Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is giving to Egyptian and Italian authorities investigating the murder of Giulio Regeni.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We were appalled by the murder of Giulio Regeni in Cairo. As soon as we were made aware of reports of Mr Regeni’s disappearance on 25 January, we contacted the Italian government to offer our assistance. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director-General for Middle East and Africa renewed this offer to the Italian Ambassador to London on 22 April. We continue to offer our full support to Italy. I have raised Mr Regeni’s case with the Egyptian authorities myself, as have senior officials. In these discussions we have underlined the need for a full and transparent investigation. We remain in contact with both the Italian and Egyptian authorities.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any work is underway to undermine Islamic State’s propaganda on social media, and how much money has been allocated to that work.

    Lord Bates

    Extremist and terrorist organisations such as Da’esh use social media and other internet tools to spread fear, disseminate propaganda and persuade individuals to join their groups and support their aims.

    The Government’s Prevent strategy is focused on preventing people from being drawn into terrorism by challenging the terrorists’ ideology and supporting those vulnerable to its appeal.

    As part of Prevent, our dedicated police unit supports industry to remove, on average, 1,000 pieces of terrorist-related internet content per week. The Research, Information and Communication Unit (RICU) also helps build the capacity of civil society groups to confront and challenge the ideology of terrorism and extremism. By bringing civil society groups together with communications professionals and industry experts, it has provided them with advice and support, production capabilities, public relations expertise and social media training.

    British Muslim communities are playing a leading role in the fight against Da’esh’s poisonous narrative. This work, which allows them to share their alternative message more widely, is specifically aimed at undermining Da’esh’s propaganda.

    The threat of Da’esh is global and RICU is working closely with international partners and others to develop similar approaches.

    The Prevent programme has been allocated £65 million for the 2015/2016 financial year.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles are held by firearm certificate holders in (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland; and how many of those rifles are conditioned for the purpose of (i) shooting vermin and ground game and (ii) target shooting.

    Mike Penning

    I can confirm that the information requested on the number of .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles held by certificate holders in England and Wales is available. However, as it takes time to extract this information from our systems, I will write separately with our response and place a copy of the reply in the House Library.

    The licensing of firearms in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland and the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland. Information in respect of firearms in those jurisdictions is not held centrally by the Home Office.

    I am unable to provide the information requested on the number of legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles used in criminal offences as it is not collected centrally.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how long asylum seekers have to wait before they receive financial support upon arrival in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    Upon claiming asylum if an applicant presents as destitute they are entitled to access support services whilst a formal application for financial support is considered.

    Destitute asylum seekers are usually accommodated in an Initial Accommodation facility, which is typically delivered as hostel style, full board accommodation.

    The length of time someone will stay in an Initial Accommodation centre will vary from person to person according to their particular circumstances.

    However, the Home Office aims to process their application for financial support and move straightforward cases to longer term dispersal accommodation in participating dispersal towns and cities within 19 days.

  • Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will use their membership of UN agencies to establish relevant targets for reducing carbon emissions in (1) civil aviation, (2) shipping, and (3) agriculture and forestry, by 2020 as agreed at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    This Government is committed to tackling emissions from international aviation, international shipping and agriculture and forestry.

    As inherently transnational in nature, international aviation and maritime emissions are regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and are outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. The UK is working through the ICAO and IMO to develop mechanisms which deliver emissions reductions, in line with the long term goal agreed in Paris of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees. In 2016, the ICAO is set to agree a global market based measure, to offset emissions post-2020. The UK government is engaged in this process.

    The Government is also committed to tackling emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and supporting the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). The UK played a key role in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, which set ambitious targets for halving (by 2020) and halting (by 2030) the loss of natural forests and eliminating deforestation from the production of key agricultural commodities by 2020. The new UN Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in September 2015, also include targets to halt deforestation, sustainably manage and restore natural forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally by 2020. At COP21 the UK endorsed a Leaders’ Statement on Forests which recognised the importance of these goals, as well as the progress on REDD+ under the UNFCCC.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what public awareness campaigns his Department has planned to improve awareness of work-related respiratory illness.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the national regulator for health and safety at work, takes a lead role in raising awareness of work related respiratory diseases. HSE has run campaigns targeted at specific at-risk workers and/or their employers, a recent example being the ‘Beware Asbestos’ campaign which ran from October 2014 to March 2015 and focussed on tradespeople such as carpenters, electricians and plumbers. HSE has also supported other organisations such as the British Occupational Hygiene Society to develop its ‘Breathe Freely’ campaign targeted at work in the construction industry.

    HSE has recently published a new strategy for the GB health and safety system called ‘Helping Great Britain work well’. One of the six themes of the strategy is ‘Tackling ill health’ which will include long-term and coordinated action across all sectors, bringing in additional partners such as the NHS and others to support the substantial behaviour change and awareness programmes that will be required.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for discretionary leave to remain have been (a) received, (b) rejected and (c) treated as invalid in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many such applications were rejected owing to (i) failure to pay the fee and (ii) refusal of fee waiver.

    James Brokenshire

    Our records indicate that 12,656 (a) applications for further discretionary leave to remain were received from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015.

    164 (b) were rejected for failure to pay the fee or Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and

    175 (c) rejected as invalid.

    Of the 164 rejections 55 (i) were rejected owing to failure to pay the application fee and 89 (ii) owing to refusal of a fee waiver. 20 were also rejected solely due to failure to pay the IHS.

    Notes:

    • The data relates to applications for Further Discretionary Leave to Remain.

    • The 12,656 (a) applications were made by 12,430 people (due to repeat applications).

    • The data provided is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

    • All of the statistics referred to in the answer come with necessary caveats about the accuracy of the data. The data provided to answer (b), (c), (i) and (ii) above has been drawn from manual records on the Home Office Case Information Database, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible human errors with data entry and processing.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to become a founding donor of the new Education Cannot Wait fund at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch.

  • Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Calum Kerr – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Venezuelan counterpart on reports of detention without charge, arbitrary detentions, the excessive use of force by security forces and other human rights violations in that country.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The Government shares the concern of the international community regarding the deteriorating political situation in Venezuela. The then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), conveyed his concerns at the detention of prominent political opposition figures, and human rights more generally, directly to the Venezuelan Foreign Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister at bilateral meetings held in London during 2015. He has also discussed Venezuela extensively with counterparts from across the region.

    Since 2012, we have funded 22 human rights and democracy projects in Venezuela, with both Government and Non-Government Organisations. These projects have varied from protecting the rights of indigenous people to supporting political dialogue and reconciliation and the promotion of electoral reform.

    Venezuela was designated a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights Priority Country for 2016/2017 in April. This status will allow us to further expand our work on human rights and democracy in the country, including project work with local communities.

  • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) carried out by his Department in the last three years on the reputation of the UK abroad; and if he will make a statement.

    Alok Sharma

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not commissioned any research on the UK’s global reputation.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a network of 268 Posts in 168 countries and territories, including 9 multilateral organisations, who regularly report on the relationship with the UK in their host countries and organisations.