The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.
To ask the Attorney General, on how many occasions since the passage of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 have adult victims (a) applied for and (b) been granted the statutory defence for crimes they were compelled to commit while being enslaved or trafficked.
Robert Buckland
CPS do not have a central record of cases where the statutory defence has been applied, as it could arise in any category of offences.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September 2016 to Question 45844, how many of his Department’s officials in Brussels are bound by EU codes of conduct which require them to act only with regard to the European Communities rather than a single member state.
Mr David Jones
Officials in my Department are not bound by any EU codes of conduct. This is true of Home Civil Service officials, Diplomatic Service officials, and locally engaged staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Great Repeal Bill will incorporate all existing EU (a) regulations, (b) Directives and (c) Decisions into UK law.
Mr David Jones
The Government will bring forward legislation in the next session that, when enacted, will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 on the day we leave the EU, ending the authority of EU law and returning power to the UK. The Bill will give consumers, workers and businesses as much certainty as possible by maintaining law wherever practicable and desirable.
The Bill will convert current EU law (including regulations and directives) into domestic law, while allowing for amendments to take account of the future negotiated UK-EU relationship. The Government will then, in slower time, consider the domestic law changes which will be needed to give effect to new policies developed post EU exit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37452 to the hon. Member for Bristol West, on museums and galleries, which museums wholly reliant on local authority funding have closed in each year since 2009-10.
Matt Hancock
The Government is committed to ensuring that arts and cultural experiences, including those offered by museums and galleries, are available to everyone and not just the privileged few. Government provides support to local museums through Arts Council England (ACE), including a £10m Resilience Fund supporting museums at risk to explore new funding models and become more sustainable. Earlier this month, ACE announced the 2018-2022 investment round of £409m per year, which includes a £37m/year increase to focus on improving the amount spent outside London and on integrating museums into the arts portfolio.
The modern model of museums funding is that there are very few museums entirely reliant on local authority funding. Where museums are run by local authorities, decisions on service provision are for those local authorities to take.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the elections to the Mexican Supreme Court.
Mr Hugo Swire
We are following developments in the appointment of new judges to the Mexican Supreme Court closely, and note the commentary on the need for well qualified, independent candidates to be put forward to the Senate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote women’s participation in Afghan democracy and civil society.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Women’s participation in democracy and civil society is a top human rights priority for both the UK and the Government of Afghanistan. We contributed £20 million over the 2014/2015 election cycle. Our election support provided assistance to the Independent Election Commission’s (IEC’s) Gender Unit to improve voter education amongst women and the development of early warning systems at voting centres to reduce the barriers for women voters. In addition, funding was provided to the Asia Foundation, who oversaw training for 300 female provincial council candidates and public outreach work to help broaden support for women’s political participation. I also met with women human rights defenders during my visit to Afghanistan on 10 December.
We are also supporting women in civil society through programming on education, women’s economic empowerment, and women’s political participation as well as access to justice and tackling gender-based violence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which trades union groups have received (a) funding and (b) other support from his Department in each of the last five years.
Mr David Lidington
There are three trade unions with agreed rights to represent employees in the FCO/FCO Services:
Public and Commercial Services (PCS): Public and Commercial Services Union
First Division Association (FDA): known as the Diplomatic Service Association (DSA) a section of the FDA
Prospect: representing technical employees and other specialists.
In compliance with the Facility Time Framework the FCO submits Quarterly Returns to the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office publish the statistics annually, listing the individual departments.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/418380/Annex_A_-_Facility_Time_Figures_Q1_2014-Q4_2014_Overall.ods’
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not make any payments to trade unions in the UK. Members of staff who belong to a trade union pay their own subscriptions, which are either deducted from their salaries and paid to the relevant union or paid directly by the staff in the form of direct debits. The FCO provides office facilities to its union representatives and meets day-to-day running costs within the rules of public expenditure, set out in FCO guidance. The details of the cost of facilities provided over the last five years are not held centrally and to provide these would incur disproportionate cost. In terms of support provided to the trade unions overseas, this information is not held centrally. Collating it would mean contacting all of our posts overseas, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) UK Trade and Investment, (b) FCO Services, (c) Wilton Park, (d) the British Council, (e) the Great Britain-China Centre, (f) the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and (g) the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, (h) Government Communications Headquarters and (i) the Secret Intelligence Service; how many of those employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Mr David Lidington
The number of press and public relations staff employed in each organisation is
as follows:
FCO Services: 0.5 full-time equivalent
Wilton Park: 0
The British Council: 7
The Great Britain-China Centre: 0
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: 0
The Westminster Foundation for
Democracy: 0
i) The number of press and public relations employees who
earn more than £50,000 in each organisation is as follows:
FCO Services: 0
Wilton Park: 0
The British Council: 1
The Great Britain-China
Centre: 0
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: 0
The Westminster
Foundation for Democracy: 0
ii) No press and public relations employee
earns more than £100,000 in any of the organisationslisted above.
iii)
The total expenditure on press and public relations by each organisation in
2014/15, excluding staff costs, is as follows:
FCO Services: £21,312
Wilton Park: Nil
The British Council: £126,041
The Great
Britain-China Centre: Nil
The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission: Nil
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy: Nil
It is long standing government policy not to publish Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) expenditure or staff figures to the requested level of detail. However, other data on the intelligence agencies’ expenditure and staff numbers are normally published in the annual reports of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
Across Government the government communications profession saved £330 million for taxpayers last year compared to 2009 to 2010 – by making its campaigns more cost effective. This means the government reduced communications spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many press and public relations staff are employed by his Department; how many of these employees are paid more than (a) £50,000 and (b) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by his Department in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Alun Cairns
Four staff members of the Wales Office communications team deal with press and public relations issues as part of their roles. Two staff are paid more than (a) £50,000 but none are paid more than (b) £100,000. The total expenditure on press and public relations for the full financial year 2014/15 was £306,526.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which arts organisations have received public funding of more than £5 million in the last three years.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Arts Council publishes data on the organisations that have received regular funding and capital funding on their website: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/apply-for-funding/capital-investment-2015-18/large-capital-grants/"
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