Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the financial year 2003–04, what was the total cost of each public inquiry conducted; and what was paid to each inquiry chairman, including expenses and VAT.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The information in relation to this time period is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the total cost on completion of those inquiries which span this time period is available as part of the evidence provided by the Government to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Inquiries Act 2005:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldselect/ldinquiries/143/14318.htm

01/01/2023
Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their contribution to multilateral development assistance to Burundi; and what is their assessment of the impact of this funding.

Baroness Verma

The UK’s imputed share of multilateral net ODA to Burundi was £28.7 million in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available. DFID selects its partners on the basis of their ability to spend funds where they will have the greatest impact and DFID has rigorous systems in place to ensure that funds are spent effectively. The World Bank, for example, has a country-level results framework to track and manage progress and impact; currently over two-thirds of the outcome indicators for Burundi have already been achieved or are on-track to being achieved.

In addition to core funding to multilaterals, DFID also provides resources for multilateral organisations through bilateral and central programmes. A preparedness programme has enabled the UN and World Food Programme to assist up to 10,000 people in Burundi and to strengthen humanitarian coordination. Since the start of the crisis DFID has contributed £21 million to support the regional refugee response and DFID’s contribution to the Central Emergency Response Fund in Burundi is in excess of £2 million in 2016.

DFID is working with the EU, international financial institutions, UN Agencies and NGO community to review their support to Burundi and to ensure that humanitarian needs are met. DFID has a humanitarian adviser based in the region as well as advisers in the UK monitoring the situation in Burundi and ensuring that DFID funds are being spent in a way that achieves value for money for the UK taxpayer

01/01/2023
Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many properties in (a) England and Wales, (b) London and (c) each London Borough are registered with the Land Registry (i) in total and (ii) to off-shore companies.

Anna Soubry

The relevant data is attached.

01/01/2023
Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his most recent assessment is of the number and location of sites which will be affected by construction of phase one of High Speed 2 which are known habitats of species subject to the strict protection requirements in Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Phase one of High Speed 2 does not adversely affect any sites designated as a Special Protection Area or a Special Area of Conservation.

HS2 Ltd have carried out habitats regulations screening assessments to determine if the railway might indirectly affect certain species associated with the Southwest London Waterbodies SPA/Ramsar site in the Colne Valley, and to consider potential effects of traffic pollution in the Chilterns Beechwood Special Area of Conservation. No significant effect was determined in either case.

01/01/2023

Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of introducing competition into the Disclosure and Barring Service; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service is a non-departmental public body which provides access to appropriate criminal record information for employers through its disclosure service for England and Wales. It also makes independent barring decisions about people who have harmed, or where there is considered to be a risk of harm to, a child or vulnerable person within the workplace. Given the sensitive nature of this work and the reliance on police forces to provide locally held intelligence, it would not be appropriate to introduce competition.

Whilst no assessment has been made of the affect of timeliness on the number of job opportunities which may have been lost, the impact which delays may have on applicants is recognised. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and is working closely with those forces whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.

The average end to end time taken to complete a DBS check, including the time taken by police forces, is listed in following table.

Financial Year	Average calendar days for a disclosure to be processed
13/14	11.5
14/15	14.4
15/16	14.5

The proportion of checks which took longer than (a) eight weeks (b) 12 weeks and (c) six months is listed in the following table.

Financial Year	Disclosures which took longer than 8 weeks	Disclosures which took longer than 12 weeks	Disclosures which took longer than 6 Months
% of Disclosures	% of Disclosures	% of Disclosures
13/14	2.6%	0.8%	0.0%
14/15	4.9%	2.1%	0.1%
15/16	5.2%	3.5%	0.3%

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01/01/2023

Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36275, if he will make it his policy to ensure that disbursements from the Coastal Communities Fund are allocated to the regions of England on the basis of population share.

Mr Mark Francois

Our policy is that every coastal community should have the chance to bid for a share of the Coastal Communities Fund to help them with projects that will have a real and lasting impact on their local economy. The 118 Coastal Community Teams (CCTs) in England now provide an important new local context for considering these bids, so that the Fund helps to deliver community-led Economic Plans. Each bid is considered on its merits and allocating the Fund to regions on the basis of their population share would not necessarily ensure best value for money.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of hate crime were reported in each region in the last 12 months.

Sarah Newton

The Home Office collects information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police on an annual basis. The most recently published data are for 2014/15 and are shown in the attached table.

Data for 2015/16 are due to be published in October 2016.

This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

01/01/2023
Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many platform train interface incidents that were reported on the national rail network in each year since 2010 involved driver-only operated passenger services.

Paul Maynard

Currently, the method of train dispatch for incidents at the platform train interface is not recorded so the data requested is not available. However, a new Safety Management Information System is being introduced in December 2016, which is designed to enable the industry to dig deeper into the trends behind incidents.

01/01/2023
Barry Gardiner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are engaged on work related to climate change in (a) posts around the world and (b) London.

James Duddridge

a) As of 1 August 2015 (last available figures for overseas posts) 85.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff resource was spent on climate change/low carbon economy/energy security issues in 16 priority posts overseas supported by an additional 17 FTE staff in seven other G7 and multilateral posts.
b) As at 20 November 2015 16 FTE staff in London work directly on climate change issues.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to help the combatants in Yemen to agree a ceasefire and to remove the external blockade, in particular of supplies.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK welcomes the positive progress made at UN-facilitated talks held between 15 and 20 December 2015 and the ceasefire that commenced on 15 December including the intention to extend this until 28 December. We fully support the UN’s efforts to return to an inclusive political process and strongly encourage all parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire, which will allow urgent medical and humanitarian aid to reach those in need. The engagement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), our Ambassadors, and the UK Special Envoy to Yemen Sir Alan Duncan, with key Yemeni actors has supported this process. We are also providing financial support to the UN Special Envoy’s Office. As Yemenis are highly reliant on food and fuel imports for their basic needs (food, health, water, electricity), one of our top priorities is to help commercial shipping return to pre-conflict levels. We welcomed the Government of Yemen’s commitment in October to allow commercial ships access to Yemen. The number of ships has increased in recent weeks: over 50 ships have berthed in both October and November. However, commercial imports are still far below pre-crisis levels. We will continue to monitor this closely and are funding the new UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism along with the US, EU and Netherlands to speed up clearance processes.

01/01/2023