Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people serving (1) life sentences, and (2) imprisonment for public protection sentences, were transferred from closed to open prison conditions following authorisation by the Parole Board in each month since January 2013.

Lord Faulks

The table below gives a breakdown of the number of indeterminate sentence prisoners who were recommended by the Parole Board for transfer to open conditions.

The data covers the period from 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2015, broken down by month, and distinguish between those serving a life sentence and those serving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection.

These figures have been drawn from a live administrative IT system which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

		Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Totals
2013
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	57	62	66	73	69	78	61	68	67	60	64	54	779
	Lifer	59	48	40	48	51	51	46	43	37	47	41	27	538
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	52	58	59	60	70	65	77	76	63	74	47	80	781
	Lifer	38	63	44	40	53	38	58	48	38	50	33	47	550

2014
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	62	68	41	74	54	49	69	48	35	44	50	48	642
	Lifer	44	31	31	28	36	33	40	28	17	24	38	24	374
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	65	46	74	45	38	26	54	43	41	64	48	46	590
	Lifer	30	34	39	21	15	20	23	23	28	31	20	29	313

2015
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	61	47	49	48	46	56	38	32	33	32	N/A	N/A	442
	Lifer	39	28	28	25	25	38	22	23	24	33	N/A	N/A	285
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	57	41	54	40	42	63	55	34	35	35	N/A	N/A	456
	Lifer	31	16	36	26	16	33	35	24	22	22	N/A	N/A	261

01/01/2023

Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit hydraulic fracturing from being conducted from wells that are drilled at the surface of sensitive areas within the boundaries of existing petroleum exploration and development licences.

Andrea Leadsom

On 4 November 2015, the Government set out proposals to ensure that hydraulic fracturing cannot be conducted from wells drilled at the surface of specified protected areas. [1] With regards to existing Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is minded not to approve any proposed programme of works which includes carrying out of hydraulic fracturing from new or existing wells drilled at the surface in specified protected areas. We are now consulting with key stakeholders, including the industry and non-governmental organisations and will set out our proposals in a policy statement in due course.

[1] See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/oil-and-gas-licensing-rounds#surface-development-restrictions

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01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure aid is delivered to the Syrian town of Madaya.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK has pledged over £1.1 billion in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. The UK co-sponsored and lobbied hard for the passage of UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which call on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places. An estimated £275 million (49%) of humanitarian assistance funded by the UK for inside Syria has been allocated for cross-border operations.

We have provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya.

On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the hard to reach the town of Madaya, and the besieged areas of Foah and Kefraya. Further convoys are anticipated over the next couple of days. The convoy is expected to meet survival needs of the 40,000 persons inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya.

DFID funding to UN agencies is directly supporting the current convoy with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits.

The UK worked with partners in the UN Security Council to put humanitarian access in Madaya, and across Syria, on the Security Council’s agenda on Monday 11 January.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Iran on the 15 per cent increase in its budget for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications of that increase for regional security.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) activity in the region, and most recently raised our concerns about regional security with Iran on 20 January in Tehran. The IRGC is a proscribed organisation by the EU, listed due to actions relating to Iran’s support for terrorism and human rights reasons.

01/01/2023

Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

Alistair Burt

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

Table: The number of referrals entering treatment¹ in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined².

	Total number of referrals entering treatment³	Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)⁴	Median⁵ waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)
Organisation name
NHS Warrington CCG	3,265	31	28
All North West CCGs combined	123,445	44	24

Notes:

¹In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

²CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

³In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

⁴The mean was used as the average.

⁵Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

01/01/2023

David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place a copy of his Department’s (a) civilian casualty review procedure and (b) standard operating procedure in the Library.

Penny Mordaunt

I am withholding publication of the UK Armed Forces’ Incident Reporting Standing Operating Procedure, which contains the civilian casualty review process, as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of our Armed Forces.

The UK takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. Robust processes are in place to review reports of civilian casualties and to launch investigations where required.

01/01/2023
Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received in favour of elected mayors in Cheshire and Warrington.

James Wharton

Cheshire and Warrington were one of 38 areas across the country to submit devolution deal proposals in September 2015. Devolution deal proposals are developed and led by local areas. Therefore, the decision to release information regarding the content of any submission—including governance objectives—is a matter for the local area to decide, not the Government.

01/01/2023
Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the findings of the Royal College of Physicians’ report, End of Life Care Audit: Dying in Hospital, published in March 2015, what steps his Department has taken to improve end-of-life care in the NHS.

Ben Gummer

We are committed to ensuring that everyone at the end of life receives high quality, compassionate care that is tailored to their needs and preferences. The recent Royal College of Physicians’ audit showed steady improvement in the care people are receiving in hospital, but there are also areas where we could do better, including on ensuring round-the-clock access to specialist palliative care in hospitals, on record-keeping, and on involving people and those important to them in decisions about their care.

The Government will shortly publish its response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care which will set out actions to improve quality, choice and personalisation of end of life care, including in hospital settings. We are working with NHS England to ensure the results of the audit inform this process.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure vehicle technicians hold the necessary skills to work with electric vehicle technology.

Mr John Hayes

The government recognises the need to develop servicing skills to support the UK’s transition to ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs).

The Institute for the Motor Industry estimates there are currently around 1,000 vehicle technicians qualified to work on electric vehicles, with another 1,000 in training and due to be qualified by 2018. The 2020 Vision for English Apprenticeships supports an industry-led approach to skills training that puts employers in the driving seat of new apprenticeship standards.

The establishment of the employer-led Institute for Apprenticeships and the introduction of an employer levy fund provides an opportunity for the ULEV sector to lead the development of training programmes to meet the skills needs they have identified.

01/01/2023
Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what way the Northern Ireland Parades Commission meets international treaty obligations on human rights.

Lord Dunlop

The duties and functions of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission are set out in the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998. The Act is compliant with international treaty obligations on human rights.

01/01/2023