advice.

    Anna Soubry

    No representations have been received on the legal advice commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld.

  • Mike Freer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mike Freer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which (a) ministers and (b) officials of her Department will be present at the International Aids Conference in Durban in July 2016.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK government will be represented at the International AIDS Conference in Durban in July 2016. Precise attendance has still to be finalised.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    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, with reference to the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on 3 May 2016, on confiscation orders: progress review, how many outages of the Semaphore computer system have occurred since 2010; and how long each such outage lasted.

    James Brokenshire

    For national security reasons, we do not comment on operational issues such as performance and functionality of border security systems.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of each type of vehicle procured as part of urgent operational requirements for (a) Operation Herrick and (b) Operation Telic have been returned to the UK.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The information on more than 19 vehicle types used over 13 years of both Operation Herrick and Operation Telic is not held centrally and could be provided only at disapproportionate cost.

    “

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

    Lord Colwyn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Colwyn on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average cost to the public purse of providing a foundation training place for a dental graduate.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Information on the average cost to Health Education England (HEE) of providing Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) education and Dental Foundation Training (DFT) can be found in the tables A, B and C below.

    Table A

    Cost to HEE of BDS education

    BDS

    Average tariff

    Fee Contribution

    Maintenance

    Total

    Year 1

    £32,600

    –

    –

    £32,600

    Year 2

    £32,600

    –

    –

    £32,600

    Year 3

    £32,600

    –

    –

    £32,600

    Year 4

    £32,600

    –

    –

    £32,600

    Year 5

    £32,600

    £9,000

    £3,000

    £44,600

    Total

    £163,000

    £9,000

    £3,000

    £175,000

    Notes:

    1. Average Tariff is the placement fee to cover the placement.
    2. Fee contribution is the tuition fee payable in year 5.
    3. Maintenance is the Bursary cost.
    4. These figures represent the best estimate of average cost to HEE, there may be other costs to the public purse, for example to provide student loans that are not included in these estimates.

    Table B

    Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in secondary care

    Placement support

    £50,900

    Salary/Maintenance

    £34,100

    Total

    £85,000

    Notes:

    1. Training Placement Support cost is the cost of the dental practice providing training & facilities.

    2. Trainee Salary/Maintenance cost is the contribution to the trainee salary and associated costs.

    Table C

    Cost to HEE of providing dental foundation training in primary care

    Dental foundation training salary

    £31,044

    Dental foundation trainer grant

    £9,324

    Service costs

    £64,164

    Total

    £104,532

    Notes:

    1. Training salary is the reimbursement of the salary paid to the dental trainee.

    2. Trainer grant is the sum that represents the time spent in supervising a trainee.

    3. Service costs is a sum that represents the service costs of employing a trainee.

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of private healthcare providers in delivering government aid programmes.

    Lord Bates

    In most low income countries the non-state sector delivers a substantial share of healthcare, with poorer people often relying on informal providers. This is usually in response to insufficient, poor quality or inaccessible state provision.

    However, informal and unregulated private providers can sometime provide low quality health services and commodities, and out-of-pocket payments can contribute to further impoverishing low income groups. Ensuring that services are accessible and affordable to the poor usually requires government or external funding arrangements.

    The UK Government uses its aid programmes to support the strengthening of mixed public and private health systems to deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to the poor and uses thorough monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure that results are achieved and lessons learned.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will commission research on the (a) reasons for and (b) effects of the different thresholds for investigations to be initiated under section 17 and section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

    Edward Timpson

    Sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989 have different purposes. Section 17 defines a child as being “in need” if they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by the local authority, or their health and development are likely to be impaired (or further impaired), without the provision of such services, or they are disabled. Under this section, local authorities are required to provide a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.

    Section 47 places a duty on local authorities to make enquiries to decide whether and what action should be taken to safeguard the child from “significant harm”. This is the point at which compulsory intervention in a child’s life is justified.

    Each local authority will interpret the definitions at Section 17 and Section 47 and set local thresholds, agreed by Local Safeguarding Children Boards, through their statutory function under the Children Act 2004, in discussion with all partners. This function is set out in Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006, as follows:

    1(a) developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority, including policies and procedures in relation to:

    (i) the action to be taken where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare, including thresholds for intervention;

    This is also set out in the Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015 statutory guidance. Ofsted looks at thresholds as part of its inspection process and considers whether the levels set locally are appropriate. It expects good Local Safeguarding Children Boards to monitor and understand the application of thresholds locally.

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been charged with paying for sexual services of a child under section 47 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 where (a) the victim was under 18, and those charged did not reasonably believe that the victim was 18 or over and (b) the victim was under 13 in each of the last three years.

    Robert Buckland

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants prosecuted for offences brought under section 47 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 or the ages of victims. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. However, records are held showing the overall number of offences, rather than defendants, in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts. These are detailed below.

    2012-2013

    2013-2014

    2014-2015

    Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.47

    26

    36

    49

    Note: A single defendant may be prosecuted for multiple offences.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

    Michael Fallon

    At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February 2016, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.