Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is closely monitoring global migration developments, including the number of Mediterranean crossings, working in partnership with the EU and in source and transit countries, to address the mass movements of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This includes tackling criminal gangs who facilitate journeys and exploit migrants.

    We have not made an estimate of the number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017. Determining refugee status is at the discretion of EU Member States and we do not estimate the number of illegal migrants that will be granted refugee status.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people with indefinite leave to remain have been granted certificates of travel with validity of less than five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Certificates of travel (COT) are normally issued for 5 years to individuals with indefinite leave to remain. COTs may be issued for a shorter duration where

    • There are Security or criminality reasons to do so

    • The applicant has lost or abused previous documents

    • The COT is being issued solely to facilitate the applicant travelling to their country of nationality to obtain a national passport.

    • There is an urgent short term need to travel, and the applicant’s embassy cannot process a passport application fast enough.

    The table below shows the number of COT valid for 12 months or less where the applicant has ILR for each year since 2010.

    This data only counts people who have submitted applications for ILR in country. It excludes people who have ILR on Asylum grounds. The data also excludes any people with an ILR grant which pre dates the Case Information Database.

    Year Number of Cases

    2010 50

    2011 50

    2012 15

    2013 15

    2014 35

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on completing the coastal path in England.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The coastal access programme has so far opened up 101 miles of our beautiful coastline for everyone to enjoy, boosting local tourism and growing the rural economy.

    The Government is working closely with Natural England to build on the progress already made, with the aim of completing the coastal path around England by 2020. We have approved Natural England’s coastal access proposals for a further 176 miles. By the end of this financial year we expect Natural England to have submitted proposals for another 349 miles and to be working on proposals for an additional 986 miles.

    The Government has announced Defra’s capital allocation for the next five years, and funding to complete the coastal path around England by 2020 will be protected. When complete, the path will be one of longest coastal walking routes in the world at around 2,700 miles in length.

    The Government will publish the detailed allocation of funding in the Department’s Main Estimate early next year.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to protect spending on the British Transport Police in real terms over the Spending Review period.

    Claire Perry

    Funding for the British Transport Police is not derived directly from a specific Government grant but from holders of police service agreements. However, the Department has made clear to the British Transport Police Authority that it considers that any efficiencies it seeks to make should not materially impact on the operational policing capability of the British Transport Police, including in relation to counter-terrorist activity.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions the Government has had with NATO on reductions to the number of Russian nuclear strike missiles.

    Mark Lancaster

    My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) has had no recent discussions with NATO regarding reductions to the number of Russian nuclear strike missiles. However, the US provides annual reports on progress made under the Treaty for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, which is known as the New START Treaty.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to implement the findings of the Report of the Independent Farming Regulation Taskforce, published in May 2011.

    George Eustice

    The Government (Defra, the Department for Transport, Food Standards Agency and the Home Office) accepted 137 of more than 200 recommendations made by the Farming Regulation Task Force in 2011.

    The Farming Regulation Task Force Implementation Group published a final assessment of our delivery in April 2014 in which they concluded that we had completed or made progress against the vast majority of the accepted recommendations. The remaining 27 recommendations are currently being reviewed as part of the ‘Cutting Red Tape: Review of the Information managements in the Agricultural Sector’. A report on the findings of this review will be published shortly.

  • Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hannah Bardell on 2016-03-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that the Codentify system is not advantaged over other available systems in any future decision on tobacco product authentication systems to be used by his Department.

    Damian Hinds

    Tobacco products classified as ‘illicit’ in the UK include anything on which duty has not been paid but should have been paid. This includes counterfeit products, brands manufactured legally overseas but not legally sold in the UK, and genuine products originating in the UK and overseas but diverted from legitimate supply chains by criminals. Because of this, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers use a variety of ways to identify illicit product. Testing product authenticity is one mechanism.

    To test product authenticity, HMRC uses identifiers required by legislation, for example, Fiscal Marks which manufacturers are required to print on specified tobacco products to show they are UK duty paid, as well as voluntary tools used by the manufacturers. One such voluntary tool is Codentify.

    Codentify was developed and introduced by the major tobacco manufacturers on their own initiative through the Digital Coding and Tracking Association (DCTA). HMRC played no part in the development or introduction of the system nor did HMRC require that it be introduced. Codentify codes already feature on packs and are there regardless of any HMRC use of them. HMRC took a policy decision, in line with the commitment to tackle illicit tobacco, to examine whether these existing codes could provide a useful additional tool to help officers authenticate product in the field.

    The trial is concerned only with the use of Codentify for product authentication, and no other aspect of the system is being used or evaluated. Codentify requires no specialist equipment or training. Officers are provided with basic guidance and access to an online system. No charge is made for use of the system and, as no procurement was needed, there was no requirement for HMRC to run a tender exercise. As this is a trial only, no Ministerial approval was required or has been sought.

    A number of HMRC officers have been given access to the system and trained by HMRC colleagues. The time spent on this activity is minimal and is estimated to be less than one staff year in total.

    HMRC has explained the use of Codentify as a potential product authentication tool to colleagues in Border Force and Trading Standards. However, they have not provided training to any officers in those organisations.

    The EU Tobacco Products Directive introduces a requirement for a pan European security feature and track and trace systems. The European Commission, working with Member States, is considering proposals and have yet to determine any technical specifications,

    HMRC is aware of a wide range of potential track and trace and security feature solutions on the market. They are not evaluating, and, given the current position on the Directive, could not evaluate any products against its requirements. The aspects of Codentify being used are entirely separate from the requirements of the Directive.

    In accordance with regulatory requirements, when technical specifications are determined, HMRC will ensure that any evaluation against them ensures no unfair competitive advantage or obstacles to competition.

  • 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 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure paramedics receive appropriate psychological support after witnessing traumatic events.

    Jane Ellison

    Management of the frontline workforce, including arrangements for any psychological support, is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts. All ambulance trusts have internal debriefing support services and through occupational health, staff have access to professional counselling services.

    The Department commissions NHS Employers to support providers of NHS services in ensuring and improving staff health and wellbeing. They provide a wide range of advice, guidance and best practice, including toolkits on mental health and stress in the workforce.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 36734, what steps his Department is taking to prevent those individuals identified as high risk not enrolled on the PROUD study from contracting HIV.

    Jane Ellison

    There are a number of workstreams within the national HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion Programme that offer men who have sex with men (MSM), who remain one of the populations most at-risk from HIV, advice and resources to make sustainable and safer sexual health choices.

    Public Health England has also published its strategic action plan 2015-16 “Promoting the health and wellbeing of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men” (a copy is attached) which aims to promote the health and wellbeing of MSM by focussing on three interrelated areas in which MSM are disproportionately affected: sexual health and HIV, mental health and in the use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

  • Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-07-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of Design and Technology studies to the UK economy.

    Lord Nash

    Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are vital subjects in our modern economy and there is a widespread demand for employees with knowledge and skills in these subjects. That is why we have worked closely with key organisations in the sector, such as the James Dyson Foundation, the Design and Technology Association and the Royal Academy of Engineering to ensure the content of Design and Technology curriculum and qualifications set out the knowledge and skills sought by leading engineering employers and are aligned with high-tech industry practice. The new GCSE and A level begin to be taught from September 2017.