Tag: David Lammy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the British Business Bank’s (a) total operating budget, (b) budget for communications and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.

Anna Soubry

The British Business Bank is a government-owned economic development bank that makes finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively. It works with the market to increase awareness amongst smaller businesses about the available finance options.

British Business Bank became fully operational on 1 November 2014. Therefore we are able to provide the information requested for the 5 month period ended 31 March 2015 and the 12 month period ended 31 March 2016. This is shown in the table below.

	Total Operating Budget in £000(a)	Budget for Communications in £000 (b)	Expenditure on 3rd Party Communications, Consultancy & PR agencies in £000 (c)
5 months ended 31 March 2015	9,606	280	280
12 months ended 31 March 2016	23,207	895	466

*Please note that the Budget for Communications (b) includes salary related costs and Expenditure on 3^rd Party Communications Consultancy and PR Agencies (c) does not.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her Department’s full-time equivalent officials are seconded to (a) France, (b) Italy, (c) Greece and (d) any other EU country in order to identify and support Dublin III asylum transfer requests; and what plans her Department has to second further staff to identify and support such requests.

James Brokenshire

We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.

We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.

Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.

The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.

As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the primary care budget is for people living in Tottenham constituency.

Alistair Burt

Primary care, dental, optometry and pharmacy services are commissioned by NHS England on a London-wide basis, therefore there is no figure available for borough-level funding.

Primary care medical (general practitioner (GP) services) allocations have been published for the next five years on a clinical commissioning group (CCG) -basis, the uplifts for Haringey are in the attached table.

The practice-level budgets for the GPs located within the Tottenham constituency total £18.4 million in 2016/17. These budgets are not set for future years but will be based on the practice-specific services and registered populations, as well as the national contract terms agreed in future years. They will benefit from the growth within the Haringey allocation as indicated in the table.

There is a development under way for a new practice at Tottenham Hale for which the capital cost is £558,000 which will expand capacity within Tottenham. CCGs also commission additional medical services from GP practices from their own resources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how the Forced Marriage Unit defines historic victims.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

There is no formal definition of historic victim for the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU), which considers every case individually and advises accordingly. The support that the FMU offers includes providing advice and support to victims of forced marriage, as well as to professionals dealing with cases, via a public helpline and email address. This advice will include safety planning to prevent forced marriages (both in the UK and abroad), supporting victims attempting to escape forced marriages or to return from overseas, and in extreme circumstances organising the rescue of victims held against their will overseas. Where the FMU is not the appropriate service to provide advice, for example on matters of immigration status, divorce, child custody or other legal issues, victims and professionals will be signposted to partner organisations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applicants his Department has received for trade negotiator positions; how many such applicants have been invited for interview; to how many such applicants job offers have been made; and how many such applicants have started work in his Department.

Greg Hands

The Department for International Trade already has a strong and capable trade policy team which has more than doubled in size since 23 June. Over the coming months we will be developing that team to build the world class negotiating strengths needed to deliver the best outcomes for the UK. They will have the depth and breadth of expertise to handle the full range of sectoral and cross-cutting issues that arise in trade agreements, supported by analysts and lawyers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests were made to her Department for a change of conditions of leave were approved in lifting the no recourse to public funds condition to the applicants conditions of leave in financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

James Brokenshire

The data requested is not available for each of the years requested and can only be provided from December 2014. The number of granted applications for a change of conditions to allow recourse to public funds between December 2014 and 30 September 2015 is as follows:

Period	Number of Granted Applications
December 2014 – March 2015	235
April 2015 – September 2015	680

This response represents the closest reply that can be provided within the constraints of our data reporting system.

The data provided is considered Management Information and is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of National Statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children were refused NHS treatment on the basis of their immigration status in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016 to date.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not hold this information.

National Health Service hospital treatment is free to those people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, or those exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended. Anyone else should present a European Health Insurance Card, S1 or S2 form or pay direct for their NHS care. Those who need care and treatment urgently will still receive it even if they are chargeable and cannot pay straight away.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what UK Trade and Investment’s total (a) operating budget, (b) communications budget and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) total (a1) operating budget, (b) communications budget and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016 was as follows in the table below. We have also provided additional figures (a2) to reflect UKTI total associated operating costs which were allocated by parliament to UKTI’s parent departments, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills prior to 2015/16. These costs have been increasingly consolidated into UKTI operating budget over the last two years:

	2013/14(£m)	2014/15(£m)	2015/16 (£m)
A1	166.4	271.9	343.0
A2	209.6	90.4	–
	376.0	362.3	343.0
B	12.6	4.1	4.1
C	0.5	3.8	1.4

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to simplify application and processing systems to expedite the processing of Dublin III asylum transfer requests.

James Brokenshire

We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.

We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.

Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.

The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.

As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers who were granted refugee status were not provided with a (a) biometric residence permit and (b) National Insurance number by her Department before their 28-day asylum support ceased in the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire

If an asylum seeker is granted refugee status written confirmation that there are no longer any restrictions on them living and working in the UK is posted to them. A Biometric Residence Permit and National Insurance number is also sent, which can then be used as evidence of their immigration status and in support of any application for benefits.

Statistics on the number of such cases are not recorded on centrally collated statistical databases and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.