Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had on preventing an outbreak of cholera in Syria.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK remains concerned about the possible spread of cholera from Iraq into Syria. Aid agencies inside Syria and across the region are in the process of finalising a cholera contingency plan to be implemented in the event of an outbreak and are proactively prepositioning supplies in relevant locations. The UK is monitoring the situation closely and is in regular contact with Health partners inside Syria, including the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people stopped claiming (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance in the most recent month for which figures are available; and what proportion of such people ended their claim after moving into work.

    Priti Patel

    The available information which shows the number of off-flows from the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimant count is published here:

    https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

    Guidance for users can be found at:

    https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

    The available information which shows the number of off-flows from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is published here:

    http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/flows/flows_off/tabtool.html

    Guidance for users is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

    Individuals ending a claim for JSA are not required to inform the Department of their destinations and hence the destination information published on the NOMIS website is incomplete.

    “

  • Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure the economic empowerment of women in the developing world.

    Justine Greening

    The economic empowerment of women is a top priority for my Department. In September 2015 at the UN General Assembly and Post-2015 Summit, the UK and UNWomen hosted the event Transforming Economies: Empowering Women and Girls. The Call to Action launched at this event secured over 150 commitments to action from governments, development institutions, civil society and the private sector. These will all help deliver the Global Goal targets for women’s economic empowerment.

    We support a wide range of programmes to increase women’s opportunities for employment, ownership and control over economic assets and ability to start and run businesses. Since 2011, DFID have helped 2.5m women to improve their land and property rights and 35m women to access financial services.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the total spending allocation her Department has made to supporting communities affected by recent floods has been spent to date.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra is administering a Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by the flooding. Further support to communities is available through the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. The RPA will pay out on all eligible claims. The deadline for Fund applications is 1 April 2016.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government’s policy is on where unsuccessful asylum applicants from North Korea are deported to.

    James Brokenshire

    Unsuccessful North Korean asylum seekers will normally be removed to South Korea. As with any other nationality, all asylum and human rights applications from North Korean nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations and against the background of the latest available country of origin information from a wide range of well-recognised sources.

    The Constitution of Republic of Korea (South Korea) stipulates that all North Koreans are citizens of the Republic of Korea. As citizens of South Korea, North Korean asylum seekers are able to seek the protection of the South Korean authorities.

    Any application for asylum owing to a fear of persecution in North Korea is, therefore, likely to fall for refusal on the basis that (i) the applicant will not be removed to North Korea. The applicant could be returned to South Korea which is not a country where they have a well founded fear of persecution; and/or (ii) the applicant could reasonably be expected to avail himself of the protection of South Korea, where they could assert citizenship.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to further restrict the use of drones to ensure (a) the safety of aircraft and (b) privacy of members of the public.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are existing regulations in place that require users of drones to maintain direct, unaided visual contact with their vehicle and to not recklessly or negligently cause or permit their craft to endanger any person or property. There are also tough existing penalties, including up to five years imprisonment for endangering an aircraft. Guidance on tackling the risks of criminal drone use has been provided to constabularies across the UK. The Secretary of State has written to the Police to request their assistance in raising awareness of drone risks and restrictions.

    The Department continues to work with the CAA and industry partners to assess the safety risk of drones. It is also currently working with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to develop consistent, EU-wide safety rules for drones. A public consultation is planned for the summer. This will look at a range of options including registration and licensing options, and the potential for restrictions on purchase and use.

    Operators of drones that might collect personal data must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) unless a relevant exemption applies. The requirements of the DPA are regulated by the independent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and their website provides clear guidance to operators.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library the raw data from each English Housing Survey detailing the nationalities of the Household Representative Person.

    Brandon Lewis

    Raw data from the English Housing Survey are publicly available via the UK Data Service (archive for survey and economic data). These publicly available datasets undergo rigorous disclosure control to ensure the anonymity of our respondents is protected and, as such, do not include individual level nationality data.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average length of time is from joining for an employee to qualify as a (a) maritime operations commander, (b) maritime operations controller, (c) senior operations officer and (d) maritime operations officer.

    Mr John Hayes

    The length of time taken to train Coastguard Officers is entirely dependent on their level of experience and competence when they join Her Majesty’s Coastguard and the level of experience of competence they gain prior to any internal promotion. Therefore an average for these would be misleading.

    On entry to HM Coastguard as a Maritime Operations Officer it will take between six and 12 months to become trained, depending on previous maritime experience and competence.

    HM Coastguard do not recruit direct entry Senior Maritime Operations Officers, they are internally recruited from the cadre of fully trained Maritime Operations Officers who will then undertake a further six months of training for this post.

    As roles that can be directly recruited from outside HM Coastguard the training for both Maritime Operations Controllers and Maritime Operations Commanders is entirely dependent on their prevailing maritime experience and is in effect bespoke for the individual concerned.

    It should be noted that the roles senior watch manager, watch manager, watch officer and watch assistant no longer exist within HM Coastguard.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking with local government to promote green infrastructure.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The government is committed to developing a 25 year plan to improve the environment and this will include the importance of green infrastructure as a key underpinning of both the economy and well being.

    The government is spending more than £600 million by 2020 to support the development, manufacture and uptake of electric ultra low emission vehicles in the UK. Part of this includes assisting local authorities by providing grant funding through the On Street Residential Scheme and Workplace Chargepoint Scheme to help meet the cost of installing electric vehicle chargepoints on streets in residential areas without access to off-street parking. Under the Go Ultra Low City Scheme the government is supporting a variety of infrastructure programmes for both public and domestic chargepoints across eight cities/regions of Bristol/West of England, London, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, York, Dundee, Oxford and the North East.

    The government has made £1.5 million available to communities to create ‘Pocket Parks’, turning unused spaces into sensory gardens, wildlife habitats and food growing areas. The government has also submitted written evidence to the Select Committee inquiry on the future of public parks and will respond to any recommendations made as a result of this inquiry in due course.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical bodies on the use of oestrogen to prevent brittle bones.

    Jane Ellison

    There have been no such discussions.