Tag: Kate Osamor

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to encourage Saudi Arabia to destroy its stock of cluster munitions.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Convention on Cluster Munitions obliges States Parties to promote adherence to the Convention, and to encourage non-States Parties to accede to it. The UK, in line with these Convention commitments, encourages all states not party to accede to the Convention as soon as possible to further prevent the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and transfer of cluster munitions. The UK continues to encourage Saudi Arabia to accede to the Convention both bilaterally and in multinational fora.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will discuss with his international counterpart the possibility of setting up a judicial mechanism to independently and impartially investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We take seriously the reports of alleged violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and abuses of human rights in Yemen, by all sides to the conflict. We have raised our concerns with Saudi Arabia and other members of the Coalition, and have received repeated assurances of compliance with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances. We are also concerned by reports of alleged IHL violations by Houthi-Saleh forces. We have raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL.

The UK supported the resolution adopted at the recent session of the Human Rights Council which, inter alia, called upon all parties in Yemen to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, and requested that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights assist the Yemeni national independent commission of inquiry. This assistance should help the government of Yemen to meet its international obligations in investigating reports of violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the provisions in Clauses 13 and 14 of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on the welfare of cancer patients.

Priti Patel

The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/welfarereformandwork/documents.html

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on the implementation of the Choice Review.

Ben Gummer

The Department commissioned the Review of Choice in End of Life Care to examine the issue of choice in end of life care. The Review’s recommendations on achieving high quality care and greater choice were published earlier this year. We agree with the vision set out by the Review and we are working with NHS England to see how this can best be achieved. We intend to respond to the Review later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure councils have adequate funding to protect social care following the implementation of the National Living Wage in April 2016.

Alistair Burt

Funding decisions for 2016/17 onwards, including for social care, are subject to the ongoing Spending Review which will review expenditure and future demand for services. This includes considerations such as the forthcoming implementation of the National Living Wage. The Spending Review will be published on 25 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the performance of (a) the police and (b) her Department in responding to human trafficking; and what steps she is taking to improve the way reports of human trafficking are dealt with.

Karen Bradley

The Government has set out its plan for responding to human trafficking in the Modern Slavery Strategy. The Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on Modern Slavery oversees implementation of the strategy, supported by a quarterly Strategy Board, a monthly stakeholder meeting, and a Modern Slavery Threat Group that is chaired by Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the National Policing Lead for Modern Slavery. The IDMG’s 2015 report will be published shortly and will provide a detailed assessment of the scale and nature of the threat, what the Government has done to respond and our priorities for future work. In addition, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner will each year publish a report on his work and on progress being made on tackling modern slavery. As part of our wider strategy, the Government is committed to strengthening the way in which we identify and refer potential victims of trafficking into the National Referral Mechanism. As part of this, the Home Office is piloting reforms to the National Referral Mechanism in West Yorkshire and the South West.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of human trafficking have been detained in the last five years.

Karen Bradley

Individuals who have been identified as victims of trafficking by the competent authorities are normally considered suitable for detention in only very exceptional circumstances, which include cases where there is a risk of public harm. This data is not collected centrally and accurate figures are not available. Once a person is detained their continued detention remains under review by the Home Office at least at monthly intervals, and earlier in response to any change of circumstances that might have a material effect on their detention.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest recorded time is for which a person has been held in immigration detention since 2010.

James Brokenshire

The longest time a person has been detained in the immigration estate – a foreign criminal who who left detention and was returned to Algeria in Q1 2012 – was 2,319 days.

The individual in this case had accumulated 14 convictions from 32 offences committed between 1998 and 2004, including – but not limited to – convictions for firearms/ shotguns/offensive weapons, drug offences, offences relating to police/courts/prisons and theft. He was continuously non-compliant with the Home Office and Algerian authorities, using a false identity and nationality, which frustrated attempts to obtain travel documentation to facilitate his deportation. His continued non-compliance, deception and a history of absconding led to detention being prolonged.

This information does not include those held in prisons solely under Immigration Act powers.

The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of reduction in funding to English for Speakers of Other Languages Mandation Courses on the level of employment among people for whom English is an additional language.

Nick Boles

The decision to withdraw the 2015/16 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Plus (Mandation) funding was taken in the knowledge that providers could use their adult skills budget to continue to provide ESOL training for jobseekers and therefore mitigate any adverse impact. Our data showed that the numbers of claimants being referred to ESOL Plus (Mandation) provision was significantly lower than originally anticipated.