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225731

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
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	Cyprus
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Cypriot President Anastasiades' recent visit to Moscow and his indication that Russian military basing facilities may be made available in Cyprus, what they now consider may be the strategic impact of the Prime Minister’s agreement made during President Anastasiades' visit to the United Kingdom in January 2014 regarding a right of development within the United Kingdom’s Sovereign Base Areas.
tabling member printed	Lord Maginnis of Drumglass
uin	HL5502
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2015 answer text <p>We have been, and remain, in frequent discussions with the Republic of Cyprus about security and defence matters, and have been briefed on the agreements signed in Moscow. It is our understanding that the defence and security aspects of these formalise arrangements already in place. President Anastasiades has also explicitly ruled out the use of Limassol port for military purposes.</p><p> </p><p>The visit of President Anastasiades to London in January 2014, and the arrangement on Non Military Development (NMD) reaffirmed the strong bonds of friendship and partnership which exist between Cyprus and the UK across many areas, notably defence, security, EU reform, and foreign policy cooperation. NMD is a further measure of normalisation of administrative planning rules, and shows that the UK and Cyprus are serious about working together on our shared interests.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 23/03/2015 17:18:45 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	648 label Biography information for Lord Maginnis of Drumglass

225768

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Offences against Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the plans to criminalise social workers, teachers and councillors and others who fail to act in the cases of child abuse will have an effect on recruitment to the caring profession and to service on local authority committees; and if so, what.
tabling member printed	Lord Stoddart of Swindon
uin	HL5533
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 answer text <p>The current level of recruitment to children’s social work is strong. Statistics, as of 30 September 2014, show that 26,810 children’s social workers were employed by English local authorities. This is equivalent to 24,620 full-time workers.</p><p> </p><p>This Government prioritises the recruitment of social workers. In 2014-15, the Department for Education has provided bursaries and grants for social work students worth £81 million and funded two accelerated entry programmes: Frontline and Step Up to Social Work. These programmes aim to attract high calibre applicants into social work and applications to both programmes have been heavily over-subscribed. The Department is also incentivising new teaching partnership arrangements through a £2 million fund in 2015-16. This will enable social work employers to work hand in hand with universities to bring talented people into social work, provide them with high quality training and support them in work through continuous professional development.</p><p> </p><p>The recruitment of high quality social workers is essential for providing the best support and care possible for vulnerable children. The Department believes that highly competent individuals will always act in the best interests of children. The Department has agreed to consult on extending the criminal offence of wilful neglect to cover social workers who fail to act in cases of child abuse and neglect. The potential impact on recruitment to caring positions will be considered fully in the light of consultation responses.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 18/03/2015 16:32:16 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	950 label Biography information for Lord Stoddart of Swindon

225801

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
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	Ukraine
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many United Kingdom nationals they have deployed on training and assistance projects in Ukraine.
tabling member printed	Lord Radice
uin	HL5559
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2015 answer text <p>Since the beginning of 2014, 36 UK nationals have been deployed to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, nine to support the EU in Ukraine and two to represent the UK’s technical assistance programme and humanitarian support in Ukraine. Additionally, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has had a Special Defence Advisor based in the Ukrainian MoD since 2004.</p><p> </p><p>The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), recently announced that the MoD would be providing further non-lethal support to Ukraine and up to 75 personnel would be based in Ukraine to deliver training and advice in logistics, medical, infantry and intelligence capacity building to the Ukraine Armed Forces. Some of these personnel are already based in-country to develop the training and numbers will increase as the elements of the training are delivered.</p><p> </p><p>In addition the British Government is funding UK, Ukrainian and international experts to provide expert advice on economic and governance reforms in Ukraine through the £10million technical assistance programme to Ukraine.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 23/03/2015 17:04:40 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	510 label Biography information for Lord Radice

225867

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Oil: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the effect on fares for (a) rail and (b) bus passengers of changes in the price of a barrel of oil since August 2014.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	226680
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>I am aware that my Rt Hon Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury recently wrote to the five largest UK bus operators seeking their assurance that they are doing all they can to ensure passengers benefit from the fall in oil prices.</p><p> </p><p>The bus market outside London is deregulated, with the vast majority of services provided on a commercial basis by private sector bus operators. Decisions on the level of fares are a commercial matter for individual bus operators.</p><p> </p><p>As fuel costs are such a small proportion of the cost of providing rail services we would not expect to see a strong relationship between the two. Rail fares are set based on inflation, of which fuel prices are a component.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Holland and The Deepings answering member printed Mr John Hayes question first answered 16/03/2015 16:25:40 answering member 350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

225870

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
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	Lobbying
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 23 February 2015, HCWS292, on protecting public money, what discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on implementation of his policies on government lobbying government, lobbying by sock puppets, lobbying by local enterprise partnerships and lobbying by local authorities.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	226713
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>Ministers regularly meet Cabinet Office colleagues to discuss a range of issues.</p><p> </p><p>More broadly, I observe that the. hon. Member has recently disagreed with the proposals in the Written Ministerial Statement, opposing the new measures which seek to ensure probity on how taxpayers’ money is spent.</p><p> </p><p>I would simply note that nothing in that Written Statement prevents the voluntary sector campaigning using their own funds. It is reasonable however to ask that taxpayers’ money for specified projects is not diverted away from the commissioned frontline services or activity laid out in that grant agreement.</p><p> </p><p>Prior to the inclusion of the new clause on lobbying, long-standing grant agreements already specified types of expenditure which were inappropriate, including entertainment, gifts to individuals and activities of a political nature. All grants are audited to ensure that they only pay for eligible expenditure. I would be interested to know if the hon. Member also opposes these existing checks and balances on the use of taxpayers’ money.</p><p> </p><p>Moreover, documents published during the March 2010 Budget noted that Arms Length Bodies “must not use public funds to employ external public affairs or other consultants to lobby Parliament or Government with the principle aim of altering government policy or to obtain increased funding” (HM Treasury, <em>Reforming Arm’s Length Bodies</em>, 24 March 2010, p. 15; although the small print of a footnote watered down the substantive policy). Whilst I appreciate that HM Opposition may take a different stance now, even the fag end of the last Labour Government conceded the principle that there was inappropriate taxpayer-funded lobbying in the public sector.</p><p> </p><p><br><br></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 16/03/2015 10:06:15 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

225872

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Bus Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many local authorities in England do not tender contracts for bus transport services, other than those that they are statutorily obliged to do so.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	226682
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>My Department does not hold this information. However we understand that a large majority of local transport authorities choose to support public transport in their areas by means of tendered services</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Holland and The Deepings answering member printed Mr John Hayes question first answered 16/03/2015 17:27:26 answering member 350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

225874

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
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	Tenancy Deposit Schemes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that private tenants receive value for money held as deposits in custodial deposit schemes; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Mr Andrew Love
uin	226671
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2015 answer text <p>The interest payments to tenants under the scheme are as follows:</p><p> </p><p>2010: £418,681; 2011: £199,579; 2012: £120,288; 2013: £82,084; 2014: £59,184.</p><p>The falling figures reflect record-low interest rates, and also the changes that were made to the contract after 2010. If I may explain:</p><p>The service concession agreement that was agreed by Labour Government with the custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme contained a guarantee that the Government would meet any shortfall arising if approved fees were not covered by the interest on deposits held. If interests were low, then the Government would pay the scheme money.</p><p>As a result of the low interest rates that emerged due to the financial crash in 2008 and 2009, such an agreement left taxpayers liable for a massive shortfall, which was estimated to reach over £30 million by the end of the contract in 2012.</p><p>In May 2010, the Coalition Government inherited this unacceptable situation and looming liabilities for taxpayers. As outlined my rt. hon. Friend, the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 19 July 2011, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 828W, following extensive negotiations in summer 2010, we removed the guarantee and all associated liabilities as part of a revised agreement.</p><p>The Government is currently inviting bidders for the new custodial tenancy protection scheme contract for 2016 onwards, and we are asking bidders how and when they could offer tenants’ interest as part of their bids.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis grouped question UIN 226760 question first answered 17/03/2015 16:26:53 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	164 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Love

225884

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Conflict: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all armed forces personnel are made aware of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict during their training.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	226716
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>This Convention and Protocol are amongst the body of International Law which underpins operational legal training and pre-deployment training. Such training is provided as necessary to Service personnel.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Additionally; Personnel are made aware of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict through a Joint Publication, namely (JDP) 1-05. This publication sets out the Ministry of Defence’s policy with regard to the deployment on operations of U18s in the Armed Forces.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 26/03/2015 12:02:31 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry previous answer version 50571 answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

225891

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Uniforms
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) review guidance on school uniforms and (b) bring forward legislative proposals to make such guidance statutory.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	226675
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education’s best practice guidance on school uniform was revised in September 2013. This revised guidance places greater emphasis on securing the best value for money in the supply of school uniforms. It is scheduled for review in summer 2015.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The guidance is published online at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 16/03/2015 16:16:59 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

225897

registered interest
date	09/03/2015
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Housing: Carbon Emissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the report by the Zero Carbon Hub on Assessing Overheating Risk, published in March 2015.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
uin	226728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department is reviewing the report by the Zero Carbon Hub on Assessing Overheating Risk as well as the other Evidence Review Reports which have been produced. We will take steps to ensure the Zero Carbon Hub’s research can be made relevant to the development of the tools used to assess household energy performance such as the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).</p> answering member constituency Hastings and Rye answering member printed Amber Rudd question first answered 17/03/2015 16:15:36 answering member 3983 label Biography information for Amber Rudd
tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn