Tag: Tom Brake

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to take account in its policies of the conclusions of the Muslim Brotherhood Review, HC 679, published on 17 December 2015.

Karen Bradley

The Review into the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has highlighted concerns about the Brotherhood and concluded that aspects of its ideology and tactics in the UK, and overseas, have been contrary to our values, national interests and national security.

The Government will intensify its scrutiny of the views and activities that Brotherhood members and associates promote, both here and overseas. It will also continue to consult, and share information and analysis, with other governments in the Middle East and North Africa as appropriate.

We have looked carefully at the findings of the review and will continue to:

• refuse visas to members and associates of the Brotherhood who are on record as having made extremist comments, in line with our existing policy guidelines and approach to extremism in all forms; • seek to ensure charities that have links to the Brotherhood are not misused to support or finance the Brotherhood instead of their lawful charitable purpose; • strengthen liaison arrangements with international partners to ensure that allegations of illicit funding or other misuse of charities are robustly investigated and appropriate action taken; • enforce the EU asset freeze on Hamas; and • keep under review whether the views and activities of the Brotherhood meet the legal test for proscription.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Government has made of trends and development in the quality of care given by NHS trusts to people with rheumatoid arthritis in each year from 2010 to 2015.

Jane Ellison

Since 1 April 2013, the Government has set out high level strategic ambitions for the National Health Service through the Mandate. For patients with long term conditions (LTCs), including musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, we have asked the NHS to improve the care and support of patients, helping them to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.

In response, NHS England has set out a range of actions designed to deliver this, central to which was implementation of the House of Care model, which is designed to support the delivery of person-centred, coordinated care. The House of Care enables individuals to make informed decisions about their treatment and empowers them to self-manage their LTCs in partnership with health and care professionals. NHS England has provided data, tools and guidance to support local services in identifying those most likely to benefit from a care planning approach. Specifically on MSK conditions, the National Clinical Director for MSK, Peter Kay, has been working in partnership with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, to develop new MSK clinical networks across England to build consensus on the way forward for models of care.

In terms of assessment, the first annual report of the National Clinical Audit of Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, commissioned on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), was published on 22 January 2016. This report, which includes data from 1 February 2014 to 30 April 2015, assesses the quality of care by specialist rheumatology services using criteria derived from sources such as the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality Standard, published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in June 2013. The report identifies that although most services offer prompt educational support and agree targets for treatment with their patients, performance against criteria for referral and assessment could be improved. Since the audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care. More information can be found at the following link:

www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed by the NHS who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

James Brokenshire

The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in recognised shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

Data of the number of people employed in specific regions of the United Kingdom is not available. The Home Office holds individual records showing the working location of Tier 2 (General) migrants, but centralised records show the registered address of the Tier 2 Sponsor, which is normally that organisation’s Head Office.

The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This includes the impact on the top ten occupations and is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the extent of Russian support for Kurdish forces in Syria and that support’s effect on the ceasefire and peace process in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have recently seen a number of worrying patterns of behaviour that clearly suggest coordination between Kurdish forces in the Afrin region, the Asad regime and Russia. The expansion of Kurdish forces from Afrin just before the Cessation of Hostilities, supported by Russian airstrikes, directly targeted the moderate armed opposition and further complicated the situation in northern Syria. Further actions by Kurdish forces to take ground from the moderate opposition would risk undermining the Cessation of Hostilities, and in turn political negotiations in Geneva.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of UK firms based in Yorkshire and the Humber that trade with other EU member states; and how many people are employed by each such firm.

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 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK firms based in Wales 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 Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has to make its leaflet on continuing membership of the EU accessible to people with (a) learning, (b) visual and (c) other disabilities.

John Penrose

The leaflet has been made available on Gov.uk and is compatible with assistive technology, and in hard copy in English and Welsh. An audio version and large print version are also available on Gov.uk. CDs of the audio version are being sent to those that are not able to access the website. A braille version will be available on request.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of the earnings from UK arms exports in each of the last three years was derived from the export of arms to Saudi Arabia.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold data on earnings from UK arms exports. However, we publish official statistics on the value of defence exports, which includes data for the Middle East. Further details can be found on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Indonesia on the case of a Christian woman sentenced to caning in Aceh following her being charged with selling alcohol.

Mr Hugo Swire

We condemn the use of corporal punishment. We welcome public comments made by the head of the EU delegation in Jakarta in November 2015 that the Government of the special territory of Aceh must safeguard human rights and protect the rights of minorities, regardless of religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens imprisoned abroad in each country.

James Duddridge

We collect global detainee statistics twice a year. On 30 September 2015 we were aware of 2,003 British nationals detained overseas (either pre- or post- sentencing). The largest numbers are detained in USA (499), Spain (186), Ireland (173), Australia (155) and France (102).