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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with cruise ship operators on reducing the amount of food waste generated by cruise ships.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is in favour of reducing waste at source and supports efforts in the cruise ship sector to reduce, reuse and recycle waste including food waste.

    Such efforts are best led by the industry themselves in the first instance and officials are engaged with the cruise sector trade association over their work to improve the handling of wastes including food wastes.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the Government has given to the Government of Nepal for (a) rebuilding, (b) supply of food and (c) energy supply.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    (a) Rebuilding: DFID’s response to the devastating earthquake now stands at £70 million following further commitments made at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction, making us one of the largest donors. DFID is working closely alongside the Government of Nepal but not directly funding it, rather collaborating with trusted UN and NGO partners to deliver on the humanitarian response both via direct in-kind assistance as well as supporting activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. We welcome the adoption of the National Reconstruction Authority Bill and formation of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). We will support the Government’s reconstruction vision by funding community infrastructure and social protection but not through direct financial aid. We plan to provide technical assistance and advisory support to the NRA.

    (b) Supply of food: We do not work directly with the Government on this but are supporting local government by providing immediate assistance to the most vulnerable households via in kind distributions (tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, clothes, shelter insulation, solar lamps and cook stoves). We are funding activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. This includes funding assessments, coordination and logistics. For example DFID supported the World Food Programme’s (WFP) cash and food assistance operations in the aftermath of the earthquake. This planned to reach 1.4 million people in urgent need of assistance within the first three months of the earthquake, including distribution of rice and high-energy biscuits to prevent starvation and provide supplementary nutrition to the most vulnerable.

    (c) Energy supply: DFID has committed £5 million to support delivery of renewable energy technologies to earthquake affected communities. The support includes delivery of solar home systems, mobile phone charging stations and repair of mini-hydropower plants that were damaged by the earthquake. The support is being delivered through Nepal’s Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Population and Environment.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many freedom of information requests were (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) submits statistics on freedom of information performance to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. These statistics, along with those of other departments of state, are published in a quarterly statistics bulletin (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics). The quarter four bulletin includes annual figures.

    The FCO annual figures for 2010-2014 are shown in the attached table.

    “

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed to process Disclosure and Barring Service checks in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The average number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each year since 2010 is listed in the table below. The DBS was created in 2012 and replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

    Year

    Average number of Staff

    2010-11

    667

    2011-12

    542

    2012-13 (CRB)

    483

    2012-13 (DBS)

    730

    2013-14

    721

    2014-15

    745
  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2016 to Question 29659, how many UK citizens have been prosecuted by the Financial Action Task Force for money laundering abroad since 2010.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK has a robust anti-money laundering regime, and strongly supports the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in developing and implementing effective anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regimes. FATF does not have any law enforcement or prosecutorial role.

    The Government established the National Crime Agency in 2013 to lead the law enforcement response to this threat. This has since been augmented with a new International Corruption Unit to provide a single centre of excellence in this field.

    The National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing was published on 15 October 2015. This identified the threats and vulnerabilities we face in these areas, and an action plan will be published shortly, setting out the steps that we will take to address them.

    The number of people prosecuted, convicted and given a custodial sentence for money laundering offences, in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2014 (the latest data available), can be viewed on the Ministry of Justice website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014 under “Criminal justice statistics outcomes by offence data tool” by selecting the offence: 38 Money laundering.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on the introduction of cell-free DNA non-invasive prenatal testing of the finding of the report of the Pro-Life APPG, Abortion on the grounds of disability, published in July 2013, that many parents feel steered towards abortion on receiving a diagnosis of fetal abnormality and that they do not receive adequate information about other options.

    Jane Ellison

    There is a long established Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme (NHS FASP) that prospective parents can choose whether to participate in.

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome should be introduced as an additional test into the NHS FASP as part of an evaluation. Ministers are currently considering this important recommendation from the UK NSC which would give pregnant women and their partners more accurate information and should reduce the number of women having to undergo unnecessary invasive testing which carries a risk of miscarriage.

    The UK NSC recommendation does not change the offer to prospective parents of participating in the programme, nor the options and choices available when testing identifies a fetus with Down’s, Edwards’ or Patau’s syndrome.

    Existing guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists already makes it clear that women and their partners should receive appropriate information and support from a properly trained multidisciplinary team, who must adopt a supportive and non-judgemental approach regardless of whether the decision is to terminate or continue the pregnancy. This should include referral to other professional experts (including palliative care) and referral for counselling when this can help, as part of a co-ordinated package of care.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons he has not allowed Ipswich Council’s recent proposal for the Ravenswood affordable housing development.

    Brandon Lewis

    The full reasons are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter on this case, which can be found on the Department’s website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/called-in-decision-areas-u-v-and-w-ravenswood-nacton-road-ipswich-suffolk-ref-3004099-13-june-2016

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the Lake District National Park Partnership in its bid for status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Tracey Crouch

    Government continues to support the excellent work of the Lake District National Park Partnership and other stakeholders, which has led to the Lake District becoming the UK’s nomination for World Heritage Status in 2017.

    Officials will be present to support the partnership during the World Heritage Committee mission to the Lake District, due to take place in October 2016.

  • Martin John Docherty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Martin John Docherty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin John Docherty on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent health and safety checks for civilian personnel have been carried out at Faslane Naval Base.

    Mark Lancaster

    The health and safety management arrangements at Faslane are comprehensive and multi-layered with all staff empowered to intervene or stop work when unsure about any aspect of working practices. This is supported by a wide range of routine risk assessments, inspections and audits conducted by both an internal assurance team and external regulators.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each gender and age group were diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    2012-13 is the first year for which information is available. The number of people in England who were referred to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services with obsessive compulsive disorder as the recorded problem from 2012-13 to 2014-15 is given in the attached table Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: Number of referrals where the recorded problem was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, by gender and age group 2012-2013 to 2014-2015.