Tag: Lord Roberts of Llandudno

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 24 September (HL2300), why empty dwellings in London are not being filled in order to tackle the housing shortage.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

My answer of 24 September showed a trend of decreasing empty dwellings in London; from 42,600 in 2004 to 20,795 in 2014. Local authorities across the country have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus they can earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Councils may also charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty for over two years.

My Department will continue to encourage London councils to use these empty dwellings for housing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what part of the defence budget is allocated for military action in Syria.

Earl Howe

In agreement with Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Ministry of Defence draws upon the Special Reserve to meet the net additional costs for operations. As such, no part of the Defence budget is specifically allocated for military action in Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 8 December (HL4116), how many personal interviews with adults applying for a passport for the first time were conducted in each calendar year from 2007 to 2015 inclusive.

Lord Bates

The table below shows the number of interviews conducted in each calendar year since 2007. The lower figures for 2007 reflect the pilot and roll out of the new interview process for all first-time passport applicants and the figures for 2015 are up to week ending 20 December.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the age of criminal responsibility and its consequences are taught to pupils in schools.

Lord Nash

Schools can choose to teach about the age of criminal responsibility and its consequences as part of citizenship education. Citizenship is a national curriculum subject at key stages 3 and 4 in England. In citizenship lessons, pupils learn about the role of law and the justice system in our society; how laws are shaped and enforced and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the correction by Lord Bates on 24 March to his Written Answer on 19 October 2015 (HL2297), why they gave incorrect figures for the number of young asylum seekers deported on reaching their 18th birthday in their initial answer, and why it took them five months to correct those figures.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The incorrect figures given in the original response to Question HL2297 resulted from the use of an incorrect definition which excluded former Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children who now had linked dependants and cases made prior to October 2006. This error was identified following the correction of PQ 13206 in February 2016, which prompted a review of other related answers resulting in correction of this and five related House of Commons answers.

Such mistakes are rare and when they occur they are taken very seriously. It is regrettable that human error caused the original response to be incorrect. Improvements have been put in place to ensure that such mistakes will not be made in future. The appropriate definition has been reviewed, confirmed and made clear to the officials involved.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the unaccompanied minors brought to the UK from refugee camps in Europe will be assigned to families through the usual system of allocation to foster carers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.

The legislation is clear that consultation with local authorities is needed before any figure is set. We are working closely with local authorities and consulting NGOs, the UNHCR, UNICEF and relevant Member States to establish suitable processes to im-plement this initiative.

We are committed to act as quickly as we can but we must take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to resettle and support those who are resettled.

We must also ensure that we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK. We will be working closely with local authorities to find suitable placements within the UK. Statutory agencies at a local level are best placed to understand and meet the needs of all children and will continue to make decisions about the right accommodation and support services for those who are looked after. Unaccompanied children will be eligible for foster care if it is considered that that this placement type will provide appropriate support and best meet their individual needs.

The UK has well-established and effective safeguarding procedures to ensure the safety of children who come to the UK. All children brought to the UK will be given the care, support and education they require.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many fatalities there were on the A55 in Wales in (1) 2010, (2) 2011, (3) 2014 and (4) 2015.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The number of road traffic fatalities on the A55 in Wales in each year since 2010 are as follows:

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims have been made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months; of those, how many have been accepted; and how many applicants have been allowed to proceed to the UK.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The number of asylum claims made in France over any given period, and their outcome, is a matter for the French authorities.

The Dublin Regulation is the mechanism for determining responsibility for considering an asylum claim. If accepted for transfer to the UK, the asylum claim is considered in the UK after the individual has been transferred.

The Home Office has accepted responsibility to consider the asylum claims of over 80 unaccompanied minors from France under Dublin since the start of the year and many more are in train.

Dublin transfer requests involving children are now generally processed within 10 days by a dedicated team in the Home Office. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis. A senior Home Office official has been seconded to the French Interior Ministry to help speed up the process of identifying children who may qualify for transfer to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 22 September (HL1905), what is their latest assessment of the financial costs faced by Kent County Council in supporting asylum-seeking children, and what additional funding they are offering that council to help it to do so.

Lord Bates

The Government recognises the outstanding work of Kent County Council in caring for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). Home Office officials have met Kent officers to understand the additional financial pressures they facing as a result of the high numbers of UASC in their care and we continue to work through the detail. The Immigration Minister has met the Leader of Kent County Council to discuss the situation.

As well as working with Kent, we believe a national response is required. We are working closely with the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Children’s Services to finalise plans for a new scheme to disperse unaccompanied child asylum seekers to the care of other local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to co-ordinate the work of the various relief organisations in Syria.

Baroness Verma

Despite our best efforts, the UN appeals for Syria and the region remain critically underfunded. It is therefore critical that UN agencies use the most cost efficient and effective methods to deliver assistance to refugees in the region. The UK is at the forefront of efforts to ensure that this is the case and there have been substantial improvements in coordination – which saves lives – over the past year.