UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps with his EU partners and the US Department of Defense to improve the traceability and tracking of small arms and light weapons provided to the Kurdish Regional government for use in fighting against ISIS.

    Michael Fallon

    All military equipment exported from the UK, including the gifting of small arms to the Kurdistan Regional Government is subject to stringent assessment against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. This includes assessment of the end-use and likelihood of the equipment being diverted. As part of the provision of small arms to the Kurdistan Regional Government, the UK also requested and received assurances on handling, secure storage and useage from the Ministry of Peshmerga as the responsible Government authority in charge of end-use.

    The Government is committed to the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). This is a core international instrument for tackling these issues and the Government is committed to its full implementation. The Government also supports the work carried out by the EU as part of its Small Arms and Light Weapons Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition.

  • Iain Wright – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Iain Wright – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on continuing free school meals for children between the ages of four and seven; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The continuation of universal infant free school meals was a commitment in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto.

    The government is currently conducting a Spending Review across all its programmes.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many additional pupils have become eligible for free school meals since the introduction of the universal infant free school meals programme.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Based on information collected by the Department for Education in the January 2015 school census, 1,616,154 infant pupils in England, 69,381 infant pupils in the North East and 2,037 infant pupils in the parliamentary constituency of Easington were entitled to universal infant free school meals. These figures exclude infant pupils who were entitled to free school meals because their parents or carers were in receipt of qualifying benefits.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what legal advice her Department has received on responding to the challenge in the European Court of Justice to the approval of state aid for the proposed Hinkley nuclear power station.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC has taken and is continuing to take legal advice from internal and external legal advisers on these challenges. The Government is confident that the European Commission’s State aid decision on Hinkley Point C is legally robust and has no reason to believe that the challenges submitted have any merit or would delay the project.

  • Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will bring forward proposals to allow the creation and sale of licences and franchises to provide heating using power station waste heat.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government has a range of policies in place to promote the use of Combined Heat and Power (CHP), which is a key technique capable of generating heat from power station waste heat. Environmental permitting requires developers of power plants to consider opportunities for operating CHPs, and provides them with CHP permits if these are cost effective. CHP installations that are certified by our Quality Assurance Programme are eligible for Enhanced Capital Allowances, Business Rates exemptions, a partial exemption from the Carbon Price Support tax, and Renewable Obligation Certificates and Renewable Heat Incentive payments for any heat they generate from biomass. Developing heat networks offers further opportunities for power plants to recover and supply heat.

  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with representatives of (a) the Taxpayers’ Alliance, (b) the Confederation of British Industry, (c) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (d) the Adam Smith Institute, (e) the Freedom Association, (f) the Politics and Economic Research Trust and (g) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.

    George Eustice

    Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-quarterly-transparency-information-january-to-march-2015

    Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course

    “

  • Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to raise the issue of human rights during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Ministers regularly engage China on human rights. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) did so during the UK-China Strategic Dialogue in Beijing in August, as did the Chancellor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr George Osborne) during his visit in September. Discussions during the State Visit will be broad and cover areas both where we agree and where we disagree.

  • Seema Kennedy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Seema Kennedy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Kennedy on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the pilot resettlement scheme for Chagos Islanders meets their requirements.

    Grant Shapps

    The Government is carrying out a public consultation exercise, seeking the views of Chagossians and other interested parties, about a potential resettlement of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The consultation is scheduled to last 12 weeks, concluding on 27 October. I am pleased that an estimated five hundred Chagossians in the UK, Seychelles, and Mauritius have joined meetings with members of the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration to talk through the consultation document. Though we have been clear that this document is not a statement of UK Government policy, as no decision has yet been taken, it sets out the most realistic hypothetical scenario in which possible resettlements, including a pilot option, could take place. The consultation period will help us understand Chagossians’ aspirations and the level of demand for the options set out. This consultation continues the conversation with Chagossian communities as part of our review of resettlement policy started in 2012, which included an independent feasibility study, which concluded at the end of January 2015.

  • Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure Saudi Arabia ceases its persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The British Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief.

    The public practice in Saudi Arabia of any form of religion other than Islam is illegal, however, the Saudi authorities do accept foreign workers privately practising religions other than Islam. These restrictions on freedom of religion or belief reflect widely held conservative social values in Saudi society.

    Our position on human rights in Saudi Arabia is a matter of public record. We have regularly made our views known, including through the UN Universal Periodic Review process and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s annual Human Rights and Democracy Report, in which Saudi Arabia continues to be a designated priority country. We raise our human rights concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities using a range of Ministerial and diplomatic channels of communication.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on providing Group B strep tests for new-born babies.

    Ben Gummer

    Routine testing of babies for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection is not recommended. Therefore, no cost benefit assessment has been made by the Department on providing GBS tests to newborn babies.

    A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified 41 items of correspondence received since 1 January 2015 on GBS. This correspondence relates mainly to offering testing for GBS carriage in pregnancy.

    If a woman has previously had a baby with GBS, her maternity team will either monitor the health of her newborn baby closely for at least 12 hours after birth, or treat them with antibiotics until blood tests confirm whether or not GBS is present. The Department’s policy is not to offer antenatal screening for GBS carriage. This is based on advice from the UK National Screening Committee the body responsible for advising Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy, and their advice is because there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the benefits to be gained from screening would outweigh the harms.