The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the event of the UK leaving the EU, how they intend to change the status of domicile, if at all, in relation to UK citizens living in EU member states.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Domicile in the UK is an English common law concept which is distinct from citizenship and nationality. It is not dependent on EU law nor on the UK’s membership of the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Justin Tomlinson
The Department for Work and Pensions pays employees an annual salary and does not pay an hourly rate.
The Department uses a grade structure to determine salary rates. The grade structure is underpinned by Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), an analytical job evaluation tool which meets all requirements of legislation and EHRC statutory codes of practice on Equal Pay. The use of JEGS and its application in determining the appropriate grade for a role enables us to determine where employees are doing equal work based on “work rated as equivalent”.
DWP Equality data is published on an annual basis on https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/equality-and-diversity this includes the average pay by indicated ethnicity each year up to 2015.
The main factor influencing the DWP pay gap is the difference in distribution of staff within each of these groups across the grades. DWP continues to regularly review ways to address the pay gap.
This report is usually published in July each year and looks at data over the previous financial year. The report for 2016 is not yet available.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Royal Navy about further extending the out-of-service dates for the Type 23 frigate.
Harriett Baldwin
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor (Philip Dunne) on 27 June 2016 to Question 39922 to the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Mrs Flick Drummond).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of staff on the payroll of her Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Sarah Newton
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to improve the conviction rate for rape and domestic violence.
Robert Buckland
The CPS has taken a number of steps to improve the conviction rate for rape and domestic violence cases. These include refocusing resources to strengthen Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Units, extensive training on rape for prosecutors, an update of the domestic abuse legal guidance and closer working with the police in rape cases including the provision of early investigative advice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to make a decision on whether to refer for consideration by NICE PRRNT treatment for pancreatic cancers.
George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently consulted stakeholders on the suitability of Lutetium-177 Dotatate – a type of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) – for treating unresectable, somatostatin receptor-positive gastroentero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours without disease progression for referral to its technology appraisal work programme. A decision on its referral to NICE will be taken shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on recent illegal entry into Gibraltarean waters by Spanish vessels.
Mr David Lidington
The Government continues to make diplomatic protests to Spain with respect to all incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Since the agreement of August 2015 to prioritise safety at sea and to step up law enforcement cooperation, there have been fewer incursions that have raised safety concerns and work on improving cooperation between law enforcement agencies is ongoing. Neither I nor the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ), have therefore had cause to raise incursions into BGTW with our Spanish counterparts since my response to Written Question 11709 on 22 October 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the legality of US airstrikes in Libya before authorising use of RAF Lakenheath for airstrikes in Libya on 19 February 2016.
Michael Fallon
I confirmed in a statement on 19 February 2016 that I had authorised the request. Permission was granted once I was satisfied with the legality of the operation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s planned expenditure on wi-fi provision for public libraries is for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities. However, the Government provided funding in 2015-16 which means that by March 2016, free WiFi will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. In total, 70 local authorities will have received funding of around £2.7 million to upgrade or install WiFi in 1017 public libraries. In addition, through the Government’s super connected cities programme, WiFi was previously installed in 288 libraries across 14 cities, UK-wide by the end of March 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support research into and development of machine learning.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports the research and development of machine learning through the Research Councils, for example the current Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council portfolio contains nearly 150 research and training grants involving aspects of artificial intelligence.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre uses high performance computing combined with big data analytics, cognitive computing and visualisation techniques to collaborate with industry and research partners. The latest government investment of £113 million at Hartree in a cognitive and data centric computing centre (announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement) has attracted inward investment from IBM and other hi-tech industry exceeding £200 million.
Research Councils also support existing machine learning applications, for example the Medical Research Council support programmes which involve the use of machine learning tools for image analysis and in analysing and predicting risk of Serious Adverse Events for hospital patients.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council also support aspects of research and development on machine learning relating to its importance within the rapidly emerging field of the digital humanities and issues relating to ethical, philosophical, legal and historical perspectives of machine learning and human-computer interactions.