Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions Ministers in his Department have delayed providing information to the Intelligence and Security Committee in order to make a determination as to whether to share that information, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is unable to find any record of having delayed providing information to the Intelligence and Security Committee in order to make a determination as to whether to share that information, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what changes are being made to funding streams in her Department’s budget to help assist refugees close to or in their countries of origin.

    Rory Stewart

    The UK is at the forefront of international efforts to assist refugees close to their countries of origin. The UK has increased its response to the Syria crisis to £2.3 billion and our support is reaching hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The UK is pioneering a new model of support to refugees through international Compacts with refugee-hosting countries to provide long-term education and employment opportunities to refugees, while supporting the economic development of the host nation. Refugee-hosting compacts have been agreed so far with Jordan, Lebanon and Ethiopia.

    As part of our new approach we have contributed £80m to the World Bank MENA Concessional Finance Facility to support refugees in Jordan and Lebanon and have pledged £30m to the new Education Cannot Wait fund to support education in crises, including refugees.

  • Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart on the detention of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We regularly raise matters of concern with the Sri Lankan government, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the detention of Tamil political prisoners without trial. I met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, the Honourable Mangala Samaraweera MP, on 14 September in Geneva. I was encouraged by our discussion and by his speech to the UN Human Rights Council. He told members of the UN Human Rights Council that the Sri Lankan government would review and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and replace it with anti-terrorism legislation in line with contemporary international best practices. I have also been encouraged by the recent announcements that bail has been granted to 39 prisoners being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homeowners and businesses have received a grant from the Repair and Renew Grant fund, and what is the average payment.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Over 6,000 home and business owners have benefitted from the Repair and Renew Grant scheme to help protect their property against future flooding events. The average payment was £3,918.

  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent representations he has received in favour of Government involvement in any part of the running of departments or divisions of Rolls Royce connected to that company’s production of the Nuclear Reactor Component of the Successor Programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence has received no such representations.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of his Department were in each of the last five years.

    Harriett Baldwin

    This information is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on their website http://www.ons.gov.uk. ONS figures include both the mean and median gender pay gaps for the Civil Service and HM Treasury. The ONS headline estimates are also calculated using hourly earnings excluding overtime.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to increase participation in the arts by people from low income backgrounds.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to experience and participate in culture and the arts whatever their background and the Prime Minister acknowledged the importance of this in a speech in January 2016 on life chances. Government is maintaining the same level of funding for Arts Council England throughout the next spending period which will include support for arts programmes in areas where participation is low.

    Arts Council England funds a number of community arts organisations that look to engage disadvantaged people, such as Cinderford Artspace and Helix Arts which focus on encouraging unemployed adults and employed people on low incomes to participate in the arts. Arts Council England also places responsibility on every funded organisation to make their programme of work more reflective of the communities they serve.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of parents with children who claimed tax credits in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    Information about the number of parents with children who claimed tax credits in each of the last five years can be found in the publication ‘Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics, UK KAI Benefits & Credits December 2015’. Please see Table1.1. These statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/485170/cwtc-main-Dec15.pdf

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-06-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Decision on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory adopted at the 69th World Health Assembly, whether they will bring forward resolutions at the Assembly concerning people in urgent need of health care in Yemen and attacks on medical facilities in Syria.

    Baroness Verma

    Tackling emergency healthcare needs in Yemen is absolutely critical. According to the United Nations, more than 14 million people lack access to basic healthcare in Yemen in 2016 and 2.1 million women and children are malnourished, of which an estimated 320,000 are severely malnourished children. We are currently focussed on helping to meet those needs and have no plans for a resolution at this stage. Since January 2015, UK assistance has helped provide healthcare to more than 120,000 Yemenis and improved sanitation for over 650,000 people.

    In Syria, it is unacceptable that parties to the conflict continue to carry out flagrant human rights violations, indiscriminate attacks against densely populated areas and targeting of civilian infrastructure. We are particularly concerned by continued attacks against health facilities and personnel, with only 40 percent of public hospitals reported as functioning.

    The UK has consistently supported the need for accurate reporting and accountability for the atrocities that have been committed in Syria. The UN Secretary General and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, already provides monthly reports to the UN Security Council on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law inside Syria. These updates include detailed reports on attacks on medical facilities.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the draft sustainability and transformation plans for NHS England; and what the Barnett consequentials of those plans will be.

    David Mowat

    Formal discussions have not so far been held with counterparts in the devolved administrations on the draft Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).

    STPs will be funded from notified allocations and funding held centrally by NHS England. These form part of the NHS England Mandate and overall Department of Health departmental budget. The devolved administrations have received Barnett consequentials on the Department’s budget in line with established practice.