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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Lisvane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Lisvane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what their policy is towards the commencement of the Easter Act 1928.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Easter Act 1928 would set the date for Easter to fall on the Sunday that follows the second Saturday in April (i.e. between 9 and 15 April). The Act has not been brought into force. To do so would require an Order in Council, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament. The Act requires that, before the Order is made, “regard shall be had to any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian Body." If the Christian churches were to agree on moving to a fixed date for Easter then the Government would consider, depending on what date is agreed, whether to bring into force the Easter Act 1928 or to make such other legislative provision as may be needed.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse of the assisted voluntary return scheme was in each year since 2004.

    James Brokenshire

    Up until January 1st 2016 the Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) scheme has been outsourced but is now part of the Home Office Voluntary Return Service (VRS).

    The cost of the outsourced scheme in the years 2006 to 2015 is set out below. Data for 2004 to 2006 is incomplete and has therefore been omitted.

    Years

    £m

    2006-7

    22.2

    2007-8

    21.7

    2008-09

    10.80

    2009-10

    20.40

    2010-11

    17.30

    2011-12

    7.50

    2012-13

    8.77

    2013-14

    8.84

    2014/15

    10.86
  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the (a) extra cost to police forces and (b) extra staff hours in police forces resulting from the change in the level of reported cases of contact child sex offences in the last two years.

    Mike Penning

    Resourcing is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement to empower police forces to maximise specialist skills and expertise to prevent offending and resolve cases. This means that police forces must have in place the capabilities they need to protect children from sexual abuse.

    In 2015/16 the Government provided an additional £10 million to the National Crime Agency to create specialist teams to tackle online child sexual exploitation. We have also made available £1.7 million to fund Operation Hydrant, which coordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support regional coordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling child sexual exploitation.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what evidence he has received on the possible use of cluster munitions in Yemen by Saudi Arabia.

    Michael Fallon

    Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have alerted us to their online reports on the use of cluster munitions in Yemen, which we are analysing.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average annual spend per pupil was in grammar schools in each region in 2015-16.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools self-select their own admissions category on Edubase. 163 schools are identified as ‘selective (grammar).’

    The Department does not yet hold the income and expenditure data from 2015-16. The data will be available for those which are maintained by the local authority in December 2016, and for those which are academies in the summer of 2017.

    The overall expenditure per pupil in grammar schools by each region for 2014-15 is listed in the following table:

    Region

    Number of grammar schools

    Expenditure per pupil (£)

    East Midlands

    15

    5,195

    East of England

    8

    5,644

    London

    19

    5,683

    North West

    18

    5,392

    South East

    55

    5,332

    South West

    20

    5,210

    West Midlands

    17

    5,553

    Yorkshire and the Humber

    6

    5,557

    England Total

    158*

    5,404

    *Note: There are 5 selective schools which converted to academies during 2014-15 and as such we do not have comparable financial data for them for this period. The expenditure per pupil takes into account expenditure from all income sources, including self-generated income.

  • Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Imran Hussain – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to raise the security, humanitarian access, freedom of movement and citizenship rights of ethnic groups with the Burmese government.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Government consistently raises concerns about the human rights situation in Burma, including for all ethnic groups, with the Burmese government. However, these are issues that particularly affect the Muslim Rohingya community in Rakhine State, who are subject to persecution and denied the most basic rights. I and other Ministers take every appropriate opportunity, both publicly and in private, to press the Burmese authorities to take urgent steps to address the desperate situation of the Rohingya. I did this with senior Burmese ministers during my visit to Burma in July, when I travelled to Rakhine State for the second time. Most recently, I raised the issue with the Burmese Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, in September in New York. We will continue our efforts to address the serious, ongoing human rights violations against the Rohingya community, including with whoever forms the next Government of Burma.

  • Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton on 2015-12-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been undertaken to ensure that reductions in the public health budget do not negatively affect those who share protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government reached its decisions on implementing reductions in the 2015/16 local authority public health grant after giving full consideration to its duty under the Equality Act 2010 (the public sector equality duty, or PSED). The Government’s response to a public consultation exercise, published on 4 November 2015, contains an equality analysis of the options for making the saving. A copy is attached.

    Final decisions on the distribution of the grant in 2016/17 have not yet been taken, but again will be made in the light of the PSED. Government decisions on the quantum of the grant have taken account of the PSED. Local authorities are responsible for identifying local needs and priorities for public health interventions, and for making decisions on local spending. Local authorities are themselves subject to the PSED.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff working in (a) young offender institutions, (b) secure training centres and (c) secure children’s homes have been (i) suspended following a child protection allegation (ii) disciplined following a child protection allegation, (iii) dismissed following a child protection allegation and (iv) convicted of sexual or violent offences against children in the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will discuss with the Director of Public Prosecutions the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take Mark Pearson to trial for sexual assault, and the claim by the defence solicitor in that case that the CPS initially provided amended and misleading video evidence to the court.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    The CPS’s function is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for the criminal court to consider.

    The CPS assessment of any case is not in any sense a finding of, or implication of, any guilt or criminal conduct. It is not a finding of fact, as this can only be made by a court, but rather an assessment of whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and, if so, whether the public interest lies in prosecuting.

    It is open to the defence in any crown court case to argue, after the prosecution has closed its case, that the evidence is too weak for the decision to be left to the jury. In this particular case the judge clearly considered that the decision was properly a matter for the jury.

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

    Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they next plan to meet the Chief Executive of the Go-Ahead Group in order to discuss its Southeastern rail franchise and (1) health and safety, (2) passenger satisfaction, and (3) responsiveness to customer complaints.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Senior officials will continue to meet with the Chief Executive of the Go-Ahead group on a regular basis to discuss the performances of the franchises. The next meeting is on 21st March.