Tag: Ivan Lewis

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of efforts by the Nigerian government to tackle Boko Haram.

James Duddridge

We welcome the successes achieved by the Nigerian armed forces against Boko Haram, which have resulted in the group being pushed out of key towns in North East Nigeria. However, Boko Haram continues to present a serious threat to security in North East Nigeria and the wider region.

The United Kingdom is providing a substantial and increasing package of military, intelligence, development and humanitarian support to help Nigeria and the region in the fight against Boko Haram. We support Nigeria’s plans to host a high-level Regional Security Summit in Abuja in May. This will bring together regional leaders and international partners, including the United Kingdom, to reaffirm their shared commitment to the fight against Boko Haram.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the maximum overall annual amount which could be raised if each local authority imposed the maximum social care levy.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Department estimates that if all local authorities who deliver social care were to choose to use a two per cent precept this would total £393 million in 2016-17. If similar flexibilities were used in full in subsequent years, this would rise to around £1.8 billion in 2019-20. Local authorities will be required to provide confirmation that the additional revenue has been used for Adult Social Care in addition to confirming the amounts of expenditure in statistical returns. In addition, the Secretary of State will take account of local authorities’ actions when setting referendum principles in future years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to announce the outcome of proposals to assist unaccompanied refugee children from conflict regions.

James Brokenshire

As announced on 28th January, the Government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to scope the extent of the need to resettle in the UK unaccompanied refugee children in the exceptional cases where it is in the child’s best interests to do so. Discussions with UNHCR are ongoing. It is important that any proposal is considered carefully to ensure it is in the best interests of the children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce the incidence of gender segregation in some Muslim independent schools.

Nick Gibb

Independent schools have to meet the standards set in regulations. If segregation results in disadvantage for pupils of one gender, either directly or through inappropriate modelling of gender roles through staff segregation visible to pupils, then it is likely that the standards have not been met and regulatory action by this Department will follow. If there is a possibility that staff segregation disadvantages staff of one gender and there may be a direct breach of the Equality Act 2010, we will not hesitate to make a referral to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department uses to determine the level of supplementary funding provided to local authorities as part of the local government finance settlement.

Mr Marcus Jones

The local government finance settlement distributed revenue support grant by looking at the main resources that are available to local councils. The Local Government Finance Report (England) 2016/2017 sets out the basis of this distribution and the results can be found at;

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2016-to-2017.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers are on duty each night of the week in each division of Greater Manchester Police.

Mike Penning

The Home Office does not hold the requested data centrally. The deployment of a police force’s available workforce is an operational decision for chief officers, in conjunction with their police and crime commissioners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the prevalence of reckless driving.

Andrew Jones

The Road Safety Statement published on 21 December 2015 outlines what the Department is currently doing to improve road safety. For example, we are currently consulting on increasing the penalty points and financial penalty for those who commit the offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving.

We have previously introduced fixed penalty notices in order to assist the police in dealing more effectively with careless driving. This would enable more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat such behaviour.

Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March 2015 it has been an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits. I have provided £1million to further increase enforcement during the THINK! campaign that commenced on 29 February and will run through March thus coinciding with the 1^st anniversary of the commencement of the new offence.

Sentencing and enforcement policy issues are matters for the Ministry of Justice and Home Office respectively.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the demolition of the Calais camp known as the jungle on the number of migrants entering into the UK.

James Brokenshire

The UK and French Governments have been working closely for many months to address the situation in Northern France, and are committed to resolving it together.

The Joint Declaration, signed by the Home Secretary and the French Interior Ministry in August 2015, committed both countries to a package of work to improve physical security at the ports, to coordinate the law enforcement response, to tackle the criminal gangs involved in people smug-gling and to reduce the number of migrants in Calais.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle the level of mental illness among primary and secondary school children.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing. This attainment is best supported if they have good mental health, character and resilience. Schools can play an important role in promoting good mental wellbeing and in responding to issues that arise.

To support them in doing this we have funded the PSHE Association to provide guidance and lesson plans which support age-appropriate teaching of mental health issues. We have also revised and updated our counselling guidance for schools to include a section on vulnerable children and what schools may need to do to make counselling accessible to them.

The department recently launched activity to identify how to help young people help their friends to talk about mental health issues, including a call for evidence for stakeholders and children and young people. We also announced funding of up to £1.5m for projects to take this forward once the call for evidence is complete, including a new digital innovation fund to develop reliable, engaging and trusted advice online to help them understand both their own, and their friends’ mental health.

Schools need support from specialist services locally to ensure that pupils with mental illness get the support they need. That is why the Government is investing an additional £1.4bn in children’s mental health this Parliament. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across the country have worked with partners, including schools and colleges, to produce local transformation plans for children and young people’s mental health services. These should set out what will be done locally to make the best use of the resources available – changing how CAMHS is delivered in response to the challenges set out in the Future in Mind report.

In addition we are contributing to a £3m joint pilot with NHS England which is testing how single points of contact in CAMHS and schools can secure effective mental health support to pupils. The pilots are involving over 250 schools in 27 CCG areas through joint training, which supports schools and CAMHS leads to identify specific activity to improve support in their area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce knife crime in Greater Manchester.

Mr John Hayes

Tackling knife crime is a priority for this Government. Knife crime offences recorded by the police remain 14% below the level of offences in 2010.

However we recognise there is always more to do and we are currently reviewing action to be taken on knife crime. We will be setting out the measures in the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy which will be published shortly.