Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether parity of esteem as established in the Belfast Agreement 1998 applies to people who live in the Republic of Ireland.

    Lord Dunlop

    This Government understands the concept of parity of esteem, as set out in the 1998 Belfast Agreement, as placing a general obligation on the UK Government to treat people of different traditions in Northern Ireland fairly and with equal respect. In the Agreement it is clearly expressed and defined in relation to people living in Northern Ireland.

    As a general obligation there is no definition of particular circumstances in which it does or does not apply.

    As I have set out in previous replies to the Noble Lord, this Government is firm in its commitment to the protection of people against any form of discrimination, and the promotion of opportunity for all, across the whole of our United Kingdom.

    In respect of the Noble Lord’s question about those who might march wearing army uniforms but who are not members of an army, the concept of parity of esteem clearly does not absolve people from upholding the law. This Government has made clear many times that we will never accept any form of equivalence between members of the security forces and those who engage in terrorism or other forms of paramilitary activity.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of hate crime were reported in Croydon in each of the last 12 months.

    Sarah Newton

    The Home Office collects information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police at the police force area level. The Metropolitan police force recorded 13,889 hate crimes in 2014/15.

    Further information on hate crime can be found in Hate Crimes, England and Wales, 2014/15, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2014-to-2015

    Data for 2015/16 are due to be published in October 2016.

    This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many UK medical students entered undergraduate training in each year since 2000.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information on the number of United Kingdom medical students is not held centrally; this is collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

  • Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that new interconnector capacity is supported by robust cost analyses.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem, through the regulatory regime introduced in summer last year, have in place a thorough eligibility assessment of individual interconnector projects which provides robust cost analysis, ensuring the interconnectors are in the interest of consumers. The Government is confident that Ofgem’s cost analysis process for interconnectors is appropriate.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps her Department is taking to consult people in Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which will be affected by proposed changes in polling station locations.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The design and publication of polling station schemes for elections in Northern Ireland is an operational matter for the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.

    The Chief Electoral Officer published a consultation on a proposed polling station scheme for use at the May 2016 Assembly elections on 19 November with a closing date of 11 February 2016. The Chief Electoral Officer intends to publish the final scheme in the first week of March. Details of the consultation may be found on the Electoral Office website at: http://www.eoni.org.uk/News/Publication-of-Proposed-Amendments-to-the-Poll-(1).

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in England and Wales are on long-term prescriptions of more than four weeks for benzodiazepines.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Health Service Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) has advised that, in December 2015, it initiated a project to improve the storage of transaction level prescription data, including the age of patients and to enhance reporting capability against this data. The NHS BSA anticipates having the capability to provide patient level prescription information towards the end of the 2016-17 financial year. This should contain primary care prescribing information for the full range of medicines, including anti-depressants.

    This should also allow the reporting on long-term prescriptions for medicines, including benzodiazepines, which is not currently possible.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many care leavers in part or full-time education other than higher education aged between 19 and 21 in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015 were former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children looked after by the local authority.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is shown in the table below. This information is for England only.

    Care leaver activity [2]

    Number of former unaccompanied asylum seeking children [1]

    2014

    2015

    Higher education

    20

    40

    Education other than higher education

    100

    260

    Training or employment

    40

    130

    Source: SSDA903

    Information on the activity of all care leavers in England has been published in tables F1 of the Statistical First Release on looked after children[3].

    [1] This includes young people who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children in their final period of care.

    [2] Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children aged (a) up to 12, (b) 12 to 15 and (c) 16 to 18 were prescribed (i) fluoxetine, (ii) fluvoxamine, (iii) sertraline, (iv) paroxetine, (v) escitalopram and (vi) citalopra by the NHS in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not collected centrally. Prescribing information is not linked to the patient receiving the prescription so it is not possible to supply prescribing information by patient age.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what forecast he has made of the number of households within the 55 day-evening-night equivalent level noise contour of aircraft arriving and taking off at Gatwick Airport in the event that a second runway at that airport was to become operational.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes.

    The Airports Commission undertook a thorough assessment of the noise impacts of each of the three shortlisted schemes, across a wide range of metrics, including the 55 day-evening-night sound level.

    The Government continues to consider the comprehensive evidence published by the Airports Commission, including on the noise impacts of the three schemes.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average hourly earnings were of her Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

    George Eustice

    Defra employees are paid within salary bands according to their grades, they are not paid by the hour. The tables below set out a calculation of average hourly pay for all employees within the central department, by grade, and by BME, Non-BME, and Undeclared ethnic status (employees that have not declared their ethnicity).

    2015

    BME

    Non BME

    Undeclared

    AA

    *

    *

    £8.96

    AO

    £12.15

    £12.17

    £11.43

    EO

    £14.96

    £13.92

    £13.80

    HEO

    £17.29

    £16.79

    £15.98

    SEO

    £20.54

    £19.96

    £20.05

    G7

    £27.43

    £27.33

    £26.30

    G6

    *

    £32.62

    £33.10

    SCS

    *

    £39.77

    £46.42

    2016

    BME

    Non BME

    Undeclared

    AA

    *

    *

    £9.84

    AO

    £12.06

    £12.17

    £12.16

    EO

    £14.89

    £14.41

    £13.99

    HEO

    £17.23

    £16.66

    £16.05

    SEO

    £20.47

    £20.51

    £20.42

    G7

    £27.40

    £27.35

    £26.65

    G6

    *

    £33.04

    £32.84

    SCS

    *

    £42.62

    £48.85

    *Number of staff in this group are below publishable level

    Good progress is being made on actions in the Government’s Talent Action Plan and Defra’s Diversity Strategy to ensure that Defra is able to recruit and retain employees from a diverse range of backgrounds, and to enable them to develop and progress on merit.