Tag: Kate Osamor

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pregnant women are detained at Yarl’s Wood.

James Brokenshire

Although we are now recording management information on the number of women who have disclosed their pregnancy to the Home Office, collection of data about the detention of pregnant women will be limited.

We will not necessarily be aware that a woman is pregnant unless she chooses to make this known to us and a woman may not know herself that she is pregnant when she enters detention. It may not always be appropriate for healthcare professionals to disclose information that the patient has asked not to be disclosed.

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 suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We take our arms export responsibilities very seriously and the UK operates one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world. All defence and dual-use exports are required to meet the UK’s strict export control requirements, which include consideration of the UK’s international commitments including under international treaties and obligations. We do not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also take account of any risk that the goods might be diverted to undesirable end-users or end-use.

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 2015-10-13.

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.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will commission an independent inquiry into the practice of classifying people as intentionally homeless.

Mr Marcus Jones

How an authority should determine whether or not someone is intentionally homeless is set out in legislation and statutory homelessness guidance, which is available to the public and authorities. It makes clear that housing authorities should consider each case in light of its particular facts and must not adopt general policies which seek to pre-define circumstances that do or do not amount to intentional homelessness. We have no plans to carry out a review.

Homelessness legislation ensures that families and the most vulnerable always have a roof over their head. This includes cases where households have made themselves homeless and are assessed by a local authority as being in priority need for accommodation. The law places a duty on the authority to secure suitable accommodation for a period that enables the household a reasonable opportunity to secure their own accommodation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department provides to (a) the public and (b) councils on the definition and application of the classification of intentional homelessness.

Mr Marcus Jones

How an authority should determine whether or not someone is intentionally homeless is set out in legislation and statutory homelessness guidance, which is available to the public and authorities. It makes clear that housing authorities should consider each case in light of its particular facts and must not adopt general policies which seek to pre-define circumstances that do or do not amount to intentional homelessness. We have no plans to carry out a review.

Homelessness legislation ensures that families and the most vulnerable always have a roof over their head. This includes cases where households have made themselves homeless and are assessed by a local authority as being in priority need for accommodation. The law places a duty on the authority to secure suitable accommodation for a period that enables the household a reasonable opportunity to secure their own accommodation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many errors made by staff of her Department in recording details such as addresses and country of birth on applications for (a) naturalisation and (b) indefinite leave to remain forms have had to be corrected in the last month.

James Brokenshire

This information is not aggregated in national reporting systems. It could only be obtained by a disproportionately expensive manual case by case search to collate the data.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to respond to a new application for indefinite leave to remain in the last 12 months.

James Brokenshire

In line with published data, statistics are available for the 12 month period from 31 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. In that period the average time it took to issue the first substantive Home Office response to a new application for indefinite leave to remain was 14 calendar days.