To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential
costs and benefits to Scotland of operating a separate postal network; and if he will
make a statement.
<p>The Government’s primary objective in relation to post is to secure a sustainable
universal service for the whole of the United Kingdom.</p><p>All UK postal users and
businesses, including those in Scotland, benefit from the continuity of a single universal
postal service provided at uniform, affordable prices right across the country. The
Government has no plans to change this.</p><p> </p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what information his department holds
on the number of undergraduates studying at Scottish universities from (a) Scotland
(b) the rest of the UK and (c) other EU member states.
<p>There were 162,200 undergraduates studying in Scottish Higher Education institutions
in the 2013/14 academic year (excluding Open University students). Of these some 115,700
(or 71 per cent) were of Scottish domicile. A further 19,600 students (or 12 per cent)
came from other UK countries and 13,800 (or 9 per cent) were from other EU member
states.</p><p> </p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with Ministers
of the Scottish Government on the potential effects of the provisions of the Trade
Union Bill in Scotland.
<p>The Minister for Skills in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has
had an exchange of correspondence on the Trade Union Bill with Roseanna Cunningham,
Minister for Fair Work, Skills and Training.</p><p>On 8 October, he also had a telephone
conversation with Ms Cunningham that covered the Bill.</p><p>On 7 September, he also
met with the Scottish Trade Unions Congress to discuss the Bill.</p>
<p>The problems affecting the steel industry apply across the UK. As does the action
we have been taking to help the steel industry on electricity costs and unfair imports.</p><p>
</p><p>We will work with the Scottish Government, Scottish Development International
and the industry to ensure a sustainable future for UK steel.</p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential
effect of the recently announced steel support package on the steel industry in Scotland.
<p>On 28th April, ownership of Tata’s mills in Dalzell and Clydebridge passed to Liberty.
The package announced on 21st April is to support a sale of the remaining Tata sites.
However, the Scottish plant will benefit from our wider action to help the steel industry,
including compensating energy costs.</p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where his Department has found delays in
the processing of injured veteran's claims in the War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation
Scheme claim process.
<p>Each claim is different. Many are complex. It is inevitable that processing these
can take a considerable time, for example while evidence is gathered from third party
organisations and individuals.<br><br>In the case of the War Pension Scheme, there
are no time limits for claiming, and claims for injuries dating back to World War
Two are still being received. Assessing these claims involves locating 70 year old
paper records, both Service and medical, and often requires a person to be medically
examined so that a decision can be made based on up-to-date evidence. We attach much
importance to dealing with all such claims as quickly as possible. Improvements have
already been implemented and work is ongoing to further speed up the claims processing
times.</p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the factors
responsible for delays in processing injured Armed Forces veterans' War Pension and
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims.
<p>The combined effects of the implementation of the Boyce Review on the Armed Forces
Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the increase in the number of applications for War
Disablement Pension, as a result of more people with pre-April 2005 Service reaching
the end of their engagement, led to delays in processing prospective claims for these
schemes.</p><p> </p><p>Actions were therefore put in place which had the effect of
reducing the on-hand cases in the AFCS by half and the programme has returned to target.
In War Disablement Pension the on-hand cases have fallen by 35% and waiting times
have reduced.</p><p> </p><p>The average length of time taken to process War Pension
and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims since 2010 can be found below:</p><p>
</p><p>WAR PENSIONS SCHEME</p><p> </p><p>2010-11 - 39 working days</p><p>2011-12 -
51 working days</p><p>2012-13 - 82 working days</p><p>2013-14 - 110 working days</p><p>2014-15
(as at 21 October 2014) - 103 working days</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>ARMED FORCES COMPENSATION
SCHEME</p><p> </p><p>2010-11 - 93 working days</p><p>2011-12 - 125 working days</p><p>2012-13
- 164 working days</p><p>2013-14 - 109 working days</p><p>2014-15 (as at 21 October
2014) - 89 working days</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how often his Department makes contact
with former service personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and left the armed
forces with life-changing injuries to inquire about their welfare.
<p>The Government believes that the country owes a particular debt of gratitude to
those Service personnel who suffer life-changing injuries.<br><br>The Ministry of
Defence therefore continues to improve the support that it offers to such personnel.
In particular we now operate a Seriously Injured Leavers Protocol (SIL) which aims
to ensure the identification of and ongoing support for, those Service leavers deemed
likely to be medically discharged due to a severe physical or mental disablement.<br><br>This
identification is based upon defined major disabling medical criteria, whilst the
support is organised through the closer working of MOD in-Service and post Service
welfare groups. The MOD’s Veterans Welfare Service proactively intervenes for 24 months
and then maintains contact as required but at least yearly on the anniversary of discharge.
Full details of the SIL protocol are available at the following website: http://www.veterans-uk.info/welfare/protocol_new.html</p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on encouraging
access to credit unions for members of the armed forces and their families; and if
he will make a statement.
<p>Further to the answer I gave the hon. Member on 6 October 2014, Question UIN 208271
refers, we continue to make progress on this issue. As stated previously, we fully
endorse existing, strong credit unions expanding their membership to the Armed Forces
community.</p><p> </p><p>I met Lord Kennedy on 15 October 2014 to discuss the matter
of credit unions for members of the Armed Forces. I confirmed that the facilitation
of payroll deduction for credit unions is technically possible and our payroll provider
is engaged with officials to scope and cost such deductions. Further work is under
way to determine the criteria for access to this facility, and to develop an education
campaign for our personnel to enable them to make informed financial choices.</p><p>
</p><p> </p>
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many allegations of (a) sexual assault,
(b) exposure, (c) voyeurism, (d) sexual activity in a public lavatory, (e) rape and
(f) other forms of sexual misconduct have been recorded by the Crime Statistics and
Analysis Cell in each month since April 2014 relating to the (i) Army, (ii) Navy,
(iii) RAF and (iv) reservists; and if he will make a statement.
<p>The table shows the number of allegations of rape, sexual assault, exposure, voyeurism,
and other forms of sexual misconduct, recorded by the Service police in each month
since April 2014 up to 24 October 2014, broken down by Service.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month/Service</p></td><td><p>April 2014</p></td><td><p>May
2014</p></td><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>August 2014</p></td><td><p>September
2014</p></td><td><p>October 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="8"><p><strong>Number
Of Rape Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British Army</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Royal
Navy</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Royal
Air Force</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p><strong>Number Of Sexual Assault (By Penetration) Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Month/Service</p></td><td><p>April
2014</p></td><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>August
2014</p></td><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>October 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British
Army</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p><strong>Number Of Sexual Assault (No Penetration) Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Month/Service</p></td><td><p>April
2014</p></td><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>August
2014</p></td><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>October 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British
Army</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Royal
Navy</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Royal
Air Force</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p><strong>Number of Exposure Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British
Army</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p><strong>Number Of Voyeurism Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Month/Service</p></td><td><p>April
2014</p></td><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>August
2014</p></td><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>October 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British
Army</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Royal
Air Force</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p><strong>Number Of Other Sexual Offences Under The Sexual Offences Act
2003 Allegations</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Month/Service</p></td><td><p>April
2014</p></td><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>August
2014</p></td><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>October 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>British
Army</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:
The table only details investigations where the appropriate Service police have jurisdiction
and investigative lead.</p><p>The allegation recorded against each Service is that
of the victim.</p><p> </p><p>No such allegations have been reported to the Service
police in respect of sexual activity in public lavatory or from any of the Reserve
Forces for the period detailed in the above tables.</p><p> </p>