Tag: Andrew Smith

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard the wellbeing of UK citizens engaged in UN operations in Juba, South Sudan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is a strong supporter of the UN in South Sudan and we are working in the UN Security Council to ensure their peacekeeping mission UNMISS has the equipment and access it needs for its staff to be able to do their jobs safely and effectively. The FCO provided a flight, in the absence of commercial options, for British Nationals, including those working in the UN, who wanted to leave South Sudan on 14 July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by Waging Peace on the use of rape as a weapon of war in the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan.

James Duddridge

We remain acutely concerned by the use of sexual violence in Darfur as set out in this and other reports. It reinforces our policy approach of strong support for the presence of the African Union/United Nations Hybrid Mission operation in Darfur(UNAMID) and the need for the mission to have a strong mandate centred around protection of civilians. As a result, the UK led this year’s renewal of the operation’s Mandate to ensure it continues to operate across all the Darfuri states. We will continue to work with the mission, press for robust patrolling and encourage it to engage at the community level. We will also continue to urge the Government of Sudan to cooperate with the operation, and have consistently made clear to them that conditions on the ground must considerably improve before any moves towards the mission’s eventual exit can be made.

At the same time, we continue – both bilaterally and through the UN’s Security and Human Rights Councils – to call on all armed actors to address sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur. The UK played a significant role in the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2242 reflecting the importance of Women, Peace and Security-related issues for the UN family. Bilaterally, we have provided support to over 150 survivors of rape in Darfur and contributed to the successful prosecution of members of the police and armed forces. We will remain active on these issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25312, whether he has been consulted about proposals for a US drone operation centre at RAF Lakenheath; and whether he has received a Host Nation Notification from the US in respect of RAF Lakenheath in the last year.

Penny Mordaunt

No. The Ministry of Defence received a Host Nation Notification from the US in respect of RAF Lakenheath on 7 January 2015, relating to US F-35 basing.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average frequency of mandatory reporting is for people on temporary admission who travel from Oxfordshire to London to report at Eaton House, Hounslow.

James Brokenshire

Immigration Enforcement retains a record of tickets that are issued to people on temporary admission for the purpose of travel to report at an Immigration Reporting Centre.

Immigration Enforcement does not keep a record of the area from which those individuals have travelled. We are required to provide a travel ticket if the subject resides more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre and is in receipt of Asylum Support. We do not routinely provide travel tickets for anyone else who reports unless they reside over 25 miles away and there is an exceptional reason to do so. Each case is assessed and considered on its own merit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 27490, if he will make it his policy to collect information on the time taken from application to making a payment for (a) jobseekers allowance and (b) employment and support allowance.

Priti Patel

Data is already held on the time taken from a claim being received to a decision being made, which the Department views as the more meaningful statistic due to the different rules on payment dates for different benefits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission an urgent review of safety on the A34.

Mr John Hayes

Highways England regularly reviews safety issues on all routes on the strategic road network and it currently has plans to install new technical measures on the A34, as one of the schemes in the Road Investment Strategy, to ease congestion and improve safety and incident management. The Department is not minded to carry out a further review at this time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has received representations from any representatives of the Israeli government to stop funding specified Israeli human rights NGOs.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

As of 20 November 2015, neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or our Embassy in Tel Aviv have received any repesentations from the Israeli authorities asking the Government to stop funding specified Israeli human rights non-governmental organisations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department plans to provide to help tackle hunger in Malawi.

Mr Nick Hurd

DFID has a significant programme of ongoing support in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation and economic development, particularly in rural areas and with the private sector, for growth, jobs, incomes and food insecurity in Malawi. We support increasing access to justice for women and vulnerable groups, accountability and governance reforms.

The UK was one of the first development partners to respond to Malawi’s international appeal for emergency aid in October 2015. The UK has now committed £14.5m through partners including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) consortium led by Save the Children. This support includes:

• Food for over 800,000 people, including pre-positioning of food, nutrition supplies and livestock vaccines.
• Cash transfers for up to 450,000 people who live near functioning markets but do not have the means to purchase food
• Mass screening of up to 800,000 children to identify urgent nutritional support needs
• Specialist supplies for over 140,000 children and others suffering from acute malnutrition
• Vital protection support to vulnerable people, including women and girls, in displacement and refugee camps

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he plans for the proposed £1,000 immigration skills charge to apply to NHS nurses.

Nick Boles

The Immigration Skills Charge will be paid by UK employers recruiting skilled migrant labour from outside the European Economic Area. This includes employers of nurses. The charge will apply from April 2017. There will be a flat rate of £1,000 per Tier 2 migrant sponsored per year. Some public sector employers could benefit from the small and charitable sponsors reduced rate of £364 per Tier 2 migrant sponsored per year.

As the independent Migration Advisory Committee stated in their January 2016 report on Tier 2, public sector organisations are employers like any other and should be incentivised to consider the UK labour market first, before recruiting outside Europe.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which (a) communities and (b) projects will receive funding from the English Language scheme.

Mr Marcus Jones

We are working to develop the new English language programme, including ensuring it is focused on those areas where we know women are at greatest risk of isolation and are more likely to have no or little proficiency in the English language. We will make an announcement as soon as possible.