Tag: Stephen Phillips

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions in each of the last two calendar years his Department has been notified by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Joseph Johnson

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills was notified of 16 breaches by employees of companies processing data on behalf of the Department in 2014 and 4 breaches in 2015. The last breach reported by an employee of a company processing our data was in April 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23487, of the eight breaches there identified, how many concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable prior to April 2014, namely (a) top secret, (b) secret, (c) confidential, (d) restricted, (e) protected and (f) unclassified; and how many breaches concerned documents within each of the following categories applicable from April 2014, namely (i) top secret, (ii) secret and (iii) official-sensitive or official.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Of the eight breaches reported pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23487 none of them concerned documents prior to April 2014

Since April 2014;

• 6 cases concerned OFFICIAL or OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE documents
• 2 cases did not involve documents

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the economic benefits of (a) dualling the A17 in its entirety and (b) dualling its single carriageway sections.

Andrew Jones

No assessment has been undertaken by the Department for Transport of the economic benefits of dualling the A17 in its entirety or in single sections. The A17 forms part of the local road network and is the responsibility of Lincolnshire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. It is for the councils concerned to develop proposals to dual this road if they wish to do so, working closely with the respective Local Enterprise Partnerships.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions in each of the last two calendar years his Department has been notified by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Brandon Lewis

There is no record of any occasion during 2014 or 2015 where the Department has been notified centrally by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24173 between 2015-16 and 2019-20, to which other government departments and cross-government funds her Department plans to transfer, the amounts referred to in table 2.7 on page 85 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Mr Desmond Swayne

As set out in DFID’s settlement letter from HM Treasury, over the Spending Review period, DFID plans to transfer the amounts referred to in table 2.7 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 to the following government departments and cross-government funds:

Conflict, Stability & Security Fund

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

Department for Culture, Media & Sport

Department of Energy & Climate Change

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Department of Health

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs

Home Office

Office for National Statistics

Prosperity Fund

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Saudi Arabia on the ending the restrictions on imports of fuel, food and medical supplies to Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

During a visit to Saudi Arabia on 28 October, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) met his counterpart, Minister Al Jubeir. They discussed humanitarian issues, including humanitarian access to Yemeni ports, as well as the need for accelerating the political process in Yemen. We welcome the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister’s and President Hadi’s statements that all of Yemen’s ports are open and the initial indications of progress on maritime access, but more needs to be done.

To have real impact, commercial and humanitarian access must be sustained and systematic. The UN verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) is the best way to ensure this. We are working closely with the UN to establish it as soon as possible. The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) has also expressed the UK’s readiness to support to the UNVIM and DfID has just committed £1.4 million to the UN to support its establishment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Mark Lancaster

In the calendar year 2014 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was notified of 142 breaches involving document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials by external consultants or other third parties respectively.

In the calendar year 2015 the MOD was notified of 144 breaches involving document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials by external consultants or other third parties.

The MOD treats the security of its information very seriously and requires all breaches – however minor – to be reported. All such incidents are subjected to an initial security risk assessment, with further action taken on a proportionate basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-02-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for tax evasion.

Mr David Gauke

At Summer Budget 2015, the Government announced an investment of £800 million to tackle non‑compliance and tax evasion.

This investment includes £266 million and 670 new HMRC staff to tackle tax fraud, which will lead to a tripling of the number of criminal investigations into the most serious and complex tax crimes.

The Government is also consulting on new criminal powers to tackle offshore tax evasion and corporate facilitation of tax evasion.

This all builds on the Government’s earlier investment into HMRC, which enabled the Department to achieve a seven-fold increase in the number of prosecutions over the course of the last parliament and contributed to the protection over £2 billion of vital public revenue last year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the establishment of an independent international body to investigate violations of international law in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation and alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen. The UK fully and actively supports the UN’s efforts to achieve a political solution to bring an end to the conflict. This will help create the conditions for the legitimate Government to improve its capacity to protect human rights. The UK has previously engaged the Yemeni Government – both bilaterally and through the UN Human Rights Council – on a wide range of human rights issues. We continue to raise the importance of compliance international human rights law with all sides to the conflict.

We welcome the September UN Human Rights Council resolution which contains mechanisms for monitoring the human rights situation in Yemen. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been tasked to help Yemen investigate human rights abuses and violations, but it will be up to Yemen to decide on how it sets up its own domestic mechanism. We welcome Yemen’s commitment to cooperate with the UN on protection of human rights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any vessels of the Royal Navy or the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have exercised or sought to exercise freedom of navigation or passage rights in disputed areas of the South China Sea claimed by the government of the People’s Republic of China since 2010.

Penny Mordaunt

No Royal Navy or Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels have exercised Freedom of Navigation in disputed areas of the South China Sea since 2010.

The UK strongly asserts its right, and supports the right of all States, to exercise Freedom of Navigation in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.