Tag: Tom Brake

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will grant all children brought from Calais under the Dublin agreement or the Dubs amendment indefinite leave to remain.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government will process cases in line with the EU’s Dublin Regulation and Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

The Dublin Regulation does not confer leave on individuals; it is a mechanism for transferring responsibility of asylum claims between Member States.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the welfare budget was spent on child benefit in 2014-15.

Damian Hinds

The latest available estimates of Child Benefit expenditure in 2014-15 can be found in Table 4.19 of the publication ‘Economic and fiscal outlook – July 2015’ available here: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-july-2015/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department has had discussions with the London Legacy Development Corporation about EU state aid rules and West Ham United Football Club’s occupancy of the Olympic Stadium.

Anna Soubry

My Department has had discussions with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) about papers, prepared by the LLDC, for the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. These papers explained the contractual arrangements relating to West Ham United Football Club’s use of the Olympic Stadium.

I can confirm that the Commission considered these papers and reached a preliminary assessment that the contractual arrangements did not involve state aid and decided not to pursue their investigation any further.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the conditions in which Kamal Foroughi is being held in Evin Prison, Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not been able to obtain access to Mr Foroughi since his detention in May 2011. The Iranian Government does not recognise dual nationality for Iranian citizens. Our requests for consular access to detainees have been rejected on these grounds. We regularly express our concerns about all of our consular cases at high level with the Iranian Government.

Prime Minister David Cameron raised these issues in a letter to President Rouhani on 19 October and again in a telephone call on 19 January. Most recently this was raised by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) during Foreign Minister Zarif’s visit to London on 5 February. I am also keeping a close interest in Mr Foroughi’s case, having recently met with his son in London on 1 December and 14 January.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) conducted on the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on (a) relationships between his Department and its counterparts in other EU member states and (b) the effectiveness of pan-European justice mechanisms; and what assessment his Department has made of the results of that research.

Dominic Raab

On 19 February, the Prime Minister set out the Government position on remaining in the European Union.

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.