The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria his Department uses in assessing whether an incident counts as a violation of international humanitarian law.
Penny Mordaunt
Any assessments relating to compliance with International Humanitarian Law would be based on the principles of distinction, humanity, proportionality and military necessity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 31488, how many British officials who have provided advice to Saudi Arabia’s internal investigation into the breaking of international humanitarian law in Yemen have visited Yemen as part of this investigation; and where each of those officials was based.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We will provide advice to the independent committee that will assess Saudi Arabian military activity in Yemen, drawing on a range of information as required. Our Embassy operations in Yemen are suspended and since March 2011 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel Advice has consistently advised against all travel to Yemen.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to facilitate the start of negotiations on the proposed Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty in the last 12 months.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK continues to push for the early start of negotiations, without preconditions, on a Fissile Material Cut off Treaty (FMCT) in the Conference on Disarmament (CD). In order to help unblock the current impasse, earlier this year we submitted a draft proposal to establish a formal working group and an associated programme of work for the duration of the CD’s 2016 session, which includes provision for FMCT issues to be included.
We also supported the resolution at last year’s UN General Assembly First Committee on issues surrounding an FMCT and we continue to work with partners in the CD to press Pakistan to start negotiations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-06-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of world atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions China and India contributed in the latest period for which records are available.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
There are no official emissions estimates available for recent years for many developing countries, including India and China. One widely used 3rd party estimate is however available from the World Resources Institute CAIT dataset.
This data suggests that in 2012, the latest available year, China’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions (including land use, land use change and forestry, but excluding international aviation and shipping ) accounted for around 22% of the global total (25% for CO2 only).
India’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions (including land use, land use change and forestry, but excluding international aviation and shipping) accounted for around 6% of the global total (5% for CO2 only).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-09-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what locations they considered for their new offices in the USA focused on international trade.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The USA is the UK’s single largest trade and investment partner, and the decision to open three new Government Offices in 2016 reflects our ambition to expand this economic partnership even further.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office considered a number of factors when deciding where to open these offices. The cities of Raleigh, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Diego, California were judged to have the best combination of policy, research and trade and investment potential.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October (HL Deb, col 1889), who has responsibility for (1) securing the answers to, and (2) restricting access to the information deriving from, Brighton and Hove Council’s questionnaires to (a) young teenagers, and (b) the parents of 4 to 6 year-old children, about those children’s self-perception of their sexual orientation.
Lord Nash
These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.
As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.
The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.
The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he and his Cabinet colleagues have had with their counterparts in the Irish government on the potential effect of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on all-island trade and the economy of Northern Ireland.
Mr David Gauke
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As has been the practice adopted by previous administrations, it is not Government policy to normally release details of such meetings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners with mental health problems; how many and what proportion of such prisoners are (a) men and (b) women; and how many and what proportion of such prisoners identify as LGBT.
Andrew Selous
The Government has carried out a survey of prisoners assessing levels of mental health problems within the male and female estate. A link to that report can be found here:
We do not hold data on the proportion of the prison population who suffer from mental health problems and identify as LGBT.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what representations he has received on the Scottish Government’s proposals to absorb the British Transport Police into Police Scotland.
David Mundell
The cross-party Smith Commission agreed that the functions of the British Transport Police in Scotland would be devolved. The Government has received representations about the transfer of these functions in Scotland, including correspondence from MPs. The Department for Transport and Scottish Government officials are in regular contact about the delivery of the transfer of functions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) children under 16 and (b) people aged 16 to 25 have been victims of reported revenge porn in each year since it became a criminal offence.
Karen Bradley
The requested information is not available centrally. Offences of disclosure of private sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress or anxiety have been included in the harassment offence category since April 2015 in the statistics published by the Office for National Statistics. However, it is not possible to separately identify the age of the victims or the exact offence (from within harassment).
The most recent statistics can be found in Table A4 available at this link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/crime-in-england-and-wales—year-ending-september-2015/index.html
Convictions data are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has informed the Home Office that proceedings data for 2015 (including statistics for disclosure of private sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress or anxiety) are planned for publication in spring 2016.