Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s target is for time taken to respond to letters and emails from hon. Members; what the average time taken by her Department to respond to such letters and emails is; and how many such letters and emails received between 1 January and 30 September 2015 remained unanswered after eight weeks.

    Karen Bradley

    Target times for replying to correspondence from hon. Members differ in operational and non-operational areas of the Home Office. Information for the period 1 January to 30 September 2015 is included in the attached table. Across the department correspondence unanswered after eight weeks is approximately 0.3% of that received.

    Volume

    Target

    Average response time

    Unanswered after 8 weeks

    UK Visas and Immigration, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force

    25,111

    20 working days

    9 working days

    21

    Home Office HQ

    4,608

    15 working days

    11 working days

    78

    HM Passport Office

    2,522

    15 working days

    12 working days

    2
  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects (a) the public responses and (b) the Government’s response to the Government consultation on the BBC Charter Review to be published.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government’s BBC Charter Review Consultation closed in October having received over 190,000 responses – the second largest response to any Government consultation.

    These responses are currently being read and analysed and, once this process is completed, findings from the consultation will be published. The Government response to the consultation will be set out in a White Paper in the Spring.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 9 February (HL5480), why that answer does not list (1) the precise dates in 2007 on which the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met; (2) the specific topics discussed on each date; (3) who attended each meeting; and (4) what actions were taken as a result of each meeting.

    Lord Dunlop

    The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met on one occasion during 2007, 26 February in Dundalk. This was the last time that the body met.

    Details of Ministerial attendees and the topics discussed were published in a Joint Communiqué between the two Governments. A copy of this has been placed in the Library (along with copies of all other Joint Communiques published since 1998).

    Although a range of issues were discussed, no formal actions were listed. The focus however at the time was the drive towards devolution and the Conference urged all political leaders to act with courage and determination in order to attain this. Assembly elections subsequently took place in May 2007.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterparts in the International Syria Support Group on reported Russian violations of the ceasefire in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has repeatedly made clear that Russia must abide by its commitments and use its unique position to pressure the regime to honour the terms of the Cessation of Hostilities. We judge that the majority of violations so far have been carried out by the regime.

    The Foreign Secretary speaks regularly to partners in the International Syria Support Group. He last discussed the Cessation of Hostilities with international partners in talks in Paris with French and German counterparts on 4 March. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), also spoke to President Putin on 4 March, along with Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and Prime Minister Renzi. The objective was to give a clear, coordinated message on the importance of Russia and the Assad regime respecting the fragile truce, in order to provide space for productive peace talks.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 March (HL6926), on what date the Department of Health was informed that NHS England was going to introduce a sugar tax in NHS premises by 2020.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We have a range of conversations about key issues at Ministerial and official level with NHS England. NHS England is independent and the decision on a sugar levy on the National Health Service estate is a matter for them operationally. We are interested to see the results of their consultation on a sugar levy.

    The announcement of a soft drinks industry levy by the Chancellor in the Budget is the first step in our comprehensive Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, and gives companies strong incentives to reformulate their products.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what missions HMS Protector is currently undertaking; and how many missions that ship has undertaken in the last five years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    HMS PROTECTOR, the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, provides a United Kingdom Sovereign presence in the British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime areas.

    PROTECTOR is currently in the South Atlantic and is focussed on the provision of support to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including Antarctic Treaty inspections and station visits in support of the British Antarctic Survey, and survey activity, primarily to increase charting coverage of Antarctic shipping routes and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. She recently successfully deployed unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time to assist with navigating through the Antarctic.

    Since entering service in 2011, PROTECTOR has been deployed to the South Atlantic from December 2011 to May 2013; and from October 2013 to April 2015. In October 2015, she again deployed from the United Kingdom, arriving in the region this spring, having conducted a circumnavigation of the globe.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of common coverage planning for mobile services similar to that undertaken by the broadcast industry.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    As part of the Government’s wider work to improve digital connectivity the Government announced a package of planning reforms on 17 March to support the rollout of digital infrastructure so that UK consumers can continue to benefit from the opportunities offered by digital economy. We would encourage mobile infrastructure providers to consider sharing infrastructure wherever possible.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to encourage more young people to take A-level language subjects.

    Nick Gibb

    Modern foreign languages are one of the Russell Group’s facilitating subjects – A levels which open doors to more degrees and professions than other subjects. We are incentivising the take-up of these A levels in the 16-19 performance tables through the facilitating subject measure, and are encouraging the best language graduates to enter the teaching profession, through financial incentives such as a bursary of £25,000 for trainees with a first class or 2:1 relevant degree.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts from (a) Nepal, (b) Bangladesh and (c) India on the human rights situation and working conditions of citizens of those countries who are working in Qatar.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We continue to support Qatar’s efforts in preparing for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, including ensuring UK businesses involved adhere to international and Qatari labour laws, and we support the steps that the Qatari government has taken to respond to concerns about the treatment of migrant workers. We continue to discuss implementation with the Qatari government and we welcome the Government of Qatar’s commitment to the ongoing, systematic reform of Qatar’s labour laws.

  • Michael Dugher – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Michael Dugher – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the change in the number of jobs in the solar sector that will be lost as a result of the Government changes to the feed-in tariff in (a) Barnsley East, (b) Barnsley, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) Yorkshire and the Humber.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government proposed changes to the feed-in tariff scheme (FITs) as part of the FIT review, on which we consulted widely between 27th August and 23rd October.

    Part of the purpose of that consultation was to gather views on the broader economic impact of the proposals. The actual impact on the sector will, of course, depend on the options taken forward after all responses to the consultation have been considered. We are currently analysing feedback submitted during the consultation and intend to publish a Government response in due course.