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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what security checks her Department carries out on refugees from Syria who are admitted to the UK.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Syrian nationals admitted to the UK under the UNHCR Resettlement Programme are some of the most vulnerable displaced people and they are taken directly from the region.

    We take security extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement, working closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When refugees arrive in the UK they have been through a thorough two-stage vetting process to ensure we know who is entering the country. This includes the taking of biometric data, documentation verification and interviews. Potential resettlement cases are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further information on the details of the screening process itself.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of the conclusion of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, entitled Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2015, that the proportion of families in the bottom fifth of income distribution with no savings rose to 69 per cent over the last 10 years partly due to the rising cost of living

    Priti Patel

    The Department carefully considers all relevant publications.

    The Prime Minister recently announced that the Government is bringing forward a ‘help to save’ scheme to encourage those on low incomes to build up a rainy day fund. The Government has also taken significant steps to support the credit union movement to help people to save and access responsible credit.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions for drug smuggling have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police in the last five years.

    Karen Bradley

    The UK works closely with the Spanish authorities on a range of organised crime issues, including drug trafficking. However, the Home Office does not hold information on how many drug trafficking convictions have arisen from co-operation between UK and Spanish police.

  • 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 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of her Department’s policy of providing information on failed asylum claims to the government of their country of origin on the safety of those claimants on their return to that country.

    James Brokenshire

    We carefully consider all asylum claims on their individual merits and provide protection for those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This includes an assessment about whether a person who has spoken out against their government is likely to be at risk of persecution or serious harm on return.

    We do not provide any information relating to an asylum claim to the government of a claimant’s country of origin. No one who is at risk of serious harm in their country is expected to return there, but we do expect those who do not need our protection to return home voluntarily.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of higher education students continued to (a) further study and (b) employment when leaving (i) university and (ii) a further education college in each of the last five years.

    Joseph Johnson

    Research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) into the destinations of leavers from Higher Education by provider type was published as part of the report ‘Destination of Leavers from Higher Education in Further Education Colleges’. The report includes breakdowns of the activities leavers were engaged in six months after leaving their course and refers to the academic years 2008/09 to 2010/11.

    http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2013/201301/

    More recent data showing combined employment and study rates has been published by HEFCE as part of the series ‘Higher Education Indicators for Further Education Colleges’. The most recent analysis covers the 2011/12 and 2012/13 academic years.

    http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2016/201601/

    “

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to introduce a national heart condition screening programme using a minor non-intrusive test for all young people between the ages of 14 to 35.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee reviewed the evidence for screening for the major causes of sudden cardiac death in young people between the ages of 12 to 39 in 2015 and recommended that screening should not be offered. The Committee is scheduled to review the evidence again in 2018-19, and will only consider bringing this forward if significant new peer reviewed evidence emerges.

  • 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 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38441, what average rate people serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection have served over their tariff.

    Andrew Selous

    The tariff period is the minimum amount of time that prisoners serving indeterminate sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) must serve for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Release is then a matter for the Independent Parole Board. The Parole Board will recommend release only once they are satisfied that prisoners’ risks have been reduced to a level that can be safely managed in the community.

    For those IPP prisoners who are beyond their tariff date the average period served post-tariff, rounded to the nearest year, is 4 years. This figure excludes IPP prisoners who have been released and subsequently recalled to custody.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of how long it takes British citizens to find work after returning from a long period living overseas.

    Damian Hinds

    No such assessment has been made by DWP.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has access to radar data covering Aleppo on 17 August 2016 that might identify the type, origin and identity of aircraft present for the air attack on the Qaterji neighbourhood on that day.

    Mike Penning

    I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

    However, indiscriminate attacks which fail to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets would be a violation of International Humanitarian Law and we welcome the UN’s recent decision to establish an Internal Board of Inquiry into the attack on a UN aid convoy on 19 September.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of how many low and middle income earners save and invest in a save-as-you-earn employee share plan.

    Mr David Gauke

    The tax-advantaged Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) limits were significantly increased from April 2014. The increases the Government have made are reasonable, given the average monthly SAYE savings and the value of awards currently made to employees under SIP, and they represent the best use of resources. The Government will continue to keep the SAYE and SIP limits under review.

    In addition to increasing the SAYE and SIP limits, the rules of the schemes were substantially reviewed and simplified following the recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification in March 2012. Last year, the requirement that these schemes must be approved by HM Revenue and Customs to qualify for favourable tax treatment was replaced by self-certification. Coupled with other changes to simplify some technical aspects of the rules, this will make these schemes more attractive to businesses and employees.

    No data is collected and no estimates are made of the income levels of the participants in SAYE schemes.

    Permitting private equity backed companies to offer all-employee tax advantaged schemes would be likely to involve significant changes to the rules of the schemes, and there would be a number of other factors to consider carefully, including the increased cost and complexity of any extension.