Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of compulsory school age in Wakefield are electively home educated in comparison to prior to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect data on the number of electively home educated children. This data is held by local authorities.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK manufacturing sector has access to an adequate supply of computer chips.
Answered by Matt Warman
HMG recognises the severity of the current chip shortage and the difficulties it has created for a number of UK firms. This is a global market and a confluence of unexpected events, including unprecedented pandemic-driven shifts in demand, have had widespread ramifications internationally. HMG are engaging affected UK sectors and key international partners to identify any available domestic or international mitigations.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Janssen vaccine can be administered at the earliest possible date.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
On 28 May 2021 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency authorised the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine for use and 20 million doses of the vaccine have been secured. The first deliveries are expected to arrive later this year.
As with the currently deployed vaccines, all necessary preparations to receive, store and distribute the Janssen vaccine, as well as train health professionals in its handling and administration, will be in place prior to any deployment.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the protection of endangered species which are native to Yorkshire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to taking action to recover our threatened native species. A number of our most threatened species, many of which can be found in Yorkshire, are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. Towards our goal to address the overall decline of species in England, we will be amending the Environment Bill to require an additional legally binding target for species for 2030, aiming to halt the decline of nature. We will publish a Green Paper later in 2021, setting out how our protections framework might deliver this better and our wider domestic ambitions.
Alongside our work at the national scale for the recovery of species and their habitats, such as through new schemes for environmental land management and the Nature Recovery Network, we have also taken positive steps for protecting and investing in species in Yorkshire. In May this year, the Dearne Valley Wetlands was recognised by its notification as a new Site of Special Scientific Interest, for its nationally important native birds. Additionally, as part of the £80m Green Recovery Challenge Fund the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust was awarded funding for the restoration of two nationally important species in the Humber Estuary: native oysters and dwarf seagrass. The Froglife Trust also received funding for a project that aims to stop the decline of the UK's common toads in Yorkshire and replenish populations.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the armed forces have been tried by military courts in each year since 2016.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The military courts fulfil an important function in administering justice when Service personnel are alleged to have committed any of the service offences in the Armed Forces Act 2006, wherever in the world those offences are said to have occurred. They are a major contributor to the maintenance of discipline which underpins the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces. Anyone convicted of an offence will be punished appropriately and that may include imprisonment, and dismissal from service.
The requested information on the number of Service personnel who have been tried by a military court is provided in the following table:
Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Number of individuals | 436 | 400 | 414 | 500 | 372 |
Notes:
Figures for each year encompass all cases that concluded in that year i.e. if a case was opened in 2019 but concluded in 2020, the individual is recorded within the 2020 data.
Figure may include individuals who have been Court Martialled on more than one occasion. If an individual had more than one case but was either acquitted or sentenced on the same date, they are captured only once within the year of the result. However, if an individual had multiple cases that came to court in different years or after a previous case was closed, they will be recorded twice.
Figures also include ex-Service personnel who were serving at the time of the alleged or proven offence.
Court Martial results from the military court centres over the period January 2010 to December 2019 can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-martial-results-from-the-military-court-centres.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to roll out the First Homes scheme in (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We recently launched the first batch of First Homes in Bolsover, Derbyshire. This is the first step in making this manifesto commitment a reality. We will be bringing more pilots out in other areas across England, and will shortly be launching a larger grant-funded programme aiming to deliver 1,500 First Homes from the end of the year. This will be open to bids to support First Homes in Wakefield and West Yorkshire from developers, local authorities and housing associations, and we hope to see strong bids from the area so that residents can benefit from First Homes as soon as possible.
Additionally, on 24 May we issued a written ministerial statement implementing new planning policy to ensure that First Homes will be delivered in all parts of England in the future.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the Governments of (a) Chad and (b) the Central African Republic on the recent reported violence at the border between those two countries.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK's statement at the UN Security Council on 7 June condemned the recent violence on the Chad / Central African Republic (CAR) border, and expressed our condolences for the lives lost. As our Ambassador to Chad stated on 5 June, the UK supports the stability of the region, and takes seriously infringements of the territorial integrity of any country. Tensions must be de-escalated through diplomatic means. Ministers have not held discussions recently with the Governments of Chad or CAR regarding the border clashes.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of decreasing the time between the (a) announcement of countries being removed from the covid-19 green list for travel purposes and (b) enforcement of that rule.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The allocation of countries to the traffic light system will be reviewed every three weeks, unless there is a sudden change in the data and risk to a country that needs to be acted upon quickly. The next review will take place in the week commencing 21 June.
The timing between announcement and implementation of changes to country allocations under the traffic light system has been assessed to be appropriate in order to give travellers as much notice as possible whilst balancing the public health risk.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to help prevent the persecution of atheists in Saudi Arabia.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), which is restricted in Saudi Arabia. Ministers and our Ambassador in Saudi Arabia regularly raise and discuss freedom of religion or belief.
On 24 May 2021, I raised FoRB with the Saudi President of the Human Rights Commission during my visit to Saudi Arabia. Our views are well known and the UK will continue to encourage further human rights reform in Saudi Arabia.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Afghanistan on protections for religious minorities in that country.
Answered by Nigel Adams
UK Ministers and officials frequently raise the protection of religious minorities with Afghan counterparts. Most recently, on 2 June Lord Ahmad spoke to Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar to offer condolences for the attack on 8 May on a school in a predominantly Hazara area of Kabul. British Embassy officials in Kabul regularly meet with representatives from religious minority groups to hear their concerns. We continue to make public condemnations about targeted killings, and violence against minorities and human rights advocates, calling for transparent investigations. Only a negotiated and inclusive settlement will bring sustainable peace to Afghanistan. We continue to make clear to all sides that any political settlement must protect the progress made in the country, including protection for women and minority groups.