The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason Cabinet Office spend over £25,000 has not been updated beyond December 2014.
Matthew Hancock
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 17 December 2015 to UIN: 20015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on the number of trade union activists who have been killed in Cartagena in the last six months.
Mr Hugo Swire
I am aware that a trade unionist was tragically killed in Cartagena on 15 December 2015. I understand that the Colombian authorities are investigating the case. We consistently urge the authorities to follow due process in all cases.
Our Embassy in Bogotá takes every opportunity to urge the Colombian government to take further measures to prevent violence and threats against human rights defenders, including trade unionists. The British Ambassador in Bogota recently raised concerns about human rights defenders with the Colombian Interior Minister on 1 February and with the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights on 4 February. Furthermore, this year we are funding a Colombian NGO to develop protection measures for human rights defenders in rural areas. Our Embassy will continue to raise these issues in regular meetings with the Colombian government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the Government plans to enforce the reporting duties for female genital mutilation for professionals under Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, as amended.
Karen Bradley
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse.
The new FGM mandatory reporting duty requires specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police. It applies to teachers and health and social care professionals regulated by a body which is overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (with the exception of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland) in England and Wales.
The duty does not apply to non-regulated professionals. This includes non-regulated professionals who are members of bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register. However, our guidance on the duty is clear that such professionals also have a responsibility to take appropriate action in relation to any identified or suspected case of FGM, in line with wider safeguarding frameworks and guidance, including the multi-agency guidance on FGM which we are putting on a statutory footing.
Where professionals fail to comply with the duty, this should be dealt with in accordance with professional bodies’ existing disciplinary procedures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of assessment reports conducted by contractors for Scottish claimants of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments did not meet the contractual standard required in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.
Priti Patel
The information you have requested Is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether coal is being stockpiled in any location in the UK.
Andrea Leadsom
DECC publishes data on coal stocks held in the UK. The latest data show, that at the end of February 2016, 11,981 thousand tonnes were held in stocks. This includes stocks held at electricity generators, ports and undistributed stocks held at coal mines. The data is not available split by region.
Source: Energy Trends Table 2.6, March 2016, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38478, what the current average time taken is to process driving licence renewal applications for people over 70 years old where medical investigations are required.
Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) deals with more than 600,000 medical driver licensing applications annually. The length of time taken to deal with an individual application depends on the medical condition and whether further information is required from medical professionals.
For the period April 2015 to March 2016, the average time for an assessment and a licensing decision to be made was 53 working days, irrespective of age. Between April 2014 and March 2015, the figure was 58 working days.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce (a) trolling and (b) cyber-bullying.
Sarah Newton
We continue to make tackling all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, a priority. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying among pupils, including cyberbullying.
Since September 2014 e-safety has been taught at all four key stages of the curriculum. We have made sure schools have the power to search for, and if necessary delete, inappropriate images (or files) on electronic devices, including mobile phones.
We have invested £3.85 million in a new phase of our This is Abuse campaign, which tackles abuse within teenage relationships and was launched in March. The National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) has developed a comprehensive education programme, called Thinkuknow, which provides targeted advice to children, parents and carers, including on how to use social media safely.
We have taken action to improve the police response to online abuse. Since the introduction of the College of Policing’s Cyber Crime Training course in February 2014 over 150,000 modules have been completed across all forces and, in September last year, the College of Policing launched the second phase of its Mainstream Cyber Crime Training course for police forces.
Additionally, over 3,900 National Crime Agency officers have completed Digital Awareness training as part of equipping the next generation of highly skilled digital detectives. 1,200 Digital Media Investigators have been trained over the past 18 months.
Work is under way to ensure the appropriate recording of digital crime and abuse. The Home Office launched a mandatory ‘online’ flag as part of the police recorded crime data collection from April 2015. These data are currently in development and will be published in due course.
The Crown Prosecution Service annual Violence Against Women and Girls Report published on September 6 shows that there have been more offences prosecuted under section 127 of the Communications Act and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988. Under s.127, in 2015-16 there was a rise in prosecutions related to grossly offensive or indecent communications to 2,026. In total the offences under s.127 of the Communications Act rose by 13% and s.1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 by 32%. There have also been 206 prosecutions for the new offence of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has taken to help rough sleepers and homeless people.
Mr Marcus Jones
One person without a home is one too many. That is why we launched a new £40 million Homelessness Prevention programme to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
This will enable authorities to support vulnerable people, preventing them from becoming homeless, and ensuring those who do have somewhere safe to stay.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many former service personnel are in receipt of Armed Forces Independence Payments.
Mark Lancaster
As at 31 October 2015, there were 869 Service and former Service personnel in receipt of Armed Forces Independence Payments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-12-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give effect to the sections of the Traffic Management Act 2004 that allow for the enforcement of moving traffic offences by wardens employed by local authorities in England.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
London local authorities already have powers to enforce moving traffic contraventions alongside the police under London specific legislation. The Government however has no plans at present to enable moving traffic enforcement by local authorities outside London as the police already have the necessary powers to take action where it is needed.