The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of dairy products procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the latest period for which figures are available.
Mr Mark Francois
The Department for Communities and Local Government sources 75% of its dairy products from British producers as at March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees have been reunited with relatives in the UK since the announcement, Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to be resettled from Europe, on 4 May 2016.
James Brokenshire
As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.
As the legislation sets out, we need to consult with local authorities first and we are also working closely with NGOs, the UNHCR, UNICEF and relevant Member States to establish suitable processes to implement this initiative.
Ministers and senior officials are in ongoing discussions with Greece, Italy and France to identify and transfer to the UK unaccompanied refugee children where it is in their best interests. We are also consulting local authorities, non-governmental organisations and UNHCR. In addition, we have worked with France to improve the operation of the Dublin family reunification process, and accepted over 30 transfer requests between January and the end of April with many more cases in train.
We are committed to act as quickly as we can but we must take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to support those who are resettled. We must also ensure that we are able to continue to fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of the refit to RFA Diligence in 2013 to extend its life to 2020.
Earl Howe
Refits of RFA DILIGENCE were carried out from June 2012 to February 2013, and from September 2014 to February 2015, costing £17.6 million and £11 million respectively.
The timings of the refits were driven by factors including the mandatory requirements to renew safety and environmental certification and the need to address equipment obsolescence issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how potential victims of trafficking whose type of exploitation is recorded as unknown in the National Referral Mechanism Statistics, end of year summary 2015, published on 11 February 2016 were identified; and if she will make a statement.
Sarah Newton
Potential Victims who are recorded in the National Referral Mechanism Statistics (NRM) statistics as having suffered an unknown type of exploitation are identified and referred through the same process as other victims. The breakdown of agencies who referred them to the NRM are included in published statistics, data for which is derived from initial referral forms. An ‘unknown’ categorisation can result from missing or incomplete information on this form, which may be collected at a later stage as part of the ongoing assessment and safeguarding of the potential victim concerned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and (b) black and minority ethic people were diagnosed with mental health problems in (i) the UK, (ii) London, (iii) each London borough and (iv) each health trust in London on 1 October (A) 2010, (B) 2011, (C) 2012, (D) 2013, (E) 2014 and (F) 2015.
Alistair Burt
The data is not collected in the format requested.Data is not available for the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender community.
The attachment ‘black and minority ethnic mental health contact’ contains the latest data available on the number of people from black and minority ethnic groups who have been in contact with mental health services in London-based providers between 2011/12 and 2014/15 and clinical commissioning groups between 2013/14 and 2014/15.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made in the Comprehensive Spending Review of the number of schools in which asbestos is present in the constituencies covered by the Northern Powerhouse.
Lord Nash
An assessment of the number of schools where asbestos is present in the constituencies covered by the Northern Powerhouse has not been made as part of the Spending Review.
The Department expects schools and responsible bodies to address a range of building-related issues, including asbestos, through the more than £4 billion in condition funding over the next three years.
The amount of condition funding that responsible bodies receive is partly based on the Property Data Survey, which gathered information about the condition of buildings at 19,000 schools, meaning that our investment can now be targeted where it is needed most. The condition of a school building is likely to influence the level of hazard posed by any asbestos it contains and the information from the Property Data Survey has been considered as part of the Spending Review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many British Transport Police officers he estimates will be deployed in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.
Claire Perry
The British Transport Police currently has 3,046 officers, which is the largest number of officers since the creation of the British Transport Police Authority in 2004. The number of officers in future years will vary in response to operational needs, including specific initiatives such as the introduction of the Night Tube in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with NATO on the emergency provision of troops to (a) Poland and (b) the Balkan states.
Mr Julian Brazier
The UK was one of the driving forces behind NATO’s Readiness Action Plan (RAP), agreed at the Wales Summit, which includes tripling the strength of the NATO Response Force (NRF); the creation of a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) that is able to deploy at very short notice; and enhancing NATO’s Standing Naval Forces.
The UK is fully involved with NATO work to improve the movement of troops and logistic support to the enhanced NRF and VJTF although improvements to and development of road networks remain the responsibility of each member nation.
NATO Allies regularly discuss the progress of the RAP and the capabilities and deployability of our forces; we will do so again at the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting this month.
The UK will contribute to the VJTF in every year between now and 2021 including: a 1,000 strong battle group for the Spanish-led Land VJTF in 2016; we will act as the Land VJTF lead nation in 2017, with 3,000 UK personnel; and in 2020 we will provide a 1,000 battle group to the Polish-led VJTF
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will include the Food Insecurity Experience Scale survey in the next Family Food survey in order to assess households’ vulnerability to hunger.
George Eustice
We do not intend to measure household food insecurity because there is no single definition of food insecurity. The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is one method, but the factors that impact on household food security are complex. There are multiple indicators such as quality, variety and desirability of diet as well as total intake, not all of which are measured consistently. It is therefore very difficult and potentially misleading to develop a single classification of food insecurity.
The OECD ‘Society at a Glance 2014’ report published figures showing that the proportion of those who say they are finding it difficult to afford food in the UK declined over the past 5 years 2007 – 2012: from 9.8% to 8.1%. This was based on Gallup World Poll data which actually used one of the questions which form part of the FIES.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment of the merits of the Protector drone and other current and projected UK capability requirements was made to underpin the recent £1.5 billion UK-France collaboration on a joint unmanned combat air vehicle.
Mr Philip Dunne
As part of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of our future capability requirements including for combat air. Within this, we looked at what could be provided by current and planned capabilities including Protector. The next phase of our collaboration on Unmanned Combat Air Systems with France will mature advanced technologies to inform future acquisition choices.
As part of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of our future capability requirements including for combat air. Within this, we looked at what could be provided by current and planned capabilities including Protector. The next phase of our collaboration on Unmanned Combat Air Systems with France is looking at capability need beyond Protector and so will mature advanced technologies to develop operational demonstrators.