Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Irish government on the implications for relations between the UK and the Republic of Ireland of the UK voting to leave the EU in the EU referendum.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Prime Minister believes that the UK’s best future lies within a reformed European Union. He is focused on addressing the concerns of the people of the United Kingdom and is confident that the right agreement can be reached.
Northern Ireland Office Ministers meet regularly with Irish Government Ministers to discuss a range of issues and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in the London Borough of Ealing who have been diagnosed with severe dementia or Alzheimer's Disease are currently in receipt of NHS continuing health care; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department does not collect data on the number of people in receipt of NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) who have been diagnosed with severe dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease.
Eligibility for NHS CHC is based on an individuals assessed needs. The diagnosis of a particular disease or condition is not in itself a determinant of eligibility.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will end the requirement for residents of Ealing to attend personal independence payment assessments in Deptford; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The requirement placed on the providers delivering Personal Independence Payment assessments is that claimants cannot usually be expected to travel more than 90 minutes by public transport to attend assessments. We expect them to minimise travel times wherever possible but, in scheduling appointments, they need to balance both keeping journey times down and ensuring claimants are assessed in a reasonable time period. The providers have been opening new assessment centres across the country to increase capacity and reduce journey times. Atos opened sites in Harrow on 23 March 2015; Wandsworth on 15 April 2015; and Vauxhall on 29 April 2015. A centre in Twickenham is due to open in July 2015. This will mean less travel for Ealing residents requiring face-to-face assessments.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what additional aid and assistance is being offered to the government of Afghanistan following the recent attack on the Afghan Parliament.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
I condemned the appalling attacks on the Afghan Parliamant. Such attacks are planned and perpetrated by a brutal minority with the aim of undermining efforts, supported by the majority of Afghan citizens, to rebuild their country, repair the damage done by so many years of violent conflict, and ensure a democratic and peaceful future for all Afghans.
Working for a stable and secure Afghanistan able to stand firm against terrorism remains a key UK objective. The UK played a leading role in the International Security Assistance Force mission. With NATO support, the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces now number around 330,000, the strongest in Afghan history. In January 2015 Afghan forces assumed independent responsibility for the country’s security, a significant achievement and a tangible demonstration of the progress achieved to date. The UK is the lead nation for the Afghan National Army Officer Academy.
The UK has committed to maintain development support to Afghanistan at its current level - £178 million per year – until at least 2017. This includes a specific programme to support Afghanistan’s political institutions and processes, including Parliament.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what additional military training or assistance is being offered to the government of Afghanistan following the recent attack on the Afghan Parliament.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We strongly condemn Monday's attack on Afghan democracy.
The Afghan security forces responded positively to the incident and secured the Parliamentary site. They have held lead responsibility for security across Afghanistan since July 2013.
Alongside partners , the UK continues to make an important contribution to advising Afghanistan on security development through NATO's mission. The UK's focus is on institutional capacity building, including supporting the training of the next generation of Afghan Army officers.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she proposes to take to improve the efficiency of the process of returning passports to applicants within the UK.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The exceptional demand for passports this year did result in some delays in returning supporting documents, including passports, to applicants.
Steps have been taken to ensure that customers receive their documents in a timely manner, these include increasing resources within the teams that are responsible for preparing the documents for return and improvements to overseas processes.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of paying compensation for missing passports dispatched within the UK from her Department and departmental offices in 2013-14.
Answered by James Brokenshire
In 2013-14, Her Majesty's Passport Office paid £27.04 in compensation as a result of passports being sent to the incorrect address.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports that her Department has returned to applicants in the last year have gone missing; and if she will estimate the annual cost to her Department of returning passports to applicants by (a) second-class post, (b) first-class post and (c) recorded delivery.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Since Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) starting collecting this data in February 2014, 62 cases of passports wrongly delivered or packages damaged on delivery have been reported and investigated by HMPO and this has resulted in passports being cancelled. Subject to the outcome of the investigation, a new passport is issued to the passport holder. This is 0.0017% of the total passports issued for this period.
New passports are sent to customers by secure courier in the UK and overseas, any expired passports submitted with applications are returned to customers in the UK using second class post and overseas by secure courier which the customer pays for. In the 2013-14 financial year securely delivering new passports in the UK cost £17 million, overseas the cost was £6.25 million.
It is not possible to identify separately the cost of returning expired passports to customers in the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of whether it would be cost-effective and secure to allow visa applicants within the UK the option of collecting documents from a designated office instead of relying on second class post.
Answered by James Brokenshire
UKVI is continually reviewing the customer contact arrangements to deliver best value and improved customer service. We use a combination of dispatch methods to send documents to our customers; the option selected in each case is determined by a number of factors including cost, the required speed of receipt, the monetary value, the need for evidence of delivery and the size of the package.
In the UK Biometric Residence Permits are generally returned by courier and documents deemed to be lower value of sensitivity by second class post.
A project is in train to enable overseas customers to collect Biometric Residence Permits from a number of regional locations on their return to the
UK. We will be reviewing the success of this project carefully to inform future decisions on methods of returning documents to our UK customers. A
decision on establishing arrangements for customers to collect documents from UK would need to take into account many factors including the cost of providing reception facilities and the logistics of how to arrange the collections for people who are not located close to the decision making office.
Asked by: Stephen Pound (Labour - Ealing North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) attendance by RAF Northolt personnel and (b) related marketing materials at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition on 20 to 22 May 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The cost to the public purse for attendance and related marketing material was around £5,500.