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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent progress has been made on extracting potential oil reserves near the Falklands; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    A number of international oil and gas companies are involved in the current exploration around Falkland Islands waters which is expected to continue into 2016. The results of exploration will be announced at the appropiate time by the companies concerned.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prevent ISIL from destroying valuable historical sites in Palmyra and elsewhere.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK strongly condemns ISIL’s wanton destruction of cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq, including in Palmyra. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office helped secure UN Security Council Resolution 2199 which obliges all UN Member States to prevent the trade in Iraqi and Syrian cultural property that has been illegally removed from those countries.

    But strong words and legal frameworks are not enough. As a key player in the Global Counter ISIL Coalition, the UK is committed to degrading and defeating ISIL, including through military action. By checking ISIL’s advance, the Coalition’s air campaign and support for partner military forces in Iraq and Syria has had the effect of protecting key historical sites in both countries. However, there is inevitably a limit to what we can do. The only way of safeguarding all historic sites from ISIL is by defeating them politically and militarily. That requires continued effort by the Global Coalition, as well as a more inclusive political settlement in Iraq, and an end to the conflict in Syria.

    On 28 October I will be co-hosting a summit with the Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove Maldon (Mr WhittingdaleJavid) on Cultural Heritage Protection.

    “

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Spanish counterpart on incursions into Gibraltarian waters by Spanish ships in recent months.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond ) raised unlawful incursions with the Spanish government when he visited Spain in February. The Government has raised a number of serious unlawful incursions directly with the Spanish government at a senior level in recent months. I did this most recently on 12 September during a meeting with the Spanish Minister for Europe, Fernando Eguidazu Palacios.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many mental health providers have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission in each of the last five years; and what the longest period of time is that a mental health provider has been without inspection since 2010.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC is responsible for assessing whether providers are meeting the fundamental standards. The CQC provided the following information:

    Since the introduction of the CQC’s new inspection regime in September 2013 the CQC has conducted 34 ratings inspections across NHS mental health providers (these providers have 639 separate locations). This is around two thirds of all NHS providers with a primary inspection category of mental health registered with CQC. The CQC has also conducted 99 inspections across independent mental health locations, including substance misuse services.

    The CQC is unable to provide a detailed breakdown of data prior to September 2013 when the new style of inspection was introduced due to the disproportionate cost of compiling this data.

    There are a number of mental health locations that have not been inspected since 2010. When inspecting NHS mental health providers CQC does not necessarily inspect every single location.

    The focus of all CQC inspections is on the quality and safety of services, based on the things that matter to people. We always ask the following five key questions of services: Are they safe? Are they effective? Are they caring? Are they responsive to people’s needs? Are they well-led?

    The CQC expects to complete its inspections of mental health providers by the end of June 2016, with the exception of intendent standalone substance misuse services, which are on a longer timetable as we have just begun to roll out our new approach to these services.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department next plans to publish an assessment of the incidence of sex-selective abortion in the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department is committed to publishing an analysis of birth ratios annually; the latest report was published in August 2015.

    Assessments were carried out to inform this analysis and Annex C of the latest publication ‘Assessment of termination of pregnancy on grounds of the sex of the foetus’ summarises the findings with further technical detail in Annex B of the publication; a copy is attached.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether foetal tissue derived from abortions is used in medical research in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    In England and Wales, medical research using fetal tissue requires the consent of the woman who donates the tissue and is subject to the requirements of the Human Tissue Act 2004. It should be conducted in accordance with the Codes of Practice published by the Human Tissue Authority,which contain specific guidance on consent to the use of fetal tissue in Code of Practice 1, Consent.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to respond to a new application for indefinite leave to remain in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    In line with published data, statistics are available for the 12 month period from 31 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. In that period the average time it took to issue the first substantive Home Office response to a new application for indefinite leave to remain was 14 calendar days.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to clarify the administrative requirements on applicants for indefinite leave to remain (a) in general and (b) in respect of whether the date on a letter from her Department on the date on which it is received by an applicant dictates the period within which the applicant must respond.

    James Brokenshire

    The administrative requirements to which applicants for indefinite leave to remain are subject are set out at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/settle-in-the-uk. Once the applicant has navigated to the correct application form, detailed guidance relevant to the specific application is provided. This information is reviewed regularly, with a view to ensuring it is as clear as possible. Applicants may receive letters requesting further information. Two of these specify that the information must be submitted within a given number of working days of the date of the letter, while the third does not. This is now being clarified.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many temporary speed restrictions were in place on Network Rail infrastructure on (a) 1 April and (b) the most recent date for which figures are available.

    Claire Perry

    At the start of April 2015, there were 226 Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSR) on Network Rail infrastructure. As of 9th October (end of week 3, Period 7) there were 331 TSRs on the network.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff are employed by Network Rail to deal with delay attribution issues with train operating staff.

    Claire Perry

    167 staff at Network Rail have responsibilities in train delay attribution, representing around 0.5% of Network Rail’s total staff. This number of staff dealing with train delay attribution has remained fairly constant over recent years. Network Rail is a company of c. 35,000 staff operating a network that transports 1.66bn passengers a year, and being able to accurately measure how its work impacts on train performance is essential to maintaining and improving a high standard of service.