Tag: Thangam Debbonaire

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration officials of her Department are based in refugee camps in Greece; and by what means refugees are expected to make contact with those officials.

James Brokenshire

As notified in my statement of 21 April, HCWS687, 75 UK personnel will be deployed to Greece to support implementation of the EU-Turkey Migration Agreement. They will work alongside the Greek Asylum Service to process cases through the admissibility procedure. They will also provide expert support to the Greek authorities on overall co-ordination of the response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allow people who have recently been granted refugee status and have not yet received a refugee integration loan to remain in asylum accommodation.

Mike Penning

We are working towards achieving more integrated communities and creating the conditions for everyone to live and work successfully alongside each other.

Those who are granted refugee status are given access to the labour market, mainstream benefits and housing assistance from their local authority. There are therefore no plans to allow refugees to stay in asylum support accommodation.

The Home Office offers integration loans to recognised refugees. The loan is designed to help refugees integrate into UK society by offering financial support towards housing costs, employment and training.

The Home Office also funds strategic migration partnerships which provide coordination and support services for those organisations working with migrants and refugees in local communities.

Earlier this year the Government announced that £20 million of additional funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses would be introduced in October 2016. This funding will reach the most isolated communities in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department plans to put in place to improve the processing time for sending documentation including national insurance numbers and biometric residence permits to people who have been granted refugee status.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Details to apply for a National Insurance Number (NINO) are collected at the substantive interview and sent to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if a claimant is granted asylum. DWP aim to return these to the Home Office within seven working days before it is sent to the claimant. Processing for Biometric Residence Permits begins once claimants have enrolled their details. If completed promptly it can be received by them within seven working days of the grant of asylum but delays can occur if a claimant has not enrolled their signature or biometrics prior to the grant of asylum.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2016 to Question 46209, what the relationship will be between the clinical expert groups and the recently established cross-Clinical Reference Group working parties.

David Mowat

As part of the revised arrangements for the Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), which support specialised commissioning, NHS England has also announced the establishment of cross-CRG working parties, including some which will work with other health and care bodies to contribute to improving services, data and efficiency. These are not distinct CRGs, but a collaboration between existing groups.

Those working parties are:

– Research – building an interface with the National Institute for Health Research to advise how future research strategies align with commissioning and maximising opportunities;

– Data and Resource – working with NHS Digital and NHS Improvement to provide clinical advice to these organisations in their work to improve the information that guides commissioning;

– Guidance – working with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence as a stakeholder in their guidance development and providing clinical advice as needed; and

– Value – to better understand, and therefore reduce, variations in services and, where appropriate, cease treatments/ways of working that are no longer of clinical or patient benefit.

These relate to the specialised commissioning CRGs and there is no link to the clinical expert groups.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support the eradication of malnutrition.

Grant Shapps

The Government has made a commitment to improve the nutrition of 50 million people by 2020. Those being helped include children under five, breastfeeding women, women of childbearing age and adolescent girls. This builds on an earlier commitment to help children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women, through which 28.5 million people had been reached by mid-2015.

DFID support is focused on the following objectives: greater coverage of nutrition-specific programmes; leverage more nutrition outcomes from other programmes like agriculture, social protection, education, health and water and sanitation; contribute to new solutions to undernutrition; and a more effective international response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests for the transfer of an asylum application from other EU countries the UK has (a) received and (b) accepted in the last 12 months.

Karen Bradley

An answer is still being prepared. We are currently extracting the data and need to ensure it is correctly quality checked to give the Hon. Member an accurate response and I will write to the honourable Member when it is finished.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of primary school pupils have access to music lessons with a specialist music teacher within their school.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education does not collect data on the proportion of primary school pupils having access to music lessons with a specialist music teacher within their school curriculum. Schools are best placed to decide on the number and type of teachers they need.

In 2016-17, we are investing £75 million in music education hubs to ensure all pupils aged 5-18 have access to high quality musical opportunities. Primary schools can access support from specialist music teachers through music education hubs. In 2013/14, Arts Council England data showed that 596,820 pupils learned to play an instrument through whole class ensemble teaching, up from 531,422 in 2012/13.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which museums partly or wholly reliant on public funding, have (a) closed part of their service, (b) reduced educational programmes and (c) closed completely in the last 12 months.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Department does not hold data on a) and b).

Between 2012 and 2016, the Department for Education has provided £4.8 million for the “Museums and Schools” programme to support regional museums working with schools, in partnership with National Museums. The programme has exceeded its targets with over 68,000 pupils benefitting, and according to Arts Council England (ACE) data, the number of children attending events at ACE-sponsored museums continues to increase.

c) In the last 12 months, three former local authority-funded museums in England have closed: Snibston Discovery Museum, Orpington Museum and Durham Light Infantry Museum.

Orpington Museum has been replaced with two permanent displays in Bromley Central Library. A section of Durham Light Infantry Museum is now on display at the Palace Green Library, as part of the Somme 1916 exhibition.

Snibston Discovery Museum’s collection has been dispersed locally – 61 objects that were on loan from Leicester City Museum Service have been returned along with 40 objects connected to the city’s industrial heritage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has for the provision of rehabilitation and re-education for perpetrators of coercive control and intimate partner violence who are serving (a) custodial and (b) non-custodial sentences.

Andrew Selous

The Ministry of Justice works with its partners to deliver a range of services and programmes across custody and community which aim to reduce and manage the risk posed by perpetrators of coercive control and intimate partner violence. We use structured risk assessment to understand the risks, needs and circumstances of individual offenders. We then match individuals to appropriate interventions and services, such as the Building Better Relationships accredited programme, to reduce their risk, protect the community and ensure public money is spent in the best way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a strategy for ensuring that classes in English are provided for refugees as soon as possible after refugee status has been granted.

Mike Penning

We are working towards achieving more integrated communities and creating the conditions for everyone to live and work successfully alongside each other.

Those who are granted refugee status are given access to the labour market, mainstream benefits and housing assistance from their local authority. There are therefore no plans to allow refugees to stay in asylum support accommodation.

The Home Office offers integration loans to recognised refugees. The loan is designed to help refugees integrate into UK society by offering financial support towards housing costs, employment and training.

The Home Office also funds strategic migration partnerships which provide coordination and support services for those organisations working with migrants and refugees in local communities.

Earlier this year the Government announced that £20 million of additional funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses would be introduced in October 2016. This funding will reach the most isolated communities in the UK.