Tag: Mike Kane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what projects his Department has funded in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to promote abolition of the death penalty.

Mr David Lidington

With regard to projects funded in 2015/16, I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 14 January 2016 to the Rt Hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Matthew Offord). (21301).

https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/27418

Decisions on the allocation of the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy in 2016/17 have not yet been taken.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

No assessment has been made. These are matters for the local National Health Service.

We are advised by NHS England that effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme will be continually monitored throughout the implementation phase. The aim of the programme is to improve standards and quality of care for all patients across Greater Manchester. To support this, a “Healthier Together Dashboard” has been developed and is now operational. The Dashboard allows real time tracking of compliance with the Healthier Together standards.

This began with the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit standards for emergency general surgery. These are being monitored and improved within and across sectors, to demonstrate how compliance with standards will be improved. The next stage will add National Cardiac Arrest Audit information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with Foreign Office Ministers on the implementation by UK Overseas Territories of public registers of beneficial ownership.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK continues to lead the way on beneficial ownership disclosure and to encourage others to do the same. We are having discussions at both Ministerial and official level with the Overseas Territories to emphasise the importance of this agenda. Any system should meet the following criteria: UK and domestic law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards; these competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in, without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for trends in the levels of extremism in Pakistan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK and Pakistan share a commitment to defeating extremism. As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) has said, this is one of the greatest threats that we face. Extremist narratives underpin all acts of terrorism, whether the tragic events that took place in Paris last month, or the murder of 132 innocent children in Peshawar in 2014. That is why we strongly support Pakistan’s efforts to tackle terrorism and the extremism that sustains it. As in the UK, this requires effort in a number of areas, including investment in education, tackling poverty and confronting the extremist narrative.

The Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy sets out our approach to tackling all forms of extremism in the UK. It recognises that the problem is a global one. We are therefore working with international partners, including Pakistan, to reinforce our efforts at home and to build a more robust international response to extremism. As part of this, we continuously assess the threat to the UK and our partners to inform our efforts to combat extremism wherever it emerges. We are also working with Pakistan to deepen our shared understanding of the issue and to develop and implement effective responses.

Extremism is a complex and multi-faceted issue. In assessing the nature of extremism, Her Majesty’s Government captures a broad spectrum of internal and external source material, including working closely with academics, civil society groups and other governments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has allocated to projects which are primarily aimed at Eritrean nationals in the last three years; and in which countries such projects are based.

Mr Nick Hurd

As a member of the European Development Fund Committee (EDF) my Department scrutinises all EDF programming. The National Indicative Programme (NIP) for Eritrea under EDF 11 was considered at the Committee on the 17^th of November 2015 and received a positive opinion. Prior to that DFID officials worked with other member states to secure a joint EU and member state approach to linking implementation of the NIP with successful dialogue on human rights.

We continue to monitor this, both in country and in Brussels, alongside other member states.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will re-introduce its strategy for abolition of the death penalty.

Mr David Lidington

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given by my noble friend Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 25 January 2016 in reply to The Marquess of Lothian’s question (HL5007). https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/28566

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the status is of the Healthier Together programme in Greater Manchester.

Mr Philip Dunne

These are matters for the local National Health Service.

We are advised by NHS England that the Healthier Together programme has now moved into implementation and is part of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. The recently appointed Chief Officer for the Partnership has assumed the role of Programme Sponsor to oversee the implementation phase.

All areas of Greater Manchester are developing detailed plans and business cases for the transfer of care for high risk elective general surgery patients to the hub sites from 1 April 2017. This is a new way of working whereby current teams from different hospitals will work under single governance and leadership to achieve the required quality and safety standards for patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with HM Treasury Ministers on the implementation by UK Overseas Territories of public registers of beneficial ownership.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK continues to lead the way on beneficial ownership disclosure and to encourage others to do the same. We are having discussions at both Ministerial and official level with the Overseas Territories to emphasise the importance of this agenda. Any system should meet the following criteria: UK and domestic law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards; these competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in, without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of UK aid spending in reducing levels of illiteracy in Pakistan.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Pakistan programme is DFID’s largest bilateral investment in education worldwide. More than 6.3 million primary school children and 3.7 million secondary school children have benefited since 2011. Working in partnership with provincial governments and the private sector, we aim to get more children into school, staying longer, and learning more.

DFID has funded the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for the last three years. The report includes a wide range of data on education, including pupil enrolment, provision of facilities, and learning outcomes. In their 2015 report, published on 17 December 2015, ASER reports on national progress on literacy in rural areas for example it shows that grade 5 literacy levels in English have improved by 7 per cent. DFID interventions in the education sector since 2011 are likely to have had a positive impact on literacy levels in Punjab and Khyber Phaktunkhwa, given the focus on improved facilities and teaching, and pupil and teacher attendance. It is not however possible to claim a direct correlation between the ASER data and DFID’s investment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms her Department has in place to determine the geographic distribution of asylum seekers awaiting decisions on asylum applications.

Mike Penning

The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 introduced the policy of national dispersal, designed to share the impact of asylum seekers across the whole of the UK. Asylum seekers are housed across the UK under voluntary agreements between national government and local authorities that have been in place since 2000.

We work to a maximum agreed dispersal ratio of 1:200 asylum seekers per head of total population. We are proactively engaging with all areas that to date have not participated in asylum dispersal with a view to negotiating voluntary agreements to do so.