Tag: Kate Green

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 30739, what information he holds on (a) the legal status of Telahoon Rata and Rev. Hassan Taour and (b) whether their legal team has been granted access to them.

James Duddridge

Telahoon Rata and Rev Hassan Taour are being held in detention by the National Intelligence and Security Services under powers granted to them by the National Security Act 2010. They have not been granted access to their lawyers.

Our Ambassador in Khartoum met the Minister of Guidance and Religious Endowments and the Sudanese Director of Church Affairs in February and raised the cases of Mr Talahon and Rev. Hassan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve access to public transport for disabled people.

Andrew Jones

The Government recognises how important improving access to public transport is for disabled people and is committed to making transport more inclusive.

Since its launch in 2006, the £390m Access for All rail programme (which was further extended with £160m in 2014) has delivered accessible routes at over 150 stations. There are also 68 further projects at various stages of construction or development.

We also recognise that positive interactions with bus drivers can make a big difference to disabled people’s experience of taking the bus. We are working with the bus industry and disabled people to design best practice guidance in delivering disability awareness training which, we hope, will help to give bus drivers the skills and knowledge to assist every disabled passenger.

In addition, the Bus Services Bill will specifically allow enhanced partnership schemes to require all buses within a local area to provide audible and visual next stop information. Authorities using the new franchising powers will be able to place similar requirements on affected operators. The Government has also agreed to consider amendments on this issue which were tabled during the Bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords.

The Government intends to publish an Accessibility Action Plan by the end of the year which will present its ambition for further progress on this important agenda.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to implement the family test.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Family Test policy does not apply to DFID’s work as foreign policy is outside of the scope of the Test.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of the right to statutory paternity leave.

Nick Boles

The Government provides comprehensive guidance on statutory paternity leave and pay on the GOV.UK website.

The right to take paternity leave is now well established. The latest information from the Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey undertaken in 2009-10 suggests that 91% of fathers take some time off after their babies’ birth.

The Coalition Government undertook a campaign to raise awareness of the introduction of Shared Parental Leave, which came into force on 1 December 2014 for parents of children due (or placed for adoption) on or after 5 April 2015. Shared Parental Leave enables fathers to play a greater role in raising their child and enables mothers to return to work at a time that is right for them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the £31 million of child maintenance arrears written off in 2014-15 was written off under each of the ground in the Child Support Management of Payment and Arrears (Amendment) Regulations 2012.

Priti Patel

The circumstances of the £31 million of child maintenance arrears written off in 2014-15 is shown in the table below:

Circumstance	2014/15 write off (£m)
The person with care has requested that the Secretary of State ceases to act in respect of the arrears	6.5
A child in Scotland has requested that the Secretary of State ceases to act in respect of the arrears	0.0
The person with care, or (in Scotland) the child, has died	3.0
The non-resident parent died before 25 January 2010 or there is no further action that can be taken with regard to recovery of the arrears from the non-resident parent’s estate	19.8
The arrears relate to liability for child support maintenance for any period in respect of which an interim maintenance assessment was in force between 5 April 1993 and 18 April 1995	0.1
The non-resident parent has been informed by the Secretary of State that no further action would ever be taken to recover those arrears	0.2
Other	1.3

Notes

1. The figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.
2. The circumstance ‘Other’ includes amounts written off following Secretary of State and client part payment, £0.5m, arrears written off which were due to the Secretary of State, £0.2m and adjustments to arrears balances which have transitioned to the 2012 Child Maintenance system, £0.6m.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of accessible taxis in the UK.

Andrew Jones

Government is committed to giving disabled people the same access to transport services as other members of society. It also recognises the particularly significant role played by taxis and private hire vehicle (PHV) operators for many disabled people, in helping them to remain active and independent.

It is for local authorities to specify a number of accessible vehicles to be within their licensed taxi and private hire vehicle fleet, and to take account of their public sector equality duties when doing so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of her Department’s policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps she has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Family Test policy does not apply to DFID’s work as foreign policy is outside of the scope of the Test.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions have taken place with teaching unions on the application of the Prevent programme in schools.

Edward Timpson

The Department of Education consulted the teaching unions on the Prevent duty guidance which was published in March 2015 (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance) and officials have subsequently briefed union representatives both on the duty and on the Department’s role in implementing the Prevent strategy in education. The Department has worked particularly closely with the unions representing school leaders to support schools in meeting their responsibilities under the Prevent duty.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Policy, Law and Decision Making Guidance used by Child Maintenance Service caseworkers when making decisions on the application of Section 137(2)(b) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the unlikely to be paid test.

Priti Patel

The Department is currently revising the Policy Law and Decision Making Guidance, so it is not appropriate to make it publicly available at this time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-10-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with financial services industry bodies on tariffs for customers who do not access services online.

Simon Kirby

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has had no discussions with financial services industry bodies on tariffs for customers who do not access services online.

The Government takes the firm view that consumers must be able to easily access clear and transparent information about their accounts with banks and other financial services companies.