The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2016 to Question 31313, on immigration controls: EU nationals, whether any of the people refused entry have subsequently been permitted to enter the UK.
James Brokenshire
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the findings of the Government’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015, published on 21 April 2016, on her Department’s country guidance on people from Eritrea seeking asylum in the UK.
James Brokenshire
We are currently updating our September 2015 country information and guidance on handling asylum claims made by Eritrean nationals.
The revised guidance will be based on an assessment of a range of sources including the Foreign Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015 as well as recent publications by Amnesty International and the findings of a Home Office fact finding mission to Eritrea undertaken in February 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that computer coding is taught to children from an early stage in their education.
Nick Gibb
Demand for high-level skills in computing will only grow in the years ahead and will be crucial to supporting a successful economy. It is essential that we have a generation of pupils who have the knowledge and understanding they need to become active creators of digital technology, and not just passive consumers of it. We want them to have a deeper understanding of how digital technologies work and be able to write computer programs.
Since 2014, computing has been part of the National Curriculum at all four key stages. This replaced the outdated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) programme of study. The computing curriculum focuses on teaching children how computers work, the basics of programming, and encourages them to design computer programs to address real world problems. This includes introducing coding to primary pupils. At primary school, pupils are being taught what algorithms are, how to design and write programs to accomplish specific goals using sequencing, selection and repetition and how to apply logical reasoning to detect and correct errors.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the announcement on page 4 of her Department’s publication entitled Central Government Funding for Flooding and Coastal Erosion, published in September 2016, that decisions on where to allocate the remaining funding set aside for flood defences have yet to be made, (a) which Department or agency will make those decisions and (b) when she expects those decisions to be made.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
Decisions on allocating the remaining headroom from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures announced at Budget 2016 will be made on the basis of a rigorous assessment of local needs and value for money. HM Treasury, in consultation with other government departments including Defra and the Environment Agency, will make allocation decisions in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morris of Aberavon on 2016-01-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 30 November 2015 (HL3712), whether, in the interests of transparency, they will arrange for police forces to collate and publicise the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.
Lord Bates
The Home Office currently has no plans to arrange for police forces to collate and publish data in relation to the occasions on which persons arrested but not charged have had their names disclosed.
Police are guided in making such decisions by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Guidance on ‘Relationships with the media’.
There are clearly great risks in naming suspects and the College of Policing guidance makes clear that decisions should only be made on a case-by-case basis, and that the police should not release the names of those who are arrested or suspected of a crime unless they have clearly identified circumstances to justify disclosure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which electoral wards in England have exceeded a one in 200 saturation level for asylum placements; and by what percentage each such ward has exceeded that level.
James Brokenshire
As part of the regional dispersal policy for asylum seekers established in 2000, the advisory cluster limit of 1 asylum seeker for every 200 of the settled population, applies to local authority area level only. Data on the numbers of asylum seekers in local authority areas is published and can be found at (Asylum Vol 4. Table 16q). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/asylum.
Data is not collated at ward or constituency level and to do so would incur disproportionate costs, it may also be precluded by the provisions of the Data Protection Act, given that individuals could reasonably be identified through the release of such data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of passenger rail franchises.
Claire Perry
The latest figures show that overall rail passenger satisfaction is up three percentage points since the last survey at 83 percent.
However we absolutely recognise that behind those national numbers are some routes and stations where customers are not getting the service they deserve including on his local route. That is why we are so committed to getting Network Rail and GTR to work together to minimise delays and drive up customer service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on priority categories in Disclosure and Barring Service checks.
Karen Bradley
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) processes applications in date order and is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.
The table below shows the average time spent by each police force in England to process disclosure applications between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.
|
Force Name |
Average Days Taken By Force |
|
Avon And Somerset |
7.4 |
|
Bedfordshire |
3.5 |
|
Cambridgeshire |
10.9 |
|
Cheshire |
10.7 |
|
City of London |
9.0 |
|
Cleveland |
8.6 |
|
Cumbria |
13.8 |
|
Derbyshire |
14.8 |
|
Devon And Cornwall |
4.7 |
|
Dorset |
76.6 |
|
Durham |
15.3 |
|
Essex |
16.2 |
|
Gloucester |
11.1 |
|
Greater Manchester |
12.8 |
|
Hampshire |
11.4 |
|
Hertfordshire |
10.5 |
|
Humberside |
9.8 |
|
Kent |
18.5 |
|
Lancashire |
5.0 |
|
Leicestershire |
7.7 |
|
Lincolnshire |
9.2 |
|
Merseyside |
8.2 |
|
Metropolitan |
85.2 |
|
Norfolk |
1.6 |
|
North Yorkshire |
17.9 |
|
Northamptonshire |
17.1 |
|
Northumbria |
13.9 |
|
Nottinghamshire |
10.9 |
|
South Yorkshire |
21.7 |
|
Staffordshire |
10.7 |
|
Suffolk |
8.8 |
|
Surrey |
13.1 |
|
Sussex |
17.5 |
|
Thames Valley |
60.3 |
|
Warwickshire |
7.2 |
|
West Mercia |
9.3 |
|
West Midlands |
21.2 |
|
West Yorkshire |
12.3 |
|
Wiltshire |
4.8 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 21679, when her Department’s investigations into applications for family reunion from Kuwaiti Bidoon people were initiated; when she expects those investigations to be concluded; whether there is a maximum length of time for which a decision will not be taken on the outstanding applications in that cohort; and if she will make a statement.
James Brokenshire
In 2014, UK Visas & Immigration in Jordan became aware of potential abuse of the Family Reunion route by individuals claiming to be the dependants of someone granted refugee status in the UK as a Kuwaiti Bidoon. Investigations commenced at this time.
UK Visas & Immigration has concluded the majority of the applications referenced in the response to Question 21679 and continues to work through those applications that have not yet been concluded.
UK Visas & Immigration aims to resolve all applications for UK entry clearance within published customer service standards. Where there is a problem with an individual application or if it is complex, UK Visas & Immigration write to the affected applicant to explain why the application will not be decided within the normal standard. All outstanding applications for UK entry clearance from family members of individuals granted refugee status as a Kuwaiti Bidoon which have not been concluded within published customer service standards are currently being prioritised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he plans to meet his US counterparts to discuss the effect of the recent EU referendum on UK-US relations.
Mr Hugo Swire
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), met Secretary of State John Kerry in London on 27 June. Both Governments agree that an unbreakable bond exists between the US and the UK; that Britain’s global role remains undiminished, and that the Special Relationship remains a strong and crucial relationship.