Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Parminter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the UK’s fishing quota, in particular with regard to whether small-scale fishermen receive a fair share of that quota.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government remains committed to fishing sustainably and supporting the UK’s inshore fleet. Defra is in the final stages of concluding a quota realignment exercise which, when complete, will represent a 14% uplift in the amount of quota the inshore fleet currently receives. Quota units which were under-utilised by Producer Organisations (POs) in 2012 were identified for re-allocation. Three quarters of the Fisheries Quota Allocations relating to underutilised quota from POs has now been permanently realigned to the inshore fleet, with the balance to be completed as soon as possible.

    The Government has also taken steps to support England’s inshore fleet under the landing obligation, or discard ban. The demersal landing obligation comes into force on 1 January 2016, following the successful introduction of a discard ban for pelagic fisheries in 2015. The introduction of the demersal landing obligation will be phased in for all quota fisheries between 2016 and 2019. The discard plans for 2016 introduce landing obligations for clearly defined fisheries, including haddock, whiting, sole, Nephrops, hake and plaice.

    As a result of vessels no longer being able to discard, an uplift in quota will be awarded to fishermen so they can land formerly discarded fish. The allocation of quota uplift is a devolved matter, and Minister Eustice announced the Government’s policy for allocating quota uplift for the English fleet in October this year.

    In 2016, the non-sector pools will receive the first 100 tonnes of any quota uplift received and then 10% of any remainder, before the rest is issued to the POs on behalf of their members. Defra consulted on the implementation of the demersal landing obligation and responses indicate that the inshore fleets have high discard rates as a result of low quotas. The Government considers this quota uplift to go some way to helping small-scale fishermen adapt to the first year of the demersal discard ban.

    As the landing obligation represents the largest change in fisheries management for a generation, it is important that we continue to support all our vessels as they adapt to this significant change. We must therefore take stock of all that is going on in fisheries management before any further decisions are made with regard to quota reallocation in the future.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the five items most commonly recorded by the Incident Report System are; and how many of each such item were recorded in the last year for which figures are available.

    Andrew Selous

    The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on the frequency of rocket attacks from the West Bank into Israel in the last 12 months.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not received reports of incidents of rocket fire from the West Bank into Israel . However, military groups in Gaza (including Hamas’ military wing), conduct test-firing of rockets into the Mediterranean on a regular basis. There have also been reports of rocket or mortar fire from Gaza towards Israel.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on treasuring commercial flights to Sharm el Sheikh.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is continuing to work towards a resumption of direct flights as soon as possible.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic resources he is providing to the peace talks between the Houthi rebels and Saudi-led coalition in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is providing diplomatic and financial support to the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in convening UN-facilitated talks between relevant Yemeni parties. We welcome the cessation of hostilities that began on 10 April and strongly encourage all parties to respect it, and engage constructively in forthcoming peace talks.

  • Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing a new criminal offence of failure to prevent economic crime on the number of prosecutions for such crimes.

    Jeremy Wright

    Under existing law, a company only faces criminal liability if prosecutors can prove a sufficiently senior person knew about the criminal conduct. It can be extremely hard to prove this, especially in large companies with complex management structures.

    A new failure to prevent offence could help prosecutors hold all companies to account for criminal conduct and bring some positive changes in corporate culture.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy that student maintenance loan payments are paid on a monthly basis to nursing students.

    Joseph Johnson

    Full-time students starting nursing courses from 1 August 2017 will qualify for the same loans for living costs as other new full-time undergraduate students in 2017/18. Loans for living costs are paid to students in three equal instalments at the start of each term to help meet up-front costs while studying.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the Financial Reporting Council’s ability to work with other financial regulators in the UK to address the systematic financial risk of climate change.

    Margot James

    Although the Financial Reporting Council’s remit does not extend to the systemic financial risks of climate change, I am confident of its ability to collaborate effectively with any financial regulators, as required, within whose remit such risks fall.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of detainees held in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre are receiving medication for mental health problems; and what proportion of those detainees have had their dosage increased since being held in detention.

    Alistair Burt

    Information on the number of detainees who are prescribed a particular medicine or any changes in prescriptions is not collected centrally.

    It is essential that any person detained within the immigration detention estate receives medical attention appropriate to their clinical needs. Health professionals should assess and keep under review the medicines requirements for each individual to determine the best course of action for that patient, taking into account their views and preferences.

    Health providers at Yarl’s Wood have now established a Health and Wellbeing Group for detainees in recognition of the anxiety levels that many detainees exhibit when they arrive in the establishment. This group supports the detainees to feel less disempowered in their environment and, as such, can pre-empt the escalation of anxiety which when not acknowledged, can lead to more serious mental health presentations.

  • Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have revisited the Personal Independence Payment assessment moving around guidance on reliability to ensure that that guidance captures real-life situations and that the criteria are applied consistently and fairly.

    Baroness Altmann

    The PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments includes guidance on the assessment criteria and how they should be applied. The guide is regularly reviewed to ensure that the criteria is applied consistently and fairly.

    Chapter 3 – ‘The Assessment Criteria’ (page 73) explains how to apply the reliability criteria, including in the ‘Moving Around’ activity. We have also provided a worked example to further assist health professionals.

    The latest version of the guide is annexed to this answer.