Tag: Dan Jarvis

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the use of legal highs.

Mike Penning

The 2014 report of the New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) Review Expert Panel concluded that “after years of stable and declining drug use, the emergence of NPS has been a ‘game changer’”. An accompanying report (New Psychoactive Substances in England: A review of the evidence) used data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) to examine the prevalence of use of NPS. It indicated that mephedrone was the most prevalent NPS, though use among adults aged 16-59 had fallen from 1.3% in 2010/11 to 0.6% in 2013/14 (use of mephedrone stood at 0.5% in 2014/15). Mephedrone was controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in April 2010. According to the 2014/15 CSEW, 0.9% of people aged 16-59 used an NPS in the last year. This was the first year that the CSEW collected data on the use of NPS generally (as opposed to specific substances).

The Psychoactive Substances Bill currently before Parliament introduces a blanket ban on the trade in psychoactive substances. The Bill will confer significant new powers on the police and other law enforcement agencies to restrict the supply of psychoactive substances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on raising the upper trivial commutation limit for pensions above £30,000.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government currently has no plans to raise the upper trivial commutation limit for pensions above £30,000.

The Government believes this is the appropriate level which balances providing individuals with flexibility without placing a significant administrative burden on pension schemes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will seek to use her Department’s influence on countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region surrounding that country to allow non-government organisations to provide non-formal education opportunities for such refugees.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region being held in London on 4^th February, we want the international community to agree a new goal that all Syrian refugee children and affected host country children are in education – formal school or non-formal – by the end of 2016/17. Equally, for inside Syria, it is our aim to increase access to good quality schooling or other learning opportunities such as self-learning and non-formal education. In neighbouring countries we will also increase access to vocational or skills training and higher education for children and youth.

At the Conference our ambition is that international donors, governments from countries in the region hosting refugees, non-governmental organisations and the private sector come together to agree a set of reciprocal financial and policy commitments. The UK and co-hosts are working with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. We are also working with refugee hosting governments in particular to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has a policy on resettling refugees from Syria who have previously been living in Syria as Palestinian refugees.

James Brokenshire

The UK operates three resettlement programmes: Gateway, Mandate and the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

Only UNHCR registered Syrian nationals are eligible under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme, which has been expanded to resettle 20,000 individuals during this Parliament. We work closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

Gateway and Mandate are not nationality specific.

The Gateway Protection programme resettles UNHCR recognised refugees from a small number of targeted locations.

The Mandate resettlement programme resettles individuals from anywhere in the world who have been recognised as refugees by UNHCR, and judged by them to be in need of resettlement; and who have a close family member in the UK who is willing to accommodate them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what political engagement her Department had with the Afghan government on extractives governance in 2015.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The British Embassy regularly engages with the National Unity Government on improving extractives governance to encourage responsible development of the extractives sector. The UK-funded Extractive Sector Support Programme provides technical advice to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum on legal and regulatory frameworks, contract management and fiscal regimes. The UK is also helping the Afghan Government to implement the Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative. I raised this matter when I met President Ghani in June 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that all supply agencies offer supply teachers’ pay and conditions at the same rate as national teachers’ pay.

Nick Gibb

Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers which includes deciding whether to use private agencies to recruit and manage them. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency, this is a private commercial arrangement between the school and the agency, and the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) does not apply. The agency can also decide the rate of pay and conditions of employment.

If agencies do not appear to be complying with legislation they can be investigated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI). The EASI is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and has powers to investigate agencies for possible breaches of the law and to prosecute them where there is sufficient evidence. The EASI works with agencies, employers and workers to make sure that employment rights are complied with, particularly for vulnerable workers.

Conditions for agency workers have been improved through the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and supply teachers are entitled to the same pay and employment conditions they would be entitled to receive if they were employed directly by a maintained school or academy. This is subject to a qualifying period of 12 continuous calendar weeks working in the same role with the same school or local authority. The Regulations can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employing-agency-supply-teachers

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding her Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

George Eustice

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not received any funding from the European Social Fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which non-UK EU armed forces procure materiel from British companies.

Mr Julian Brazier

In 2014, Europe accounted for 10% of UK defence exports, with a value of approximately £800 million. Additionally, details of all export licences granted in 2014 can be found at;

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/491986/16-54-strategic-export-controls-country-pivot-report-2014.pdf,

However this cannot be treated as an exhaustive list of defence exports.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the UK economy has benefited from defence technology research and development.

Mr Philip Dunne

As stated in National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161), the UK conducts world-class innovation across all the major commercial technology sectors with national security applications, including aerospace, biotechnology and medical sciences, big data, cyber security, satellites, robotics and advanced materials.

The defence and security industries make a major contribution to our prosperity. In the UK they employ over 215,000 people, predominantly highly skilled, and support a further 150,000, as well as 6,500 apprentices. In 2014, both industries had a collective turnover of over £30 billion, including defence and security export orders worth £11.9 billion.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 April 2016 to Question 33406, when the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 will come into force in its entirety.

Karen Bradley

The commencement regulations for the Psychoactive Substances Act were laid on 5 May 2016 and the Act will come into force on 26 May 2016.