Tag: Fiona Bruce

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking in cooperation with his international counterparts to pursue criminal responsibility of the leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mr Hugo Swire

We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The British Government supports the principle that there must be no impunity for those accused of human rights violations and that crimes against humanity are appropriately investigated.

We will continue to work with members of the international community through multilateral fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council, to ensure the regime is held to account for its appalling human rights record.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on violence perpetrated against albino children in Malawi; and if he will make a statement.

James Duddridge

We are concerned by reports of a rise in human rights violations against persons with albinism in Malawi. Our High Commissioner to Malawi discussed the issue during a meeting with the Malawian Foreign Minister on 27 April and also with United Nations Independent Expert on the rights of persons with Albinism Ms Ikponwosa Ero, during her visit to Malawi on 29 April. Malawian President Mutharika has condemned the attacks and ordered the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

UN research recorded a total of 66 incidents in the last 14 months, 40% related to exhuming graveyards to collect body parts and 24% the sale of body parts by perpetrators including traditional healers.

In a recent press conference he said attacks on albinos are barbaric and ordered security agencies to intensify actions against perpetrators. So far 69 suspects have been arrested, awaiting prosecution.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS staff receive religious literacy training.

Ben Gummer

Religion or belief (or lack thereof) is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Public authorities, including all National Health Service organisations, must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited under that Act towards people sharing that protected characteristic in discharging their public functions. Employers have a responsibility to ensure that their employees do not behave unlawfully and should take all reasonable steps to prevent unlawful acts from happening. Employees can also be personally liable for any unlawful conduct.

NHS organisations are subject to duties under the Equality Act in their own right. They are also directly subject to regulation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. To help them meet their statutory equality duties, NHS England published an Equality Delivery System for the NHS (https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/eds/) which became part of the NHS Standard Contract from 2015.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures are in place to ensure that (a) vulnerable women and (b) under 18s who undergo abortions receive follow-up support.

Nicola Blackwood

The Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs) for termination of pregnancy providers approved by the Secretary of State, state that all women requesting an abortion should be offered the opportunity to discuss their options and choices with a trained counsellor. In addition, protocols should be in place for onward referral to specialist services. All independent providers of termination of pregnancy providers must comply with these RSOPs.

Pathways to further post-abortion counselling should be available for any woman who may require additional emotional support or whose mental health is perceived to be at risk.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guideline on the Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2011) recommends that services should identify issues which make women particularly vulnerable, and refer them on to relevant support services in a timely manner.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the nature of enquiries received by the NSPCC human trafficking and modern slavery helpline between July 2014 and June 2015; and how many such calls were from survivors of human trafficking.

Karen Bradley

The NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline was launched in July 2014, as part of a wider awareness-raising campaign, to better support potential victims of modern slavery. For the period July 2014 to July 2015, £50,000 was made available to the NSPCC to run the modern slavery helpline. To support the launch of the helpline, training was provided by existing staff in the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre, the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and the Modern Slavery Unit to NSPCC call-handlers at zero cost.

The NSPCC helpline routinely records the number of contacts made each month, how they are made, and by whom. The helpline also records the gender, age and nationality of potential victims, where that information is known or presumed. Between 31 July 2014 and 31 July 2015 the NSPCC modern slavery helpline received, in total, 849 contacts. These were comprised of 491 referrals, 107 advice cases and 251 enquiries. During the period 31 July 2014 to 31 July 2015 the helpline received a total of 57 contacts from potential victims themselves and in that same period the NSPCC made 272 referrals to the police. The NSPCC does not hold data on the number of contacts referred to the helpline by the police and other agencies that were subsequently referred back to those agencies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the proportion of crimes committed under the influence of alcohol in the last 12 months.

Mike Penning

The Crime Survey for England and Wales from 2013/14 shows that in around half (53%, 704,000 offences) of all violent incidents the victim believed the perpetrator to be under the influence of alcohol. While the volume of incidents has fallen, the proportion of violent incidents that were ‘alcohol-related’ has remained relatively steady over the last ten years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to include within its proposals for registration and inspection of out-of-school education settings (a) annual holiday clubs and (b) communal religious groups.

Nick Gibb

The Government wants children to be educated in a safe environment where they are not exposed to hateful and extremist views that undermine British values.

The call for evidence on out-of-school settings described:

(a) Supplementary schools as settings which offer support or education in addition to mainstream or core learning, and which operate after school hours and on the weekends; and

(b) Tuition centres as settings which could often be used in place of mainstream education and support home education, and which can operate at any time of day.

The proposals are about making sure that where there are concerns raised by parents and others about issues of extremism, child cruelty or inappropriate teaching in unregulated settings, the Government can take action to protect children and empower parents.

The call for evidence defined intensive education as anything which entails an individual child attending a setting for more than betweensix toeight hours a week. Such settings would be required to register with their local authority and be eligible for inspection where concerns were reported.

Settings providing ad hoc classes or regular classes below a specified time threshold would not be captured by the proposal. One-week holiday clubs and Sunday schools would not, therefore, be covered. The proposal is intended to capture settings where children receive intensive education, regardless of faith or whether provided by a community group.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all children and young people affected by the Syrian conflict are in school and learning by the 2016-17 school year.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region taking place on February 4^th in London co-hosted by the UK, Norway, Germany, Kuwait and the UN, 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 Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219046, what response his Department has received from Democratic People’s Republic of Korea authorities; and whether progress has been made on improving North Korean women’s rights in China.

Mr Hugo Swire

We continue to urge the DPRK authorities, through both our Embassy in Pyongyang and the DPRK Embassy in London, to respond in detail to the contents of the Commission of Inquiry report, including the violence and exploitation of women that it documents. The DPRK continues to reject the Commission’s findings and will not engage on the detail of the Commission’s report.

Women trafficked out of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are among the most vulnerable of those who flee the country. We call on the DPRK to improve its appalling human rights record and create better conditions for its women. We regularly discuss our concerns about the DPRK with China, as I did with the Vice-Minister of the Chinese Communist Party, Chen Fengxiang, in December 2015. We will seek to include this issue in the next UK-China Human Rights Dialogue due to be held in April. We also work directly with the Chinese authorities on a number of projects to counter human trafficking, which seek to protect the most vulnerable from exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations his Department has received on (a) noise and dust and (b) other disruptions affecting local residents caused by current major road works on the M6; and whether he has considered taking steps to reduce that disruption to those residents by those works.

Andrew Jones

Since work commenced on the smart motorway upgrade on the M6 between junctions 16 and 19 in December 2015, a total of 4 representations from local residents have been made to Highways England in regards to noise from the construction work. These representations were also made to Cheshire East County Council, who made Highways England aware of them.

A further 4 representations have been made concerning an increase in traffic on the A50 to the east of the M6 due to vehicles choosing to divert on to the local road network to avoid the roadworks on the motorway. This concern was also raised with Highways England by Brereton Parish Council.

A number of measures are in place to reduce the disruption to local people including the use of temporary noise screens to minimise noise from excavation works near homes and dust suppression measures. Highways England are in regular communication by letter, email and newsletter with local people to keep them informed about up-coming works.