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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) training and (b) specific operational advice has been provided to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on (i) political authorisation of military operations, (ii) targeting of aerial operations and (iii) after-action reviews on operations in Yemen in the last 12 months.

    Sir Michael Fallon

    As part of our ongoing Defence engagement with Saudi Arabia the UK has provided training to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) both in the UK and in Saudi Arabia, including International Targeting courses for RSAF personnel, to improve their targeting processes and to support International Humanitarian Law (IHL) compliance.

    The UK has supported the development of the coalition Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) and delivered two training sessions in Saudi Arabia on the process for investigating alleged IHL violations. The UK has not been directly involved in investigations undertaken by the JIAT, has not provided any specific operational advice to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for operations in Yemen and has not provided training on political authorisation of military operations.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Russian government on strengthening cultural links between Russia and Scotland.

    Mr David Lidington

    The UK and Russia have a long history of cultural collaboration that encourages and strengthens people-to-people links.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports the annual ‘Days of Scotland’ cultural festival in Russia, and is hosting a reception at the Consulate General in St Petersburg this year. FCO officials have discussed Scotland’s cultural and and people-to-people links with Russian Government officials.

  • Glyn Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Glyn Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Welsh language is taken into account in his Department’s policy development processes.

    Matthew Hancock

    We expect all policy making to take account of the needs of all parts of the UK, including Wales, and continue to build up our policy making capability to do so. The government fully recognises the importance of the Welsh language in providing services to citizens. For Cabinet Office, the priority is to make sure that GOV.UK carries high quality Welsh content and to provide the tools for other parts of government to publish in both languages.

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to his letter referenced MSU/4/5/8 which is placed in the Library, whether and to what timescale his Department plans to commission its own socio-economic report in addition to the economic impact assessment commissioned by the fishing community; if he will publish results of such a report; and what the implications of such work are for the timescales for determining the proposed byelaw changes for the inner sound between Raasay and the mainland.

    Mark Lancaster

    Work is currently being undertaken by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to produce a Socio-Economic Report for the Raasay Ranges. This is in addition to the assessment commissioned by the local fishing community. The MOD Report will be completed and made available in advance of the outcome of the Raasay Byelaw Review which is due to be finished later this year.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the value of Channel 4.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government wants to ensure Channel 4 has a strong and secure future, and is looking at a broad range of options, including those put forward by channel 4. This work is ongoing.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to HS2 Ltd’s Information Paper, G3: Construction Commissioner, published on 16 December 2015, what annual salary he expects to pay to the HS2 Construction Commissioner; to what body the Construction Commissioner will report; what steps he will take to safeguard the Commissioner’s independence from his Department and HS2 Ltd; for what reasons the Commissioner will not be able to consider claims for losses of over £10,000; and what the exemption from the role of matters considered by Parliament in approving the project is planned cover.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The HS2 Construction Commissioner will report to a steering group that will be entirely independent of HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport. The independent steering group will be responsible for agreeing the Commissioner’s terms of reference. It is envisaged that the steering group will include members who represent community interests and the construction industry. The Construction Commissioner and independent steering group will be appointed in time for when HS2 construction begins.

    The salary of the HS2 Construction Commissioner is expected to be £575 per day, based on working eight days per month, and is in line with other comparable roles. This will be subject to review by the independent steering group.

    The Commissioner will be responsible for investigating complaints relating to the construction of HS2 Phase One that cannot be resolved through HS2 Ltd’s corporate complaints procedure. In addition, it is anticipated that one of the roles of the HS2 Construction Commissioner will be to act as an arbitrator for the HS2 Small Claims Scheme in the event that a dispute cannot be resolved through the normal process. The Small Claims Scheme is expected to have an initial maximum claim value of £10,000. This figure is provisional, based on other infrastructure projects, and will be subject to review by the steering group.

    Further information regarding the HS2 Small Claims Scheme is available in HS2 Information Paper C10, which can be accessed via the following weblink:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/high-speed-rail-london-west-midlands-bill

    “

  • Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Harrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure there are sufficient linguistic skills in languages such as Russian and Mandarin across the armed forces.

    Earl Howe

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly reviews its requirements for linguists to ensure that all operational demands for linguists are met in full, and trains its personnel accordingly. For languages with little or no immediate operational requirement, the MOD ensures that there is a baseline of linguists that can be called on for contingency tasks and Defence Engagement.

    Long and short-term language priorities are agreed at a strategic level and provide the basis for the statement of training requirement against which defence language training is delivered.

  • Lord Hain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Hain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hain on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 19 April (HL Deb, col 614), whether they will write to the Welsh Government Minister for Public Services setting out in full their argument that those sections of the Trade Union Bill applying only to devolved public services in Wales are nevertheless reserved matters, and if so, whether they will place a copy of that letter in the Library of the House.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to UN Security Council Resolution 1460, on child soldiers, if he will encourage Saudi Arabia and other states in the Coalition to develop and implement a time-bound action plan to end and prevent violations against children.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are aware of the UN Secretary General’s annual report on Children in Armed Conflict which was published on 2 June, which includes a section outlining the impact of the conflict in Yemen on children. The conflict in Yemen has had a significant impact on children, in terms of the numbers of child casualties, the recruitment of children as soldiers, and attacks on hospitals and schools. We consider all these reports very carefully. We note the announcement by the UN Secretary General on 6 June that removed the listing of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition from the report’s annex, pending the conclusion of a joint review by the UN and the Coalition on the cases and numbers cited in the text. We welcome co-operation between the UN and Saudi Arabia to look in to this matter.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 40241, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the reconstituting of her Department on the continuation of (a) the Employer Skills Survey, (b) the Employer Perspectives Survey, (c) Labour Market Information and (d) other research products previously produced by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

    Robert Halfon

    My written statement of 21 July [HCWS121] confirmed that management of the Employer Skills Survey, the Employer Perspectives Survey and the LMI (Labour Market Information) for All Portal would be transferred to the Department for Education.

    The contract for maintaining the LMI for All portal has been re-let to the Institute for Employment Research, the Employer Perspectives Survey is being prepared for publication and we will shortly begin commissioning of the Employer Skills Survey.