Tag: Virendra Sharma

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect people living in the vicinity of (a) Heathrow and (b) RAF Northolt from (i) drones and (ii) unmanned aerial vehicles.

Mr Robert Goodwill

A cross government working group led by the Department for Transport is undertaking a detailed analysis of the range of risks posed by drones. This work is ongoing and kept under constant review. Further work is now proceeding to capture and evaluate potential mitigation measures and strategies. Initial guidance on tackling the risks has been provided to constabularies across the UK.

Work is also underway to qualify the specific level of risk posed by small drones to commercial air transport. We are talking to both the Civil Aviation Authority and airports to find technical solutions to the problems around airports, these include mandated geo-fencing or frequency jammers. The CAA has also worked with major drone manufacturers on the geo-fencing capabilities of their products, which has included providing a list of locations such as airport control zones.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education has a range of policies, procedures and other materials to promote and support the health and wellbeing of its employees.

The Department’s Wellbeing Group runs regular events and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of wellbeing. There is also a wellbeing week and an annual wellbeing award that recognises not just the promotion of wellbeing, but also how it has improved the wellbeing of others.

An Employee Assistance Programme is available to all staff and provides support, information, and advice on a range of issues, including health and wellbeing, problems at work, relationships, legal matters, debt management. Telephone and face to face counselling is also available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Leader of the House, what his Office’s wellness strategy is.

Chris Grayling

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 3 March 2016, to Question UIN 27925.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.

Matthew Hancock

The Cabinet Office takes the well-being of its employees seriously and provides a range of support, including the recent launch of the Cabinet Office Listening Service, resourced by staff who have been trained in active listening and emotional support. The service can provide upfront support to Cabinet Office staff dealing directly or indirectly with specific issues in their personal or working life or to help them to cope with mental health issues of any kind including depression, anxiety or stress. Listeners can also signpost individuals onto other relevant services such as the external Employee Assistant Programme which offers counselling, impartial advice and access to online health and wellness related resources.

The department has established an employee led WorkWell community to further develop and implement a strategy for wellness. Progress to date includes establishing resilience training for senior leaders and their teams, signing up to the Time to Change pledge on mental health, providing access to coaching and training in skills to improve wellbeing such as mindfulness. WorkWell are also seeking to increase awareness of opportunities to improve physical wellbeing at work including provision of on-site health checks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Libraries of the House and on-line at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468340/CODE_OF_CONDUCT_FOR_SPECIAL_ADVISERS_-_15_OCTOBER_2015_FINAL.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

David Mundell

I refer the hon Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 29 February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has received on the involvement in human rights abuses of police officers from the United Arab Emirates who have been trained by UK police officers.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not received any representations on the involvement in human rights abuses of police officers from the United Arab Emirates who have been trained by UK police officers. If we have concerns about alleged abuses we would make these clear to the Emirati authorities, as part of our broader strategic engagement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 on access to housing for post-release offenders.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the welfare policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Act on 20^th July 2015. It set out its assessment of the impacts of the social rents policies in the Act on 28^th September 2015.

A link to the impact assessments is included:

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/welfarereformandwork/documents.html

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of ambulance call-outs were for minor ailments in each (a) former strategic health authority area and (b) clinical commissioning group in each year since 2006.

Mr Philip Dunne

The information requested is not collected centrally.

Lower acuity calls, such as minor ailments, are called “green calls”. Response times for these are set locally by commissioners and providers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on public safety of placing the regulation of (a) drones and (b) unmanned aerial vehicles within the purview of the Civil Aviation Authority.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the independent statutory authority responsible for regulating civil aircraft, including RPAS and small drones. However, the Department recognises that there are types of offenses relating to drones that are not aviation specific or pose an aviation risk and are more social, so the degree to which the CAA should be involved is currently under review.

We are currently developing a Memorandum of Understanding between the DfT, the CAA, the Home Office and Police to better establish where responsibility lies for enforcing breaches of drone related regulations