Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Israel on the planned demolition of the Bedouin villages of Susiya and Um Al Hiran.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Our Embassy in Tel Aviv has raised UK concerns with the Israeli Government on the issue of demolitions. Demolitions of Palestinian villages not only inflict unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians, but are harmful to the peace process and in all but the most exceptional of cases, are contrary to International Humanitarian Law. In regards to demolitions of Bedouin villages in green-line Israel such as Umm al-Hiran, any resolution should be consistent with Israel’s commitments under international law.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in her Department in 2015-16.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    DFID provides monthly workforce management information as part of its commitment to transparency. Information on staff numbers and costs is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfid-workforce-management-information-public-body.

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  • Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to train Jobcentre Plus advisors to support working parents and carers in in-work progression under universal credit.

    Damian Hinds

    We have made a significant commitment to supporting people through the welfare system to seek to increase their earnings in work. We are testing a range of approaches.

    This includes ongoing trials on how in-work progression can be supported by work coaches. This will help us further develop the work coach role to support in-work claimants, including working parents and Carers.

    We have also put in place a substantial programme of learning and ongoing support for work coaches. All coaches receive face-to-face classroom learning which focuses on both the technical delivery steps and importantly the transformational change of delivering in-work progression, as well as consolidation post-completion.

    Many of the skills that work coaches develop and utilise when working with out-of-work claimants are equally applicable to in-work claimants, and they will bring these skills to bear in addition to the extra learning.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what involvement the UK armed forces have had in training armed forces of Gulf states in each of the last 15 years.

    Mike Penning

    Over the past 15 years, UK Armed Forces have provided support to armed forces of Gulf States both in-country and in the UK and continue to do so. Gulf States have attended international defence training courses in the UK such as the advanced command and staff course, Royal College of Defence Studies and Initial Officer Training.

    UK Armed Forces have also provided training in-country through the delivery of tactical level Short Term Training Teams in the maritime, land and air domains. The Defence Academy has also delivered the strategic leadership programme and managing defence in wider security context courses to Gulf States along with the Royal Navy’s exclusive economic zone course.

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the effects of the recent fires in Indonesia and neighbouring countries; and what steps he he has taken to ascertain whether any UK companies are responsible for those fires.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We maintain a regular dialogue with the government of Indonesia, governments of affected neighbouring countries and environmental experts about the fires and their impact. While experts agree the fires are man-made, we are not aware of the involvement of any UK companies. We are working with Indonesian NGOs and the government to help them monitor, prevent and take action on fires, whether they occur on land owned by Indonesian or foreign entities.

    The UK’s Forest Land-use And Governance (FLAG) programme in Indonesia is funding longer-term fire prevention work through civil society, private sector and government, focusing on transparency, accountability and spatial planning to resolve the land governance issues that lead to fires.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 26 November 2015, Official Report, columns 1489-94, what additional humanitarian support the Government plans to provide to countries that border Syria to assist with the likely increased displacement of people as a result of the coordinated international response to Daesh in Syria.

    Mr David Cameron

    Coalition airstrikes have been on-going since September 2014. Airstrikes may cause some local level internal displacement and disruption; but it is the conflict that is the main cause of suffering of civilians in Syria. In Syria, the UN carries out regular humanitarian contingency planning exercises including preparing for the impact of military operations.

    To date, the UK has allocated £559 million to support refugees in the region and vulnerable host communities, including £304 million in Lebanon, £193 million in Jordan and the remainder across the region.

    The UK is very concerned about the plight of the Syrian people. This is why the Prime Minister announced on 16 November that the UK, Kuwait, Norway, Germany and the UN will co-host an international conference on the Syria crisis in London on 4 February 2016. The Conference aims to raise significant new funding to meet the needs of all those affected by crisis within Syria and to support neighbouring countries, who have shown enormous generosity in hosting refugees, to cope with the impact of the crisis. The Conference will aim to raise both emergency and long-term funding for 2016 and subsequent years.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish minutes or a statement of the topics of discussion at the dinner attended by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury hosted by Tolley in May 2015.

    Mr David Gauke

    I attended the dinner in May 2015 in a personal capacity.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to exempt employers from the proposed public sector exit payment cap if an employer can demonstrate that they are in the middle of an ongoing restructuring exercise.

    Greg Hands

    The Government made a manifesto commitment to end six-figure payouts in the public sector and wants to do so as soon as possible. These payments cost around £2 billion a year and it is important that they are fair, proportionate and provide value for money to the taxpayer that funds them. As such, the Government does not see any case for transitional arrangements to delay ending six-figure exit payments. However, the power for Ministers to relax the restrictions imposed by the cap provides the flexibility to do so in appropriate circumstances.

    Automatic indexing would fail to offer the flexibility that the clause currently provides for. As it stands, the Government can amend the level of the cap to take into account all prevailing circumstances, and with the additional scrutiny of the affirmative resolution procedure in Parliament.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many organisations in receipt of grant funding awarded by her Department were found to have engaged in activity that influenced or attempted to influence Parliament, government, or the European Commission, or were found to have attempted to influence legislative or regulatory action in each of the last three years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In line with government policy, DECC is introducing the new anti-lobbying clause mandated by the Cabinet Office. DECC has previously included a prohibition on use of the grant for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature, and DECC is not aware of any breaches of this condition, although no investigation has been carried out. Most DECC grants are awarded to cover specified costs incurred by the grant recipient in undertaking a particular project and are paid to reimburse those costs on receipt of satisfactory evidence that the relevant costs have been incurred.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have to reduce the noise level of motorbikes travelling on public highways.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There are already a number of measures in place to control motorcycle noise with manufacturers required to meet strict noise limits which are then enforced by the police and through the annual MOTs. There are currently no plans for further measures.