Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many students have been granted short-term study visas to study English in the UK in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Published information on applications for short term study (previously referred to as 'student visitor') visas is published in table vi_01_q (Visa data tables volume 1) in 'Immigration Statistics, July-September 2016', available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2016/list-of-tables
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the government of Pakistan on the raid on the Tahrik Jadid Headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Rabwah, Pakistan.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are aware of reports of the raid on the Ahmadiyya office in Pakistan. The Government strongly condemns the persecution of all minorities, including the targeting of people based on their beliefs. Our concerns are reflected in the latest update to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual human rights report.
We regularly raise our concerns about the protection of minority communities, including religious minorities, with the Pakistani Government at a senior level. During his visit to Pakistan in November, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), raised religious tolerance and the importance of safeguarding the rights of all Pakistan's citizens. We continue to urge Pakistan to honour in practice its human rights obligations, including those related to religious minorities, and to uphold the rule of law.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training is provided to magistrates and judges in Greater London on understanding the nature and effect of domestic abuse and of coercive and controlling behaviour.
Answered by Phillip Lee
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to PQ 54250 on 22 November 2016.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time, cost and complexity of processes to bring redundant publicly owned land back into use.
Answered by Lord Barwell
This Government has a target to release land with capacity for 160,000 homes by 2020 and is encouraging local authorities to do the same.
The Government has recently announced £1.7 billion of investment for an Accelerated Construction programme that will enable us to get started on up to 15,000 homes by the end of this Parliament.
Planning reforms, including Permission in Principle and Brownfield Registers, will deliver a more efficient planning system.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to wait until the EU Commission has confirmed acceptance of the UK Air Quality Plan before making a decision on airport expansion.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government submitted a revised air quality plan to the European Commission on 17 December last year. There is no formal timetable under the Air Quality Directive for the Commission to assess the plan. We are working with the Commission to ensure compliance with the nitrogen dioxide limits in the Directive in the shortest possible time.
The Government is fully committed to delivering the infrastructure this country needs, including delivering runway capacity to the timetable set out by the Airports Commission.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospitals in England are equipped to deliver thrombectomy to stroke patients.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Information is not collected centrally on the number of hospitals in England which are currently equipped to deliver thrombectomy for stroke.
In February this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published interventional procedure guidance on mechanical clot retrieval (thrombectomy) for treating acute ischaemic stroke. The guidance sets out that current evidence on the safety and efficacy of this procedure is adequate to support its use, provided that standard arrangements are in place for clinical governance, consent and audit. This guidance does not oblige commissioners to commission thrombectomy nor hospitals to provide it. The guidance is available at:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg548
NHS England is now undertaking work to inform a decision on whether this is a procedure that should be made more widely available.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness and adequacy of mental health support available to stroke survivors.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Access to stroke specific psychological support is vital to diagnosing and managing many of the unseen effects of stroke. The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme has recently conducted an audit of the provision of services to people with stroke once they have left hospital. The audit found that around 42% of Early Supported Discharge teams and 44% of longer term community rehabilitation teams had some access to psychologists. There are also physiotherapists, nurses and occupational therapists on these teams who often address psychological issues.
We know that there are improvements to be made in providing psychological support for stroke survivors. Clinical commissioning groups are encouraged to consider how the needs of these patients might be met when commissioning services.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Consulate General in Jerusalem give us regular updates on the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These updates include reports on rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into the sea; any rocket fire from Gaza into Israel; and any retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza. However they do not keep a record of the numbers, but according to UN figures, in January 2016 a total of three rockets were fired into Israel by Gazan militant groups.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with housing associations on reducing or removing Government control over rent setting.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
In order to control the housing benefit bill, the Government is reducing social housing rents by 1% per annum over the coming four years to 2019-20. The Government has constant and on-going dialogue with the sector and lenders. We will consider rent setting policy from 2020 at future fiscal events.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with housing associations on flexibility in the time allowed to spend capital receipts from Right to Buy.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Under the terms of the historic voluntary agreement between the Government and the sector, the Government will compensate housing associations for the value of the Right to Buy discount. In return, housing associations will deliver at least one additional new home for each home sold nationally. They will have flexibility in relation to the tenure and location of the additional homes built. It is a mutual objective to ensure that additional homes would be delivered as quickly as possible. The aim is to deliver the new properties within two years. The historic grant portion of any receipt released by the property sale will go back into the Recycled Capital Grant Fund. Under the current rules for that Fund receipts must be spent within three years or returned to the Homes and Communities Agency.