Tag: 2016

  • Baroness Afshar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Afshar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Afshar on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran about the protection of the human rights of Iranian women and scholars.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As mentioned in the 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Human Rights report, women do not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men in Iran and continue to face discrimination. There are continued restrictions on freedom of expression and belief. We repeatedly call on the Iranian government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the issue of human rights with Foreign Minister Zarif when they met on the 17 May.

  • Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Caroline Flint – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the contribution of the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire on 28 June 2016, HC Deb, column 161, what his policy is on whether there is a minimum number of countries that need to be signed up to public country-by-country reporting before the UK will introduce such reporting.

    Jane Ellison

    For public country-by-country reporting to be effective, there needs to be sufficient international agreement. There needs to be a breadth of information from UK and foreign headquartered multinationals so that the full picture of multinationals’ activities, profits and tax paid is shown to the public.

    A multilateral agreement is key to the success of the OECD country-by-country reporting model, the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, and the automatic exchange of company information.

    These actions show that a multilateral approach to greater tax transparency is achievable and the Government will continue to discuss this with international partners.

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter from the Immigration Minister to all local council leaders of 8 September 2016, if she will publish the number of places pledged by each local authority area for those unaccompanied refugee children as identified by section 67 of the 2016 Immigration Act to date.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are currently no plans to publish the number of places pledged by each local authority area for those unaccompanied refugee children as identified by section 67 of the 2016 Immigration Act. The Home Office publishes the number of asylum claims from unaccompanied children as part of the quarterly immigration statistics release. According to the latest release, in the year ending June 2016 there were 3,472 asylum claims from unaccompanied children. The full statistics can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/asylum#unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children

  • Lord Rennard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Rennard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish data showing the number of entries on the electoral register as at 1 December 2015; and if so, whether they will break down that information by (1) country, (2) constituency and (3) local authority.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    On 24th February the Office for National Statistics will publish total register entries at a local authority level for local government registers and at a constituency level for parliamentary registers. The Electoral Commission is planning to publish a report in late February/early March on the state of the December 2015 registers.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for further education and skills providers of European Social Fund allocations being assigned to local enterprise partnerships, instead of on a co-financing basis; and what representations he has received from further education and skills providers and organisations on the effect of those changes on cashflow and delivery of programmes.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) had not received any representations made by providers regarding the role of LEPs in procurement activity. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) established an External Advisory Group with representation from all provider sectors, the Association of Colleges, Association of Employment and Learning Providers and third sector organisations and also from Local Enterprise Partnerships, including the LEP Network. This provided a forum for the SFA to consult on how European Social Fund (ESF) programme funds would be deployed under the new arrangements. This forum was supported by BIS, SFA and Department for Work and Pensions representation.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of national infrastructure investment has been allocated to projects in (a) Stoke-on-Trent local authority, (b) Cheshire East local authority, (c) the West Midlands region, (d) the South East region and (e) London in each year since 2010.

    Greg Hands

    The information requested can be obtained from “National Infrastructure Pipeline”, published in July 2015 and is available here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the financial accountability of government in Wales.

    Guto Bebb

    In order to become truly accountable to the people of Wales it is vital that the Welsh Government takes more responsibility for raising, through taxation, the money that it spends.

    We will, as part of the Wales Bill, remove the requirement for a referendum before the devolution of powers to vary the rates of income tax in Wales.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Attorney General, when he last discussed the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights with the Home Secretary.

    Jeremy Wright

    I meet regularly with Ministerial colleagues, including the Home Secretary, to discuss important issues of common interest, including domestic and international human rights law. I am not able to provide information about any legal content of those discussions because, by longstanding convention, the fact that the Law Officers have advised, or have not advised, and the content of their advice is not disclosed outside government.

  • Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action, if any, they plan to take to save and preserve the Kensington Odeon, maintain its classic art deco design, and reverse the impact of its closure upon the neighbourhood and community.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Kensington Odeon is subject to a Certificate of Immunity (COI) which precludes the building being listed until 2018. The Odeon has been considered for listing twice before. It was rejected because it does not possess the special architectural or historic interest features required.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK’s sixth periodic report in relation to social housing supply and homelessness; and if he will make a statement.

    Gavin Barwell

    In paragraph 73 of the UN recommendations, the UN requested that the UK submits its next period report under the Covenant (inclusive of a response to all the recommendations from this year’s examination) by 30 June 2021; it would therefore not be appropriate for me to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we, or indeed a future UK government in 2021, might say.

    This government remains committed to tackling homelessness. That is why we have increased central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the Spending Review period. We have also maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20. In the Budget we announced further commitments to prevent homelessness including £100 million to provide at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living; £10 million to support initiatives to prevent and reduce rough sleeping; and an increase from £5 million to £10 million to launch a Social Impact Bond to support the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets.

    This will be supported by the government’s broader commitments to increase the overall supply of housing. We remain committed to building more affordable housing, including shared ownership. More than 277,000 affordable homes have been delivered since April 2010, and the housing budget has been doubled to more than £20 billion to support the largest housing programme by any government since the 1970s, which includes £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable homes.