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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 4 May (HL8001), whether they have requested that the taskforce set up by Universities UK includes members of those minorities subject to harassment and hate crime, representatives of the relevant law and order agencies, and independent members with no direct university involvement.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The taskforce, established by Universities UK, is looking at all forms of violence and harassment affecting students. Its task is to bring together students, university experts and external organisations to consider the current evidence and what universities are currently doing to address issues of harassment and hate crime, including anti-Semitism, and what more needs to be done.

    The taskforce have had meetings with or received evidence from a wide range of organisations which includes the Union of Jewish Students, Rape Crisis, Tell Mama and Stonewall. In regards to anti-Semitism, the Taskforce has also received evidence from the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Community Security Trust. In terms of law and order agencies, evidence has been received from a number of lawyers and from the police via PAHELO (Police Association of Higher Education Liaison Officers).

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on how to take into account a neighbourhood planning process being underway when considering making their own applications for housing on sites that will be affected by that neighbourhood plan.

    Gavin Barwell

    The procedures for dealing with development by local authorities are contained in the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992. A local authority’s development proposals, like those of other persons applying for planning permission, must be decided in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

    Once brought into force, a neighbourhood plan becomes part of the development plan for the area; an emerging neighbourhood plan may be a material consideration. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that the weight of emerging plan policies will depend on the stage of the plan, the extent of unresolved objections and the degree of consistency with national policy. It is for the decision maker in each case to determine what is a material consideration and what weight to give to it.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the UK Security Council on prosecuting the people responsible for the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The British Government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and takes any allegations of extrajudicial killings seriously. The Iranian Government has repeatedly denied that a mass execution took place, though we are aware that between July 1988 and January 1989 executions did take place. However, even with the recording and media reporting on the incident, we have no confirmation of the numbers involved. Although we have no plans to pursue this specific matter we will continue to take action with the international community to press for improvements on all human rights issues in Iran, including ending the death penalty.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research on the links between the risk of cancer and radiation spikes during the refuelling of nuclear power plants, whether they plan to publish statistics on spikes in radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants in the UK.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Radioactive discharges from nuclear power plants are subject to permitting by the UK and devolved environmental agencies. Permitted discharge and notification levels are set out in individual site permits. These limits are set well within the levels required to comply with the public radiation dose constraints that have been set out in UK and devolved legislation in line with international standards.

    The environmental and food standards agencies jointly monitor actual levels of radioactivity in the environment and report annually in Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). The results of this programme indicate that discharge levels from nuclear plants are well within the permitted limits.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average response time was for a 999 call in each of the last 10 years; and what the average response time was for 999 calls made to the Humberside Police from (a) across the force area, (b) North Lincolnshire and (c) East Yorkshire in the last 12 months.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the average response times for 999 calls. Information on average 101 call waiting times since April 2014, provided by forces, including Humberside Police, can be found at: www.Police.uk

    The Home Office does not hold information on call waiting times for individual forces which pre-dates April 2014 or about calls made to forces from local areas. This information is held by forces.

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  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals have commenced interferon-free treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or secure institution in the last 12 months.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England collect data on the offer, uptake and outcome of testing for hepatitis C for people in prison using a system of metrics co-designed with Public Health England (PHE) called the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs). This dataset includes information on whether those requiring treatment were referred to specialist services but does not record details of the treatment provided.

    PHE has been working with NHS England and Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) and others on a dataset which would allow for more detailed monitoring of treatments but these have not yet been introduced. Therefore, we do not currently have any data on the number of individuals commenced on treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or other prescribed place of detention in the last 12 months. Further, we do not have data on those former prisoners commenced on treatment in the community.

  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people living in each country of the EU are in receipt of the UK state pension which is currently uprated annually under EU regulations and reciprocal agreements, and what assessment they have made of what will happen to those pensions if the UK leaves the EU.

    Baroness Altmann

    The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK state pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this.

    Details of the numbers of people in receipt of the state pension, and whether they live in countries where the state pension is frozen or uprated, is included at Annex A. Countries where the UK state pension is up-rated are identified by an asterisk by the name of the country.

    The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a partition plan in Iraq relating to independence for Kurdish people.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The question of independence, and its potential merits and drawbacks, is ultimately one for the Kurds and the rest of the people of Iraq, rather than for the UK.

    We are committed to a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Iraq. We strongly believe that the Kurds have an important role to play in building that future and confronting the threat which Daesh pose to all of Iraq’s communities. The most effective way to combat Daesh will be moderate forces working together to defeat them, including close cooperation between the Government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on improving women’s mental health since the publication in 2010 of Working towards women’s wellbeing: unfinished business.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department’s mental health policy teams provide strategic policy advice on mental health for people of all ages and genders. When issues are specific to a gender these are addressed within the policy development.

    The Coalition Government published a national mental health strategy No Health Without Mental Health in 2012 which addressed mental health issues for the whole population, and introduced the concept of parity of esteem for mental health. This Government continues to hold NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate for the achievement of measurable progress towards the parity of esteem for mental health.

    The Government announced almost £1 billion of additional investment for mental health in January 2016 including £290 million of new investment over the next five years to provide mental healthcare for new mothers. The Mental Health Taskforce Report published in February 2016 set out a recommendation for NHS England to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period. The recommendation stated this should include access to psychological therapies and the right range of specialist community or inpatient care so that comprehensive, high-quality services are in place across England.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to improve trade data for the next calendar quarter.

    Lord Price

    Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan. Government departments are working together to support UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities and to create a strong business environment that allows them to flourish both at home and overseas.

    A key part of this work is to identify export opportunities, many of which are based around the needs of high-growth and emerging markets. We are making those opportunities available to UK businesses through the Exporting is GREAT campaign which has elicited over 25,000 responses to the 7,000 export opportunities published online since it launched in November 2015.