I refer to my previous answer to the honourable member dated 11 September that the Department has had Board level discussions with Transport Scotland about improving the remainder of the A1 from Newcastle to Scotland, and will continue to look at the case for completing the dualling of the route, taking into account Scotland\u2019s revised Transport Strategy upon its publication. Improvements to the A1 in Scotland are the responsibility of the devolved administration, but Highways England will consider the effects that improvements in Scotland may have on the A1 in England.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3991", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jesse Norman"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hereford and South Herefordshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Jesse Norman"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-09-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-09-18T08:31:36.277Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "27"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-09-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "A1: Scotland"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on road improvements to the A1 in Scotland and the effect on that part of the road of improvements to the A1 from Newcastle to the Scottish border.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4608", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for John Lamont"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "John Lamont"} ], "uin" : "9895"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/418215", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/418215/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Our Embassy in Damascus closed in 2012 and except for specific consular cases the UK does not have routine official contact with the Syrian government. However, the UK has consistently called in public for the release of human rights defenders detained by the Assad regime.<\/p>
On 10 August the UK Special Representative for Syria, Gareth Bayley, welcomed the release of Mazen Darwish from prison. However, security forces arbitrarily arrest or continue to detain thousands which include peaceful activists, human rights defenders, media and humanitarian workers, women and children, subjecting some to enforced disappearance and others to prolonged detention or unfair trials. In addition the security forces systematically torture and mistreat detainees with impunity; thousands of detainees reportedly die due to torture or harsh conditions.<\/p>
The UK, along with international partners, remains committed to ensuring the perpetrators are held to account. We are working with a range of non-governmental organisation\u2019s to ensure that evidence of torture and mistreatment is effectively collected to accurately record crimes that are being committed so that perpetrators can be prosecuted in the future.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bournemouth East"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Tobias Ellwood"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-09-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-09-18T09:44:07.363Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "16"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Foreign and Commonwealth Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-09-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Mazen Darwish"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations the Government has made to the government of Syria on the detention of Mazen Darwish by the Syrian air force intelligence unit.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/545", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Paul Flynn"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Newport West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Paul Flynn"} ], "uin" : "9895"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }