The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department issues on the import and use of fox urine for the purpose of trail hunting.
Rory Stewart
The Government has no plans to make an assessment or issue guidance on the import and use of fox urine for the purpose of trail hunting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2015 to Question 20110, what specific benefits the UK derives from membership of (a) the European Defence Agency’s Military Airworthiness Authorisation Forum, (b) European Defence Agency helicopter training programmes and (c) the Single European Sky initiative.
Mr Julian Brazier
The Military Airworthiness Authorisation Forum (MAWA) improves military aviation safety, reduces military air system acquisition costs, and increases interoperability through harmonisation of military airworthiness regulations. Significant cost savings in the Eurofighter Typhoon programme are likely because of MAWA work led by the UK, and our active involvement in the MAWA Forum provides the UK a position of influence across the Military aviation community.
The helicopter training programmes carried out under the European Defence Agency include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, and have derived unprecedented levels of interoperability.
Using standard operating procedures, derived in large part from UK methods, several hundred helicopter aircrew from across Europe have been exposed to, instructed in, and are now following the same procedures as UK aircrew. This means that future operations, be it under NATO, EU, or other coalition – are being de-risked through increased ability and greater interoperability. Our forces can use other nations’ helicopters safely, including for medical evacuation, confident of their in-combat ability while operating in the same manner as UK assets.
The Single European Sky and Air Traffic Management Research programme is analysing the implications for military operations of new legislation and equipment upgrade programmes supporting increased commercial aviation out to 2035.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to increase participation in modern foreign languages in primary schools.
Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to the teaching of foreign languages as part of a core academic curriculum. This is why a modern or ancient language is included within the English Baccalaureate performance measure. Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England must teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11). Schools can choose which language or languages to teach and should enable pupils to make substantial progress in one language by the end of primary school.
To support the introduction of a compulsory foreign language at Key Stage 2, the government funded nine projects across the country to provide training for primary teachers. These projects have trained hundreds of teachers and provided online resources for training thousands more teachers.
The EBacc has had a positive effect on the take up of languages in schools, with a rise in the proportion of the cohort in state-funded schools entered for a modern foreign language from 40% in pupils in 2010 to 49% in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the officials of his Department he expects to be made redundant by the end of 2016.
Jane Ellison
The Department has begun its DH2020 programme which, amongst other things, aims to reduce the size of the Department by about one third over the course of this parliament. As a result the Department is anticipating moving from around 2,000 roles to around 1,300-1,400 over this time period.
To deliver the reductions, the Department will offer Voluntary Exits and a three month redeployment period for displaced staff, prior to moving to Voluntary Redundancy and Compulsory Redundancy, if necessary. Taking this into account, numbers of redundancies are expected to be lower than the headline numbers given above.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding his Department has provided for the (a) research, (b) education and (c) treatment of problem gambling in each year since 2010; and if he will estimate the level of funding provided by the gambling industry for such activities in each of those years.
David Evennett
The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB), was set up to by the Gambling Commission to advise on priorities for research, education and training (RET) relating to responsible gambling. The Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) an independent charity, then commissions research into gambling related harm and funds education and treatment programmes, taking into account the priorities set out by the RGSB.
It is a requirement on all gambling licence holders to make an annual financial contribution to one or more organisations that perform research, education or training for gambling-related harm. The vast majority choose to make that contribution to the Responsible Gambling Trust, which has raised £7.5 million in 2016 (unaudited); £6.5 million in 2015; £6.3 million in 2014; £5.7 million in 2013; £5.2 million in 2012; £5 million in 2011 (each year relates to the previous 12 months to 31 March). RGT’s accounts for these years are available on the Charity Commission website and include the breakdown of expenditure between research, treatment and harm prevention.
RGT is committed to working with RGSB to estimate the cost of the education activities identified in the recently published National Responsible Gambling Strategy, 2016-19, that will be expected to raise from businesses who profit from commercial gambling in Britain.
The Responsible Gambling Trust has published a number of research reports into FOBTs since 2010, which are available on the RGT website: http://www.responsiblegamblingtrust.org.uk/research/research-publications/
Further RGT commercial and independent research on Category B Gaming Machines was published on 24 May, and can be found here http://www.responsiblegamblingtrust.org.uk/research/research-publications/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has been informed on any occasion by the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise that an event of default has occurred or that such an event was likely to occur.
Claire Perry
We have not been informed by the operator on any occasion that an event of default has occurred or that such an event was likely to occur.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding of the Review into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons, A report to the Home Office by Stephen Shaw, published in January 2016, paragraph 12, that rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules does not protect vulnerable people who find themselves in detention.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government has carefully considered the recommendations made by Stephen Shaw in his review report, and has taken these into account in introducing revised guidance and its new policy on adults at risk in immigration detention. Revised guidance on Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001 was published on 12 September 2016. It will support improved reporting quality by doctors working in immigration removal centres and improved consideration by Home Office caseworkers of those reports. The adults at risk policy, which also came into force on 12 September, strikes the right balance between protecting vulnerable individuals and maintaining effective and proportionate immigration control.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 9 January 2015 to Question 219449, what progress has been made in improving wheelchair services following the NHS England review.
Alistair Burt
Following the conclusion of its review NHS England has set up an improvement support programme working with 11 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to improve services for wheelchair users. The 11 CCGs are:
– North Yorkshire (NHS Harrogate and Rural District;
– NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby;
– NHS Scarborough and Ryedale;
– NHS Vale of York CCG;
– North West London (NHS West London);
– NHS Hounslow;
– NHS Ealing;
– NHS Central London;
– NHS Hammersmith and Fulham;
– NHS Barnet; and
– NHS Brent.
NHS Improving Quality is supporting the programme which will run from September 2015 to March 2016 and include creating guidance, evidence and material to share with other organisations and communities.
NHS England has also introduced a new national wheelchair dataset with the aim of providing information centrally on the volume, expenditure, access to, and patient experience about wheelchair services to enable transparency and benchmarking. From July 2015, data are being collected quarterly from CCGs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up by (a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized enterprises has been of the cyber essentials programme.
Mr Edward Vaizey
At the end of March 2016, 2,181 Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certificates had been issued, of which it is estimated 28% were awarded to micro, 28% to small, and 22% to medium-sized businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representation he has made to his Turkish counterpart on the use of curfews in predominantly Kurdish areas of Turkey.
Mr David Lidington
The ongoing violence in the predominantly Kurdish areas of south east Turkey is extremely concerning. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill members of the Turkish police service and security forces in violent terrorist attacks. The Turkish Government has responded by striking PKK targets in Turkey and Northern Iraq. They have also launched large-scale security operations involving curfews in some towns and cities in order to clear them of suspected terrorists.
We are aware of reports of civilian casualties in the region, and a worsening humanitarian situation in certain areas in south east Turkey. The Turkish Government have said that 48 civilians lost their lives in clashes between 23 July and 23 December 2015. They also said that 93,000 people have fled their homes. We also understand that there have been investigations launched against elected officials and politicians. Any such investigations should be undertaken transparently and fully respect the rule of law.
We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians who have been caught up in the violence. As in any conflict, civilian casualties should be avoided and human rights need to be fully protected. We have been clear, in public and private, that PKK violence must end and we support a return to the peace process, in the interests of Turkey and the region. We stand ready to help in any way we can.
We continue to monitor the situation closely. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised to the Turkish government the need to respect human rights, avoid civilian casualties and return to the peace process. I raised these issues with my Turkish counterpart the last time we met in August 2015.