Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in each month since December 2014, how many Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship were available, how many applications for such certificates were (1) granted, and (2) refused, and what was the minimum point score for successful applications.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The data requested is set out in the table below

Allocation Month	RCoS available	No of RCoS Granted	No RCoS refused	Minimum points score[1]	Minimum salary required to meet points score
Dec-14	2481	1819	0	32	£20,500
Jan-15	2416	1670	0	32	£20,500
Feb-15	2392	2409	0	32	£20,500
Mar-15	1690	1919	0	32	£20,500
Apr-15	2528	1888	0	32	£20,800[2]
May-15	2285	2277	0	32	£20,800
Jun-15	1690	1215	1329	50	£46,000
Jul-15	2040	1943	1201	45	£32,000
Aug-15	2347	2418	583	36	£24,000
Sep-15	1544	1520	891	35	£23,000
Oct-15	2111	1953	374	22	£22,000
Nov-15	2011	2100	0	21	£20,800
Dec-15	1989	1774	0	21	£20,800
Jan-16	1926	1441	0	21	£20,800
Feb-16	2439	1760	0	21	£20,800
Mar-16	2661	1748	0	21	£20,800
Apr-16	2175	1692	0	21	£20,800
May-16	2464	1849	0	21	£20,800
Jun-16	2575	1853	0	21	£20,800
Jul-16	2701	2238	0	21	£20,800
Aug-16	2695	1952	0	21	£20,800

(1) The points table used to score applications changed in October 2015.

(2) The minimum salary to qualify under Tier 2 increased from £20,500 to £20,800 in April 2015, in line with wage inflation. This information is available in the public domain and can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employer-sponsorship-restricted-certificate-allocations/allocations-of-restricted-certificates-of-sponsorship

01/01/2023

Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of foreign nationals convicted of a crime in the UK were deported to their country of origin in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire

The following table shows the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) who have been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment and subsequently referred to Immigration Enforcement for consideration of removal action.

Whilst we aim to deport foreign national offenders at the earliest opportunity not all of those referred to the Home Office will meet the deportation threshold, some may later be confirmed as British or exempt from Immigration Control and some will be successful at appeal. Removal may also be delayed as some offenders will repeatedly refuse to comply with the deportation and documentation process, deliberately seek to flout the system to disrupt our efforts to deport them or attempt to lodge multiple appeals. Factors such as these can lead to deportation being delayed.

In May 2013, a new system was introduced for recording and monitoring all FNO referrals, even where an offender did not meet the deportation threshold. Prior to this, referrals of those who did not meet deportation criteria were not routed through a central system so this data was not centrally recorded. The introduction of this system therefore shows an increase in the referral numbers from 2012/13 onwards.

Financial year	Number of referrals to Immigration Enforcement	Number of removals
2010/11	6,452	5,367
2011/12	7,326	4,539
2012/13	6,874	4,720
2013/14	10,786	5,118
2014/15	10,461	5,277
2015/16 (to Sept 2015)	5,262	2,855

The National Offender Management Service operate on a nationality self declaration basis, which means that not all those referred for action will be in scope for removal. Some offenders may later be confirmed as British nationals or exempt from immigration control.

The removals shown are not a representative proportion of those referred in the same period. Those referred will not always be removable in the same year due to sentence length. The removals data will include those who have been referred prior to the period shown in the table.

Please note that figures prior to the 2011/12 financial year precede the implementation of a later reporting application and as such were not subject to the same level of data assurance for data recorded after 2011/12.

01/01/2023

Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to recommendation 85 in the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report entitled, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes, a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, published in July 2015, what plans he has to recruit internationally to address workforce deficits.

Jane Ellison

NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations in the independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, and has appointed Cally Palmer CBE as NHS National Cancer Director to lead on managing implementation. She is currently setting up a new Cancer Transformation Board to lead the roll-out of the recommendations of the new strategy, including on workforce, and a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, will oversee and scrutinise their work.

We announced in September that Health Education England (HEE) is developing a new national training programme for an additional 200 staff to get the skills and expertise to carry out endoscopies by 2018. The content of the next mandate from the Government to HEE is currently being determined.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23060, what proportion of staff employed in each young offender institution are qualified social workers.

Andrew Selous

The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

The Youth Justice Board is responsible for commissioning and oversight of the secure youth estate. The Youth Justice Board funds dedicated social workers at each under-18 Young Offender Institution (YOI). All young people undergo a health and education assessment upon arrival into custody, whilst all staff undergo training in child and adolescent development and safeguarding.

Under-18 YOI providers should ensure that they meet the needs of all detained persons including those with Special Education and Needs (SEN) requirements, and that all staff are suitably qualified to support young people and make referrals to other specialist support where this is appropriate.

01/01/2023
Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in the light of the Procurement Policy Note:Ensuring compliance with wider international obligations when letting public contracts of 17 February stating that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate unless formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the UK Government, what assessment they have made of the connection between that advice and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office position that Israeli settlements are illegal and support for them is not encouraged.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government’s position on the illegality of settlements remains unchanged. Settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two-state solution.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the status is of the McKinsey report which informed the BIS 2020 departmental restructuring strategy.

Joseph Johnson

The McKinsey team validated the early work undertaken by the BIS senior team, providing a perspective on the scale of the opportunity for operating cost savings and advising on deliverability, risks and any additional benefits.

01/01/2023
Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria were used in selecting the members of the Guidelines Development Group who advised the Chief Medical Officer on the evidence base for the updated guidelines concerning alcohol consumption.

Lord Prior of Brampton

A group of 13 independent scientific experts were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The members of the Guidelines Development Group were chosen according to the type of expertise they had and their individual ability.

01/01/2023
William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the (a) costs and (b) margins of combined cycle gas turbine plants of (i) Supplementary Balancing Reserve and (ii) other Black Start ancillary support subsidy contracts to coal plants.

Andrea Leadsom

The Supplementary Balancing Reserve and Black Start contracts are two important services developed to support National Grid in managing security of supply. Responsibility for these services rests with OFGEM.

01/01/2023
Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what recent assessment the Commission has made of the security arrangements for screening mail received by hon. Members of each House of Parliament.

Tom Brake

A procurement process for a new contract for screening mail received by hon. Members is currently underway. A full review of the security arrangements and contract specification forms part of that process. This review is based on advice from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) as well as on a national standard specification for mail screening (PAS 97:2015).

Following an incident, the Parliamentary Security Department has recently revised and reissued guidance to Members and staff on what to do following receipt of a suspicious letter or package.

We do not comment in public on details of security arrangements. The Deputy Director of Security (Delivery) would be happy to discuss these arrangements in more detail with the hon. Member.

01/01/2023
Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of which specific rail service improvements the new East Anglia rail franchises would deliver for (1) Stansted Airport, and (2) Cambridge.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Under the new franchise agreement passengers travelling to and from Stansted Airport will benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019, and a minimum 12.5% reduction in anytime return fares and anytime single fares on the Stansted Express by early 2017. Almost all hourly services between Norwich and Cambridge are to be extended to provide a direct service to and from Stansted Airport.

Cambridge Station will similarly benefit from new trains with free Wi-Fi from February 2019. Additional train services are an earlier first service from Cambridge to Norwich and an additional evening service from Norwich to Cambridge.

Cambridge Station will be provided with a significant refurbishment. This will include construction of a pavilion to include a customer waiting area, train information displays and ticketing offices and ticket vending machines at the entrance to the station. Cambridge will also be provided with 1000 additional secure cycle spaces.

01/01/2023