The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending visa-free access to the UK to Nepalese citizens.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. There are currently no plans to change the visa requirements for Nepalese citizens.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications for UK-based airlines of the Single European Sky when the UK leaves the EU.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is considering carefully all the potential implications arising from the UK’s exit from the EU for our aviation industry. This includes the implications for UK-based airlines relating to Air Traffic Management and the Single European Sky after the UK leaves the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) the amount of any underspend expected against departmental expenditure limits in the current fiscal year and (b) her Department’s latest forecast of total AME spend for this year are; and what the forecasts were for those two sums at the time of the Summer Budget 2015 and March Budget 2015.
Karen Bradley
(a) At the close of September 2015, we were not forecasting an underspend of Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL)
At the close of September 2015, we were not forecasting an underspend of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL)
(b) At the close of September 2015, we were forecasting a total Annual Managed Expenditure (AME) spend for 2015-16 of £1,616 million.
At the time of the Summer Budget 2015 – when we had closed the accounts for June – we were forecasting:
• £9,805 million RDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £363 million CDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £1,618 million AME for the whole of 2015-16
At the time of the Spring Budget we were forecasting:
• £9,805 million RDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £363 million CDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £1,616 million AME for the whole of 2015-16
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding is available to assist with the travel costs of patients who have to travel more than 100 miles to receive a particular treatment for their condition.
Alistair Burt
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme allows patients on low incomes and those in receipt of specific qualifying benefits or allowances to be reimbursed in part or in full for costs incurred in travelling to receive certain NHS services. Eligible patients can claim payment of travel expenses to appointments made to receive non-primary medical and non-primary dental services when referred by a primary care practitioner. There are no mileage restrictions on this scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their representatives in any UK embassies are banned from making representations concerning capital punishment in any country or countries.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
No such bans exist. On the contrary, the pursuit of the abolition of the death penalty is part of what the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has called the “every day work” of our missions in countries which continue to implement the death penalty.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24211, which school sites have been approved or are being considered for disposal in the (a) Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, (b) Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and (c) Greater Manchester Combined Authority areas.
Edward Timpson
The Secretary of State is currently considering two applications to dispose of school land in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Since February 2013, the Secretary of State has approved the following applications to dispose of school land from:
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council:
Greater Manchester Combined Authority:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the average cost of floor space is at his Department’s office at (a) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) 1 Victoria Street, London.
Joseph Johnson
We have committed to making changes to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) by 2020 that will result in a more flexible Department, reduced headcount and far fewer delivery bodies.
Our business needs to be designed in a way that works for this smaller workforce and more streamlined structures.
To support this direction of travel, we are moving towards seven or so centres by 2020, supported by a regional footprint for those whose work needs to be at a local level.
We want each of these centres to focus on a key business activity so that we can bring the relevant expertise together.
We are proposing that one of these centres will be a combined BIS headquarters and policy centre in London, close to our Ministers.
The average cost of floor space at each of the Department’s offices is:
a) £483.64 per sqm at St Paul’s Place
b) £686.20 per sqm at 1 Victoria Street
The annual rent paid by BIS over the last 5 years is:
|
Year |
(a) 1 Victoria Street |
(b) St Paul’s Place |
|
2015-16 |
£11,004,000 |
£209,304 |
|
2014-15 |
£11,004,000 |
£209,304 |
|
2013-14 |
£11,004,000 |
£209,304 |
|
2012-13 |
£11,004,000 |
£209,304 |
|
2011-12 |
£11,004,000 |
£209,304 |
By the end of this reform programme in 2020, we will have fewer employees in London and BIS as a whole, and aim to save £350million in operating expenditure overall. The vast majority of employees within the BIS Group will continue to be based outside London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people from other EU member states receive support through the Work Programme.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The information requested, for those participating in the Work Programme by nationality, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimates she has made of the proportion of cases in which the previous convictions of a foreign offender were (a) checked by the police and (b) passed on to prosecutors in court in each of the last three years.
James Brokenshire
No figures are held centrally to show the proportion of cases in which previous overseas conviction records of arrested foreign nationals were checked by the police. However, the UK is rolling out nationally a semi-automated process so that when an arrest record is created in a custody suite, an overseas criminal conviction request is prompted. The aim is to ensure that in all cases overseas criminal convictions will be obtained when a foreign national is arrested in the UK.
In the last three years (2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16) 39,028, 60,226, and 95,156 requests respectively, were made by the police to EU Member States for previous convictions of foreign nationals under the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), an increase of over 140% in that time. In those same years, 19,018, 34,549 and 38,890 requests respectively were made by the police to countries outside the EU for previous convictions of foreign nationals, an increase of over 100% in that time.
No figures are held on the numbers of overseas criminal records which are subsequently passed on to the courts. However, to increase the amount of overseas criminal conviction information available to the courts, the Digital First programme, led by the National Police Chiefs Council, is working to improve the information on Digital Case Files to prompt police to ensure that overseas criminal convictions are obtained and passed on to the courts to inform criminal proceedings and sentencing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Prime Minister, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.
Mr David Cameron
I regularly visit all parts of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website.