Tag: Parliamentary Question

Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has held with the government of the United Arab Emirates on the number of political prisoners held in that country; and what representations he has made on behalf of such prisoners.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We regularly discuss human rights with the UAE. If we have concerns regarding arrests, convictions or sentencing we make these clear to Emirati authorities, as part of our broader strategic engagement.

January 1, 2023
Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to support research and development to provide continually up-to-date defence against cybercrime.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Home Office continues to work closely with police forces to ensure that we are best placed to tackle the threat posed by cyber crime.

Through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), we invested over £90 million during the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response.

As the Chancellor announced in November, this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.

The Home Office is also supporting the work led by Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, the National Policing Lead for Digital Investigation and Intelligence (DII), to build capabilities to combat the full range of digital crime types. In addition we are providing funding through the Police Transformation Fund to support police led programmes to provide a step-change in digital capability.

January 1, 2023
Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Burmese government relaunches the Prisoner of Conscience Affairs Committee or establishes a new Committee with a mandate to review the cases of people charged or deprived of their liberty for the exercise of their human rights.

Mr Hugo Swire

The release of some 200 political prisoners during its first few weeks in office is a strong demonstration of the new Burmese Government’s commitment to reforming human rights and the rule of law in Burma. However, we remain concerned that arrests, detentions and sentencing of political activists could continue while the military retains control of the Home Ministry, Police and Courts.

Tackling the causes of political prisoners will require a thorough but longer-term process of legislative and judicial reform. Having an effective Political Prisoners Committee will be an important element of that process and is something we have consistently called for and will continue to do.

The Government has long campaigned on the issue of political prisoners in Burma. We have maintained pressure through bilateral and international actions such as the two annual UN resolutions on Burma in which we have played an instrumental part. I raised this issue directly with the then Minister for the Presidency, U Aung Min, during my visit to Burma in July 2015. We will work with the new Government to help it continue to make progress.

January 1, 2023
Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will estimate the number of (a) refugees, (b) internally displaced persons and (c) persons of concern resulting from conflict in Yemen.

Rory Stewart

Since March 2015, the United Nations (UN) estimates that:
1. 179,654 people have arrived in Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Oman from Yemen, including Yemeni refugees and asylum-seekers;
2. 2,205,102 people are internally displaced within Yemen; and
3. 21.2 million people are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.
January 1, 2023
Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of small firms likely to be affected by the expiry of the Small Business Rate Relief scheme at the end of March 2016.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government is continuing to consider representations, which included business rates reliefs, to inform decisions on reform of the business rates system. The Government has confirmed the review will conclude by the end of the year.

January 1, 2023
Debbie Abrahams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will commission research on the proportion of public and private service providers which offer access to their services through video relay.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Annual correspondence with the FTSE 100 companieshas indicated that from 2013 to present there has been a steady increase in the number of companies that provide video relay. With regards to public sector, DWP plan to launch a pilot service by the end of the year.

January 1, 2023
– 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns, on 13 January (HC Deb, col 845) in which he states that the Northern Powerhouse stretches from north Wales to Newcastle”

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Northern Powerhouse is part of the Government’s long-term economic plan to rebalance growth across the regions of the UK and enable the north to be greater than the sum of its parts. The exact extent of the North in the context of the Northern Powerhouse is not prescribed by the Government. The Northern Powerhouse and devolution are locally-led and it is for the local areas of the North to decide on the extent of their involvement.

January 1, 2023
Graham Brady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that bus service levels are maintained during the transition period before the introduction of a bus franchise.

Andrew Jones

We have given careful thought to the practical implications of the transition period and the possible safeguards that can be built in to the Bill to help maintain bus service levels for passengers. The Bill is still being drafted and it is therefore too early to confirm the detail of the process that may be proposed through the Bill.

January 1, 2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to ensure that Highways England (HE) has agreed contingency plans with each local authority for the management of major incidents in their areas; how many local authorities have agreed a contingency plan with HE; and how many local authorities have not yet agreed such a plan with HE.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has a Crisis Management Manual which provides protocols for the management of the response for incidents that significantly affect the strategic road network.

Highways England is in the process of developing partnership agreements with 120 Local Authorities. So far, 65 partnership agreements have been sent out to Local Authorities. These include protocols for agreeing and using diversion routes when a section of the network has to be closed.

The vast majority of these authorities accept the principles of the agreement, but in some cases specific local issues need to be resolved and Highways England is engaged with those authorities to resolve them. However, it should be noted that a partnership agreement or otherwise would not adversely interfere with Highways England and Local Authorities working cooperatively in an emergency.

As a Category 2 responder in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, Highways England participates in Local Resilience Forums and contributes to the development of multi-agency plans for the response to Major Incidents (led by Category 1 responders).

January 1, 2023
Paul Maynard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce a national register of children with cerebral palsy that includes data on the number of children identified with that condition.

Jane Ellison

There are no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. PACE, the charity which supports children and families affected by motor disorders such as cerebral palsy indicates that the current United Kingdom incidence rate of cerebral palsy is around one in 400 births and that approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year.

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training to diagnose and provide care for children with cerebral palsy.

Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that staff receive appropriate development to continue to deliver safe and effective healthcare.

The Health Visitor training programme is not a condition specific programme of training. Health Visitors are all qualified nurses and/or midwives with a broad range of clinical skills. They undertake an additional year of training to be a health visitor during which they specialise in child and family issues.

Health Visitors can support families with a child with cerebral palsy in the management of the clinical aspects of the condition. They can also advise on links to other specialist services, resources and groups to support the needs of the family and the child.

The Department has asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to prepare a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy. It is expected to be published in January 2017.

January 1, 2023