Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the safety of the residents of Aleppo who were evacuated from that city on 15 December 2016.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The UK was active in the UN Security Council in the adoption of a Resolution on 19 December on humanitarian protection. Our top priority in Syria is the protection of civilians, especially in Aleppo, given the relentless siege there. On 15 December the Foreign Secretary summoned the Russian and Iranian ambassadors to make clear our profound concern about events in Aleppo and to urge them to allow full UN access to ensure civilian protection.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the letter dated 23 September 2016 from the hon. Member for Gordon on toilet facilities in Ebury House, Aberdeen.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
A reply was sent to the Rt Hon member by the Department’s Work Services Director for Scotland, Denise Horsfall, on behalf of the Secretary of State on 16 November 2016.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to protect children in Yemen.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are very concerned by the impact the current conflict is having on children in Yemen. The UK is the fourth largest humanitarian donor to the Yemen crisis having pledged a total of £100m this year. This is helping to supply Yemenis with food, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter. An enduring cessation of hostilities and peace talks remain a top priority in order to bring stability to Yemen and alleviate the suffering.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to speed up family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.
We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.
We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe. We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the safety of refugees coming to the UK.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Home Office works closely with local authorities to support resettled refugees as they arrive in their areas. Local authorities have a duty to protect individuals in their care – this includes resettled Syrians.
The Care Act 2014 put adult safeguarding on a legal footing and established that each local authority must set up Adult Safeguarding Boards with multi-agency membership including local partners and the Police. Local agencies, including the police and health services, also have a duty under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure that they consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions.
In addition, upon arrival, the local authority assign a caseworker to every resettled family/individual, who maintains close contact with the family for the first 12 months to support their well being and integration. The small number of unaccompanied minors being resettled will be placed into local authority care where their safety needs, along with other needs, will be met via the resettling authority’s children’s social care service.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle food insecurity in Southern Africa.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Southern Africa’s unprecedented El Nino-related drought has triggered a second year of hunger and hardship. More than 31 million people are estimated to be food-insecure across the region. DFID was one of the first donors to respond to the crisis and has already increased the levels of our humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia. We have also allocated additional funding to support the regional response. As well as responding to the immediate humanitarian needs, we will have increased our efforts to ensure our programme portfolios continue to build resilience and preparedness.
DFID is using its influence within the international community to encourage the scaling up of support and to strengthen coordination regionally and at country level. We are also using our influence with partner governments to advocate for the logistical measures to improve the transport of supplies into and within the region.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the safety of the reactors in the SSBN fleet.
Answered by Michael Fallon
Safety is paramount and continuously assessed at every stage of a submarine reactor’s life, from design and build, through to operation and disposal. It is independently regulated in accordance with legislative requirements and by the Ministry of Defence’s independent nuclear regulator.