Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on (1) the total number of households whose benefits would be capped under the new limits proposed in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, (2) the number of children in households affected by the cap, and (3) the cost to the public purse, if (a) child benefit, and (b) child tax credits, were not included in the benefits cap.

    Lord Freud

    The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the income of an existing tax credit claimant in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20 of changes announced to tax credits and the universal credit rollout in the Summer Budget 2015 and the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Priti Patel

    At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

    UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

    Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to declare ISIS’s actions against Christians and Yazidis a genocide.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government has received a number of recent representations on these issues from Parliament and members of the public and is responding in writing.

    We condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yazidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality. The UK has led efforts within the UN to tackle and condemn Daesh and on the protection of civilians more widely. For example, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution mandating the UN to investigate and report on Daesh abuses.

    It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.

    Ultimately, the only way to protect Christians, Yazidis and other minorities in the region from Daesh is by defeating this terrible organisation, which in turn requires, amongst other things, ending the conflict in Syria. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), set out the UK’s comprehensive strategy for defeating Daesh and finding a political settlement to the Syria conflict in his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 26 November 2015.

    The joint Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect (the Office) are engaged with these issues and publish much of their activity online, including statements in relation to the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. Our officials maintain regular contact with officials from the Office to discuss issues related to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. The Government provides funding for the Office, including for their work with religious leaders and faith based organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region, aimed at the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 20722, what figures his Department used for the number of motor accidents in each year from 2006 to 2015 in formulating that Answer.

    Dominic Raab

    Data on the number of motor accidents between 2006 and 2015 was obtained from publicly available datasets published by the Department for Transport. This data can be obtained from:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/497176/ras45004.xls

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461863/ras10013.xls

    “

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that apprentices in the retail and commercial enterprise sector are taught skills that they would not otherwise be able to learn on the job under a normal employment contract.

    Nick Boles

    In England, apprenticeships are jobs with an accompanying skills development programme to support the individual to achieve full competency in an occupation. The apprentice develops through a wide mix of learning in the workplace, formal off-the-job training and the opportunity to practise new skills in a real work environment.

    A key expectation of apprenticeships is that they must be more than just training for a single job or employer: they must ensure that apprentices can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, and develop the ability to progress their careers. This is set out in the apprenticeship framework or standard.

    The list of apprenticeships frameworks available for employers and training organisations is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-frameworks-live-list

    A list of all the apprenticeship standards approved by the Skills Funding Agency that are ready for employers and training organisations to use is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-standards-ready-for-delivery

    “

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to fit airborne collision avoidance systems to Lynx helicopters.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I can confirm that Traffic Advisory Systems are currently being installed in all Lynx Mk 9A aircraft. This is due to be completed across the entire fleet by the end of September 2016. Royal Navy Lynx Mk 8 aircraft are not being modified as they are due to leave service by 31 March 2017.

  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of criminalising forced marriage.

    Karen Bradley

    We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice will not be tolerated in the UK.

    The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) (a joint FCO and Home Office Unit) leads the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. It carries out a range of awareness raising work, including a comprehensive programme of outreach, new e-learning for professionals, and the launch of short film aimed at deterring potential perpetrators. For the financial years 2014-16, the Home Office has allocated £200,000 to the FMU.

    Statistics on the number of cases of forced marriage investigated by the police are not collected centrally. The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) most recent violence against women and girls report shows that the volume of referrals from the police to the CPS with a forced marriage element is going up: from 67 in 2013-14, to 82 in 2014-15. In addition, to date over 1,000 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been issued to prevent marriages from taking place and to assist in repatriating victims.

    We are encouraged by the first conviction secured in June last year, but there is still work to be done. We want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward and being identified by the police. As part of the wider work to improve the police response to so-called ‘honour’ based violence, we will continue to work with the partners to review the implementation of the new legislation and lead efforts to tackle this barbaric crime.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether members of the public will have a right to attend Sustainability and Transformation Plan board meetings.

    George Freeman

    We have made clear that the on-going engagement of patients and the public is part of good planning. However the Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are not statutory boards. Rather they are meetings attended by representatives of the wider health system, and are not required to meet in public as are formal boards.

    The local, statutory architecture for health and care remains. As such, the local governance for STPs will ultimately be through individual organisations. Public access to Board meetings of their local organisations will be unchanged.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 28220, which areas have locally determined arrangements for issuing iodine tablets in the event of a radiation emergency involving an operational nuclear reactor; to which nuclear reactors those arrangements are linked in (a) the UK, (b) other countries and (c) areas that have a pre-disposition to households in the detailed planning area; what other arrangements his Department has in place for issuing iodine tablets in areas that do not have pre-distribution to households; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    Locally determined arrangements for issuing stable iodine tablets in the event of a radiation emergency involving the operating reactor of a nuclear powered warship/submarine are in place at: HMNB Clyde, HMNB Devonport, HMNB Portsmouth, Port of Southampton, BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness, Portland Port, Loch Goil and Loch Ewe.

    Arrangements for responding to radiation emergencies involving operational nuclear reactors in other countries are a matter for the country concerned.

    Some pre-distribution of stable iodine tablets to households in the off-site emergency planning zone takes place at Loch Ewe, Portland Port and BAE Systems Barrow-in-Furness

    The arrangements for issuing stable iodine tablets in areas that do not have pre-distribution to households are determined by the relevant Local Authority having responsibility for the off-site plan. At some locations the department supports the arrangements through the provision of local Ministry of Defence personnel to assist in the distribution of stable iodine tablets.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria; and what steps her Department is taking to support refugees within that camp.

    Rory Stewart

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees assesses that there are an estimated 9,155 people living in the al-Hol refugee camp, including 5,650 Iraqi refugees; and shortages of food, water and health services. DFID funds World Food Programme and UNICEF’s 2016 Syria appeals through which we are supporting the provision of food, water, sanitation and hygiene services in the camp. DFID is also supporting an international non-governmental organisation to provide protection services in the camp.