The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK ground personnel based in Saudi Arabia have witnessed the (a) movement, (b) transport or (c) storage of cluster munitions in that country.
Michael Fallon
No.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the potential effect of the decreasing uptake of languages at A-level on (a) the uptake of language courses at university and (b) the number of language graduates training to be language teachers.
Nick Gibb
The decline in the study of modern foreign languages started in 2004 when the former Government removed the compulsory study of languages from the Key Stage 4 curriculum. By 2010 fewer than half – 43 per cent – of pupils took a GCSE in a modern foreign language, down from 76 per cent of pupils in 2000. The inclusion of a modern foreign or ancient language in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) increased the number of students studying at least one language at GCSE between 2010 and 2015. This has increased the pool of students able to progress to study languages at A level and beyond. The Government will publish their response to the EBacc consultation in due course and is already incentivising the take-up of language A levels in the 16-19 performance tables through the facilitating subject measure.
To support prospective students’ choice of degree we are making improvements to the information they can access, particularly on the employment outcomes they can expect from their Higher Education (HE) studies. This should allow students to understand better the advantages of studying a language at university. Furthermore, provisions in the Higher Education and Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, will allow Government, in future, to instruct the HE regulator to incentivise or protect the supply of courses, such as language courses, which are economically and culturally important.
We are also encouraging the best language graduates to enter the teaching profession, through financial incentives such as a bursary of £25,000 for trainees with a first class or 2:1 degree in languages.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he or his Ministers have had with their Egyptian counterparts on (a) the reconstruction and repair of churches and other Christian property and (b) the granting of licences for new churches in Egypt.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
There have been no recent discussions between ministers and the Egyptian government on these issues. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have discussed these issues with church representatives in Egypt. The UK remains clear that the freedom of religious belief needs to be protected and that the ability to worship in peace is a vital component of a democratic society. We look to the Egyptian government to implement the rights contained in Egypt’s constitution, which includes protections for freedom of religious belief.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners who have previously absconded remain in open conditions.
Lord Faulks
In May 2014, the Coalition Government introduced a new policy so that prisoners with a history of escape, absconding or serious temporary release failure during the current sentence are prevented from transfer to open conditions, other than in the most exceptional circumstances. There has been only one case satisfying the condition of exceptional circumstances since the policy was implemented. In addition, any prisoner who absconds from an open prison is immediately returned to a higher security prison.
When the policy was implemented, it was not applied retrospectively. Prisoners already in open conditions were reassessed by senior officials in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), and any who were assessed as presenting an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons, with the remainder allowed to remain in open conditions because of their compliance with the regime and favourable risk assessment.
On 4 December 2015, there were 15 prisoners in open prisons who were recorded as having absconded between 1 April 2004 and 21 May 2014 when the policy change came into force.
Reliable electronic records for absconds and temporary release failures prior to 2004 are not available, therefore only incidents since 2004 could be considered. The data set used here includes prisons classified as having their predominant function to be open. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on how many occasions her Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials in each of the last two years.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID is not aware of any notifications from external consultants, or other third parties, of breaches to its Information Security Management Controls in the past two years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel regarding the demolition of 22 structures in Khirbet Jenbah in order to create an army training zone.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv recently raised the demolitions in a high-level meeting with a senior Israeli defence official. We also regularly raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities over demolitions in general.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-03-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS trusts can breach price caps on agency spending if they consider that it is essential to do so in order to ensure patient safety.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS trusts are able to override the price caps on agency spending if it is considered essential to do so to ensure the safety of patients.
The circumstances in which trusts can override the caps is set out in the attached guidance: ‘Price Caps for Agency Staff: Rules’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the quantity of cannabis recovered from cannabis factories in the UK in each of the last 10 years.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the quantity of cannabis recovered specifically from cannabis factories in the UK. However, the Home Office does hold data on the total quantity of cannabis seized in England and Wales.
The statistical release ‘Drug Seizures in England and Wales, 2014/15’ covers the number and quantity of drug seizures made by both police forces and Border Force in England and Wales from 2006/07 to 2014/15.
The publication contains the number and quantity of seizures of herbal cannabis, resin cannabis, and cannabis plants for England and Wales only. The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of drug seizures in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The publication can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2015
Data specifically on the quantity of cannabis seizures, made by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales, can be found in Summary Table 2 of the data tables.
Border Force publishes the number and quantity of seizures of drugs at the UK border on Gov.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-february-2016
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to publish asylum support statistics by gender as part of the Government’s quarterly immigration statistics.
James Brokenshire
The information published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics is kept under review, taking into account the needs of users, burdens on suppliers and producers, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. There are currently no plans to publish data relating to asylum support statistics by gender.
Statistics on asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95, Section 4 or Section 98 support are available in Tables as_16_q, as_17_q and as_18_q of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will request that the UN Human Rights Council establishes an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Yemen by all parties to the conflict in that country.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK supported a UN Human Rights Council resolution in October 2015, which called on the UN to provide technical assistance to the Government of Yemen, assist the Yemeni National Independent Commission of Inquiry, and report back to the next session of the Human Rights Council in September. The UK welcomes Yemen’s commitment to cooperate with the UN on protection of human rights
We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by actors in the conflict and take these very seriously. It is important that all sides conduct thorough and conclusive investigations into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached. We regularly raise the importance of compliance with International Humanitarian Law with the Saudi Arabian Government and other members of the military Coalition. The Saudis have their own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail of how they investigate such incidents of concern on 31 January.