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 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, further to the Answer of 9 October 2015 to Question 11183, if he will estimate the market value of the freehold buildings used by Grantham Magistrates’ Court.

Caroline Dinenage

There is no estimate of the market value of Grantham Magistrates’ Court. No decision has been taken to close the court.

Disposal strategies will be developed once a decision is made on individual courts following the outcome of consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-09-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that hospitals balance their budgets.

George Freeman

We are investing the additional £8 billion the National Health Service has said it needs to implement its own future plan, on top of the extra £2 billion we have given the service. However, additional spending is not the only answer to these financial challenges. The NHS must now put in place cost-control measures we have introduced, like clamping down on rip-off staffing agencies, while we continue to work with hospitals on ways to improve productivity and reduce waste.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent illegal trade in ivory products.

Rory Stewart

The UK has played a leading role in galvanising international action to combat the illegal wildlife trade, including the illegal trade in ivory. We hosted the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and actively supported the Government of Botswana in its hosting of a follow-up Conference in Kasane in March 2015. The UK has also supported the Elephant Protection Initiative, of which nine African elephant range states are now members and which is designed to help them to secure and maintain healthy elephant populations.

The UK is committed to maintaining the current global ban on any new international trade in ivory, established under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In addition, the UK does not permit trade in raw ivory tusks of any age and we are pressing for this approach to be taken across the whole of the European Union.

We have committed £13 million to support projects around the world to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. These projects seek to reduce demand, strengthen law enforcement and develop sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by illegal wildlife trade, principally through Defra’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. A second round of the Challenge Fund was launched on 5 August.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to work with counterparts in other EU Member States to encourage tourism to the UK from Europe.

Mrs Helen Grant

VisitEngland works closely with a network of National Tourism Organisations through the National Tourism Board Forum. Members include Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Malta, Denmark, Austria, Montenegro and Belgium. Activities of the forum include: regular meetings, sharing insights and best practice and marketing development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of EUCAP Nestor in tackling insecurity in the Horn of Africa.

Hugh Robertson

EUCAP Nestor can play an important role in building stability in Somalia and the region but further work needs to be done to enhance delivery and realise its potential.

The UK has focused on addressing issues to ensure that Nestor increases operations inside Somalia, and delivers against measurable and meaningful objectives.

These measures should increase the prospects of Nestor performing more effectively in the future. Good progress has been made in recent months towards establishing a presence in Somalia, which will increase the efficacy of the mission by providing a base for capacity building activities and by enhancing access to local actors. Nestor now has an office in Hargeisa (Somaliland), and also operates in Bosaso on the northern coast of Somalia. We will continue to track progress closely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in the South Caucasus.

Mr David Lidington

The South Caucasus region, while currently relatively stable, is home to three unresolved conflicts and continued internal and external political tensions. As a result, the risk of renewed instability remains real.

In Georgia, the UK supports the work of the EU Monitoring Mission; it continues to play a valuable role in helping to reduce tensions along the boundary lines of the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However we remain concerned about “borderisation” along the administrative boundary lines of the breakaway regions which only serves to exacerbate tensions in the area. The recent change of power in Abkhazia is concerning, but we are relieved that events have unfolded peacefully. We hope the acting de facto authorities respect the rights of all people in Abkhazia, in particular ethnic Georgians living in the Gali region.

The UK is also concerned by on-going ceasefire breaches between forces along both the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenia-Azerbaijan borders. It is disappointing that as we pass the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 cease-fire agreement between the conflicting parties, a sustainable, agreed settlement is still not within reach. The UK supports the work of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chairs in their attempts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict and introduce confidence building measures which will help de-escalate tensions.

The UK remains committed to conflict resolution work in the South Caucasus. This financial year, the Conflict Pool has allocated £3m to projects in the South Caucasus that will build capacity of local communities to prevent and resolve conflicts.