Tag: Tom Brake

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants in 2014-15 were not British citizens.

Priti Patel

The information as requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 15 December 2015 to Questions 18901 and 18902, what the source is of the statement that 71 of the 131 neonatal critical care services now meet required staffing ratios; and if he will place a copy of the source document in the Library.

Ben Gummer

NHS England has used the Women and Children’s Derogation report to describe compliance against staffing ratios.

The source document is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the prevalence of slavery in Mauritania.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about continued reports of slavery in Mauritania, and about the modest sentences handed down in the few successful prosecutions for slavery offences. We welcome the establishment of three courts with specific responsibility for slavery cases. We continue to monitor this topic closely. We regularly raise our concerns with the Mauritanian authorities in the UK and in Nouakchott, and meet human rights and anti-slavery campaigners to discuss the subject.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on security in Northern Ireland.

Mr Ben Wallace

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. ‘The best of both worlds’, published on 22 February, sets out how membership of the EU enhances our ability to co-operate with other EU Member States to combat crime and terrorism and keep all parts of the United Kingdom safe, including Northern Ireland.

The paper is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-of-both-worlds-the-united-kingdoms-special-status-in-a-reformed-european-union.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the use of child soldiers by the Afghan local police.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Afghanistan is one of seven countries included in the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan’s campaign “Children, Not Soldiers” which aims to end the recruitment and use of children by Afghan Government security forces.

We share the concerns of the UN Special Representative on the continued recruitment of children in the Afghan security forces, and the lack of oversight of recruitment for the local police forces. While Afghanistan has made some progress, including the adoption of a presidential decree criminalizing child recruitment by Government security forces in 2015, significant efforts are needed to fully implement the Action Plan.

The UK welcomes the creation of six child protection units in recruitment centres and is encouraging Afghanistan to expand this to all provinces. We urge the Government of Afghanistan to hold to account the perpetrators of child recruitment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29389, whether he has sought assurances that Saudi Arabia’s internal procedures for investigations are being used to investigate (a) attacks on the Médecins Sans Frontières hospitals and mobile clinic and (b) the airstrike on the Oxfam warehouse.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The results of the investigation into the October Médecins Sans Frontières incident were announced at a Saudi Arabian press conference on 31 January, as was the intention to investigate all allegations of concern. The UK has been using diplomatic and military channels to engage with Saudi Arabia on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) compliance. I have spoken to the Saudi Ambassador and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has engaged with his counterpart on the importance of compliance with IHL.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on whether Passenger Service Performance by the TSGN has exceeded the Default Performance Level for any benchmark for any (a) three consecutive reporting periods, (b) four reporting periods within a period of 13 consecutive reporting periods or (c) any five reporting periods within a period of 26 consecutive reporting periods except in relation to any reporting periods falling within a no breach reporting period.

Claire Perry

The Department receives information on each franchised operators’ performance against respective benchmarks every four weeks. Delays and Peak Short formations have not exceeded the Default Performance level as defined in the Franchise Agreement. However, GTR exceeded the breach performance level for cancellations last year and the Secretary of State issued Govia Thameslink Railway with a Remedial Plan Notice requiring them to set out the measures they will take in order to improve performance. Subsequently, the Secretary of State has accepted the Remedial Plan that sets out the steps the operator is taking to improve their performance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in the West Midlands that trade with other EU member states and (b) people employed by those firms.

Anna Soubry

HMRC Regional Trade Statistics on the number of firms trading with the EU are publically available through the UKTradeInfo website.

HM Treasury has published estimates of the number of UK jobs linked to EU exports broken down by region. These are available through the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government made to the Ombudsman of the Bahraini (a) Ministry of Interior and (b) authorities on that Ombudsman’s investigation into the alleged torture of Mohamed Ramadan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government has raised Mohamed Ramadan’s case with the Bahraini authorities. I did so most recently when I met the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, on 8 March 2016. Embassy officials have been in direct contact with the Ombudsman, who has confirmed that whilst there have been a number of complaints raised with his office in the case of Mr Ramadan, there have been no allegations of mistreatment or torture.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will place in the Library copies of all correspondence between Ministers in his Department and newspaper editors, executives and proprietors about press regulation policy and Leveson Part 2 since May 2015.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The department does not publish as standard confidential correspondence between individuals or organisations and ministers. A list of ministerial meetings is published in the department’s quarterly returns.