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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Tonge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning reports of Christian pilgrims being fired on with tear gas by the Israeli military at the Tomb of Lazarus in East Jerusalem.

    Baroness Warsi

    An official from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised this incident with an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson on 8 May. The spokesperson maintained that the Israeli soldiers did not fire tear gas directly at the pilgrims but at Palestinian protesters nearby who were throwing stones at the IDF soldiers.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which official, with what job title, is responsible and accountable for departmental management information in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

    Lord De Mauley

    Departmental Management Information (MI) is generated for a wide variety of business functions. Checking and sign off of MI produced is carried out within relevant areas of the Department.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many local authorities operate either letting agent or landlord accreditation schemes.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    Information on how many local authorities operate letting agent or landlord accreditation schemes is not centrally held. The decision on whether to establish letting agent or landlord accreditation schemes is best made by local authorities who can take account of local conditions and circumstances. The Department does not therefore produce any guidance on such schemes.

    We are improving standards in the sector. Later this year, we will bring regulations into force that will require the remaining 3,000 letting and property management agents to join one of the 3 approved redress schemes, thereby improving protection for both tenants and landlords. In addition, we have made over £4 million available to 23 local authorities to help them tackle acute and complex problems with rogue landlords in their area. This builds on the £2.6 million we have given nine local authorities to support enforcement against “Beds in Sheds”.

  • Baroness Byford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Byford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2014-05-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have considered strengthening National Health Service data confidentiality by removing the final digit of the postcode from each anonymised patient record uploaded from hospitals, general practitioner practices and other NHS bodies.

    Earl Howe

    Anonymised records cannot include the last three digits of a postcode and would generally not include postcodes at all. A postcode is sometimes needed for analytical purposes, for example to calculate distances from a specific point such as a hazard but where this is the case, the data cannot be classed as anonymised and so there must be a clear legal basis for its use.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department will take into account NHS England’s responsibility for commitments in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in its delivery of the strategy as a whole.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England recently published its statement of intent showing how it will play its part in delivering the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in England. A more detailed plan will be built into NHS England’s five year strategy for specialised services.

    The UK Rare Disease Forum, supported by the Department, will monitor activity against the 51 commitments outlined in the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. It will report progress to the health ministers of the four UK countries.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent assessment he has made of the merits of using vehicle registration databases held by the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority to increase levels of voter registration as part of his plans for individual electoral registration.

    Greg Clark

    Officials are currently working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to pilot the use of data from vehicle registration databases and driver licence data to improve levels of voter registration.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what (a) central government and (b) local government databases electoral registration officers may use in undertaking their registration functions.

    Greg Clark

    The introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) will require Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to confirm existing electors and verify all new applicants to register to vote against data held by the Department of Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. In addition, the Government is currently exploring using data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to further enhance the IER data matching processes as well as providing EROs with information which may help them identify unregistered eligible people.

    Under existing legislation EROs are entitled to inspect any data held by the local authority which appointed them, including data held by private companies acting on behalf of the authority, in order to check the validity of applications to register and to identify potential new electors. The data sources which are available to EROs will vary with some EROs appointed by unitary authorities having access to a greater range of data than those appointed by district councils; the Government has introduced secondary legislation to address this issue by allowing district councils to request data from their county council.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the main reasons given by electoral registration officers were for not conducting data matching activities for the purpose of individual electoral registration.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Commission informs me that the use of local data-matching to support confirmation and verification under Individual Electoral Registration (IER) is at the discretion of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Ministerial guidance sets out the considerations EROs should take into account in determining whether to conduct local data matching for these purposes, which includes an assessment of the costs and benefits of doing so in their local area.

    Following the dry-run of the confirmation exercise in summer 2013, 137 EROs reported to the Commission on the trials that they had carried out of local data-matching to support the confirmation process. The reasons given by EROs for not carrying out local data-matching at that time included a lack of staff resources and an already high match rate. However, in a survey of EROs after the dry-run, 91% of respondents said that local data-matching would be important in their area during the confirmation live run in 2014.

  • Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Funding for such schemes would be a matter for local authorities, rather than being directly funded by my Department.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance currently issued to managers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission on managing a diverse workforce.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including diversity training. The guidance papers requested are internal documents that were not intended for wider publication. However, I have asked the EHRC to send copies to the Hon Member.