The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he visited the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2016, in his official capacity.
Harriett Baldwin
Details of ministerial overseas travel are published quarterly and are available on the gov.uk website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Lopresti on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to protect the armed forces from persistent legal claims.
Penny Mordaunt
As we promised in our manifesto, I am examining with colleagues across Government a range of measures which will reduce litigation against our Armed Forces. This litigation makes it harder for them to do their jobs, causes them great stress and undermines international humanitarian law. The Prime Minister has already set in hand work to discourage opportunistic legal action. I will announce my proposals in the near future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of immigration cases were designated as complex in (a) 2015, (b) 2014 and (c) 2013.
James Brokenshire
Following feedback from customers and partners UKV&I introduced new service standards in January 2014. As such statistical information for 2013 is not available.
The table below shows the number and proportion of immigration cases designated as complex in 2014 and 2015
|
Complex Case |
Total Apps Received |
% of Complex Cases |
|
|
2014 (01/04/2014 – 31/12/2014) |
87,219 |
412,337 |
21% |
|
2015 |
84,435 |
513,475 |
16% |
Following feedback from customers and partners UKV&I introduced new service standards in January 2014. As such statistical information for 2013 is not available. Our records indicate the average waiting time (days) for immigration cases that are designated as complex is as follows.
|
Average Waiting Time |
|
|
2014 (01/04/2014 – 31/12/2014) |
122 |
|
2015 |
163 |
|
Overall Average |
147 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-04-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to prevent mental health services from turning away children who seek help.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH) is a priority area for this Government. It is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind, the previous Government’s report on the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce. This report established a clear and powerful consensus about change across the whole system, including health, social care and education. To support this transformation programme the Government is committed to making an additional £1.4 billion available over the course of this Parliament.
As a first step in this transformation programme all clinical commissioning groups working with their partners, have developed Local Transformation Plans to transform their offer for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and improving access, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services.
Whilst the intention is to prevent mental health problems from arising in the first place, improving access for those who have developed problems as early as possible is essential. By 2020, at least 70,000 more children and young people each year will have access to high quality mental health care when they need it. This will require systems for rapid identification of children in need of specialised services, and improved links between different agencies so that children and young people are referred to the most appropriate service. £28 million is being spent on extending and expanding the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that by 2018 all children and young people across England will have access to evidence-based and appropriate interventions. The Government has also invested nearly £3 million into the Mental Health Services and Schools Links Pilots to jointly train designated leads in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and schools to improve access to mental health services for children and young people. This should reduce the number of children being turned away from services and lead to the ‘no wrong door’ approach that is integral to the transformation programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Argar on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department’s contracts for projects overseas were competitively tendered in each of the last three years.
Mr Desmond Swayne
90% of contracts awarded during 2013-14, 86% of contracts awarded during 2014-15 and 94% of contracts awarded during 2015-16 were competitively tendered. During this time-frame there were a number of contracts which are not deemed as competitively tendered.
Any programmes not competitively tendered are subject to Procurement management review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39847, on travel, when he plans to update the National Transport Model estimates given in that Answer to take account of the potential effects of the cycling and walking investment strategy.
Andrew Jones
We plan to update the National Transport Model with the impacts of the cycling and walking investment strategy once we have more complete information on the national impact of local cycling and walking strategies later in the year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the prospects of talks on North Korea under the Six Party talks format.
Alok Sharma
The UK is not a member of the Six Party talks, but we maintain a close dialogue with all participants, including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Through our bilateral engagement with DPRK we have made clear to the regime that their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes are in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions and that the DPRK should return to credible and authentic multilateral talks on denuclearisation. We assess that the resumption of Six Party talks is unlikely given the current situation and only if the DPRK agrees to discuss denuclearisation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what long-term plans the Government has to protect and maintain the English coast.
Rory Stewart
Coastal Local Authorities are responsible for developing Shoreline Management Plans which provide a long term framework to manage the risk of coastal change to people and the environment. These plans are overseen by the Environment Agency to ensure a joined up approach to the management of the coastline and that decisions made in one area take account of the impacts on another.
Over the next six years the Government will be investing over £1bn to better protect homes and businesses from coastal flooding and erosion in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2015 to Question 6809, what progress his Department has made on allocating funding for investment into ultra low emission vehicles and the infrastructure to support such vehicles.
Andrew Jones
The government allocated more than £600 million to support the uptake and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles in the 2015 Spending Review. This represents an increase of over £100 million on the Government’s previous commitment and means the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will continue to provide one of the most comprehensive packages of support for ultra low emission vehicles in the world.
On 17 December the Government announced it has allocated £400 million so that the Plug-in Car Grant will continue to at least 2018, well beyond the previous guarantee of February 2016, and which will mean more than 100,000 people will benefit over the coming years – double the number who have already claimed the grant since 2011. The Government also announced the continuation of the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which will provide £500 towards the cost of installing a domestic chargepoint.
We will provide further details about the wider OLEV programme during the first part of 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian police are involved in guarding HM Naval Base Clyde.
Mark Lancaster
I am withholding the number of Ministry of Defence Police officers deployed at HM Naval Base Clyde for the purpose of safeguarding national security.