Tag: Roger Godsiff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the UK is taking to support the provision of climate risk insurance to people who are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change; and how much funding she plans to allocate to such support.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK is a leader in climate risk insurance and is committed to contributing to meeting the G7 “InsuResilience” collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

Recent UK support for the provision of climate risk insurance includes contributions of up to £100m to African Risk Capacity (ARC), up to £15m for the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, £5m to help developing countries with disaster contingency planning backed by risk finance, £3m of technical support to the Government of the Philippines to help them implement their financial protection and insurance strategy, and £1.4m to support livestock insurance for pastoralists in Kenya.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with professional bodies on the provisions in the Investigatory Powers Bill relating to bulk personal datasets.

George Freeman

Whilst the Department has not conducted any specific engagement on these provisions, the Government has consulted extensively on the development of the Investigatory Powers Bill, including the provisions relating to the additional safeguards for the security and intelligence agencies’ retention and use of bulk personal datasets.

The draft Bill, published last November, built on the three independent reviews on investigatory powers by David Anderson QC, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC), and the Independent Surveillance Panel convened by the Royal United Services Institute. The draft Bill was then subject to Parliamentary scrutiny by a dedicated Joint Committee, the ISC and the Science and Technology Select Committee. The Government has had over 60 meetings and briefings with industry representatives, academics, civil liberties groups, and charities and victims groups since the draft Bill was published in November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government will announce the decision on the resettlement of the Chagos Islanders.

James Duddridge

No date has yet been set for a decision. The Government is still considering its policy in this area and will announce developments to Parliament and the public in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the UK’s tax treaties with developing countries on tackling poverty in those countries.

Mr David Gauke

The UK regularly reviews its treaty network and actively engages with developing countries. Discussions with Malawi over a new tax treaty began some years ago, and substantive agreement has been reached at official level. It is hoped that the treaty will be signed shortly. Although the UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD model double taxation convention, the Government recognises that developing countries will sometimes have different preferences, and treaties the UK has recently signed demonstrate that we are willing to accommodate at least some of those preferences as part of a balanced agreement. But the nature of the negotiating process is that it remains confidential to the two sides until the treaty is signed.

By governing the taxation of cross-border income flows in a predictable manner and eliminating double taxation and excessive taxation, tax treaties promote international trade and investment, leading to sustainable tax revenues, which are vital in financing for development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child refugees have been assisted to enter the UK in the past year (a) in total and (b) who have come from Calais to join family living in the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In the year ending June 2016, 49% (1,308) of those resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) were under 18 years old. In April 2016 the Home Office announced a new scheme to resettle vulnerable children from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We have worked closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to design this scheme.

Since the beginning of this year, over 120 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe have been accepted for transfer to the UK, over 70 of which are from France.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the findings of the RSPCA report entitled, Breed Specific Legislation – A Dog’s Dinner, published in August 2016, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of breed specific legislation.

George Eustice

The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 was reviewed as recently as 2014. At that time it was decided to make some changes, including extending the criminal offence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control to all places and increasing the maximum penalties substantially from 2 years’ imprisonment to (i) 14 years‘ imprisonment in cases of death of the victim; (ii) 5 years’ imprisonment in cases of injury; and (iii) 3 years’ imprisonment in cases where a dog attacks an assistance dog.

The Government does not consider that dogs bred for fighting, or those that share the characteristics of these animals, make ideal pets. However, the law allows individual dogs to be exempt from the general prohibition if a court is satisfied that they do not pose a threat to public safety and if the owner is considered a fit and proper person.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the selection processes used by faith schools on academic attainment in those schools.

Caroline Dinenage

Faith schools are amongst some of the highest performing in this country and are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted as compared to non-faith schools. The department does not routinely collect information about individual schools’ admission arrangements. Schools designated with a religious character can choose to give priority to children on the basis of their faith, where the school is oversubscribed. It is though for the admission authority of the school to decide whether or not to prioritise some or all of their places on the basis of faith within their oversubscription criteria.

On 9^th September the Prime Minister announced that we will remove the 50 per cent cap on new faith free schools and consult on a new set of much more effective requirements to ensure that new faith free schools are properly inclusive. The consultation document, ‘Schools that work for everyone’, is available at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) military and (b) civilian Government employees have been employed in the Gulf Strategy Unit in each of the last 15 years.

Ben Gummer

The Gulf Strategy Integrated Delivery Team was established in 2015.

Its remit is to coordinate the Government’s strategic approach to UK engagement with the Gulf States as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

It employs three full-time and one part-time Government employees. One is military and three are civilian.

Administration costs were £70,004 in the 2015-16 financial year and the budget for administration costs in the 2016-17 financial year is £423,000. The 2015-16 figure reflects the fact the unit was established later in the financial year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to maintain funding to prevent deforestation in developing countries; and whether the UK provides any funding to help prevent large-scale forest fires in developing countries.

James Wharton

Preventing deforestation is a key priority for the UK. More than one billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods, and forests are vital resources which support economic growth in developing countries. At the Paris climate change conference in 2015, the UK Germany and Norway collectively committed to providing up to US$1 billion per year by 2020, or over $5 billion in the period 2015-20, to prevent deforestation and ensure that forests are managed sustainably.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11045, what the evidential base is for the statement in that Answer that the planned removal of drugs from the Cancer Drugs Fund would have no or minimal impact on survival rates for certain cancers; and what his definition is of minimal impact in that context.

George Freeman

NHS England is responsible for the operation of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). NHS England has advised that its expert CDF clinically-led panel considers that none of the drugs removed from the national CDF list on 4 November 2015 represent a cure for patients as they are given with palliative intent.

With respect to any impact on survival duration, the panel considered the drugs provided either no or a small to modest proven effect on survival and hence the panel considered their removal would have a minimal impact.

Information on the decisions made on individual drugs is available in the relevant decision summary published in NHS England’s website at:

www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/cdf-drug-sum/

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