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Tag: Henry Smith

  • Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the governments of the Gulf Co-operation Council on improving bilateral trade and security.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Our mutual security and prosperity are key parts of our bilateral relations with the Gulf states. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed security and bilateral trade with the governments of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on his visit to the Gulf at the end of October.

    In the last month, I have discussed these issues with Oman and Qatar, at our regular working group meetings; with the Bahraini Royal Court Minister for Follow Up Affairs, Sheikh Ahmed bin Attiyatallah al Khalifa; and with UAE Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, at the Coalition Counter ISIL Strategic Communications meeting.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been provided to local highways authorities for local road maintenance in (a) England and (b) West Sussex in the current financial year.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department is providing councils in England, outside London, with just under £6 billion between now and 2021 for highways maintenance. Details of the funding per financial year per authority in England can be seen at the following weblink:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-maintenance-funding-allocations-201516-to-202021

    For West Sussex we are providing £13.7 million this financial year.

    “

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of need for therapeutic support for children following abuse or neglect referred to in her Department’s report, entitled Adoption: A vision for change, published in March 2016.

    Edward Timpson

    Over 5,200 families received support from the Adoption Support Fund during 2015-16. We estimate that around 6,000 families will be supported in 2016-17 rising to around 8,000 in 2017-18.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to (a) announce and (b) introduce the new arrangements for rail passenger refunds following delays; and if he will make a statement.

    Paul Maynard

    Delay Repay is a generous compensation scheme for longer delays, but this Government wants to go further. We are committed to improving compensation arrangements for passengers affected by shorter delays which are not covered by the current Delay Repay scheme. The previous Chancellor announced in his Autumn 2015 Spending Review that passengers will soon have access to compensation when trains are over 15 minutes late. We expect to make an announcement on this shortly.

  • Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve the assessment of medicines for rarer cancers with small patient populations.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that it intends to jointly consult with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund operating model. This will include the future arrangements for the evaluation of cancer drugs, including drugs for rarer cancers with small patient populations. Members of the public and any interested parties will have the opportunity to consider and comment on these proposals.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the quantity and quality of specialist therapeutic support available to children who have experienced abuse.

    Alistair Burt

    Children who have been abused may require a range of services to meet their needs. Local commissioners are responsible for assessing local need and ensuring the delivery of appropriate services. Local partners and NHS England need to work together to help children who have experienced abuse or neglect access appropriate care pathways and evidence-based care.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the number of school places in Crawley.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities are responsible for planning and securing sufficient school places in their area, and supporting them to do so is one of this Government’s top priorities. That is why we have committed to spending £7 billion on school places up to 2021, which along with our investment in the free schools programme we expect to deliver 600,000 new places.

    Basic need funding is allocated to local authorities to help them to create new school places. West Sussex received £113 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create almost 10,000 new places between 2010 and 2015. These new places include over 1,000 provided by the Gatwick School, an all-through free school in Crawley.

    West Sussex has also been allocated a further £85 million to create the places needed by 2019, including in Crawley.

    Information on basic need allocations can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations

    “

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential benefits of requiring CCTV animal welfare standards monitoring in slaughterhouses; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) was commissioned by GB governments to produce an independent assessment of the benefits of CCTV in slaughterhouses. The report was published in February 2015. It concluded that CCTV can offer some real benefits but it cannot replace the need for businesses to have proper monitoring procedures in place on the ground. The FAWC report did not recommend legislation. However, the Government is keeping the issue under review.

  • Henry Smith – 2022 Parliamentary Question on the British Indian Ocean Territory

    Henry Smith – 2022 Parliamentary Question on the British Indian Ocean Territory

    The parliamentary question asked by Henry Smith, the Conservative MP for Crawley, in the House of Commons on 13 December 2022.

    Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)

    What recent progress he has made on negotiations on the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

    The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (James Cleverly)

    I can confirm that negotiations have begun. Officials from the UK and Mauritius met at the end of last month and had constructive discussions. The UK and Mauritius have reiterated that any agreement will ensure the continued effective operation of the joint UK-US defence facility on Diego Garcia, and we will be meeting again to continue negotiations shortly.

    Henry Smith

    What consultations are being held with members of the Chagossian community in my constituency and around the UK ahead of any proposed changes to the British Indian Ocean Territory?

    James Cleverly

    I recognise my hon. Friend’s championing of the Chagossian community in his constituency. He will recognise that there is a diversity of views in the various Chagossian communities in Mauritius, the UK and the Seychelles. We will of course take those views seriously, but the negotiations are between the UK and Mauritius. We will ensure that we continue to engage with those communities through this negotiating process.

    Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (Ind)

    Do the UK Government now accept the finding of the International Court of Justice that the process of the decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed in 1968 and that the UK’s continued administration of the Chagos archipelago constitutes a wrongful act?

    James Cleverly

    The UK has expressed regret about the manner in which the Chagossians were removed in the late 1960s and the 1970s, but we are working constructively with the Mauritius Government and, as I say, one of the strong principles that underpins the negotiation is the reiteration that the UK and US defence facility on Diego Garcia will continue.

  • Henry Smith – 2022 Speech on the Sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory

    Henry Smith – 2022 Speech on the Sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory

    The speech made by Henry Smith, the Conservative MP for Crawley, in Westminster Hall, the House of Commons, on 7 December 2022.

    Thank you, Mrs Cummins, for calling me in this important debate on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) and thank him for securing the debate and for the very powerful comments that he made in his introduction.

    Injustice has been visited on the Chagos islanders for well over half a century. It was the Harold Wilson Administration that forcibly removed them from their homeland in the late 1960s, exiling them mainly to Mauritius, but also to some other locations such as the Seychelles. That was not a decision made by this democratic Parliament, but by Orders in Council. The way the Chagos islanders have been treated in Mauritius is really quite appalling: they have been treated as second-class citizens in that country, and the injustice upon injustice that they have suffered is intolerable.

    I believe that the Chagos islanders should have a right of return to their homeland. I am pleased that as a result of the Nationality and Borders Act passed earlier this year, they and further generations have a right to settle here in this country: they are British citizens, and should be so by right. I am pleased that that has been recognised. However, the future of the Chagos islanders should be determined by them. The prospect of their future being decided by London, Port Louis, the UN in New York, the International Court of Justice in The Hague or wherever else—as has happened throughout the past half century or more—is fundamentally wrong. The Chagos islanders must be able to determine their own future.

    Mention has been made by my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham of the strategic importance of the Chagos archipelago. Those islands were very strategically important during the cold war and during the actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they are very strategic again with a new cold war now seemingly having started as a result of Russian aggression. The point about the threat from China has already been made: the Chinese belt and road initiative has already resulted in Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific ocean coming under Chinese coercion and influence. There is a very real danger that if the British Indian Ocean Territory is ceded to Mauritius, there will be significant pressure to put Chinese military installations on those extremely strategic islands. That would be a major military and strategic error for the global community, and I wonder what discussions have been had with Washington regarding its views on defence and foreign policy should those islands be ceded to Mauritius. Perhaps the Minister could address that point.

    I will conclude my remarks by saying that as my constituent Frankie Bontemps of Chagossian Voices, who has already been referenced, has said, the vast majority of the Chagos community that I represent—I probably represent the largest Chagos community anywhere in the world—want to remain British, despite the appalling history that this country has visited on them. They must be consulted.