Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent official closing in Turkey of more than 20 media outlets; and whether they will make representations to the government of Turkey about those closures.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In the aftermath of the coup attempt we have emphasised the need for Turkey to respect human rights, including press freedom, and the rule of law. It is vital that the Turkish Government’s response to the coup attempt be demonstrably lawful and measured, and undertaken in line with Turkey’s international obligations. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan) reiterated these messages to senior Turkish interlocutors, including President Erdogan, during his visit to Turkey on 19 October. We will continue to engage with the Turkish Government at all levels on these issues, and to monitor the situation closely.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent missile attacks on Camp Liberty in Iraq.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We strongly condemn the shameful attack against the civilian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq on Thursday 29 October. Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad raised the attack with the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office on Friday 30 October and made clear the importance of an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident and ensuring that all those responsible are brought to justice.

    It is not clear at this stage who carried out the attack. Iraqi militia, the al-Mukhtar Army, has claimed responsibility, but we are unable to verify this claim.

    In all of our engagement with the Government of Iraq on this issue, including at Ministerial level and in our Statements, we have emphasised the importance of the Iraqi government doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty. We support UN calls for more to be done to protect the residents.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what analysis his Department has undertaken to assess the effect of the proposed changes on the standard of support from university specialist mental health mentoring provision and the effect this could have on at-risk students.

    Joseph Johnson

    Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.

    In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.

    A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times the A&E department at Dewsbury and District Hospital was closed in 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    Information is not available in the format requested. Information is available at National Health Service trust level only and not by individual hospital site.

    NHS England advises that information is collected in the winter daily situation reports from NHS trusts about whether there was an unplanned, unilateral closure of an accident and emergency department to admissions without consultation, which occurred without agreement from neighbouring NHS trusts or from the ambulance trust.

    Published figures are available covering the periods 1 January 2015 to 27 March 2015 and 5 October 2015 to 31 December 2015. Figures for the remainder of 2015 are not held centrally. Published figures can be found using the following link.

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/

    “

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support is available for children whose parents choose for their child to be tutored at home.

    Lord Nash

    When parents elect to educate children at home, they assume financial responsibility for their children’s education. Local authorities are not funded specifically to provide financial support to those parents who educate at home.

    If a child has special needs, financial assistance may well be appropriate. If the child has a statement of special educational needs or an Education and Health Care (EHC) Plan which specifies home education, or one which specifies a school but the parents have chosen to educate their child at home, then financial support to the parents may help discharge the authority’s duty to ensure that the child’s needs are met.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls have been made to the Universal Credit 03456000723 number to date; what the average duration is of such calls; what the average cost is of each call; and how much revenue in total has been generated by these calls.

    Priti Patel

    To date, 2.2million calls have been answered by Universal Credit agents. The average call duration is 07:29 minutes. This information includes calls to the 0345 number and to the 0845 number it replaced.

    Calls to 0345 numbers are charged to the customer at the same rate as a call to a standard local or national geographic number. The cost is dependent on the customer’s tariff and will be taken from inclusive bundled call minutes where applicable.

    Information about call charges are available at the following link https://www.gov.uk/call-charges

    .

    The Department generates no revenue from these calls and is unable to comment on revenue generated by other parties

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission an independent assessment of the effect on children of legislation on smoking in cars.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy. The Smoke-Free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015 include a requirement to review the regulations within five years of them coming into force, which will include an assessment of the effect on children’s exposure to secondhand smoke in private vehicles.

    In changing the law we always said the measure of success would be in changes in attitude and behaviour, not the number of enforcement actions. Information on prosecutions for the period since the regulations were introduced has not yet been published, however we would expect very few fixed penalty notices issued for these offences would lead to court appearances.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-03-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of child benefit payments to non-UK citizens.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government has made it clear that UK rates of Child Benefit should not be paid to EU children overseas. The Government paper ‘The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom’s special status in a reformed European Union’ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502291/54284_EU_Series_No1_Web_Accessible.pdf sets out what was agreed at the February European Council.

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of participation in out-of-court restorative justice on re-offending rates.

    Mike Penning

    It is vital that victims see swift and certain justice delivered to their offender. It is also vital that victims of crime get the help they need to cope with, and recover from, crime.

    That is why we have protected the victims’ budget and given Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) greater flexibility to decide which services are needed in their local area. Restorative Justice can be a part of a wide range of services offered to victims of crime, and we are providing advice and guidance to help PCCs deliver it.

    There has been no assessment on the impact on reoffending rates of participation in restorative justice as part of an out of court disposal.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of registering bicycles with the DVLA.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Our assessment of the registration of bicycles indicates it would require a licensing process similar to that for cars and motorcycles. As there are in excess of 20 million bicycles in Great Britain and many change hands through second hand sales, keeping track of this would be difficult and expensive. The costs of its administration would far outweigh the revenue received and indeed any benefits received from it.