Tag: Stella Creasy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the process is by which unaccompanied child refugees are considered for transfer to the UK from refugee camps in Europe; and what the verification process is for confirming the identity and date of birth of an unaccompanied child refugee.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Under the Dublin Regulation, where an unaccompanied asylum seeking child has close family members in the UK, another Member State may make a transfer request for the UK to consider their asylum claim, which is then considered and if verified, accepted by the UK. In addition, we are working closely with the French, Greek and Italian authorities as well as UNHCR, Unicef and NGOs to identify unaccompanied refugee children who do not have family in the UK but who may qualify for transfer under the provisions of S67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

All individuals being considered for transfer will be assessed for age. Where credible and clear documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the interview process to assess age. Once in the UK there is also the option of requesting a further local authority age assessment, which must be case law compliant and approved by two social workers. Basic security checks are conducted on all individuals prior to arrival, with further verification carried out once in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish all guidance it has issued to schools and colleges for the implementation of PREVENT strategy activities for all age groups.

Mr John Hayes

The Home Office published guidance on the Prevent statutory duty for specified authorities, including schools, in March 2015. In September 2015, the Home Office published Prevent duty guidance specifically for colleges and universities. The Department for Education issued advice for schools and childcare providers relating to the Prevent duty, which was published in July 2015. All of this guidance and advice is publicly available at the following website links:

• Prevent duty guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance

• Department for Education advice for schools and childcare providers on the Prevent duty: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439598/prevent-duty-departmental-advice-v6.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the recorded interest rates of all PFI-financed projects in operation and commissioned by the NHS.

Alistair Burt

The great majority of funding for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes (usually 90%) comes in the form of two types of senior debt – a loan from a bank or a bond raised in the capital markets.

The remaining cost of the project (10%) is paid in as equity share capital or equity-like loans (subordinated debt) from specialist investors. This enables projects to be financed where there are risks which the bank lenders are unwilling to bear (akin to a deposit when arranging a mortgage). Given these risks, the costs of raising this equity finance are higher.

The combination of these two types of finance and therefore the overall cost of raising all the finance for the project can then be ascribed an annual percentage rate which is known as the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) or more commonly the Project Internal Rate of Return (Project IRR).

The pre and post-tax nominal and real IRRs for equity and the WACC for all NHS hospital PFI schemes which had reached financial close from 1997 (the first) to 2009 were published as part of the Department’s evidence to the House of Commons Health Select Committee (HSC) Public Expenditure Inquiry 2009. The link is below and the information can be found at Tables 12A and 12B:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhealth/269/269i.pdf

Another four hospital PFI schemes have reached financial close since 2009. The information related to them is not held in the form requested; to identify and collate it would incur disproportionate cost.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) he or (b) others in his Department had with Innisfree Ltd in which public finance initiative funding for Barts Health NHS Trust was discussed in the last five years.

Alistair Burt

Two officials from the Department met Innisfree on one occasion in the last five years, in 2012, to discuss the Private Finance Initiative scheme for Barts Health NHS Trust.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens reported themselves to the British Consulate in Ibiza as victims of crime in each of the last five years; what the nature of those crimes was; whether those crimes involved sexual violence or harassment; and what prosecutions resulted from those reports.

Mr David Lidington

Consular staff routinely record all those cases in which we have provided assistance to British nationals oversees. However, our records do not specifically identify whether those requesting assistance were victims of crime.

Since 2012, the British Consulate in Ibiza recorded the following cases which are those most likely to have involved victims of crime. Where the number of reported cases is less or equal to five, these are annotated as ‘Less than 5’ to avoid the risk of identifying the individuals concerned.

It is not mandatory for victims to provide information about any potential prosecutions, so we do not hold information on the number of prosecutions that arose from these cases

Rape & sexual assault
2011 8
2012 8
2013 7
2014 7
2015 Less than 5

Assault – General
2011 16
2012 36
2013 14
2014 Less than 5
2015 0

Domestic Violence
2011 0
2012 0
2013 0
2014 Less than 5
2015 5

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on the replacement of the value for money assessment quantitative assessment tool for comparing private finance and conventional procurement options; and which PF1 and PF2 projects used (a) the original value for money assessment quantitative assessment tool or (b) any replacement tool.

Greg Hands

The Government’s approach to appraisal is set out in the Green Book. This provides a common, standard method for comparing all public spending decisions that use central government funding; the approach to appraising potential PPP projects is consistent with this central guidance.

The quantitative assessment tool was in place from August 2004 until its withdrawal in December 2012, all projects which commenced between these dates should have used the tool. For details of specific projects during this period, please see the spreadsheet ‘Current projects as at 31 March 2014’ at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-projects-2014-summary-data

A replacement quantitative assessment tool has not been issued by HM Treasury due to the limitations of standard models; since December 2012 procuring authorities have undertaken appropriate quantitative assessment in accordance with the principles set out in the Green Book.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which of the unitary charges in the list of private finance initiative projects published by his Department on 15 December 2014 were (a) service charges, (b) interest charges and (c) other costs identified over the course of the contracts.

Greg Hands

Whilst the Treasury does collect and publish information on the unitary charges of PFI projects, we do not collect it broken down into its constituent parts, neither do we have the detailed financial models that would allow us to disaggregate the totals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the equity return information provided as part of all PF2 projects commissioned in the last five years.

Greg Hands

The first PF2 projects reached financial close last year. The Treasury will publish the equity return information on PF2 projects periodically.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many US Department of Homeland Security officials are based at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports; and how long each such official has been based at each airport.

James Brokenshire

Under the US Immigration Advisory Program, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers operate in an advisory capacity at Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airports to support airlines in identifying passengers who should be prevented from boarding flights destined to the US. CBP officers have been operating at Heathrow since 2007, and at Gatwick and Manchester since 2008. The UK Government cannot comment on the number of CBP deployed at each location – this is an operational matter for the US Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the details of the cooperative arrangement her Department has with the Department of Homeland Security which enables their officials to operate as immigration advisers to airlines operating out of UK airports.

James Brokenshire

We do not publish the specific details of the arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security for operational reasons.

US officials have operated as immigration advisers at UK airports since 2007 in an advisory capacity which reflects an established global practice. They hold no authority in the UK, and can only make recommendations to carriers on whether to allow travel