Asked by: Jamie Wallis (Conservative - Bridgend)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Israel-UAE and Israel-Bahrain peace agreements on stability in that region.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We warmly welcome the agreement between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. This is an historic step which sees the normalisation of relations between three great friends of the UK. We welcome both the decision to normalise relations, as well as the suspension of plans for annexation - a move the UK has opposed as it would have been counterproductive to securing peace in the region. The UK is committed to making progress towards a two-state solution and is strongly supportive of a regional approach to peace. We profoundly hope that this moment can be used as a step towards direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Asked by: Jamie Wallis (Conservative - Bridgend)
Question
What steps the Government is taking to make it easier for people to share parental leave.
Answered by Paul Scully
We are evaluating our Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, which will allow us to gather information on the barriers and enablers to take up. We are also working on a digital tool to help parents understand the options available to them and make it easier to access Shared Parental Leave.
Asked by: Jamie Wallis (Conservative - Bridgend)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to repatriate UK citizens from (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Foreign Secretary announced on 30 March an important new partnership between the Government and airlines to fly home more stranded British travellers, where commercial routes do not exist. The Government will provide up to £75 million financial support to enable special charter flights to priority countries, operated by airlines including Virgin, Easyjet, Jet 2 and Titan. This service has already begun, with flights earlier this week from Ghana and Tunisia.
Our High Commissioner in Canberra has written to the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister on this issue. We are signposting British nationals to commercial flight options and continuing to explore new routes by which they can travel home. We have also set up an online registration tool for any British Nationals in Australia who require our support. Found at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/australia/return-to-the-uk. Over 50,000 British Nationals have left Australia on commercial flights in the last month.
In New Zealand, the British High Commission in Wellington is fully staffed and doing all it can to support British Nationals at this time, including finding routes home. Our High Commission remains open to issue emergency travel documents. However, given the New Zealand Government's directive on social distancing, we are asking people not to visit our High Commission in Wellington or our Consulate in Auckland in person, and instead reach out via our online webform. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/new-zealand/coronavirus. Between commercial and charter flights, over 4,200 British Nationals have departed since 31 March.
Asked by: Jamie Wallis (Conservative - Bridgend)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he has taken to improve staff retention in the prison service.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We want prison officers to have a long and successful career within HM Prison and Probation Service. We have recruited some 4,200 more prison officers over the past three years and we are working hard to retain our staff, investing in additional pay, training and the tools staff need to do their jobs safely.
There has been a specific focus on improving the induction processes that aim to ease the transition into the prison officer job whilst also providing care and support for new recruits and the offer of additional training. These interventions are intended to reduce staff turnover in the early stages of employment.
The Prison Officer Entry Level Training has recently been redeveloped into an apprenticeship that will launch in Summer 2020. The apprenticeship aims to improve retention and build a portfolio of experience through on-site training and reflective learning over a longer period.
All staff have access to services including 24/7 counselling, trauma support and occupational health assessments. In addition, there is work being undertaken directly with Governors to address local issues that will support experienced staff and new recruits to remain in the service.
Staff are provided with the appropriate equipment and training to enable them to maintain a safe and secure work place and to create an environment which is rewarding to work in and which promotes the values needed to rehabilitate offenders. This includes the introduction of introduce body-worn cameras, police-style restraints and PAVA incapacitant spray.
For sites where the local labour/employment market make it hard to recruit and retain staff, market supplements (regional adjustments and weightings) are used together with a tailored approach to recruitment advertising to ensure that we are competitive in the local labour market.