The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-12-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on making the discounts to the Mersey Gateway Bridge toll available to residents of the Wirral.
Greg Hands
The Department for Transport are looking at the Mersey Gateway local discount scheme following the Chancellor’s announcements earlier this year. An announcement will be made on the discount scheme in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the number of unaccompanied child refugees in Calais who have family in the UK; and when that assessment was carried out.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The management of asylum claims and the protection of unaccompanied children in Calais is primarily a matter for the French authorities. A French non-government organisation, France Terre D’Asile (FDTA) has been charged with identifying isolated children with UK links. Both Governments are clear that unaccompanied children in Calais in need of protection should claim asylum in France. The UK will consider requests to take responsibility of an asylum application made in France, when lodged by a minor with close family connections in the UK, and both Governments are committed to ensuring such cases are prioritised. There has been intense cooperation between the UK and French authorities to improve the operation of the Dublin process. We have established a permanent official level contact group and we will shortly be seconding another UK expert to the French Interior Ministry. We have already made significant progress in speeding up the Dublin process. Since the beginning of the year over 120 children have been accepted for transfer from Europe under the family reunion provisions of Dublin, over 70 of whom were from France.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-11-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that more women progress to senior levels in the financial services industry.
Harriett Baldwin
As part of the Productivity Plan, the Government has asked Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, to lead a review into representation of women in senior managerial roles in the financial services industry. Her review will report next year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria the Government is using to determine which people and residents of which areas will be eligible for discounts on tolls for the Mersey Gateway bridge.
Andrew Jones
The original toll discount scheme covering residents of Halton was developed by the scheme’s promoters, Halton Borough Council. Following the Chancellor’s statement in 2014 this is to be extended to cover all residents. Further details can be found at:
Following the Chancellor’s further statement in July 2015 that the Government is looking at extending Mersey Gateway bridge toll discounts to residents of Chester West & Chester and Warrington, officials are currently working through what the proposed further extension means for the scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to publish a comprehensive plan for resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020.
Mr Robert Goodwill
We intend to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from UNHCR in the field and the availability of suitable accommodation and care packages in the UK. We will manage the flows based on need and in support of the wellbeing of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets. However, we are clear that we want to help as many people as we can as quickly as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-11-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to support the recommendation made in the review led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia on women in finance that pay packages for executives be linked to a financial services firm’s gender balance.
Harriett Baldwin
The government welcomes Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s work to date and will consider the final recommendations when the review reports next year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to publish written guidlines for British drone strikes.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Unmanned drones are no different from any other weapon system and subject to the same legal and other frameworks. We have no plans to publish any guidelines. I refer the hon. Member to the evidence provided by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) on 16 December 2015 to the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made towards its target of resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 25 August confirmed that a total of a total of 2,898 Syrians have been resettled under the scheme since it began, 2,646 of these arriving since 1 October 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on support for people with mental health conditions who claim jobseeker’s allowance.
Alistair Burt
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Health met on 3 June this year where they agreed to greater cross government working between our respective Departments. Both Departments have established a joint working unit and next year will launch a range of voluntary mental health and employment pilots to support claimants with, or at risk of developing a mental health condition to retain and return to employment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of reports by independent monitoring groups of civilians casualties caused by British air strikes in Syria; and if he will make a statement.
Penny Mordaunt
All UK airstrikes in Iraq and Syria are assessed post-strike using the best available imagery, intelligence and other sources of information to assess the impact of the strike on the target and affected area. This assessment, coupled with pre-strike checks provides the evidence base to support the statement that in the hundreds of airstrikes conducted by the RAF to date in Iraq and, more recently Syria, we have found no evidence of civilian casualties arising from UK airstrikes.