Tag: Keith Vaz

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many lorries were scanned by lorry body scanners in Calais before entering the UK in each month of 2015.

James Brokenshire

To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border, Her Majesty’s Government cannot provide port specific statistics.

Border Force operates a multi-layered search regime using a range of interventions to screen all freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed ports. This includes the use of specialist technologies such as Passive Millimetre Wave Imaging devices, heartbeat monitors and carbon dioxide detectors as well as physical searches by sniffer dogs, Border Force staff and specialist search contractors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have left Yemen as refugees since March 2015.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Between March 2015 and 15 February 2016, the UN estimates that 171,585 people have arrived in Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Oman from Yemen, including Yemeni refugees and asylum-seekers, and people of other nationalities seeking protection.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost to the public purse is of the Home Office contract with Airwave.

Mike Penning

The Home Office holds three contracts with Motorola Solutions. These are:

(a) The Public Safety Radio Communications Service (PSRCS) Framework Arrangement for the provision of the Airwave service to the police services of Eng-land, Scotland and Wales.

(b) Contract ST03 10/641/9 for the provision of telecommunications services to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

(c) Emergency Services Network (ESN) — Lot 2 User Services; one of the contracts that will replace the current Airwave contract.

The cost to the public purse of the Home Office contract with Airwave in Financial Year 2015-16 is forecast to be £283 million comprising £230 million paid centrally by the Home Office and £53 million paid locally by police forces to Airwave. By way of comparison, under the newly procured Emergency Services Network, the policing share of costs is expected to be less than half of the current Airwave costs.

Airwave Solutions Ltd provides mobile telecommunications services for emer-gency services. The Home Office Airwave contracts only relate to police forces, and immigration and nationality functions within the Home Office. The Home Office is not party to the contracts which many other organisations in the public sector have entered into with Airwave.

The acquisition of Airwave by Motorola Solutions means all three Emergency Services contracts now end on 31st December 2019. This provides continuity of service for the transition to the Emergency Services Network.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many diabetes specialist nurses there are in (a) Leicester General Hospital, (b) Leicester Royal Infirmary, (c) Glenfield Hospital and (d) Leicestershire.

Ben Gummer

The Health and Social Care Information Centre provides information on the number of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed in the National Health Service in England but it does not separately identify diabetes specialist nurses.

It is for local NHS organisations with their knowledge of the healthcare needs of their local population to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the HM Passport Office’s target is for identifying fraudulently obtained genuine passports.

James Brokenshire

Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not have a numerical target for identifying fraudulently obtained genuine (FOG) passports. The work on detecting FOGs is part of a wider programme which also has a significant focus on preventing passport fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Rory Stewart

Yemen is one of the most serious and complex humanitarian crises in the world. The United Nations (UN) estimates that 21.2 million people in Yemen require humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs for food, water, sanitation, and healthcare, or protect their fundamental rights. Yemen is also experiencing an economic crisis, which has driven up food and other prices, and reduced people’s purchasing power.

Ultimately, only an end to the conflict will address the humanitarian crisis. The UK is working closely with other countries to de-escalate the conflict and is providing significant support to UN-led peace talks. The UK is also working with the UN and other countries to improve commercial and humanitarian access to and within Yemen. We are providing desperately needed humanitarian aid to Yemen and have so far committed to spending £72 million in Yemen this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the report entitled Ethnic Penalties in Motor Insurance Premiums by Webber Phillips, published in July 2016, what assessment her Department has made of concerns raised in that report that some car owners may be being charged higher premiums due to their ethnicity.

Caroline Dinenage

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society and sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone. There are specific exceptions for providers of financial services such as insurance companies, which allow them to use a person’s age as a factor in assessing risk and charging for their products. However, insurers are not able to use a person’s race as a factor in assessing risk and charging for their products.

The pricing of risk is a commercial decision for individual insurers, and differences in premiums reflect different insurers’ experience of claims and other industry-wide statistics. While insurers are not required by the Financial Conduct Authority to be transparent about pricing decisions, it expects firms to comply with relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010, and can undertake its own enquiries to better understand what the firm is doing and whether any of its regulatory requirements have been breached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps her Department has taken to allow aid to enter and be distributed throughout Yemen without restriction.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Improving access into and within Yemen for commercial goods and humanitarian aid is one of the UK’s top priorities. We have consistently called on all parties to improve commercial access for essential imports of food, fuel and medical supplies; facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered access to all people in need; and safeguard major access routes and key infrastructure in Yemen, including airports, sea ports and fuel distribution sites.

In addition, we fund agencies and NGOs who have the best access and ability to deliver humanitarian aid. In addition, we have provided:

• £1 million to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who broker humanitarian access for the international response.
• £1 million to the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to provide an air bridge into Yemen for humanitarian staff and essential medical supplies.
• £1.42 million for the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to improve supply of essential goods into Yemen.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the UK is taking to assist in the repair of hospitals damaged by air strikes in Yemen.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has more than doubled its humanitarian support over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16. We have so far helped more than 1.3 million Yemenis with medical supplies, food, water, and emergency shelter.

The repair and rebuilding of infrastructure in Yemen will be a key part of any comprehensive recovery and reconstruction plan. We are already working with the Government of Yemen and the international community to promote thinking and planning for Yemen’s recovery. In the meantime, we are helping to meet emergency health care needs for the most vulnerable. Working through UNICEF, we provide health and nutrition services through hospitals and mobile clinics. The UK was also the largest donor to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund in 2015, with UK support providing over 40,000 people with emergency healthcare.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what services are provided by Airwave to which agencies within the Home Office as part of the Home Office contract with Airwave.

Mike Penning

The Home Office holds three contracts with Motorola Solutions. These are:

(a) The Public Safety Radio Communications Service (PSRCS) Framework Arrangement for the provision of the Airwave service to the police services of Eng-land, Scotland and Wales.

(b) Contract ST03 10/641/9 for the provision of telecommunications services to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

(c) Emergency Services Network (ESN) — Lot 2 User Services; one of the contracts that will replace the current Airwave contract.

The cost to the public purse of the Home Office contract with Airwave in Financial Year 2015-16 is forecast to be £283 million comprising £230 million paid centrally by the Home Office and £53 million paid locally by police forces to Airwave. By way of comparison, under the newly procured Emergency Services Network, the policing share of costs is expected to be less than half of the current Airwave costs.

Airwave Solutions Ltd provides mobile telecommunications services for emer-gency services. The Home Office Airwave contracts only relate to police forces, and immigration and nationality functions within the Home Office. The Home Office is not party to the contracts which many other organisations in the public sector have entered into with Airwave.

The acquisition of Airwave by Motorola Solutions means all three Emergency Services contracts now end on 31st December 2019. This provides continuity of service for the transition to the Emergency Services Network.