Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks of the Minister of State for the Department for International Development, Mr Desmond Swayne, on 16 March (HC Deb, col 937), whether non-state actors can be guilty of genocide, subject to a referral to the International Criminal Court from the United Nations Security Council.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Under Article IV of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III of the Convention shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals. Any member of Daesh who has committed an act of genocide is therefore liable to prosecution. Individual criminal responsibility, rather than by organisations or groups, is determined by courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor has set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her press statement of 8 April 2015.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many autistic people in England have died by suicide in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not collected centrally.

    Public Health England (PHE) published ‘Guidance for developing a local suicide prevention action plan’ in 2014. The guidance states the importance of developing multi-agency suicide prevention groups to ensure that local suicide prevention plans are informed by local intelligence and the needs of the local community. PHE is currently refreshing this guidance.

    We welcomed the independent Mental Health Taskforce recommendation to ensure that all local areas have multi-agency suicide prevention plans in place by 2017.

    The National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2012) stated that accessible, high-quality mental health services are fundamental to reducing the risk of suicide in people of all ages with mental health problems.

    Last year, NHS England commissioned the world’s first Learning Disability Mortality Review Programme to support local areas to review deaths of people with learning disabilities and to use the information to improve service provision so that physical and mental health problems can be identified and addressed. The process is currently being piloted in the North East and Cumbria.

    We have made monumental strides in the way we help manage conditions such as autism in this country and that is why we are working alongside people with autism, and their carers,

    to make sure they have access to healthcare with adjustments made for their conditions. This is a focus of the Cross Government Autism Strategy which was revised in 2014 as Think Autism.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library copies of all letters, leaflets and other material from his Department circulated to (a) stakeholders and (b) members of the public on the EU referendum; what the costs of the production and distribution of that material has been since 1 January 2016; and what he estimates the cost of any further production and distribution of such material will be between 6 May 2016 and 23 June 2016.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (John Penrose) UIN 38811.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on giving housing association tenants whose tenancies are defined as market rental the right to buy.

    Gavin Barwell

    The voluntary Right to Buy will give 1.3 million housing association tenants the opportunity to purchase a home. We are currently working with the National Housing Federation and the housing association sector on the implementation of the main scheme and will announce more details in due course.

    As is set out in the voluntary agreement, the scheme will apply to those housing association tenants who live in a social or affordable rented home.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to exempt sheltered housing tenants from the housing benefit cap.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Secretary of State announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 15 September 2016 that we would be deferring the application of Local Housing Allowance Rates in the social sector for supported housing which includes sheltered housing until 2019/20.

    At this point we will bring in a new funding model which will ensure that the sector continues to be funded at current levels, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

    The Secretary of State also announced that a formal consultation would be published shortly.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Leader of the House, how many civil servants in his Office are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Office.

    Chris Grayling

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) on 4 November 2015, to Question UIN 13734.

    “

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what open data requirements apply to the BBC (a) generally and (b) to the publication of or making available licence fee payment numbers by region.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The BBC has a duty under the Charter to observe high standards of openness and transparency. The BBC is also subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The BBC has a Memorandum of Understanding in place with the Open Data Institute and the Open Knowledge Foundation to support to the BBC in its aspirations to open up data where this is appropriate.

    The BBC does not collate licence fee income by region, so cannot publish this information.

  • 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 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been charged with trying to escape from a prison van in each of the last five years; and how many such people have avoided recapture.

    Andrew Selous

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold data about the number of people charged with trying to escape from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors.

    NOMS has implemented a range of measures in recent years to improve the security surrounding prisoners on escort. Between 2010-11 and 2014-15, 23 prisoners escaped from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors. All were re-captured.

    Overall, the number of escapes from prison escorts almost halved from 102 between 2005-06 and 2009-10, to 59 between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

    The table below gives the numbers and details of the escapes for each of these years.

    Escapes from escorts while entering or leaving vehicles1 or en route to or from venue

    Response

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    ENTERING VEHICLE

    0

    0

    0

    2

    2

    LEAVING VEHICLE

    0

    1

    1

    1

    0

    VEHICLE EN ROUTE FROM VENUE

    0

    2

    0

    1

    0

    VEHICLE EN ROUTE TO VENUE

    1

    6

    1

    3

    2

    TOTAL

    1

    9

    2

    7

    4

    (1) Vehicles primarily refer to prison vans used for escorting prisoner but do include other vehicle types

    The table below provides information about escapes which have taken place from prison escort and private escort contractors from 2005/06 to 2014/15. The table includes escapes from courts but not those escapes of less than 15 minutes’ duration and covers the full duration of the escort process.

    KPI Escapes1 from Prison Escort2 and from Private Escort Contractors (PECS)3 from 2005/06 to 2014/15

    2005 /06

    2006 /07

    2007 /08

    2008 /09

    2009 /10

    2010 /11

    2011 /12

    2012 /13

    2013 /14

    2014 /15

    KPI Prison Escorts Escapes

    8

    6

    2

    4

    3

    1

    2

    0

    2

    1

    KPI Contracted Out Escort (PECS) Escapes

    17

    19

    16

    15

    12

    10

    13

    9

    9

    12

    KPI Category A Escapes during Escort

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    1

    –

    –

    –

    1) The definition of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) a prisoner escapes and is charged with another criminal offence.

    2) Escaping the control of escorting prison service staff.

    3) Escapes from the secure vehicles or supervision of contracted prison escorts. This includes escapes from court where contracted prison escort staff have been notified.

    “

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all areas of the UK benefit from the award of 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands are being made available across the UK as part of the Government’s programme of public sector spectrum release. Ofcom takes independent decisions on how to assign spectrum, including whether and how to auction it and the conditions of licences granted. The licence obligation on Telefonica together with the Government’s 2014 agreement with mobile network operators means that by the end of 2017 95% of premises in Scotland will have indoor 4G coverage and complete not-spots for voice and SMS text will halve.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which arts organisations have been allocated capital grants of more than £5 million in the last three years.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Arts Council publishes data on the organisations that have received regular funding and capital funding on their website: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/apply-for-funding/capital-investment-2015-18/large-capital-grants/"

    “