Tag: Khalid Mahmood

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total amount of capital spending per capita by Highways England was in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands Metropolitan County and (c) each region of England from 2009-10 to the most recent financial year for which information is available.

Mr John Hayes

The majority of the capital investment made by Highways England (and the Highways Agency prior to April 2015) is in large schemes that cross city, county and regional boundaries. Data cannot be meaningfully collected on this basis.

However, for the purpose of national transport statistics, spend is apportioned between regions using an established estimation process and is published up to the financial year 2013/14 at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transport-statistics-great-britain in the series of tables TSGB0717 / RDE0101.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many permanent HS2 Ltd employees are based in Birmingham; and what proportion of the total number of HS2 Ltd employees those employees represent.

Andrew Jones

As at the 1 October 2016 there were 338 permanent HS2 Ltd employees based in Birmingham, representing 37% of the overall HS2 Ltd employee base.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many arrests have been made in connection with gun crime in the West Midlands metropolitan area in (a) each of the last 10 years and (b) each quarter of 2015.

Mike Penning

The Government and police work nationally, and with international partners, to reduce the threat to the UK from the criminal use of firearms. In 2013/14, firearms were used in a small and diminishing proportion of total police recorded crime, 0.2%. We also support local areas to take action against gang violence to reduce offending and protect vulnerable people. Under the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme, Birmingham was subject to a peer review in 2012 and has implemented and integrated the recommendations from the review into their local strategic plans. The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of arrests made in connection with gun crime. The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world and the government and the police continue to work together to reduce the threat from the criminal use of firearms. We will be reviewing options to strengthen the current legislation to ensure it safeguards against abuse by criminals following representations made by the police (and other stakeholders) during the Law Commission’s scoping consultation on firearms legislation. The number of offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) in the West Midlands has fallen by 40% since 2010, from 903 offences in 2009/10 to 540 in 2013/14.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the role of independent training providers in post-16 years’ education.

Robert Halfon

Independent providers deliver a wide range of post-16 education, including apprenticeship training, and the Government expects that to continue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle gang-related gun crime.

Mike Penning

The Government and police work nationally, and with international partners, to reduce the threat to the UK from the criminal use of firearms. In 2013/14, firearms were used in a small and diminishing proportion of total police recorded crime, 0.2%.

The Government keeps the firearms licensing system under review to safeguard against abuse by criminals and to preserve public safety. We have asked the Law Commission to conduct a scoping consultation on firearms law and we are considering the recommendations made by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary following their inspection on how the firearms system is working in practice. We also support local areas to take action against gang violence to reduce offending and protect vulnerable people. Under the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme, Birmingham was subject to a peer review in 2012 and has implemented and integrated the recommendations from the review into their local strategic plans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support the West Midlands Police Force respond to an increase in the levels of gun crime in Birmingham.

Mike Penning

The Government and police work nationally, and with international partners, to reduce the threat to the UK from the criminal use of firearms. In 2013/14, firearms were used in a small and diminishing proportion of total police recorded crime, 0.2%. We also support local areas to take action against gang violence to reduce offending and protect vulnerable people. Under the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme, Birmingham was subject to a peer review in 2012 and has implemented and integrated the recommendations from the review into their local strategic plans. The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of arrests made in connection with gun crime. The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world and the government and the police continue to work together to reduce the threat from the criminal use of firearms. We will be reviewing options to strengthen the current legislation to ensure it safeguards against abuse by criminals following representations made by the police (and other stakeholders) during the Law Commission’s scoping consultation on firearms legislation. The number of offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) in the West Midlands has fallen by 40% since 2010, from 903 offences in 2009/10 to 540 in 2013/14.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will take steps to assist in securing the release of Kamal Foroughi from Evin Prison in Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain very concerned about the case of dual-national Mr Kamal Foroughi. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such has not granted us consular access. I met his family on 1 December, and confirmed that we have raised this with the Iranian authorities on repeated occasions, urging Iran to provide regular medical assistance and access to a lawyer which are both key to securing his release. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised this with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani during his visit to Iran in August. He also raised it most recently with Foreign Minister Zarif in New York at the UN General Assembly in September. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the case with President Rouhani during a telephone call in July, and wrote a further letter on the matter in October regarding our consular cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the recorded level of gun crime was in (a) England and (b) the West Midlands between (i) January 2010 to December 2012 and (ii) January 2013 to December 2015.

Mike Penning

Offences involving firearms recorded by the police at the force area level are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on a financial year basis. The most recently published figures for the West Midlands and England are 2013/14. These are given in the table and show that between 2009/10 and 2013/14, offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) fell by 40% in both the West Midlands and in England.

Figures for 2014/15 are due to be published on 11 February 2016 in the ONS publication Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2014/15.

The ONS publish provisional data for England and Wales on the number of offences involving firearms in their quarterly crime statistics releases. The most recently available figures are for the year ending June 2015 and these can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/year-ending-june-2015/stb-crime–ye-june-2015.html

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of people arrested in connection with offences involving firearms. The Home Office collects data on arrests by groups of crimes (for example, violence against the person, robbery) but cannot separately identify those that involved a firearm from those that did not.

Convictions data are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has informed the Home Office that they do not hold data on the number of convictions for offences where a firearm was involved.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions have been made in connection with gun-related crime in the West Midlands metropolitan area in each quarter of the last five years.

Mike Penning

Offences involving firearms recorded by the police at the force area level are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on a financial year basis. The most recently published figures for the West Midlands and England are 2013/14. These are given in the table and show that between 2009/10 and 2013/14, offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) fell by 40% in both the West Midlands and in England.

Figures for 2014/15 are due to be published on 11 February 2016 in the ONS publication Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2014/15.

The ONS publish provisional data for England and Wales on the number of offences involving firearms in their quarterly crime statistics releases. The most recently available figures are for the year ending June 2015 and these can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/year-ending-june-2015/stb-crime–ye-june-2015.html

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of people arrested in connection with offences involving firearms. The Home Office collects data on arrests by groups of crimes (for example, violence against the person, robbery) but cannot separately identify those that involved a firearm from those that did not.

Convictions data are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has informed the Home Office that they do not hold data on the number of convictions for offences where a firearm was involved.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was spent on tackling gun crime in (a) England and (b) the West Midlands between (i) January 2010 to December 2012 and (ii) January 2013 to December 2015.

Mike Penning

Information about specific aspects of spending by the police is not held centrally by the Home Office. Birmingham is one of the areas previously supported under the Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme. However, it is not possible to determine what proportion of the total programme budget was spent in this area, and in turn what proportion of this was related to tackling gun crime specifically.