Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of whether G4S is currently in breach of its contract for services at Medway Secure Training College.

    Andrew Selous

    An investigation into the allegations reported at Medway Secure Training College is underway by Kent Police and Local Authority.

    We are currently considering how to proceed including looking at whether the contract was breached. Decisions will be announced in the normal way.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to monitor implementation of the duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 on local authorities to (a) identify, (b) assess the needs of and (c) provide whole family support for young carers from April 2016.

    Edward Timpson

    Section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in April 2015, imposes a duty on local authorities to to “…take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are young carers within their area who have needs for support.” Once a young carer has been assessed, the local authority must consider whether the child has needs that could be met by services provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, that is, whether they should be supported as a child in need.

    The Department currently supports the Carers Trust to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners to embed good practice, including good practice surrounding whole family support. This approach is intended to ensure effective, joined up, support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families. We will draw on the learning from that work when considering further action.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many removals of former, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to Vietnam in the last three years were for offences relating to (a) drugs, (b) prostitution and (c) people trafficking.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not disclose country specific information regarding deportation of foreign national offenders as its disclosure could prejudice relations between the UK and foreign governments.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they propose to increase immigration and asylum chamber fees, and what assessment they have made of the likely impact of those increased fees on access to justice.

    Lord Faulks

    We’re protecting the most vulnerable from any fee increase, including those who receive asylum support and cases involving children being supported or housed by a local authority. But it is also right that the taxpayer does not subsidise those who choose to challenge a decision made by the Home Office before the Tribunal.

    We have a duty to the public to reduce the deficit and ensure sustainable funding for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service.

    We have published a full impact assessment alongside the consultation document published on the Government website.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the annual saving which would be generated by the planned replacement of widowed parent’s allowance by bereavement allowance.

    Priti Patel

    Bereavement support payments will be introduced from April 2017 for new claimants only. Existing claimants of Widowed Parent’s Allowance and Bereavement Allowance will remain on those benefits for the lifetime of their awards therefore there will be no impact on them or their families.

    Bereavement Support Payment is forecasted to cost the Department for Work and Pensions an extra £100m in the first three years. The full cost to the exchequer will be greater than this as, unlike its predecessors, Bereavement Support Payment will not be taxable.

    Further information on forecast expenditure is provided via the link below.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487612/outturn-and-forecast-autumn-statement-2015.xlsx

    “

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of putting in place a comprehensive system of environmental protection before deep sea mining operations are allowed to commence in oceans worldwide.

    Alok Sharma

    The UK is committed to the development and implementation by the International Seabed Authority of a deep sea mining code in respect of areas outside national jurisdiction. A clear red line for the United Kingdom is that such a code, which is a prerequisite for the commencement of deep sea mining operations, ought to contain strong environmental protection. A first draft of a mining code was released by the International Seabed Authority in July 2016, and the UK will be submitting comments in due course.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who passed through the National Referral Mechanism as victims of modern slavery and trafficking were granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK in order to assist in police investigations and prosecutions in each fiscal year since 2009-10.

    Sarah Newton

    Our records indicate that the number of individuals who received a positive conclusive grounds decision from the National Referral Mechanism (see Note 1) who were granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations (see Note 2) were as shown in Table 1 below.

    Table 1 – Number of individuals granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations, following a positive conclusive grounds outcome from the National Referral Mechanism.

    Referral Year

    Number granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations

    2009/2010

    20

    2010/2011

    30

    2011/2012

    28

    2012/2013

    57

    2013/2014

    31

    2014/2015

    73

    2015/2016

    80

    1. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the process by which people who may have been victims of modern slavery are identified, referred, assessed and supported in the United Kingdom. (“Modern slavery” is a term that covers slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking.) The initial referral goes through a two stage process: a reasonable grounds stage and then, for those with a positive reasonable grounds outcome (where it is considered that the person is a potential victim of trafficking/slavery), a conclusive grounds stage (where the person is considered to be a confirmed victim of trafficking/slavery).

    2. The data in the table shows those with a positive conclusive grounds outcome only with a particular outcome type ("VOT DL Granted"), identifying them as someone granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK with the requirement that they assist the police in their investigations.

    3. Data extracted on 01 September 2016.

    4. Data is broken down into Financial Years, showing the year the referral was made.

    5. The data has been extracted from the Case Immigration Database.

    6. These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) arrests for and (b) successful prosecutions of individuals charged with counter-terrorism offences in (i) Coventry and (ii) the West Midlands in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Home Office releases a quarterly statistics bulletin on the operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000. It contains information on the numbers of arrests, charges and convictions for terrorism-related offences. The latest bulletin was released in September 2015 and can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-financial-year-ending-march-2015

    The data is not broken down by geographic location. To do so could give an indication of the deployment of police resources and might prejudice ongoing operations.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how he plans to hold to account clinical commissioning groups whose transformation plans do not include key performance indicators or estimated costs.

    Alistair Burt

    As part of improving transparency, all Local Transformation Plans must be published locally and made widely available.

    NHS England’s guidance Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing – Guidance and support for local areas is explicit about the need to promote equality and address health inequalities, and states that plans should ‘address the full spectrum of need including children and young people who have particular vulnerability to mental health problems for e.g. those with learning disabilities, looked after children and care leavers, those at risk or in contact with the Youth Justice System, or who have been sexually abused and/or exploited’.

    The assurance process requires local areas to evidence how they are meeting the needs of vulnerable groups including looked after children and children who have experienced abuse.

    An analysis of Local Transformation Plans has been commissioned and will include a thematic review of how the mental health needs of children and young people in vulnerable groups have been addressed.

    As set out in the guidance for Local Transformation Plans an integral part of the locally developed Children and Young People’s Mental Health Transformation Plans includes a tracking template that sets out local progress milestones and financial spend. This tracker will be used as the basis for assurance assessment in 2015/16 and from 2016/17 onwards progress on local transformation will become part of the mainstream planning assurance process.

    Local Transformation Plansrequire all key partners in a local area to agree how best to meet the mental health needs of children and young people in their local populations. 122 Local Transformation Planshave been developed that cover all 209 clinical commissioning groups.

    The assurance process for Local Transformation Plans for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing was undertaken by NHS England regional teams and included assurance against each plan of standard self-assessment and tracker templates to enable a comparison of plans against objective success criteria.

    NHS England have commissioned a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans, in order to support policy makers, local commissioners and services to understand and use the data that is contained within the plans to drive further improvements. Local Transformation Plans will be reviewed from a narrative, analytical and financial perspective, with thematic reviews carried out in key focus areas that align with Future in mind principles.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons drivers resident in Northern Ireland are unable to use the online facility to change address on their driving licence.

    Andrew Jones

    Driver licensing in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive not the UK government. The online facility administered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is available only to those resident in Great Britain.