Tag: Ian Lucas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to his Department’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2014-2017, in what way, as part of the implementation of that plan, women’s participation at grassroots level will be measured.

Mark Simmonds

My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary, along with the Secretaries of State for International Development and Defence, launched the 2014-2017 National Action Plan (NAP) at the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit earlier this month.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working with Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence, is committed to ensure that the promotion of women’s participation in conflict resolution is an integral part of our overseas conflict policy and forms one of the main focuses of the NAP. The NAP outlines several ways we will do this, for example providing financial and capacity building support to civil society organisations promoting women and girls’ participation in peacebuilding.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also funded and helped to facilitate workshops in two of the NAP’s focus countries (Afghanistan and Burma) with another being held in a third (Somalia) in the next few months. The workshops have been well attended by civil society groups that, in many cases, represent the views of women from the grassroots level.

Measuring participation of women from grassroots level is challenging; there is a lack of baseline and country-level data on women in peace and security issues. With this in mind, the UK has allocated specific funding to the external and independent monitoring and evaluation of this NAP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what timescale the upgrade of the Halton Curve will follow.

Claire Perry

The Government is providing £10.4m, in support of the Liverpool City Region Growth Deal, to fund the reinstatement of the Halton Curve. The scheme is currently being developed by Network Rail and detailed proposals are expected to be available early next year. Final sign off of funding for the scheme will be for the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and delivery is expected in 2016/17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, columns 367-8W, on armed conflicts: minerals, which companies have joined or have applied to join the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights initiative.

Mark Simmonds

In the last two years, UK-headquartered companies Tullow Oil and Premier Oil have joined the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. An application from another company based in the UK is currently under consideration by the Steering Committee of the Voluntary Principles Initiative.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, columns 367-8W, on armed conflicts: minerals, which UK companies he has met to discuss the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Mark Simmonds

I have met the following companies to discuss the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights – Anglo American, BG Group, BP, Dana Petroleum, Dominion Energy, Ophir Energy, Perenco, Premier Oil, Rio Tinto, Shell, Soma Oil and Gas, Stellar Diamonds and Tullow Oil.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the committee of legislative reform in Egypt on the proposed new parliamentary elections law in that country.

Hugh Robertson

The new parliamentary elections law was enacted by decree of the former interim President Adly Mansour on 5 June. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not have direct discussions with the committee of legislative reform in Egypt.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the predicted cost of the implementation of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security is in each of the next three years.

Mark Simmonds

The National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security was launched at the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit and builds on lessons to date, and address some of the challenges in the previous NAP. The NAP’s Implementation Plan will be launched later this year.
In line with our UN commitments on women, peace and security we will continue to address violence against women and support women’s role in building peace and promote their participation, with a particular focus on Afghanistan, Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Somalia and Syria.

The aims of the NAP and Implementation Plan are to ensure a more coherent and effective approach to the work on Women, Peace and Security. They provide the frameworks for activities which are funded through existing departmental budgets. Those budgets include: the Conflict Pool (the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund from 2015-16), the Human Rights and Democracy Fund, the Arab Partnership Fund and Official Development Assistance – all of which help to fund the work on women, peace and security across the world.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implementation of each of the recommendations in the report, Children in Military Custody, published in June 2012.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK has made repeated representations to Israel on their treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child detainees. Since the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded independent report on Children in Military Custody, there has been some limited progress. This includes a pilot to use summons instead of night-time arrests, and steps to reduce the amount of time a child can be detained before seeing a judge. My predecessor wrote to the Israeli Attorney General on 31 March to welcome the steps taken to date and to call for further measures, including the mandatory use of audio-visual recording of interrogations, investigation into continued reports of single hand ties being used, and an end to solitary confinement for children. The British Government has been working with the delegation who compiled the Children in Military Custody report to make a return visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the near future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many beds in each UK spinal cord injury centre are ring fenced for the exclusive treatment of spinal cord injured readmissions or outpatients.

Jane Ellison

NHS England’s Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) service specification clearly sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. It sets a core requirement that each specialised SCI Centre (SCIC) can demonstrate they have a minimum of 20 beds dedicated exclusively for the treatment and rehabilitation of SCI patients. Specialised SCI Services encompass all activity for SCI patients provided by the host trust of the SCIC, including any readmission or attendance for SCI-related care, wherever the treatment is located in the trust. A copy of the specification can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/d13-spinal-cord-0414.pdf

NHS England is aware that a number of beds in one ward at Stoke Mandeville spinal injuries unit are being used as escalation beds by medical specialties to assist with patient flow. It is planned for these beds to re-open as specialist spinal beds from September 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many beds in each UK spinal cord injury centre have been ring fenced for the treatment of spinal cord injured readmissions or outpatients in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

NHS England’s Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) service specification clearly sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. It sets a core requirement that each specialised SCI Centre (SCIC) can demonstrate they have a minimum of 20 beds dedicated exclusively for the treatment and rehabilitation of SCI patients. Specialised SCI Services encompass all activity for SCI patients provided by the host trust of the SCIC, including any readmission or attendance for SCI-related care, wherever the treatment is located in the trust. A copy of the specification can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/d13-spinal-cord-0414.pdf

NHS England is aware that a number of beds in one ward at Stoke Mandeville spinal injuries unit are being used as escalation beds by medical specialties to assist with patient flow. It is planned for these beds to re-open as specialist spinal beds from September 2014.