Tag: Thangam Debbonaire

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise the issue of minority rights during the visit of Prime Minister Modi of India; and if he will specifically raise (a) Sikh political prisoners in India and (b) the case of Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa.

Mr Hugo Swire

Human rights were discussed during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom. We welcome his reaffirmation that he governs for all Indians. The British High Commission in India regularly discusses the treatment of minorities, including the Sikh community, with the Indian National Commission for Minorities and with state governments across India. I also personally raised the issue of religious minorities with the Indian Minister of External Affairs, General V K Singh on 5 November. Relations between the Sikh community in India and the Indian government are ultimately an internal matter, but we encourage both parties to resolve their differences through dialogue.

Although India’s Supreme Court partially lifted its suspension on the premature release of life prisoners by state governments on 23 July, the Court ruled that this would not apply to those cases which were investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); central agencies or under federal law. This ruling applies to all cases regardless of the perpetrator’s ethnic identity. Specific issues of sentencing are a matter for the Indian authorities and we cannot interfere in their judicial system.

We are aware of Surat Singh Khalsa’s hunger strike and continue to monitor developments, including Mr Singh Khalsa’s health.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the contribution of the Minister for Immigration in the public bill committee stage of the Immigration Bill on 1 December 2015, Official Report, column 206, what the terms of reference are of the detailed analysis of the purposes of immigration detention being conducted by her Department.

Karen Bradley

Alongside the response to the recommendations of the Shaw review, set out in a Written Ministerial Statement on 14 January 2016, Home Office Ministers are giving further consideration to the wider requirements of the immigration detention estate.

The analysis referred to is regarded as internal policy advice, and the Home Office does not intend to release this piece of work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average cost to the public purse was of a work capability assessment case that ended in appeal from the beginning of the assessment process to the outcome and implementation of the appeal in each of the last three years.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the effect of museums on health and well-being.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Department holds a number of case studies and research papers with examples of the benefits that museums have on well-being, and has noted the importance of these benefits in the Culture White Paper. Examples of best practice in this area include National Museums Liverpool’s “House of Memories” dementia project, and the ‘if: Volunteering for wellbeing’ programme at IWM North, Manchester Museum and Museum of Science & Industry, with a particular focus on improving health of participants.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will increase the number of her officials working in Calais to process applications from unaccompanied child refugees for family reunion in the UK; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the applications from 157 children in Calais estimated as eligible for family reunion can be processed in time for them to start school in the UK in September 2016.

James Brokenshire

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to improve all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. The Home Office will review the existing arrangements as part of the work to implement relevant provisions of the Immigration Act 2016. Between the start of January 2016 and 30th April 2016 our records indicate that the UK has accepted over 30 requests from France under the Dublin Regulations to take charge of asylum seeking children on family grounds of which more than 20 have already been transferred to the UK.

To assist with the identification of potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including unaccompanied children) in Calais, the UK has funded a project run by a French non-governmental organisation which aims to identify and direct these vulnerable people to the appropriate support services in France.

The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which informs individuals (including unaccompanied children) of their rights to claim asylum in France and gives them information on family reunification. The frequency of these campaigns has been increased in line with the Joint Declaration signed in August 2015.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what (a) funding and (b) guidance his Department provides to local authorities to enable people who have recently been granted refugee status to benefit from rent deposit schemes if they are not considered to be in priority need for housing.

Gavin Barwell

Any person, including those granted refugee status, who is not in priority need is eligible for homelessness assistance. Local authorities have a duty to provide advice and information on homelessness, free of charge, to anyone seeking help. Wherever possible local housing authorities will try to stop households from facing the stress and upheaval of a homelessness crisis by taking steps to prevent their homelessness. That is why government has maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

Statutory guidance does not mandate the use of specific preventative tools but sets out a wide range of options so that local authorities can meet the specific needs of an individual on a case by case basis. Rent deposit and rent bond schemes are included within this guidance and the majority of local authorities will operate one.

Since 2010 local authorities have prevented homelessness for over 1.1 million households. We have committed to work with local authorities, homelessness charities and across departments to consider options, including legislation, to put prevention at the centre of our approach to tackling homelessness.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what monitoring her Department undertakes of the incidence of female genital mutilation (a) for each of the four known types of female genital mutilations and (b) in Bristol; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

Work to tackle FGM forms an integral part of our cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy published on 8 March. The first annual statistics on the number of cases recorded by the NHS in England were published on 21 July for the period April 2015 to March 2016. They show that there were 5,702 newly recorded cases of FGM reported and of those, where type was known, Types 1 and 2 have the highest incidence (35 and 31 per cent respectively). In Bristol, there were 385 cases newly recorded.

More information on these figures is available on the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s website.

A 2015 prevalence study part-funded by the Home Office estimated that approximately 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales are affected by FGM and 60,000 girls were born to women who had undergone FGM.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government plans to take to enable young people from the UK to take part in the Erasmus scheme after the UK has exited the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The referendum result has no immediate effect on students abroad under the Erasmus scheme or applying for 2016/17. Payments will be made in the usual way. Access to the programme after we leave the EU is a matter for the forthcoming negotiations. The Department offers the same support for study abroad under other schemes as for Erasmus.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new junior doctors’ contract on patients’ safety.

Ben Gummer

The proposals are to introduce a safer, fairer contract for junior doctors that will help improve their training experience to better support patient care every day of the week.

Our ambition for the National Health Service to be the safest healthcare system in the world is underpinned by reducing, not increasing, the number of hours junior doctors work each week. The new contract will include improved, legally (and contractually) enforceable safeguards – including that no junior doctor working full time will be expected to work on average more than 48 hours a week, unless they opt-out of the European Working Time Directive in which case it is maximum of an average 56 hours a week. The number of hours that can be worked in any single week by any junior will be limited to 72 (down from 91 currently) and there will be a limit of five consecutive long days or four consecutive nights.

We will also bring the working hours and service delivery of junior doctors within the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection regime. Putting patients first is the responsibility of employers and staff. Juniors must feel confident that when they raise safety concerns they are listened to. Where doctors are asked to work in conditions that they believe are unsafe, including being asked to work patterns that put patient safety at risk, they will be asked to use the reporting mechanisms available to them (including alerting their line managers/clinical supervisors, reporting through the local incident reporting system which will upload to the National Reporting and Learning System) to raise the issue with both the board of their trust, and reporting data will be available for the CQC to use during inspections. We would expect trust boards to look at any such report and decide how to respond to it; and we would expect the CQC, when it carries out an inspection, to look at how the board has responded to this and other data reporting safety incidents and concerns.

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 people have been transferred from the UK to other EU countries under the Dublin III Regulation (a) in total and (b) for the purposes of family reunification 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.