Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what average time her Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    Karen Bradley

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The available statistics on the timeliness of FOI requests received by the Home Office up to the second quarter of 2015 are published on the Ministry of Justice website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

  • Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the current visa categories and visa application processes to help foster international research collaborations, in particular in the health and science sectors.

    Lord Bates

    Our current immigration policies, categories and processes already explicitly take account of the needs of academics, scientists and researchers. We have consistently protected and enhanced the treatment of these roles in the immigration system, even whilst restricting migration in other spheres.

    In Tier 2, the skilled work route, we have given PhD level roles, which include academics, scientists and researchers, higher priority when allocating places within the annual limit and relaxed rules relating to recruitment and settlement. We have introduced the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) route for world leaders in science, engineering, humanities, the arts and digital technology, and several universities and research organisations are making use of this route. The Tier 5 (Temporary Work) route contains provisions to enable sponsored researchers to participate in international research collaborations, and for overseas medical and dental post-graduates to undertake training in the UK.

    The immigration system also supports the health sector, with several health professions, including doctors in emergency medicine, included on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). Nurses have been added to the SOL as a temporary measure, pending a full review of the evidence by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

    We keep all immigration routes under review to ensure they are working effectively in line with the Government’s migration objectives. For the future, we have commissioned the MAC to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. We await the MAC’s report with interest and will consider it carefully before making any significant changes.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people of each gender work in his Department.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The table below provides headcount figures for permanent staff in the Department for Transport including its Executive Agencies at 31 December 2015:

    DfT Organisation

    Men

    Women

    Total

    DfT Centre

    1,248

    774

    2,022

    DVLA

    2,416

    3,722

    6,138

    DVSA

    3,172

    1,300

    4,472

    MCA

    681

    347

    1,028

    VCA

    112

    43

    155

    TOTAL

    7,629

    6,186

    13,815

    Note that in 2009/10 58.7% of the total DfT staff were male compared to 55.2% as at 31 December 2015.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to answer Question 24306 from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield, tabled on 26 January 2016 for answer on 29 January 2016.

    Nick Boles

    I replied to the hon Member on 3 February.

    “

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to reduce overcrowding on the prison estate in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Selous

    As the Secretary of State has said, the prison estate is overcrowded and out of date. That’s why we have announced that we will close down aging and ineffective prisons, replacing them with new facilities fit for the modern world.

    We are investing £1.3 billion to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. In our new prisons we will design out those features that facilitate bullying, drug-taking and violence.

    We are also constructing a modern 2,106 place prison, HMP Berwyn, in North Wales, that will be opened in 2017 and are building two new house-blocks at existing prison sites Stocken and Rye Hill.

    We remain committed to ensuring that there are enough places for offenders sentenced to custody by the courts and making sure that these places are safe, decent and secure.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects to agree a budget settlement for the apprenticeship levy for the devolved nations of the UK.

    Greg Hands

    We have committed to ensuring that the Devolved Administrations each receive a fair share of the levy. Discussions with the Devolved Administrations are ongoing and good progress is being made.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answers of 7 April 2014 to Questions 194734 to 194737, who the 12 bidders were for Brompton Road underground station.

    Mark Lancaster

    The names of the 12 bidders cannot be released as to do so would prejudice commercial interests.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total expenditure from the public purse was for the social fund funeral payments scheme in 2015-16; and if he will make a statement.

    Caroline Nokes

    During 2015-16 in Scotland there were around 5500 applications for Funeral Expenses Payments and around 3700 awards granted.

    In 2015-16 across Great Britain £40,025,000 was paid out in Funeral Expenses Payments and repayments totalled £183,000. These figures are given on page 12 of the Social Fund Account 2015-16 (linked to below)

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535981/social-fund-account-2015-16.pdf

    “

  • Damian Collins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Damian Collins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Damian Collins on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the expression of interest made to his Department by Shepway District Council on proposals for a garden town development near Otterpool in Kent.

    Gavin Barwell

    We plan to respond in the next three weeks.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the efficacy of removing the current policy of absent votes on demand in favour of the previous absent votes criteria for the purpose of preventing electoral fraud; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    In January 2014, the Electoral Commission published its review of electoral fraud in the UK, which followed research and wide public consultation on a number of proposals for reducing absent voting vulnerabilities, including reversing the current availability of postal voting on demand without a reason or attestation in Great Britain.

    While some respondents to the Commission’s consultation supported restricting the availability of postal voting on demand to address the risk of electoral fraud, others expressed concern that it would reduce convenience and could mean that some electors would be unable to vote. Respondents also suggested that restricting the availability of postal voting on demand would be disproportionate to the number and scale of proven cases of postal voting fraud.

    The Commission’s review concluded that restricting the availability of postal voting would remove the freedom for electors to choose a convenient and, for the vast majority, secure, method of voting and on balance did not support changing the availability of postal voting in Great Britain. At the May 2015 UK Parliamentary general election postal votes were issued to around 7.6 million electors in Great Britain, representing nearly 17% of the total electorate. At present, the Commission is aware of 22 cases of alleged electoral fraud at the May 2015 polls involving postal votes. The Commission continues to monitor data about cases of alleged postal voting fraud, and will keep its assessment of the impact of restricting the availability of postal voting under review in light of any new evidence which becomes available.

    The Commission’s review also considered whether there was a case for further restricting the availability of proxy voting by requiring all proxy applications to be attested; limiting proxy voting to a smaller range of categories of need, such as special category electors; or imposing further limits on the number of electors for whom an individual could be appointed to act as a proxy. Respondents to the Commission’s consultation expressed concern that such restrictions could have an impact on voter participation, especially for disabled voters or those outside the country at the time of the election for whom proxy voting might be the only way in which they are able to vote. On balance, the Commission did not support placing further restrictions on the availability of proxy voting.