The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the unaccompanied children that have arrived in the UK from Calais under the Dublin III Regulation are (a) male and (b) female.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The process of transferring unaccompanied children from Calais to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation is an ongoing operational matter and the Home Office will provide an update in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2015-11-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of the current range of vocational qualifications offered to those serving prison sentences in England and Wales.
Lord Faulks
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. The review is expected to report in the spring of 2016. A copy of the terms of reference can be found at gov.uk
The Welsh Government provides prison education funding to NOMS in Wales to commission services and these are aligned to the Welsh Government’s learning and skills outcome requirements. Vocational courses represent more than 80% of the prisoner education in prisons in Wales and take account of offender needs and labour market information to increase prisoners’ employment opportunities on release.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17530, what information his Department holds on which foreign armed forces British military personnel were embedded within the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Michael Fallon
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 November 2015 to Question 17530 to the hon. Member for Coventry South (Jim Cunningham).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Howell on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Palestinian Authority on reports of senior official Jibril Rajoub praising terror attacks against Israelis.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We absolutely condemn the glorification of terrorism and all incitement to commit violence, whichever side it comes from, and we will seek to raise this specific issue with the Palestinian Authority in the near future. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, urging them to use their influence to de-escalate the tensions. We regularly raise incitement with the Palestinian Authority, and have urged key figures to encourage calm and condemn violence. We continue to support the reinstatement of the Tripartite Committee as the appropriate channel to deal with allegations of incitement from either side.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the cost of maintaining and securing the former SSI steel works site on Teesside in its present condition.
Anna Soubry
Costs are being incurred by the Official Receiver who is currently delivering a safe and secure liquidation of SSI. The Government is providing the Official Receiver with an indemnity to ensure he is able to deliver that safe liquidation of SSI and the net costs will be clearer at the end of that process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-03-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on its studies of the steps taken by the utilities airlines and other industries in response to falling oil and gas prices; and whether the conclusions of those studies will be published.
Damian Hinds
The Treasury has engaged with industry to stress the importance of passing through wholesale cost reductions to consumers. The Treasury has produced internal studies to examine how far and how quickly the benefits of oil and price falls were fed through to consumers. We are pleased that recently the six major energy suppliers have announced cuts in their tariffs – it’s a good start but there’s more to do. The Government looks forward to the Provisional decision on remedies of the Competition and Markets Authority, due this month, and continues to monitor developments closely.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the UK aid budget will be allocated as (a) grants and (b) loans in 2016-17.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The information requested is not available for 2016-17.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans are in receipt of war disablement pension; and what steps his Department takes to notify recipients of changes in the level of that pension.
Mr Julian Brazier
As at 31 March 2015, there were 116,049 disablement pensioners in receipt of a War Pension administered by Veterans UK. Whenever there is a change in an individual’s rate of war pension, Veterans UK will write to inform them. For 2016, Veterans UK elected not to issue an annual uprating letter to individuals as there was no change to payment levels. Instead, an alternative communication plan was put in place utilising automated messages on the Veterans UK helpline, letters to Third sector organisations for publication, and articles in Veterans World magazine, the Armed Forces pension newsletter, social media and on the gov.uk website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2016 to Question 37474, how many full-time equivalent officials of his Department are responsible for any debt collection activity that the CMS system is undertaking to ensure that former Child Support Agency child maintenance arrears are received.
Priti Patel
Where CSA arrears are moved across to the CMS system we will actively pursue collection where the CSA clients fall within three specific scenarios. These include firstly where a re-application has been made to CMS relating to the same case; secondly where the CSA arrears were being paid in the last 3 months prior to being moved over to the CMS system; and finally where a client actively requests we collect them.
Given this approach to the collection of these CSA arrears, they are collected through our business-as-usual processes within our Case Maintenance, Arrears and Enforcement Teams within CMS, where at June 2016 there were 3,256 full time equivalent staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hague of Richmond on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to secure a total ban on ivory sales, and what discussions they have had with other countries about implementing such a ban.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has conducted informal discussions with representatives of the arts and antique sector on the scale of legal trade in ivory currently taking place. An accurate assessment is challenging as records for antiques may not necessarily record an item as containing ivory where this is only a small component of a larger item. Extrapolation from available data indicates that sales of items containing ivory may be worth in the order of several tens of millions of pounds per annum.
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organisation, has recently published its report: “A Rapid Survey of the UK ivory market”. Although not an exact comparison with a survey conducted in 2004, TRAFFIC’s survey found the number of market stalls offering ivory for sale had declined by approximately two-thirds and the number of items offered for sale had halved. No new or raw ivory was seen in any of the physical market outlets or online platforms; only one ivory item seen for sale was reportedly from after the legal cut-off (1947) for antique ivory being sold without Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) documentation within the EU. Ivory is a key UK wildlife crime priority with an enforcement action plan in place to tackle risk. For example, UK Border Force through Operation Quiver has in particular successfully targeted ivory sent through postal systems.
We are actively exploring options with interested parties and other Government Departments about how to implement the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales. The UK has successfully lobbied for the EU-wide adoption of the existing UK ban on trade in raw ivory tusks, which was agreed through European Council Conclusions on an EU Action Plan on Wildlife Trafficking adopted in June. Trade in such tusks presents the greatest risk of poached ivory entering the legal market. In addition, these conclusions urged EU Member States to consider further measures to put a halt to commercial trade in ivory from elephants.
A substantial number of proposals on elephant and ivory related issues will be discussed at the Conference of Parties to CITES to be held in South Africa between 24 September and 5 October 2016. This will include discussions on the existing global ban on the trade in ivory, which the UK is committed to maintaining, and the role of domestic ivory markets in illegal trade. The UK is, and will continue to, play a full role in these discussions.
In relation to the confirmation by the USA Government to limit commercial trade in African elephant ivory to items more than 100 years old, with some exemptions, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart, discussed this issue with the USA Government during a trip earlier this year. In addition officials in Defra are in regular contact with their US counterparts and have discussed the US measures on a number of occasions.
Finally on the Elephant Protection Initiative, this has grown from 5 to 14 members since the London Conference in February 2014. A Ministerial-level meeting of members to agree governance arrangements took place in Addis Ababa in September 2015. Range states have been supported to develop their National Elephant Action Plans and through these a number of priority conservation projects have been funded.