Tag: Catherine West

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will support the establishment of a UN Inquiry into alleged war crimes committed during the Yemen civil war.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

​We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by actors in the conflict and take these very seriously. It is important that all sides conduct thorough and conclusive investigations into incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached. The Saudi Arabian Government has their own internal procedures for investigations. At a press conference on 31 January they announced more detail of how they investigate such incidents. The Saudi led Coalition Joint Investigations Assessment Team announced the outcome of 8 investigations on 4 August.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Saudi Arabian counterpart on (a) torture, (b) the death penalty, (c) public executions and (d) the tolerance of free speech in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We do not shy away from raising legitimate human rights concerns. The Foreign Secretary most recently raised human rights with the Saudi Arabian authorities on 7 September. Our Embassy in Riyadh also frequently raise our concerns and will continue to do so.

Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights priority country, because of the use of the death penalty, limited access to justice, women’s issues and restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion or belief. The Saudi Arabian government is well aware of our views.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the UK’s policy is on requiring that Greece obtain debt relief before supporting future IMF lending to that country.

Mr David Gauke

Greece’s euro area support programme is a matter for Greece and the euro area. But it is strongly in our interest to see a stable euro area and a sustainable solution to these issues. For the IMF to grant a new programme to Greece, a proposal must be approved by the IMF Board. For a proposal to be put to the IMF Board, conditions under the Exceptional Access policy must be met. As part of these conditions, debt must be considered sustainable with high probability under the IMF programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Prime Minister, whether he plans that company ownership transparency in the UK’s Overseas Territories with financial centres be on the agenda for the forthcoming Anti-Corruption Summit.

Mr David Cameron

Transparency will be a vital part of the Anti-Corruption Summit we will host in London in May. We continue to lead the way on company transparency, and we continue to push this agenda with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, as well as our other international partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Prime Minister, if he will amend the Memorandum of Understanding of 25 November 2014 under section 2(2) of the Justice and Security Act 2013 to enable the Intelligence and Security Committee to review documents related to the military action against Reyaad Khan in Syria.

Mr David Cameron

I discussed the scope of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) Inquiry with the Chairman, my Right Honourable Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve) and we have reached agreement on the disclosure of material to the ISC that will enable them to conduct a robust review of the threat posed by Reyaad Khan. The ISC have received contemporaneous intelligence assessments of Khan and will take further evidence in the coming weeks.

The Chairman of the ISC has written to the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the right hon. Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman), to set out the Committee’s views and this has been published on the ISC’s website. I understand that the letter makes it clear that the ISC’s remit is intelligence not military action.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to (a) measure and (b) evaluate the effect of the men who have sex with men human papillomavirus vaccination programme on reducing rates of infection.

Jane Ellison

In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that a targeted human papilloma virus vaccination programme for men who have sex with men attending genito-urinary medicine and HIV clinics should be undertaken, subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price. The Department and Public Health England are considering the JCVI’s advice, including how such a programme could be monitored and evaluated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of deployment by China of surface-to-air missiles on the Paracels Islands in the South China Sea.

Mr Hugo Swire

We are very concerned about Chinese missile deployments on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, as reported in the media on 17 February. The UK opposes any actions which are likely to increase tensions in the South China Sea, including militarisation. We urge all parties to exercise restraint, to pursue the settlement of disputes peacefully in accordance with international law, and to uphold freedom of navigation and freedom overflight.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time for an ambulance was (a) nationally, (b) in London and (c) in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

The information is not available in the format requested. NHS England publish the total number of Category A (most urgent) calls resulting in an emergency response and the proportion of responses against the three national ambulance performance standards.

This data is published on a monthly basis at both a national and individual ambulance trust level. Latest data for December 2015 for England and London Ambulance Service NHS Trust is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

– see interactive ambulance systems indicators time series to December 2015

Data is not available at constituency level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the political and security situation in Turkey since the recent terrorist bombing in Ankara; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington

The Government condemns the attacks in Ankara on 13 March and in Istanbul on 19 March. The UK stands in solidarity with Turkey, a NATO ally and valued partner for the UK. As noted in our travel advice, the threat from terrorism remains high, with the Kurdish separatist PKK, Daesh and other terrorist organisations continuing to plan and carry out attacks. The UK condemns terrorism in all its forms, and is clear that PKK terrorist attacks must end. We welcome Turkey’s invaluable contribution to the international campaign against Daesh as a member of the Global Coalition committed to defeating it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many leave to remain applications have been refused as a result of the good character test in each year for which information is available.

Mike Penning

We are unable to supply the information requested, as Leave to Remain (LTR) applications are not assessed or refused on the basis of ‘the good character test’ . LTR applications are assessed against a range of criteria, including on the basis of the applicants suitability – which may be their character, convictions, associations or other reasons which may mean that their being in the UK is not ‘conducive to the public good’.

The specific refusal reasons entered onto the Home Office IT system during the assessment of a case, consist of a free-form text field, which can only be accessed on a case-by-case basis and therefore a wider Management Information report is not available for this question.