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31448

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many non-UK EEA nationals had dependants eligible to receive child benefit where the dependant is (a) in the UK and (b) outside the UK on 1 January 2014; and how much has been paid in such a fashion in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	181673
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2014 answer text <p>HMRC are not able to provide the information in the manner requested. HMRC do not record the nationality of the claimant receiving Child Benefit for children living in another member state.</p><p> </p><p>Published Child Benefit statistics provide annual estimates of the number of families and children claiming. The latest available (August 2012) show that there were 7.92 million families, responsible for 13.77 million children and qualifying young people receiving Child Benefit.</p><p>The main purpose of Child Benefit is to support families in the UK. Consequently, the rules generally do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children who live abroad.</p><p> </p><p>Nevertheless, Child Benefit is a family benefit under EC Regulation 883/2004. This regulation protects the social security rights of nationals of all member states of the European economic area, including the UK, and Switzerland when they exercise their rights of free movement under EU law.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC holds information on the number of Child Benefit awards under EC Regulation 883/2004. As at 31 December 2013, there were 20,400 ongoing Child Benefit awards under the EC Regulation in respect of 34.268 children living in another member state.</p><p> </p><p>This is a fall of 3,682 (15.3%) awards in respect of 5,903 (14.7%) fewer children since 31 December 2012.</p><p> </p><p>The breakdown by member state is as follows:</p><p> </p><p>*We have withheld the number where it is fewer than 5, as there is risk that the information could be attributed to an identifiable person, which would prejudice their right to privacy and would therefore be a breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Child Benefit</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Country of residence of children</p></td><td><p>Number of awards</p></td><td><p>Number of children</p></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Austria</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>37</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Belgium</p></td><td><p>75</p></td><td><p>140</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bulgaria</p></td><td><p>186</p></td><td><p>245</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Croatia</p></td><td><p>*5</p></td><td><p>*5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cyprus</p></td><td><p>39</p></td><td><p>61</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Czech Republic</p></td><td><p>124</p></td><td><p>203</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Denmark</p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Estonia</p></td><td><p>45</p></td><td><p>65</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Finland</p></td><td><p>12</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>France</p></td><td><p>789</p></td><td><p>1429</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Germany</p></td><td><p>283</p></td><td><p>495</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Greece</p></td><td><p>44</p></td><td><p>69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hungary</p></td><td><p>136</p></td><td><p>196</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Iceland</p></td><td><p>*5</p></td><td><p>*5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Italy</p></td><td><p>156</p></td><td><p>273</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Latvia</p></td><td><p>797</p></td><td><p>1091</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Liechtenstein</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lithuania</p></td><td><p>1215</p></td><td><p>1712</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Luxembourg</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Malta</p></td><td><p>15</p></td><td><p>22</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Norway</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>61</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Poland</p></td><td><p>13174</p></td><td><p>22093</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portugal</p></td><td><p>202</p></td><td><p>309</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Republic of Ireland</p></td><td><p>1231</p></td><td><p>2505</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Romania</p></td><td><p>230</p></td><td><p>392</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Slovakia</p></td><td><p>692</p></td><td><p>1232</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Slovenia</p></td><td><p>11</p></td><td><p>21</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Spain</p></td><td><p>600</p></td><td><p>1019</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sweden</p></td><td><p>49</p></td><td><p>95</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Switzerland</p></td><td><p>77</p></td><td><p>150</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>The Netherlands</p></td><td><p>142</p></td><td><p>288</p></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Totals</p></td><td><p>20400</p></td><td><p>34268</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As announced in the 2014 Budget, to prevent EEA migrants claiming benefits they are not entitled to, the Government will increase compliance checks to establish whether EEA migrants meet the entitlement conditions to receive Child Benefit</p><p> </p><p>Under domestic law, in order to claim Child Benefit EEA Migrants must be present in the UK, ordinarily resident and have a right to reside in the UK and their children must live in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The recent changes to migrants' access to benefits announced by the Government sends a strong message that the UK benefit system is not open to abuse, as well as deterring those who may seek residence in the UK primarily to claim benefits.</p><p>Strengthening compliance checks will help prevent EEA migrants from claiming, and continuing to claim, benefits they are not entitled to. Checks will be applied to both new claims and existing awards.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Loughborough answering member printed Nicky Morgan grouped question UIN 183448 184509 191453 question first answered 14/05/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4027 label Biography information for Baroness Morgan of Cotes
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

39732

	registered interest
	date	24/02/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum cases were awaiting decision for travel documents on 1 February 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	189239
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>We are unable to provide figures specific to asylum cases awaiting travel <br>documents. This information is only held within paper case files, which would <br>mean this question could only be answered through a disproportionately <br>expensive manual case search.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 28/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

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

60714

	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	Legal Profession
	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 lawyers 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	199706
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>The amounts spent by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on external lawyers in each of the last four financial years is shown in the following table. Both organisations financial reporting systems are configured to provide information based on financial rather than calendar years.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Expenditure on external lawyers</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CPS</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>SFO</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>£139,219,000</p></td><td><p>£4,523,561</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>£115,329,000</p></td><td><p>£4,822,253</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>£118,908,000</p></td><td><p>£5,956,633</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>£122,929,000</p></td><td><p>£19,077,467</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The SFO figures include the cost of external counsel, TSol and other legal fees, but do not include temporary agency staff. The SFO spend on counsel fees is published in its annual report. The increased figures for 2012-13 and 2013-14 reflect the revised treatment of VAT on some fees, repayment of some VAT which had been incorrectly recovered in earlier years, and costs relating to some very large cases and other litigation.</p><p>The SFO's requirement for additional expenditure in 2013-14 has already been set out to the House in documentation published around its Spring Supplementary Estimate, which has been scrutinised by the Justice Select Committee. The nature of the SFO's work means that it can occasionally incur significant additional legal expenses for its very largest and mostcomplex investigations and prosecutions, such as that into Libor.</p><p>The CPS figures are drawn from the CPS's core financial accounting system and they are consistent with the CPS's audited accounts. The great majority of fees for legal work paid by the CPS relates to the services of self-employed barristers and solicitors for crown court casework. The CPS also engages barristers and solicitors to undertake advocacy as agents in magistrates' courts sessions and, occasionally, to provide legal advice on discrete areas of specialist policy.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Hertfordshire answering member printed Oliver Heald question first answered 16/06/2014 16:44:30 answering member 69 label Biography information for Sir Oliver Heald
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

60715

	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	Treasury Solicitor's Department
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, how many lawyers were employed in the Treasury Solicitor's Department in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	199707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>The figures below give the number of lawyers employed in the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol), as at 31<sup>st</sup> March each year and to date for 2014.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Full Time Equivalent</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> 31st May 2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>910</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> 31st March 2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>572</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> 31st March 2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>565</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> 31st March 2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>464</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> 31st March 2010</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>451</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The figures given are for permanent staff.</p><p>Since 2010 TSol has been engaged on a process of transferring lawyers from other departments to TSol as part of the the Shared Legal Services Programme. Sharing legal services brings considerable benefits including greater flexibility and resiliance, more efficient deployment of legal resources, more opportunities for savings and improved knowledge sharing, which in turn supports consistency of legal advice across Government.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Hertfordshire answering member printed Oliver Heald question first answered 16/06/2014 16:29:21 answering member 69 label Biography information for Sir Oliver Heald
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

64891

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2014
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Civil Servants: Equal Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure gender equality in civil service salaries.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	904642
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>The median gender pay gap for full-time civil servants has narrowed since 2010 but we must continue to press to narrow the gap further, including by reminding departments of their clear legal obligations on equal pay and conducting equal pay audits. Salaries for new appointments must be justified on the basis of the skills and experience necessary to do the job. For staff below the Senior Civil Service (SCS), this is for individual departments to manage. For the centrally-managed SCS, pay proposals have regard to the impact on women.</p><p>More widely, the Government is concerned that a long-standing majority of women in the overall civil service, does not translate into a similar proportion in the SCS. I have commissioned work to address this issue.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Horsham answering member printed Mr Francis Maude question first answered 03/07/2014 14:46:07 answering member 115 label Biography information for Lord Maude of Horsham
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

49011

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the emails sent by his Department to schools on 3 April 2014 setting out guidance on keeping children safe have not been opened by the recipient to date.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	197110
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/05/2014 answer text <p>On 3 April the Department for Education published updated statutory guidance on safeguarding, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education'. On the same day, we emailed all headteachers a letter from the Secretary of State drawing their attention to the guidance. We will be publishing this on the website in due course.</p><p>The letter was emailed to 31,660 addressees in 25,035 schools. As of 30 April, 13,285 (43.1%) recipients had opened the email, and 9,402 (30.5%) recipients had clicked through to the guidance on safeguarding.</p><p>Other records show that the guidance has been seen by a greater number of people. Between 3 and 29 April the web page hosting the guidance received 65,729 page views. The Department also published 5 tweets in support of the publication. These achieved a total reach of 639,315, and the embedded links were clicked 755 times.</p><p>The guidance will also be highlighted in the summer term 2014 schools' email and Need to Know timelines that will be sent to all schools in May. Schools can also access relevant information through social media, and messages from the Education Funding Agency and the National College for Teaching and Leadership. The Department also sends regular emails to all local authorities.</p><p>Officials have also promoted the guidance through various stakeholder groups that work with the Department, including the Headteacher Reference Groups and the Education Forum; members of the latter include chairs of local safeguarding children boards. And they have written to head and teacher unions who met Ministers in January to discuss female genital mutilation and broader safeguarding issues.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 06/05/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

61709

	registered interest
	date	12/06/2014
	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	Yemen: Armed Conflict
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings he has had with world leaders to discuss the situation in Yemen since 1 January 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	200356
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2014 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), as well as other FCO Ministers, have regular discussions on Yemen with their counterparts, particularly with those from the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Friends of Yemen Ministerial Group, which the UK hosted in London most recently on 29 April.</p> answering member constituency Faversham and Mid Kent answering member printed Hugh Robertson question first answered 18/06/2014 11:46:56 answering member 1415 label Biography information for Sir Hugh Robertson
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

58056

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2014
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Health: Business
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which companies that have been asked to report on progress relating to the Responsibility Deal have not yet done so.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	199066
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2014 answer text <p>Reports from Responsibility Deal (RD) partners are published on the RD website as they are submitted and processed, which takes place throughout the year. Full details of the 675 partners signed up to the RD, the pledges they have signed up to and their annual updates are available on the RD website at:</p><p> </p><p>https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/partners/</p><p> </p><p>As at 5 June 2014, more than 70% of expected reports had been submitted for the 2013-14 reporting cycle.</p><p> </p><p>Partners new to the RD (signed up after 1 October 2013) and those signed up to new pledges launched during 2013, were not expected to provide an annual update. Other partners signed up to one or more of the majority of collective pledges were asked to provide an annual update.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The RD reporting cycle does not always map with organisations' cycles (for example clearance at board level) and end of fiscal year is a busy period for most partners. Some updates will also be in a ‘draft' status where they are partly completed by partners and not yet submitted. This means there can be delays, and we expect further submissions over the next few months. Partners can also update their submissions in-year, reporting on further progress made.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison question first answered 09/06/2014 15:39:12 answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz

48299

	registered interest
	date	10/04/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home 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 have arrived in the UK under the Syrian refugee programme.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester East
	tabling member printed	Keith Vaz
	uin	196250
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>To date 24 Syrians have arrived in the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons <br>Relocation scheme, with the first group arriving at the end of March and a <br>further group in April. We will not be releasing any further details; such as <br>where they are travelling from, their specific vulnerabilities, or where they <br>will be placed.<br><br>The scheme is based on need, rather than being designed to meet a quota. <br>However, we will continue to bring groups here on a regular basis, and envisage <br>that several hundred people will be helped over the next three years.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 13/05/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
	tabling member	338 label Biography information for Keith Vaz