The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many respondents to the first consultation on reforming housing benefit for supported housing in 2011 responded that a localised pot would support the right of disabled people to live independently.
Caroline Nokes
The consultation in 2011 sought views on a wide variety of options, and received a range of viewpoints, reflecting the diversity of the sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of freedom of religion and belief in Bangladesh; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Hugo Swire
The Government is concerned by the violence directed towards those expressing secular or atheist views in Bangladesh. Ministers have been unequivocal in our condemnation of the murder of five secular bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh this year, and in calling for the Bangladesh government to protect those who face threats to their lives because of the views they have expressed. My noble Friend the right hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns, our High Commissioner in Dhaka and myself, in my statement on 7 August, have all expressed shock at the appalling murders and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and free speech protected. In my 14 August blog I said that Bangladesh is a secular country, with a rich tradition of freedom and religious tolerance. That should be commended, protected and preserved.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, visited Bangladesh from 31 August to 9 September. We look forward to the release of his report at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2016 and will encourage the government to consider all its recommendations carefully.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to measure the effectiveness of the implementation of the new medicines for hepatitis C treatment, and when they will publish those results.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has advised that it is working with Public Health England and the clinical leads of the operational delivery networks to agree a common dataset which will enable the effectiveness of new medicines for hepatitis C to be measured.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the number of political prisoners in Bahrain; and if he will make representations to the government of Bahrain calling for the release of such prisoners.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain – including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting which was most recently held in November 2015. If we have specific concerns around convictions or sentencing, we raise these with the Government of Bahrain as part of our wider dialogue on human rights and reform.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Higgins on 2016-02-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether EU member states within the Schengen area are issuing a standard form of passport or other document to those they accept as asylum seekers or whether individual countries decide on the format to use; whether they have examined any sample of such document; and if so, whether they will place in the Library of the House any examples they may have.
Lord Bates
Under Article 25 of the Qualification Directive asylum seekers accepted as refugees in an EU member state will be issued a refugee status travel document, in the form set out in the Schedule to the Geneva Convention, for the purpose of travel outside their territory unless there are compelling reasons of national security or public order which prevent this.
It is normal practice for member states to distribute specimen documents between states. All specimen documents are stored securely in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect of UK policies on tax and overseas territories on the effectiveness of Government steps to tackle global poverty.
Mr David Gauke
The Government is committed to tackling global poverty and to a fair and transparent global tax system.
Following the lead taken by the UK in its G8 Presidency, each of the UK’s Overseas Territories with a recognised financial centre has committed to automatic exchange of information with over 90 jurisdictions worldwide. The Territories have also joined the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters providing a legal gateway for exchange of information with a large number of countries, including developing countries which have joined the Convention.
The Government wants all countries, including developing countries, to be able to take advantage of exchange of information, both on request and automatically. The Department for International Development (DFID) funds the Global Forum and World Bank to support developing countries in implementing exchange of information systems, and last year the Government announced a partnership with the Ghana revenue authority to pilot the new standard on automatic exchange of information.
The UK has also been at the forefront of recent international efforts to align the taxation of profits with economic activity through the G20-OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This project, which involved tax officials from over 120 countries, represents the most comprehensive attempt to reform the international tax rules since they were first drafted in the 1920s. All countries will be able to benefit from these changes to the international tax system, but some will require additional support if they are to do so. International organisations are therefore producing practical toolkits to help developing countries implement BEPS standards and DFID is funding international organisations to assist developing countries in obtaining technical assistance on issues such as transfer pricing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the present amount of Continued Professional Development funding for training teachers in the new computing curriculum will be maintained for future academic years.
Nick Gibb
Over the last three years, the Department has spent more than £4.5 million to support the implementation of the new curriculum and is committed to support the high quality teaching of computing. This includes £3m to establish the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science, building a national network of over 300 ‘Master Teachers’ whom schools can commission to provide training for their teachers; £1m for Computing at School (CAS) to meet the needs of primary schools teachers who lacked the specialist computer science subject knowledge required to teach the new curriculum; and a £500,000 competitive match-funded scheme that has supported innovative approaches to promoting excellent computing teaching and lever additional investment and engagement from business.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of UK military staff posted to (a) Eurocorps and (b) other EU institutions.
Mr Julian Brazier
The UK is not a member of Eurocorps and has no military staff posted to it. The UK currently has 17 military staff posted in the EU institutions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Food and Drink Federation on tackling obesity.
Nicola Blackwood
Details of all Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the GOV.UK website. The latest publication which covers meetings between January and March 2016 can be found at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2016 to Question 46072, what plans he has to replace the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria after the UK leaves the EU.
Mark Garnier
I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer I gave on 19 September 2016 to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson), UIN 46058.