Tag: Parliamentary Question

Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that public bodies under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 comply with their duty to pick up roadside litter.

Rory Stewart

The Government is committed to localism and the transfer of power to local communities. This is particularly relevant in dealing with litter, which requires a local approach, tailored to the characteristics of the area and the community in which the problems occur.

It is up to councils to decide how best to meet their statutory duty to keep their relevant land clear of litter and refuse and how to prioritise this against other local services.

Councils are responsible for keeping their “relevant land” clear of litter and refuse, including local roads. Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency) is responsible for clearing litter from motorways and some trunk roads. Standards of cleanliness for litter and refuse are set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, which provides a practical guide to the discharge of councils’ cleansing duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA).

If a litter authority which is responsible for publicly-accessible land fails to keep land clear of litter and refuse, it can be taken to court. If the court agrees that the complaint is justified, it can issue a Litter Abatement Order (LAO) requiring the litter authority to clear land of litter within a certain time. The litter authority can also be ordered to pay the complainant’s costs.

It is a criminal offence not to comply with an LAO – anyone not complying can be fined up to £2,500. They can also get further fines of up to £125 a day for each day the offence continues after conviction. Court action can be avoided if litter authorities clear the land within five days of being notified of the complainant’s intention to seek a Litter Abatement Order.

January 1, 2023
Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how much the Members’ Personal Safety and Security pamphlet cost to produce and distribute to members.

Lord Laming

The Lords Members’ Personal Safety and Security booklets cost £673.02 to design and print. We take the security of Members extremely seriously and regularly update our advice and guidance on the steps they can take to help keep themselves, their staff and their families safe. This was a longstanding, routine update on a booklet which has previously existed in a number of different editions.

January 1, 2023
Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the current Commissioner for Birmingham City Council’s children’s social care services started work; how long his appointment is for; what progress reports he has provided to the Secretary of State; and whether those reports are in the public domain.

Lord Nash

Andrew Christie was appointed Commissioner for children’s social care services in Birmingham in December 2015. The statutory Direction that appointed him lasts until September 2016. He reports regularly to the Secretary of State. These reports are not in the public domain.

January 1, 2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the evidence of the practice of forced organ harvesting in China set out in the report published in June by David Kilgour, David Matas and Ethan Gutmann, and in the film The Bleeding Edge.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

As the former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) stated to the House of Commons on the 12 July 2016, we have raised concerns about reports of organ harvesting, as well as about the torture and mistreatment of detainees, during the annual UK-China human rights dialogue. We will do so again at the next round which is scheduled to take place in October. My officials most recently raised the issue with the Chinese authorities on 1 September 2016.

The Kilgour/Matas/Gutmann report is an important source of information about China’s organ transplant system, which we take seriously, but we are unable to substantiate all the evidence presented in the report. We have not assessed any evidence from ‘the Bleeding Edge’, as we understand it to be a semi-fictional feature film.We encourage the Chinese authorities to provide more information about the sources of organs for transplant, and about the implementation of existing Chinese regulations in this area.

January 1, 2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make it his policy only to begin the formal negotiation process on trade deals with non-EU countries once the UK has left the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands

We are taking advantage of all the opportunities available to us to ensure that Britain becomes the global leader in free trade once we leave the EU, including discussing our future trade relationships with third countries. While we remain a member of the EU, the UK will continue to support the EU’s free trade negotiations.

January 1, 2023
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of child abuse that have been reported to police (a) did and (b) did not lead to a prosecution in the last five years.

Mike Penning

The Home Office collects recorded crime information from the police, but it is not possible to tell the age of victim for all the offences that could constitute child abuse for all police forces. Therefore, the requested data cannot be provided.

For some offence categories, the offence states the age of the victim or it is clear that the victim is a child (for example, rape of a female child under 16; cruelty to children/young persons). Figures for these offences for the last five year are given in the Table.

The Home Office does not hold information on prosecutions; these figures are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.

January 1, 2023
Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times Jobcentre Plus staff applied an easement of conditionality under the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Homeless Claimants) Amendment Regulations 2014 to claimants in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel

This information is not routinely gathered, so the information requested is not available.

January 1, 2023
Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 7 December 2015 (HL3817), what assessment they have made of the fact that, in relation to men and women under 35-years of age, the pay gap is in favour of women.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

This Government is committed to ending the gender pay gap. New figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the gender pay gap in the UK remains the lowest on record. The pay gap for women under the age of 40, working full time, is particularly low. The gap is -0.8% for women working full-time aged 22-29 and 0.6% for women working full-time aged 30-39.

As well as revising statutory guidance for schools on careers to raise young women’s aspirations, we have established a new Careers and Enterprise Company to encourage greater collaboration between employers and schools to inspire young people and supported the ‘Your Life’ campaign to encourage more young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

January 1, 2023

Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many full-time equivalent GPs were employed in general practices in Wealden constituency in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14.

Alistair Burt

The information is shown in the following table.

Total general practitioners (GPs) in selected area, Full Time Equivalents 2009-2014:

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
East Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust (PCT)
Total GPs	236	240	243	242
GPs (excluding registrars)	213	213	219	220
GPS (excluding retainers and registrars)	208	211	217	218
GP Provider	179	173	173	173
GP Other	29	38	43	45
GP Registrar	22	27	25	21
GP Retainer	5	2	2	2
NHS High Weald Lewes Havens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
Total GPs					115	110
GPs (excluding registrars)					110	110
GPS (excluding retainers and registrars)					109	109
GP Provider					80	78
GP Other					29	31
GP Registrar					5	1
GP Retainer					0	0

Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics

Notes:

Data as at 30 September in each year
NHS Workforce figures are not available by constituency. Wealden constituency was contained within and serviced by East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT from 2009-2012 and NHS High Weald Lewes Havens CCG from 2013 onwards. These trusts are not geographically co-terminus and thus the figures are not comparable over a time series.

January 1, 2023

– 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take in the light of the findings of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectorate of Constabulary’s recent PEEL: Police legitimacy 2015 report, and the comments by HM’s Inspector of Constabulary that far too many forces were not complying with the Home Office and College of Policing Best Use of Stop and Search scheme

Lord Bates

HM Inspector of Constabulary’s (HMIC’s) findings on stop and search powers, particularly compliance with the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme, as published in their National Legitimacy Report, are concerning. The voluntary Scheme was launched fully in December 2014 and all 43 forces, as well as the British Transport Police, signed up to it to demonstrate that their force is using stop and search powers fairly, effectively and in a way that builds community confidence. HMIC found 13 forces non-compliant in three or more components of the Scheme, and a further 19 were found to be non-compliant with at least one. This represents an unacceptable breach of the Scheme’s terms and, accordingly, membership of the 13 forces was immediately suspended on 10 February; the remaining 19 forces not fully compliant have been put on notice.

HMIC will inspect forces suspended from the Scheme to assess progress with compliance over the next 6 months. Forces are also required to set out details on how full compliance with the Scheme’s requirements will be achieved as part of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s duty to respond to HMIC reports, as set out in section 55 of the Police Act 1996. This information, as well as the findings from HMIC’s follow-up visits to determine the progress made, will inform the decision in the summer on whether to lift the suspension from the Scheme or remove forces altogether.

January 1, 2023