Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) rural and (b) urban public libraries have closed in (i) Wiltshire and (ii) England in each year since 2000.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department does not commission information relating to the closure of rural and urban libraries. Data relating to public libraries is collected and published annually by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. My Rt Hon Friend will note that the number of library service points in the Wilshire Library Authority has increased from 34 in 2000, to 36 in 2015. Meanwhile, in Labour-run Wales, the number of library service points in the same period dropped from 321 to 274.

    31 March

    Total service points open ten hours or more per week, including mobile libraries, in England

    Total service points open ten hours or more per week, including mobile libraries, in Wiltshire Library Authority

    2000

    3,501

    34

    2001

    3,497

    34

    2002

    3,504

    34

    2003

    3,510

    35

    2004

    3,524

    35

    2005

    3,474

    35

    2006

    3,500

    36

    2007

    3,494

    36

    2008

    3,469

    37

    2009

    3,451

    37

    2010

    3,428

    37

    2011

    3,393

    37

    2012

    3,243

    37

    2013

    3,181

    36

    2014

    3,142

    36

    2015

    3,076

    36

  • Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many years’ worth in sentences have been handed out to offenders brought back to the UK from Spain under a European Arrest Warrant under Operation Captura.

    Lord Faulks

    This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

    The National Crime Agency publishes statistics on the operation of the European Arrest Warrant. These can be found on their website.

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to ensure that no bank accounts of military personnel are closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive while they are on active service; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    There is no reason why the bank accounts of any military personnel would be closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, whether or not they were on active service, unless financial institutions suspected individuals of fraudulent activity.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the costs will be of the proposed conversion of all non-academies to academy schools.

    Lord Nash

    Taking the Spending Review and the Budget together, we have set aside the funding to support a high quality school system where all schools are academies.

    Through the Budget and the Department for Education’s settlement in the Spending Review there are sufficient resources available to take advantage of the opportunities presented by all schools becoming academies. The Government has allocated £300 million that will be available to support schools to convert and, in particular, support sponsors to turn around failing schools. A further £300 million will be available to support strong and effective multi-academy trusts to grow and improve.

    The Department will be issuing further detail on how funding will support the conversion of all schools to academy status in due course.

  • Baroness Wolf of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Wolf of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Wolf of Dulwich on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park on 9 May (HL7498), whether the recent inquiry and report by the Quality Assurance Agency on West London Vocational Training has led them to reconsider or amend current measures relating to alternative providers; and if not, why not.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government has revoked West London Vocational Training College’s designation for student support funding for Higher Education (HE) courses in England with effect from 3 June. Affected students will be supported so they can continue their studies with as limited disruption as possible. The cross-agency action in this case demonstrates the Government’s continuing strong focus on improving quality and value for money across the Alternative Provider (AP) sector.

    Since the 2012-13 academic year the Government has progressively strengthened systems to oversee the specific course designation of APs to secure improved quality and standards, including the introduction of a more rigorous, risk-based approach to quality assurance and annual provider re-designation.

    Further reforms announced in the May 2016 HE White Paper will create a level playing field for all HE providers, supporting greater diversity, innovation and choice for students, whilst preserving quality and value for money.

  • Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeffrey M. Donaldson on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the (a) criteria by which applicants are selected and (b) names of applicants who applied to host Armed Forces Day in 2017.

    Mike Penning

    Guidance on applying to host the Armed Forces Day National Event is available from the Ministry of Defence’s Ceremonial Events and Commemorations Team whose contact details are on the Armed Forces Day Website: www.armedforcesday.org.uk.

    Applications typically take the form of a letter from the Local Authority Leader /Chief Executive, to the Defence Minister in the House of Lords (Earl Howe). This letter is assessed to gauge the strength of the applicant’s argument as to why they should be selected, and the quality of their proposals for the event. In addition, the following aspects are considered:

    Proximity to previous national events – there would be an aspiration to stage the event in a different region of the country to previous events, in order to capture a fresh local audience.

    Maturity of any existing annual event hosted by the applicant.

    Availability of a suitable venue and infrastructure within the applicant’s jurisdiction.

    Support of local populace for the Armed Forces.

    The applicant’s capacity to administer an event of equivalent scale and significance.

    Financial resource available, and plans to secure adequate sponsorship.

    While it would be inappropriate to name the authorities that lost out to Liverpool City Council in the process of selecting the hosts for the National Armed Forces Day event in 2017, we can confirm that no formal bid was received from any local authority in Ulster.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 22 September 2016 to Question HL1788, how many outstanding family reunion applications there are for unaccompanied children from France; what steps are being taken to ensure those applications are processed quickly; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the UK remains in contact with children with outstanding applications in the event that they are moved away from Calais.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Home Office teams have been deployed to France to work with the French Authorities to speed up the identification and transfer of eligible cases under both the Dublin Regulation and Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

    More children are arriving to join their family in the UK each day. It is therefore not possible to provide an exact number of outstanding family reunion applications.

    The UK has made clear that the remaining children, including those who do not qualify for family reunion must be looked after in safe facilities. The UK Government is ready to help fund such facilities and provide resources to aid the decision-making.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many perinatal mental health admissions there were in 2014-15.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is detailed below. It shows the count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of a mental health issue associated with the puerperium in 2014-15. This is currently a provisional figure

    Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector (provisional)

    Year

    Count of FAEs

    2014-15

    343

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Notes:

    An FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

    The data are provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final data set. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, ie November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected.

  • Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Wayne David – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 1.143 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what the evidential basis is for the statement that whiplash claims cost the country £2 billion per year.

    Dominic Raab

    The government received and analysed data from numerous sources when formulating the announcement in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. The quoted figures were arrived at by combining published industry estimates along with data from government and other sources.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Palestinian Authority concerning the alleged torture by Hamas of the Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Aloul, and respect for press freedoms.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not raised this issue with the Palestinian Authority, we are clear that journalists should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. Freedom of the media is an important principle of human rights .