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 on the mandatory 20 per cent discount for the section 106 starter homes.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Ministers have had discussions with many different organisations regarding the Government’s commitment to build 200,000 Starter Homes to help young, first time buyers into home ownership. The 20 per cent discount on a starter home is a minimum discount and any increase will be negotiated locally. Legislation is currently being taken forward through the Housing and Planning Bill to bring these commitments into effect.
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 he has made to the government of Burma on the detention of Niranjan Rasalingam.
Answered by Lord Swire
The British Embassy in Rangoon has provided consular assistance to Mr Rasalingam Niranjan since 1 December 2014 when it was established that Mr Niranjan had been detained. That same month we raised the late notification of Mr Niranjan’s arrest in a Note Verbale and reminded the then Burmese government of their obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In May 2015 the Ambassador re-stated our interest in the case, raised concerns about Mr Niranjan’s health and the progress of his legal cases. A further Note Verbale was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 2016 re-stating our interest in the case and concern about its progress.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 progress his Department has made on implementing the plan for community pharmacists to access Summary Care Records; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England is now working with stakeholders to develop guidance and the arrangements for deployment so that all community pharmacists in England have access to the Summary Care Record. As this continues to be rolled out, it will enable more pharmacies to provide increased clinical services, helping to reduce the burden on other health and social care providers.
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, when the Government will inform local authorities of the increased funding that will be available for housing Syrian refugees.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The first 12 months of a refugee's resettlement costs are funded by Government using the Overseas Development Aid budget.
In November 2015 the Government announced around £129 million to assist with local authority costs over years 2-5 for those local authorities who are resettlling refugees under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. This is unringfenced funding and it will be for local authorities to decide how to use the funding to support the refugees they resettle.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of whether the funding needs of internally displaced people in non-government controlled Kachin state, Burma, are being fully met; how much funding is being provided to meet those needs by the Government; and what information she holds on how much funding is being provided to meet those needs by the Burmese government.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is one of the largest humanitarian donors in Kachin State. Between 2012 and 2015 DFID has allocated over £17 million for humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Kachin and Northern Shan States, including in non-government controlled areas. We do not have figures for how much funding for the needs of internally displaced people in Kachin state is being provided by the Burmese government. The UN appeal for humanitarian assistance across Burma is currently only 27% funded. We regularly monitor the situation in the camps, including a visit by a DFID team in June 2015 to non-government controlled areas.
Asked by: Paul Scully (Conservative - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has allocated to inter-faith projects in Burma in 2015-16.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
We are working with a range of partners to support peace and reconciliation in Burma. DFID is providing £600,000 through the Peace Support fund for four projects that directly aim to improve inter-communal relations and combat hatred at a community level through dialogue and understanding.
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, whether the Government has requested the UN Security-General to lead personally negotiations on securing unrestricted humanitarian access in Rakhine State, Burma.
Answered by Lord Swire
The United Kingdom continues to encourage a wider UN leadership role to help bring peace and reconciliation to all communities in Rakhine State. We welcome the firm personal stand the UN Secretary General has already taken on the Rohingya. During his visit to Burma in November 2014, he publicly expressed his concern about the discrimination and violence they face, and called for the human rights and dignity of all the people in Rakhine to be respected. During the recent crisis in the Andaman Sea, he called President Thein Sein on 20 May to make clear his concerns. The UN Secretary General also presided over a meeting of the International Partnership Group on Burma on 24 April.
More widely, the UK is actively keeping Rakhine and the situation of the Rohingya high on the international agenda and within the UN system. With UK support, the situation in Rakhine was discussed at a UN Security Council briefing on 28 May, and the UK was instrumental in securing strong UN Resolutions on Burma at the UN General Assembly in November and the Human Rights Council in March. The latter resolution extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights. In Burma, Professor Yanghee Lee, who has highlighted the plight of the Rohingya in her reports. The Government invited Professor Lee to the UK in March, where she discussed the situation in Rakhine with the Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns.
We will continue to engage closely with the UN system to maintain a focus on this important issue.