Tag: Parliamentary Question

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take in response to Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality plan to demolish Palestinian homes to make way for a tourist complex in the Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have not raised the specific issue of demolition of Palestinian homes to make way for the Kedem Compound. We are not aware of any impending home demolitions to make way for the site.

  • Biography information for Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Biography information for Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Baroness Deech on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 11 May (HL8116), what is their assessment of the view expressed in section 4.1.1 of the Overseas Development Institute’s Final Report of November 2015 Evaluative Review of the Statebuilding Grant and the Palestinian Governance Facility—DFID Palestinian programme that the manner in which DFID’s funds are demonstrated to have only paid the salaries of PEGASE-approved employees is of questionable efficacy”

    Baroness Verma

    UK direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is used for the sole purpose of paying the salaries of civil servants responsible for providing essential services. Our support is provided through a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank, which carries out close monitoring of PA expenditure. Only named civil servants from a pre-approved EU list are eligible, and the vetting process ensures that our funds do not benefit terrorist groups. The process is subject to independent auditing, which is regularly reviewed and strengthened accordingly.

    As the ODI report itself makes clear, UK support to the PA is delivering real results, improving lives and is instrumental in preventing economic collapse and violent escalation.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change in the UK will follow the procedure for an EU external treaty.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK remains firmly committed to the Paris Agreement and to ratifying the Agreement as soon as possible. Until we leave, the UK will remain a full member of the EU, with all of the rights and obligations this entails.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to improve public and patient involvement in the NHS.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) is enshrined in S.242 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 amended S.242 and included complementary duties for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England.

    Since the 2012 Act NHS England has published statutory guidance for NHS commissioners and revised guidance for CCGs will be published in spring 2017. A further guide on engaging communities, for areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans, was published by NHS England in September 2016. NHS England has also recently launched an Involvement Hub, an online resource to support patients, carers, staff and the public, which also includes examples of good practice and links to learning and involvement opportunities.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects (a) Monitor and (b) the Trust Development Authority to publish their 2015-16 second quarter performance reports.

    Ben Gummer

    As part of the establishment of NHS Improvement in April 2016, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority are aligning their quarterly reporting processes and will be publishing their reports together towards the end of the year.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of (1) the number of unaccompanied refugee children who are waiting at or near Calais and other Channel ports on the European mainland in the hope of crossing to England, and (2) how many of those are dependents or close relatives of persons who are living in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The management of the migrant camps in Calais is the responsibility of the French Government. The UK Government does not routinely assess the numbers of migrants (including children) in Calais, or hold a breakdown of their ages. EU asylum rules oblige Member States to bring together close family members, including children. For a refugee child to be reunited with family members in the UK, a claim must first be lodged with the French authorities. The French and UK Governments are actively encouraging and assisting migrants in the Calais area to claim asylum in France.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to promote design and technology in state-funded schools.

    Nick Gibb

    Design and Technology (D&T) is compulsory in the national curriculum in England at key stages 1 to 3. By introducing a new, more rigorous D&T curriculum in 2014 and reforming the subject’s GCSE and A level qualifications, we have taken important steps to make D&T an exciting subject, paving the way for young people to progress into careers in a range of engineering and design fields.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when 100 per cent of residents in St Albans will have access to superfast broadband; and when ultrafast broadband will be rolled out in St Albans.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Based on current delivery plans, it is estimated that 98% of premises in the St Albans constituency will have access to superfast broadband by the end of June 2018. Additional funding sources, including Herts & Bucks share of the £129 million of early gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, could allow coverage to be extended further in St Albans and the rest of the area covered by the Herts & Bucks broadband project.

    Virgin Media already provides services over 100Mbps in many urban areas, including extensive network coverage in St Albans.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) Shropshire Council, (b) Telford and Wrekin Council and (c) Highways England put in place road safety improvements to reduce the number of road deaths and injuries on roads in (i) Shropshire and (ii) Telford and Wrekin.

    Andrew Jones

    Local authorities are responsible for road safety on the local road network. Section 39 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 puts a ‘statutory duty’ on the local authorities to deliver an appropriate road safety education service and for the provision of a safe local road network.

    It is up to individual authorities to determine how they meet their “statutory duty”. However, following the 2015 Spending Review the Government will continue to provide funding through the Integrated Transport block for local highway authorities to support small-scale initiatives, including road safety schemes. This funding is not ring-fenced and gives local authorities the freedom to develop and implement solutions which best suit their localities.

    More widely, from within the record £6.1 billion to be allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, Shropshire has been allocated £86million and Telford and Wrekin £18million (including indicative allocations from 2018/19 to 2020/21) plus Telford has also been allocated £10.3million from the Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund. This compares to £79million allocated to Shropshire and £15.6million to Telford and Wrekin covering the period 2010 to 2015.

    Highways England has made a commitment to review routes in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin over the next five years.

    Safety improvements are proposed on the A5/B5070 at Gledrid Roundabout in the 2016/17 financial year. Potential safety schemes have also been identified in Shropshire, and in Telford & Wrekin, and these will be considered over the 5-year Roads Investment Strategy. These are detailed below.

    • A483 Maesbury Road
    • A49/A456 Wooferton
    • A5 Montford Bridge and Shrawardine Junctions
    • A5/B5009 Gobowen
    • A49 Laybys

    All of these works will be subject to available funding and are not, as yet, programmed for delivery.

    An A5 corridor study has also been commissioned to identify a long term strategy for addressing the changing needs and function of the A5 trunk road corridor between Chirk and Preston Boats. This study will consider current issues with the existing corridor, summarising the implications of growth and providing a set of highway options to address congestion and safety, for consideration within future financial years.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 30500, what the alternative arrangements are that provide funding for National Crime Agency investigations into non-recent child sexual abuse.

    Mike Penning

    The non-recent child sexual abuse investigations being conducted by the National Crime Agency are in response to requests from the Chief Officer of the local police forces. As such, the funding for these investigations is from the local police forces.