Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

100100

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Innovation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the EU Precautionary Principle on the scale of scientific innovation in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	211393
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department has made no systematic assessment of the effect of the precautionary principle on scientific innovation in the UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tunbridge Wells answering member printed Greg Clark question first answered 30/10/2014 16:14:04 answering member 1578 label Biography information for Greg Clark
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

100112

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Department for Communities and Local Government: Written Questions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to answer Question 207630, tabled on 1 September 2014 by the right hon. Member for Leeds Central.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	211289
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>Questions 207630 and 207599 were answered on 30 October.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis grouped question UIN 211290 question first answered 11/11/2014 16:22:39 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 24183 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

100126

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Gibraltar
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the UK's ability to respond militarily to threats to Gibraltar.
tabling member constituency	Romford
tabling member printed	Andrew Rosindell
uin	211376
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government takes its responsibility for protecting Gibraltar against any threat very seriously. A range of military, police and diplomatic responses are available. We continually monitor the situation and adjust our force posture and resources as appropriate. I am confident that current capabilities are commensurate with any potential threat.</p> answering member constituency Rayleigh and Wickford answering member printed Mr Mark Francois question first answered 04/11/2014 17:30:47 answering member 1444 label Biography information for Mr Mark Francois previous answer version 24941 answering member constituency Rayleigh and Wickford answering member printed Mr Mark Francois answering member 1444 label Biography information for Mr Mark Francois
tabling member	1447 label Biography information for Andrew Rosindell

100136

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Compensation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Veterans UK policy is on prioritising the compensation claims of armed forces veterans with more serious illnesses or injuries.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Mr Mark Williams
uin	211313
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>The Ministry of Defence (MOD) attaches importance to ensuring that claims for compensation which are particularly deserving are treated as a priority. Veterans UK administers the War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Schemes. Within both Schemes, compensation claims from, or in relation to, Armed Forces veterans are treated as a priority where they are identified by the caseworker as 'seriously injured or vulnerable Service leavers' (as decided through the single Service welfare cells), or are diagnosed terminally ill, or have died in Service or have claimed a number of serious medical conditions in their application.</p><p>These claims are subject to an accelerated process, marked as 'Priority' and treated as such at all stages of the administrative process. They are settled at the earliest opportunity once a decision has been taken.</p><p>In Armed Forces Compensation cases Veterans UK's objective is to make a decision and clear the case within 20 working days of the last piece of evidence being received. This aim has been achieved for at least the last four years.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 10/11/2014 17:36:01 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry previous answer version 24939 answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1498 label Biography information for Mr Mark Williams

100137

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Compensation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what change there has been in the time taken to process War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme claims since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Mr Mark Williams
uin	211315
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <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> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry grouped question UIN 211437 question first answered 04/11/2014 17:30:14 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry previous answer version 24940 answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1498 label Biography information for Mr Mark Williams

100138

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Gibraltar
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what UK (a) military and (b) civilian assets are stationed in Gibraltar; and what their duties are.
tabling member constituency	Mid Sussex
tabling member printed	Sir Nicholas Soames
uin	211278
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" rowspan="5"> </td><td colspan="6" rowspan="5"><p>As at 28 October 2014 there were around 155 UK military personnel serving in Gibraltar in Headquarters British Forces Gibraltar, the Royal Naval Gibraltar Squadron, and Windmill Hill Signal Station providing a range of enabling functions. A further 705 Ministry of Defence UK-based and locally employed civilian personnel provide support services to Defence operations, including 95 serving in the Gibraltar Defence Police. Additionally, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment comprises 226 full-time and 166 reserve personnel. The role of these assets collectively is to provide for the security and territorial integrity of Gibraltar and British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, and to enable the maintenance of Gibraltar as a forward mounting base for UK military operations. In addition, personnel from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment deploy on UK military operations.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Rayleigh and Wickford answering member printed Mr Mark Francois question first answered 04/11/2014 17:29:29 answering member 1444 label Biography information for Mr Mark Francois
tabling member	116 label Biography information for Lord Soames of Fletching

100163

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
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	Pay
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff employed by contractors working in her Department's central offices are paid below the London Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and what estimate she has made of the cost of ensuring that all such staff receive that wage.
tabling member constituency	North Tyneside
tabling member printed	Mrs Mary Glindon
uin	211261
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>There are 2 major contracts arranged by the core Department which employ some people who earn less than the Living Wage or London Living Wage. Outside London, 179 people are employed on these contracts and earn less than the Living Wage. In London, 28 people are employed on these contracts and earn less than the London Living Wage, although 4 of those earn more than the national Living Wage.</p><p> </p><p>We do not currently have an accurate cost estimate for ensuring that all these staff are paid the living wage rates for the UK and London.</p><p> </p><p>It would incur disproportionate cost to examine all our smaller contracts.</p><p> </p><p>There are currently 9 temporary staff from employment agencies who are paid less than the UK Living Wage and employed outside London, and none in London paid less than the London Living Wage. These numbers can change at any time.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson grouped question UIN 211260 question first answered 03/11/2014 15:11:41 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	4126 label Biography information for Mary Glindon

100164

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
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	Pay
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff employed by contractors working for her Department are paid below the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and if she will estimate the cost to the public purse of ensuring that all staff employed by contractors working for her Department are paid that wage.
tabling member constituency	North Tyneside
tabling member printed	Mrs Mary Glindon
uin	211260
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>There are 2 major contracts arranged by the core Department which employ some people who earn less than the Living Wage or London Living Wage. Outside London, 179 people are employed on these contracts and earn less than the Living Wage. In London, 28 people are employed on these contracts and earn less than the London Living Wage, although 4 of those earn more than the national Living Wage.</p><p> </p><p>We do not currently have an accurate cost estimate for ensuring that all these staff are paid the living wage rates for the UK and London.</p><p> </p><p>It would incur disproportionate cost to examine all our smaller contracts.</p><p> </p><p>There are currently 9 temporary staff from employment agencies who are paid less than the UK Living Wage and employed outside London, and none in London paid less than the London Living Wage. These numbers can change at any time.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson grouped question UIN 211261 question first answered 03/11/2014 15:11:41 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	4126 label Biography information for Mary Glindon

100232

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prison Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what sentences were handed down to each employee of the Prison Service found guilty of criminal activity in the workplace in 2013.
tabling member constituency	Tooting
tabling member printed	Sadiq Khan
uin	211295
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold records of employees charged with all types of criminal activity.</p><p>Whilst the vast majority of its staff are honest and hard working, NOMS is committed to detecting, deterring and disrupting all corrupt behaviour by individuals working in prisons. A dedicated NOMS Corruption Prevention Unit was set up to ensure staff corruption is identified and tackled. As part of this work NOMS has compiled a central record of staff convicted of criminal offences which meet the NOMS definition of corruption.</p><p> </p><p>The NOMS definition is: Corruption occurs when a person in a position of authority or trust abuses their position for their or another person’s benefit or gain. This would include the misuse of their role in order to plan or commit a criminal act, or a deliberate failure to act to prevent criminal behaviour.</p><p> </p><p>The central record does not therefore include all types of criminality as not all offences meet the definition.</p><p> </p><p>There were 23 convictions for corruption-related offences during 2013. A breakdown of the different sentences is provided below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Sentences</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 years 6 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 years imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 years imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 9 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 4 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year 1 month imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1 year imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>10 months imprisonment</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12 month custodial sentence suspended for 2 years.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>11 months custodial sentence suspended for a year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9 months custodial sentence suspended for 12 months, 200 hours community service</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years and a 6 month residency order</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years, 100 hours unpaid work</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12 months Community Order, 150 hours unpaid work</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>100 hours community service and 12 months probation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Community Order. Ordered to pay £85 costs and £60 to complainants</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The total number of convictions by year for corruption-related offences is shown in the table below. The number of convictions has remained broadly constant over the last five years.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p>25</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p>21</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2010</strong></p></td><td><p>18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2009</strong></p></td><td><p>21</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous question first answered 03/11/2014 16:49:47 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1577 label Biography information for Sadiq Khan

100953

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Young People: Carers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support young carers in school.
tabling member constituency	Norwich South
tabling member printed	Simon Wright
uin	905652
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2014 answer text <p>Recent research shows that young carers have significantly lower educational attainment at GCSE level than their peers, equivalent to nine grades lower overall. That’s the difference between nine Bs and nine Cs.</p><p> </p><p>That shows why it is so important that schools are able to identify and support pupils who are young carers. However a legislative approach compelling them to do so is not in keeping with our drive to reduce burdens on schools. It is important that headteachers and governors have the freedoms they need to meet their responsibilities for the welfare of their pupils in the way they consider is most appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>I am very grateful for the support of the National Governors’ Association in raising awareness about the needs of young carers and sharing resources with governing bodies. Whilst there is a lot of good practice in schools, there remains much to do to make this more widely available.</p><p> </p><p>That is why I welcome two exciting new developments led by the voluntary sector. The Big Lottery Fund are financing The Children’s Society’s “Young Carers in Focus” programme to launch a national award scheme that allows schools to be recognised for the quality of support for their young carers. The Queen’s Trust too are funding Carers Trust to develop and test best practice on young carer support in schools. Both of these initiatives will build on the work my Department has been doing with The Children’s Society and Carers Trust since 2011 to share existing tools and good practice. This includes development of an e-learning module for school staff to increase awareness in schools of young carers’ needs. We are planning to update this soon to reflect the new legislation but the current version is available on The Children’s Society’s website: <a href="http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Young-Carers-Web-Pub-v13/player.html" target="_blank">http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Young-Carers-Web-Pub-v13/player.html</a></p><p> </p><p>The Department of Health are also training school nurses to be champions for young carers. They will speak up on their behalf and help headteachers and governors decide how best to support them at school.</p><p> </p><p>At present we do not plan to extend the pupil premium eligibility criteria to cover young carers (or any other group). Our policy is to allocate pupil premium funding to those pupils who have experienced financial disadvantage but there is a significant cross-over between young carers and the current pupil premium target population. Research indicates that as many as 60 per cent of young carers could be eligible for free school meals, so already attract the pupil premium.</p><p> </p><p>We will continue to encourage schools to use the resources that are already freely available to them and to make links to their local young carers support group.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 04/11/2014 17:03:12 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	4096 label Biography information for Simon Wright