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64615

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Standards
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Elizabeth Truss MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, that "our 15 year-olds are up to three years behind their peers in the top-performing countries in reading and mathematics", what action they propose to address this.
	tabling member printed	Lord Quirk
	uin	HL698
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education believes that improving the quality of teaching in literacy and numeracy is crucial to building the foundation for future study and work. The Government has revised the national curriculum and set more rigorous and challenging content in English and mathematics to match the highest performing countries around the world. The new programmes of study for English and maths will challenge pupils to realise their potential in an increasingly competitive global market.</p><p> </p><p>The new maths GCSE will have more content, be more challenging and – alongside English - will be double weighted in school performance tables. The Department has recently allocated £11 million to fund <del class="ministerial">over</del> 32 new maths hubs to support a more challenging maths GCSE to improve the quality of maths education. This initiative, which includes a teacher exchange programme with Shanghai, will enable every school and college in England, from early years to the post-16 sector, to access locally-tailored support in all areas of maths teaching and learning.</p><p> </p><p>The new national curriculum for English places a greater emphasis on reading and requires pupils to study a range of books, poems and plays.</p><p>The national curriculum for English will give teachers greater flexibility and freedom which will help to raise standards and expectations for all pupils. It has been significantly slimmed down and will free up teachers to use their professional judgement to design curricula that meet the needs of their pupils.</p><p> </p><p>The new English language GCSE will place greater demands on pupils and has more emphasis on those skills demanded by employers. The new English literature GCSE will build on this foundation, and encourage students to read, write and think critically.</p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 08/07/2014 15:42:37 question first ministerially corrected 09/07/2014 15:07:12 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash previous answer version 8669 answering member printed Lord Nash answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
	tabling member	3254 label Biography information for Lord Quirk

61397

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for (a) new passports and (b) passport renewals there have been in the last year; and what the annual change in such figures has been.
	tabling member constituency	Dudley North
	tabling member printed	Ian Austin
	uin	200217
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>During the period between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014, Her Majesty's Passport Office <br />received <del class="ministerial">1,446,983</del> <ins class="ministerial">1,425,885</ins> first time passport applications and <del class="ministerial">4,528,751</del> <ins class="ministerial">4,461,343</ins> passport <br />renewal applications.<br /><br />This compares with 1,346,246 first time applications and 4,036,267 passport <br />renewal applications during the period between 1 June 2012 and 31 May 2013.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 14:03:02 question first ministerially corrected 02/09/2014 14:35:59 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 8681 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	1511 label Biography information for Lord Austin of Dudley

60713

	registered interest
	date	09/06/2014
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Consultants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse was of external consultants employed by (a) the Serious Fraud Office and (b) the Crown Prosecution Service in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	199705
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p>The following table contains details on the expenditure on external consultants by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during the past four complete financial years. Both organisations financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td colspan="2"><p>External Consultants Expenditure</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>CPS</p></td><td><p>SFO</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>£684,314</p></td><td><p>£1,557,887</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>£13,347</p></td><td><p>£856,182</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>£9,793</p></td><td><p>£31,142*</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>£960</p></td><td><p>£48,228 (subject to audit)</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>* The expenditure listed for 2012-13 was actually incurred in 2011-12 but not paid until the following year.</p> answering member constituency North East Hertfordshire answering member printed Oliver Heald question first answered 08/07/2014 14:32:13 answering member 69 label Biography information for Sir Oliver Heald
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

61357

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the recently employed additional staff in passport offices are estimated to cost.
	tabling member constituency	Caerphilly
	tabling member printed	Wayne David
	uin	200287
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Her Majesty's Passport Office have been training and redeploying staff from <br>other duties within the Agency, from other parts of the wider Home Office, and <br>in the case of one individual another Government department, to meet the <br>exceptional levels of passport demand. There will be some additional costs <br>relating to staff where they will be temporarily working away from their normal <br>workplace and where overtime is worked by staff from other parts of the <br>Department. At this time it is not possible to put a reliable estimate on <br>these additional costs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 14:11:37 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 1295 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	1398 label Biography information for Wayne David

61396

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints her Department has received regarding delays to the issuing of a passport in each of the last four years.
	tabling member constituency	Dudley North
	tabling member printed	Ian Austin
	uin	200216
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The table below shows the number of complaints related to delays in receiving a <br>passport.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Number of complaints relating to delays</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p>1253</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p>1341</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p>1513</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p>1437</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 14:14:16 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	1511 label Biography information for Lord Austin of Dudley

61471

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) new passport applications and (b) passport renewal applications have been received by HM Passport Office since the beginning of the current financial year; and what proportion of such applications were completed and dispatched within (i) three and (ii) four weeks.
	tabling member constituency	Hackney South and Shoreditch
	tabling member printed	Meg Hillier
	uin	200199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>During April and May 2014, Her Majesty's Passport Office received:<br><br>(a) 319,639 new passport applications.<br>(b) 1,044,840 passport renewal applications.<br><br>Her Majesty's Passport Office does not hold passport application processing <br>data in the format requested, although we can advise that 96.1% of straightforward <br>applications were processed within 3 weeks and 96.9% of non straightforward <br>passport applications were processed within the 6-week target.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 14:12:53 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 1309 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	1524 label Biography information for Dame Meg Hillier

61622

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Defence
	answering dept id	11
	answering dept short name	Defence
	answering dept sort name	Defence
	hansard heading	Afghanistan
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK aircraft have flown outside Afghan airspace in support of NATO International Security Assistance Force missions in Afghanistan.
	tabling member constituency	West Bromwich East
	tabling member printed	Mr Tom Watson
	uin	200555
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>To support the UK's contribution to the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan UK military aircraft regularly transit to and from Afghanistan through non Afghan airspace .There has not been any employment of armed UK aircraft outside of the borders of Afghanistan in support of ISAF.</p> answering member constituency Rayleigh and Wickford answering member printed Mr Mark Francois question first answered 08/07/2014 15:45:54 answering member 1444 label Biography information for Mr Mark Francois previous answer version 4721 answering member constituency Rayleigh and Wickford answering member printed Mr Mark Francois answering member 1444 label Biography information for Mr Mark Francois
	tabling member	1463 label Biography information for Lord Watson of Wyre Forest

61776

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	HM Passport Office
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were employed by HM Passport Office on 1 January (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	200368
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar <br>month.<br><br>The data as of 31 December in each year were as follows.<br><br>31 December 2010: 3,700 full-time equivalents<br>31 December 2011: 3,286 full-time equivalents<br>31 December 2012: 3,164 full-time equivalents<br>31 December 2013: 3,333 full-time equivalents<br><br><br>These figures are for permanent civil servants employed by HMPO, including part <br>year appointments and permanent members of staff employed on contracts for nine <br>months of the year. This excludes staff on secondment or loan, and agency and <br>temporary staff - with these staff included, the March 2014 figure is 3,444.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 15:48:05 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire previous answer version 1833 answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

62094

	registered interest
	date	16/06/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Passports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of (a) adult and (b) child passport renewal applications were processed within the three-week service standard in each of the last six months.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
	tabling member printed	Mr Bob Ainsworth
	uin	200841
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>he table below shows the number of straightforward passport applications <br>received within the UK which were processed within 3 weeks.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of straightforward applications processed within 3 weeks</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec 13</p></td><td><p>99.99%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan 14</p></td><td><p>99.99%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb 14</p></td><td><p>99.98%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar 14</p></td><td><p>99.95%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr 14</p></td><td><p>99.59%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 14</p></td><td><p>92.26%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><br>Her Majesty's Passport Office does not hold a further breakdown of this information by <br>application type. The cost of bringing that information together would be <br>disproportionate and so it is not possible to provide the information you have <br>requested.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 08/07/2014 14:10:55 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	306 label Biography information for Mr Bob Ainsworth

62131

	registered interest
	date	16/06/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Employment Tribunals Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for employment tribunal fee remission were (a) received, (b) granted and (c) refused between 1 January and 31 March 2014; and how many such refusals were successfully appealed.
	tabling member constituency	Hammersmith
	tabling member printed	Mr Andy Slaughter
	uin	200818
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2014 answer text <p>The Employment tribunal remissions data currently available does not permit this information to be readily obtained and assured.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 08/07/2014 09:21:21 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
	tabling member	1516 label Biography information for Andy Slaughter