Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33754, on World War 1, what constitutes the extensive efforts referred to which are made to try and identify any recovered remains.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Efforts to try and identify recovered remains, first concentrate on forensic analysis and examination of personal and regimental artefacts found alongside them. If the Regiment is identified, war diaries are reviewed. In addition, liaisons with archivists, historians and individual Service records are examined to aid investigations. If a small group of fallen soldiers with no known graves are identified for comparison, DNA testing may then take place, if required.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his Department's policy that DNA samples should be taken when the remains of British soldiers who died in World War One are recovered.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
When remains thought to be of a British Serviceman are located, DNA samples may be taken if there is a realistic chance of a positive match to living descendants.
With over 300,000 British and Commonwealth personnel who died in World War One still having no known grave, the chances of one individual being linked to recovered remains alone are extremely remote.
Whilst extensive efforts are made to positively identify any recovered remains, these must first concentrate on forensic analysis of the remains, artefacts and clothing recovered, along with examination of documentary records such as Regimental War Diaries. Only once this work has identified a relatively small group cohort of likely names would DNA testing prove practical.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy on the level of poverty among farmers in Africa.
Answered by George Eustice
In the past, the CAP ‘dumped’ EU surpluses on global markets through export subsidies. These export subsidies lowered prices for producers in the rest of the world and represented unfair competition with farmers, particularly in developing countries.
However, over time the CAP has reformed and negative impacts on producers in the rest of the world have been reduced. In the 1980s, export subsidies accounted for around one-third of the CAP budget, but during the last CAP period they represented only around one per cent of the CAP budget. Furthermore, the EU, along with other developed countries, recently committed to eliminating all export subsidies by 2020 as part of the February World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement in Nairobi.
The EU also grants tariff-free access to its market to Least Developed Countries through the ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) agreement. Many of the countries covered by this agreement are in Africa.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress the European Council has made on the commitment in its conclusions of 27 June 2014 to consider the process for the appointment of the President of the European Commission for the future; and what assessment he has made of the role of Spitzenkandidaten in deciding the president of the Commission; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
The European Council has not yet held substantive discussions on this point of the conclusions of 27 June 2014. The Treaties clearly set out the roles the European Council and the European Parliament respectively play in the process of selecting the president of the European Commission. The Government’s view remains that, in accordance with the Treaties, only the European Council has the prerogative to propose the president of the European Commission.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the statement of the Minister for Europe of 9 March 2016 that after 10 years only about 2.2 per cent of the refugees who arrived in Germany have been granted German citizenship, what source that figure is based on; how that figure was calculated; and what information his Department holds on comparative figures for other EU countries.
Answered by David Lidington
The figure of 2.2 per cent is the percentage of foreign nationals resident for at least ten years in Germany who have become naturalised German citizens. It is known as the “Exhausted Naturalisation Potential” and is calculated by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
The source is the 2014 Migration Report, published in January this year which can be found on the BAMF website:
http://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Publikationen/Migrationsberichte/migrationsbericht-2014.html
Comparative figures for other EU states are not held centrally by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) Government's net contribution to EU institutions and (b) UK's current account balance with those institutions in 2014; and what estimate the European Commission has made of that contribution and that account balance.
Answered by David Gauke
Both Government and European Commission outturn figures for the UK’s net contribution to the EU Budget in 2014 can be found in European Union Finances 2015 (Cm 9167), Tables 3A and 3C respectively. Since outturn figures are available there is no estimate. The difference between the two figuresis primarily due to the fact that Government figures include only receipts administered by UK Government Departments. The European Commission figures include both these receipts and also those which are paid directly to UK private sector beneficiaries such as universities and small and medium sized enterprises.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been housed in each of the 10 authorities within the Greater Manchester area in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Figures on asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95 support (dispersed accommodation or subsistence only) by local authority, are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release, in table as_16q in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables. The table below gives the number of asylum seekers housed in dispersed accommodation in each Greater Manchester local authority, as at the end of each year from 2010 to 2015.
Asylum seekers housed in dispersed accommodation under Section 95, in the Greater Manchester local authorities, as at end of year | |||||||||||
Year | Bolton | Bury | Manchester | Oldham | Rochdale | Salford | Stockport | Tameside | Trafford | Wigan | Total Greater Manchester |
2010 | 518 | 322 | 853 | 458 | 366 | 690 | 124 | 143 | 56 | 281 | 3,811 |
2011 | 619 | 339 | 725 | 521 | 390 | 690 | 133 | 169 | 55 | 245 | 3,886 |
2012 | 635 | 244 | 596 | 424 | 320 | 513 | 68 | 177 | 68 | 263 | 3,308 |
2013 | 693 | 269 | 618 | 442 | 450 | 522 | 88 | 171 | 89 | 337 | 3,679 |
2014 | 833 | 358 | 763 | 588 | 855 | 546 | 100 | 217 | 66 | 522 | 4,848 |
2015 | 1023 | 455 | 954 | 645 | 1020 | 696 | 107 | 306 | 109 | 717 | 6,032 |
Notes | |||||||||||
(1) The data include dependants in receipt of support, but exclude unaccompanied asylum seeking children supported by local authorities | |||||||||||
(2) The data exclude those supported in initial accommodation | |||||||||||
(3) Caution should be taken when comparing data for 2012 and earlier with figures from 2013 onwards, due to a change in processing method | |||||||||||
A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is available from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission an independent assessment of the cumulative effect of all tobacco control measures on small businesses introduced since 1 January 2006.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of each tobacco control measure introduced in the last decade on small businesses; and whether those effects were in line with the assessment as set out in the original impact assessment.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to commission an independent assessment of the effect of any new tobacco control measures on small businesses prior to their introduction.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.