Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will allow the Quality Assurance Agency to include an assessment of how well universities are meeting the needs of disabled students in their remit.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or mode of learning. In the last year we saw record numbers of applicants and entrants to higher education, and record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    Universities expect to spend more than £745 million through access agreements agreed with the Director of Fair Access on measures to improve access and success for students from disadvantaged groups, including disabled students – up significantly from £404 million in 2009.

    Under the Equality Act 2010, higher education institutions have a role and responsibility for promoting equality, including for students with disabilities.

    The UK Quality Code promotes an inclusive approach by embedding consideration of equality and diversity throughout higher education institutions. Promoting equality for disabled students can include eliminating arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning and offering learning opportunities that are equally accessible to them. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) looks for evidence that universities promote equality when making assessments of higher education institutions in line with the UK Quality Code.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the (a) Saudi Arabian and (b) Yemeni ambassador on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is playing a leading role in responding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Over the last financial year, we more than doubled our humanitarian aid to Yemen to £85m, which allowed us to help more than 1.3 million Yemenis with food, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter. We regularly engage with Saudi Arabia and the Government of Yemen on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much road grit is available in the UK for the 2016-17 winter; and how much the (a) mining, (b) storage and (c) distribution of road grit costs per year.

    Andrew Jones

    Highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. Winter service and maintenance is therefore the sole responsibility of the respective highway authority. This includes ensuring they have adequate road grit supplies.

    The Department for Transport continues to take action to ensure the country enters the 2016/17 winter season well prepared. This includes monitoring road grit being held around the country throughout the winter season, working closely with the UK domestic road grit producers, continuing to maintain a substantial national emergency road grit reserve and having a robust distribution process in place, if for any reason this road grit is needed to be allocated.

    The Department for Transport is also currently undertaking a survey of highway authorities to determine how much road grit is available in the UK for the forthcoming 2016-17 winter. However from previous surveys, we anticipate the country has over one million tonnes of road grit at its disposal, which is in addition to the 383,000 tonnes held as part of the national emergency grit reserve.

    It is for each highway authority to ensure that they have adequate road grit procured to treat the roads for which they are responsible, as required. The costs fall to each highway authority. These costs may vary depending on the road grit supplier and the distance the grit has to be hauled to the depots. The typical cost of road grit, including mining, storage and distribution lies within the range of £30 to £38 per tonne.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative economic assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of HM Revenue and Customs locating its regional hub in (a) Leeds and (b) Bradford; and if he will place a copy of that assessment in the Library.

    Mr David Gauke

    On 12 November, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the next stage of its ten-year modernisation programme. As part of that, the department demonstrated its long-term commitment to Yorkshire and the Humber by setting out that it would establish a Regional Centre in Leeds.

    A number of factors were considered by HMRC when deciding where to locate its new Regional Centres. In addition to cost, it considered local and national transport links, the local labour market, supply of future workforce and the retention of current staff and skills.

    HMRC modelled the impact of locating the Regional Centre for Yorkshire and the Humber in both Bradford and Leeds. For both scenarios, it took into account the potential loss of jobs for staff expected to be outside of reasonable daily travel (defined as approximately 1 hour from home to work, though dependent on individual circumstances).

    HMRC first shared its transformation plans with its employees 18 months ago. Since then has held more than 2,000 events across the UK, setting out how and why it is changing. The department is committed to continuing to support all of its employees who are affected by these changes.

    Staff in Yorkshire attended a number of face-to-face events, providing feedback on the potential location of the regional centre. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their personal circumstances in one-to-one meetings with their manager.

    This transformation programme will ultimately enable HMRC to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. It will generate estate savings of £100 million a year by 2025.

  • Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of the funds pledged by all nations through the 2013 Somali Compact that has been spent.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Somalia’s Aid Coordination Unit (ACU), supported by the World Bank and UN Development Programme, has reported that donors are meeting and sometimes exceeding their pledges. The 2013 pledge to implement the New Deal was 2.4 billion US dollars. ACU estimate that donors spent 3.2 billion US dollars across 2014 and 2015, exceeding the pledge by 33 per cent. According to ACU, donors have consistently delivered 1 billion US dollars annually in Overseas Development Assistance, accompanied by significant resources for peacekeeping and military aid.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of safety and welfare in immigrant detention centres in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The regulation of safety arrangements in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) is through the Detention Centre Rules 2001, the Operating Standards for IRCs, Detention Services Orders relating to security arrangements and the relevant sections of the contracts and service level agreements relating to security. Each IRC has a Home Office Immigration Enforcement Manager to monitor ongoing service provision.

    Independent scrutiny is an important part of assurance that our removal centres are safe, secure and humane. Assessments of IRCs and holding rooms are published by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) and in the annual reports of Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB).

    Home Office service improvement plans contribute to delivering continuing improvement of services in response to independent recommendations. Service improvement plans in response to HMCIP inspection reports have been publicly available on the HMCIP website for all reports published after 1 April 2015.

    On 9 February 2015 my Right Honourable Friend, the Home Secretary, announced an independent review of the welfare in detention of vulnerable persons by Stephen Shaw, which included consideration of the conditions at IRCs and airport holding rooms. The Government’s position on the review was set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 14 January 2016.

    Current policy is clear that a number of groups of individuals, including pregnant women, the elderly, victims of torture and the mentally ill, should be detained only in very exceptional circumstances. The Government accepts Stephen Shaw’s recommendations that there should be a wider definition of those at risk, and will introduce a new “adult at risk” concept into decision-making on immigration detention, with a clear presumption that people who are at risk should not be detained, building on the existing legal framework.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has for the future of its Fire Kills campaign.

    Mike Penning

    The evaluation of the recent Fire Kills Unsung Heroes campaign is currently underway and the results will be analysed and fed into future campaign development. The Fire Kills campaign is included in plans for 2016/17 subject to appropriate approvals from the Secretary of State.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will press for an amendment of the current indicator for health within the Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure it accurately measures coverage of health services and financial risk protection.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    There are 25 proposed indicators for the health goal; the coverage of health services is included within these as is a measure relating to health financing. The United Nations Statistical Commission has asked the Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators to take forward further work on the indicator framework, including a review of the indicator on health financing due to the concerns over its ability to measure financial risk protection in its current form. The UK supported the request for review.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when (a) the fact of, (b) the reasons for and (c) consequences of shortages of staff at Chorley and South Ribble Accident and Emergency unit was first reported to (i) him, (ii) the Trust Board, (iii) Monitor, (iv) the Clinical Commissioning Group and (v) the Department of Health.

    Ben Gummer

    These are operational matters for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and we have written to Stuart Heys, Chair of the Trust informing him of the hon. Member’s questions. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government’s Anti-Corruption Tsar addressed the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Anti-Corruption Champion attended the anti-corruption summit on 12 May and hosted a delegate’s breakfast. He also addressed the Tackling Corruption Together conference, organised by civil society and business, and attended a reception for summit delegates at No10 Downing Street the day before. In addition, he had a number of bilateral meetings with some of the delegates.