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756316

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	EU Nationals: Republic of Ireland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what status citizens of the Republic of Ireland will have in the UK after the UK leaves the EU; and whether she plans to review the Ireland Act 1949.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	7832
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2017 answer text <p>The close historic, social and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland have led to the creation of additional rights above those associated with common membership of the EU. Leaders in the UK and Ireland have confirmed their commitment to protecting these rights enjoyed by UK and Irish nationals when in the other State.</p><p>As outlined in the UK Government policy paper released on 26 June, relating to the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, we want to protect the rights enjoyed by UK and Irish nationals when in the other State. Irish citizens residing in the UK will not be required to apply for settled status to protect their entitlements.</p><p>While the special status afforded to Irish citizens within the UK is rooted in the Ireland Act 1949 it has been provided for by subsequent primary and secondary legislation, including the Immigration Act 1971, and UK-Ireland bilateral agreements which are distinct from EEA Treaty rights.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 11/09/2017 16:51:57 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832900

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Drugs: Internet
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to prevent the sale of illegal drugs online.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125216
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2018 answer text <p>We want the UK to be the safest place in the world to be online. Anything that is illegal offline should be illegal online.</p><p>The Government and law enforcement agencies take the unlawful advertising and sales of drugs on the internet very seriously. Tough enforcement is a fundamental part of the Government’s drug strategy and we are taking coordinated action to tackle illegal drugs alongside other criminal activity.</p><p>Law enforcement agencies continue to work with internet providers to shut down UK-based websites found to be committing offences, building on work already underway to tackle the sale and supply of illegal drugs in the UK and overseas and tackle associated organised crime.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 05/02/2018 16:15:16 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832902

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Offensive Weapons: Internet
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to prevent the illegal sale of knives and other offensive weapons online.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125218
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2018 answer text <p>The Government continues to work with the police and partners, including retailers to ensure we have strong controls in place to prevent sales of knives to under 18s. In March 2016 we agreed a set of commitments with major retailers including Amazon UK and Ebay UK to prevent the underage sales of knives more generally in their stores and online. The commitments include a requirement to have robust measures in place to ensure age verification for sales, in-store and online.</p><p>In addition, on 14 October 2017, the Government launched a consultation on new laws on offensive weapons which included proposals to restrict the online sales of knives to further prevent sales to under 18s. The consultation was closed on 9 December and we are now considering the responses.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 05/02/2018 16:22:42 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832910

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Civil Servants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of UK Home Civil Servants there will be in December 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125226
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2018 answer text <p>The Home Office constantly reviews its workforce capacity and capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda and meet operational demands. We continue to assess how our priorities will impact on the workforce and capabilities required beyond the 2017/18 financial year.</p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 05/02/2018 16:12:35 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

780661

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Scotland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the economic effect on Scotland of the increase in statutory minimum employee pension contributions in 2018 and 2019; and what estimate he has made of the number of people in Scotland who will be affected by those changes.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	110359
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2017 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment was designed to increase the number of people saving for their retirement, and has been a great success to date. By the end of September 2017, over 8.7 million people had been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension – this included 523,000 people in Scotland</p><p> </p><p>We do want to encourage people to save more than the minimum, but we need to balance this with the fact that many people are not saving anything and contributing to a pension will be new to them. We also recognise that employers needed time to adjust so as to implement the reforms, and to help manage their costs. As such, our focus is on increasing the number of people saving and increasing contributions gradually over the next two years. For an individual, these are currently at 1 per cent, rising to 3 per cent in April 2018 and 5 per cent in April 2019</p><p> </p><p>We are currently undertaking a review of the policy and operation of automatic enrolment. This includes looking at the existing coverage of the policy; strengthening the evidence base concerning future contributions and how to improve individuals’ engagement with workplace pension saving so as to maximise saving for their retirement. The review work is led by a DWP team and supported by an external advisory group. We will report to Parliament by the end of 2017.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 02/11/2017 12:23:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832903

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment: Aberdeen South
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people had personal independence payment decisions overturned because of (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) an appeal hearing in Aberdeen South constituency in each year since April 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125219
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2018 answer text <p>The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions and the number and proportion of mandatory reconsideration decisions and appeal decisions where the award was changed, by financial year of the initial PIP decision since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituency of Aberdeen South.</p><p><em>Number of PIP decisions, and number and proportion of mandatory reconsiderations decisions and appeal decisions where the award changed, by financial year of initial PIP decision.</em></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year of initial PIP decision</p></td><td><p>Number of PIP decisions</p></td><td><p>Number of awards changed at MR</p></td><td><p>Proportion of PIP decisions changed at MR</p></td><td><p>Number of awards changed at appeal</p></td><td><p>Proportion of PIP decisions where award changed at appeal</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>100</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/ 15</p></td><td><p>560</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>1%</p></td><td><p>#</p></td><td><p>#</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/ 16</p></td><td><p>680</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>2%</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/ 17</p></td><td><p>1,030</p></td><td><p>50</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td><td><p>40</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18 (April 17 to Oct 17)</p></td><td><p>580</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>2,950</p></td><td><p>110</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>90</p></td><td><p>3%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Data has been rounded to the nearest 10 and nearest percent.</p><p>‘#’ means fewer than 5 in this category.</p><p>There will be some degree of retrospection in these figures over time due to changes in individual case outcomes, particularly with appeals. It is expected that there will be lower numbers of completed appeals in recent months due to the time lag in appeal completion.</p><p>Latest available data to October 2017</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 05/02/2018 14:01:27 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

749570

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Energy: Exports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to encourage businesses in the energy sector to take advantage of new export opportunities and international trade.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	3576
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Department for International Trade (DIT) promotes trade and investment across the world and champions global free trade.</p><p>This department's support is targeted where government can add most value. We prioritise our global export promotion activity by identifying the sector-market combinations that present the greatest opportunities to achieve the maximum impact and success. The Department currently has 23 High Value Campaigns across the energy sector including oil &amp; gas, civil nuclear and renewables.</p><p>UK Export Finance (UKEF) actively works with project sponsors to bring business to the UK. In the past 5 years, UKEF has provided over £2bn in support of energy exports.</p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 11/07/2017 13:55:05 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

773983

	registered interest
	date	19/10/2017
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Nigeria: Ethnic Groups
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has received on the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum's threat to the Igbo population of Nigeria.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	108752
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2017 answer text <p>​My department has received several letters from MP's and members of the public about threats made against the Igbo people in Nigeria.</p><p>The Governors of the Northern States of Nigeria condemned these threats, as did Vice President Osinbajo, then Acting President, who also called for unity.</p><p>We echo President Buhari's recent call for calm and reconciliation between the many ethnic groups and communities that make up and contribute to the strength and diversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The British Government is concerned by violence in Nigeria but we do not assess that there is institutionalised persecution of the Igbo or any other peoples by the Nigerian authorities. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with Nigerian Government to help tackle threats to security and to address the underlying causes of instability.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 25/10/2017 16:38:02 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

823074

	registered interest
	date	15/01/2018
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Israel: Palestinians
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Palestinian Authority on accepting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's invitation to return to direct peace negotiations without preconditions.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	122757
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2018 answer text <p>The UK is committed to making progress towards a two-state solution. We regularly press both the Israelis and Palestinians to engage in direct negotiations that will lead to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. The Foreign Secretary and I reiterated our support for a negotiated two-state solution when we met Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki in London on 8 January.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 23/01/2018 17:56:23 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson

832906

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Seas and Oceans: Environment Protection
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to raise awareness of the Blue Belt programme during the International Year of the Reef.
	tabling member constituency	Aberdeen South
	tabling member printed	Ross Thomson
	uin	125222
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2018 answer text <p>The Blue Belt Programme supports the delivery of the UK Government’s manifesto commitment to provide long-term protection to the waters around the UK and its Overseas Territories. We are currently on course to deliver over four million square kilometres of marine protection by 2020.</p><p> </p><p>As the waters around the UK Overseas Territories hold substantial tropical reefs, the UK Government has re-engaged with the International Coral Reef Initiative as a founding member. This re-engagement has been welcomed by all parties. In addition, the UK Government has highlighted the importance of coral reefs in its 25 Year Environmental Plan where its ambition is to champion and support coral reef conservation and biodiversity in the UK and its Overseas Territories.</p><p> </p><p>This year is the Third International Year of the Reef. We are seeking ways to promote the importance of coral reef conservation, together with the Blue Belt programme, through the course of the year as well as during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/02/2018 14:20:12 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4599 label Biography information for Ross Thomson