Tag: Lord Roberts of Llandudno

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they take any steps to monitor whether lavatories on franchised train operator services are in working order throughout train journeys; whether any sanctions have been imposed on any franchisee as a result of that monitoring in the last two years; and if so, what those sanctions were.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We are investing record amounts in the railways in order to give passengers better journeys. We expect the industry to deliver the best possible customer experience every day, including the provision of appropriate toilet facilities.

Whilst there are no regimes that separately monitor lavatory quality provided on trains by franchised train operators, the Invitation To Tender for the new Greater Anglia franchise is piloting three challenging customer service targets to be monitored through mystery shopper exercises and passenger surveys. One of these Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets is “presentation of facilities”, which includes questions about “the cleanliness of the toilet facilities” and “the condition of on board toilets” amongst other aspects. Financial penalties will apply if the KPI targets are not met. Various quality of service regimes exist in other Franchise Agreements for monitoring and managing overall train interior quality, some of which carry financial penalties. The National Rail Passenger Survey also reports specifically on “On Train Toilet Facilities” for every operator in its twice yearly survey.

No sanctions have been imposed specifically in regard to train toilets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many passport interview offices there were in each year since adults applying for the first time for a passport were required to attend a personal interview.

Lord Bates

The table below shows the maximum number of interview locations available in each year. The introduction of passport interview offices on 3rd party sites reflects the move to sharing interview locations with 3rd parties, mainly Local Authorities, where previously HM Passport Office had its own site.

Calendar Year	Maximum number of passport interview offices	Maximum number of passport interview offices on 3rd party site	Total maximum number
2008	67	0	67
2009	67	0	67
2010	65	0	65
2011	55	0	55
2012	23	11	34
2013	22	11	33
2014	22	11	33
2015	22	11	33

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many failed 18-year-old asylum seekers received some payment to assist in their deportation from the UK.

Lord Bates

The number of people who applied for asylum in the UK as a child and later received an assisted return package as an adult to support a voluntary return to their country of origin is given in the table below. It is not Home Office policy to deport asylum seeking children.

Year	Asylum seeking children receiving an assisted voluntary return
2011	75
2012	89
2013	76
2014	46
2015 (to September)	31
The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-02-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what aid has been given to Greece to assist that country in supporting migrants and refugees.

Baroness Verma

Since the start of the Mediterranean migration crisis, the Department for International Development has provided £55 million in response, including over £19 million in Greece. Assistance through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organisations has provided life-saving aid to migrants and refugees to support reception, protection, accommodation, and meet basic needs. We are monitoring the situation closely. We stand ready to meet additional priority needs and are sending a team to Greece to assess the situation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-04-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 12 April (HL7328), whether they are on track to fulfil their pledge to accept 20,000 refugees to the UK before the end of the present Parliament.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We are continuing to work productively with local authorities and International Partners to deliver the Government’s target to settle 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament.

The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The last set of statistics, published on 25 February 2016 showed that in 2015, 1,194 Syrians were relocated to the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme, including 1,085 who arrived in the last quarter of 2015.

These numbers will be updated each quarter. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 26 May 2016 and will cover the period January – March 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what legal resources they are providing to refugees in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk to make asylum applications to the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Asylum seekers cannot claim asylum in the UK if they are in France. If a person requires international protection they should claim asylum in France, which is bound by the same EU and international obligations as the UK.

If after claiming asylum in France it is established that the UK is the state responsible for examining their claim on the basis of Dublin Regulation, including under its family unity provisions, a take charge request may be submitted to the Home Office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have been accepted into the UK since the passing of the Immigration Act 2016.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Our records currently indicate that since Royal Assent, 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act 2016 have been transferred to the UK. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations have received government funding to assist their efforts to compile a complete electoral register.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government provided £14 million across 2013/14 and 2014/15 to support the costs of activities at a local and national level to maximise the number of people on the electoral register. This includes allocating funding to local authorities and national organisations.

The following organisations received funding to target under registered groups:

Active Citizens FE

Bite the Ballot

British Youth Council

Citizens Advice

Citizens UK

Gingerbread

Operation Black Vote

The Hansard Society

Homeless Link

National Association of Managers of Student Service

National Union of Students

Scottish Youth Parliament

Sixth Form Colleges Association

The Royal Mencap Society

The Student Room

The Tab

UK Youth

UpRising

vInspired

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether diabetes is defined as a disability, and if so, what assessment they have made of the impact of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on diabetics in the UK.

Lord Freud

Under the Equality Act 2010 a person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Diabetes is a long term health condition and how disabling it is for people will vary depending on, amongst other things, severity and how well it is managed. 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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they give to voluntary organisations engaged in the refugee crisis.

Earl of Courtown

The UK has pledged over £1.1 billion to date to help alleviate the Syria Crisis, our largest ever humanitarian response. The UK is supporting a range of implementing partners working in Syria and neighbouring countries, including United Nations agencies, international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the Red Cross/Crescent and other international organisations.

In relation to the Mediterranean migration crisis, the UK is supporting host government capacity and organisations such as the Red Cross, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF), the International Organisation for Migration, and NGOs to provide basic care, assistance, protection, and informationto vulnerable people.