Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What additional support he is providing to local authorities during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Government recognises the pressures councils face from Covid-19. We are providing councils with an unprecedented package of support, allocating £4.3 billion for spending pressures, including £3.7 billion of unringfenced grants and the £600 million Infection Control Fund.
Overall, Government has committed nearly £28 billion to support councils, their communities and businesses.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of whether (a) tear gas, (b) rubber bullets and (c) riot gear exported from the UK to Hong Kong has been used by the Hong Kong Police Force against peaceful protesters in Hong Kong.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Licensing decisions are based on the most up-to-date information and analysis available at the time and our export licensing system allows us to respond quickly to changing facts on the ground.
As the former Foreign Secretary stated during his remarks in the House of Commons on 25 June 2019, no further export licences will be granted for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong unless we are satisfied that concerns raised about human rights and fundamental freedoms have been thoroughly addressed. There are no extant licences for crowd control equipment.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department authorised the sale and export of (a) tear gas, (b) rubber bullets and (c) riot gear to Hong Kong in the last 24 months.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
My Rt Hon. Friend for South West Surrey, then Foreign Secretary, announced on 25th June 2019 that we would not issue any further export licences for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong unless we were satisfied that concerns raised about human rights and fundamental freedoms have been thoroughly addressed. Further, I can confirm that there are no extant licences for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.
HM Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) about export licences granted, refused and revoked to all destinations on GOV.UK. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This information is available at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent publication will be on 14th July 2020, for licences issued up to the end of March 2020.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for Education:
What plans the Government has to increase the level of per pupil funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Next year, our National Funding Formula is delivering an average increase in per pupil funding of 4.2%, while ensuring that pupil-led funding for every school can rise at least in line with inflation. We are levelling up the lowest funding schools to receive minimum per pupil amounts of £3,750 at primary and £5,000 at secondary.