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25 Nov 2008 : Column 1174W—continued
RAF Lyneham
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the likely time gap will be between the final removal of the Hercules fleet from RAF Lyneham and the arrival of the Joint Helicopter Command contingent upon any relevant decision arising from project Belvedere. [238042]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Programme Belvedere is considering a number of airfields as potential bases for the future Joint Helicopter Command Battlefield Helicopter force, including RAF Lyneham. No decisions have yet been made.
Somalia: Piracy
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the EU Operation Atalanta, what assets will be committed by each nation state; what rules of engagement will apply; what command and control arrangements are in place; and if he will make a statement. [239191]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Force generation for the EU Operation Atalanta continues and a formal force generation conference took place on 17 November 2008. The UK will be providing a frigate for the first period of the operation as well as the operation commander and the operation headquarters at Northwood. The nature and scale of contributions from other countries is still under discussion prior to formal launch of the operation.
While appropriate rules of engagement will be in place for the operation, details for rules of engagement are withheld as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces involved.
Under the authority of the EU Council of Ministers, the EU member states collectively in the Political and Security Committee (PSC) will exercise political control and strategic direction of the operation. The Council has appointed Rear Admiral Phil Jones as the EU operation commander reporting to the Political and Security Committee, to be based in the multinational operation headquarters at Northwood. Nominations have been received from Greece, Spain and the Netherlands for the position of force commander and the PSC has agreed that the force commander will be appointed on a rotational basis.
Warrior Armoured Vehicle
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how the Government plan to improve (a) the protection afforded by and (b) the survivability of the Warrior armoured fighting vehicle. [238211]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Department has already taken steps to improve the protection and survivability of the Warrior fleet in Afghanistan and Iraq through the Urgent Operational Requirements process. We intend to improve further Warrior’s protection and survivability through the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme, which is in the early stages of its Acquisition Cycle.
Women and Equality
Equality and Human Rights Commission
3. Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what pay gaps there are in respect of gender, race and disability among employees of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [238584]
Maria Eagle: The full-time equivalent earnings indicate that:
The gender pay for women is 3.68 per cent.
The ethnic minority pay gap is 7.07 per cent.
The disability pay gap is 6.75 per cent.
The Commission inherited staff from three different organisations with very different pay and grading structures. They recognised that this led to differences, and have agreed a new pay and grading structure to ensure everyone at the Commission received equal pay for work of equal value, regardless of their background. The Commission is actively seeking to address the remaining gap.
Domestic Violence
6. Mrs. Moon: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent steps the Government have taken to support women who are subject to domestic violence. [238587]
Maria Eagle: Independent domestic violence advisers provide invaluable support to victims of domestic violence. Evidence shows that incidents of victimisation decrease and victims are less likely to withdraw from cases. This financial year we have provided £340,000 for adviser services supporting victims in Specialist Domestic Violence Courts in Wales and £150,000 for Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences in Wales.
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps the Government have taken to meet their objective, as stated in the Government Equalities Office document Tackling Violence Against Women, that all police and Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors will have received training about domestic violence by the end of 2008. [236457]
Maria Eagle: Forty-two out of 43 Crown Prosecution Service areas completed their domestic violence training by April 2008. The remaining area negotiated an extension until November 2008 and they are on target to complete training by the end of November.
The Government do not hold information on the provision of training in domestic abuse for police officers. The responsibility for domestic abuse training is devolved to individual police forces. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has issued guidance on the investigation of domestic abuse cases and the ACPO
lead for domestic abuse has been engaging with the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) regarding a refresh of current modular training.
NPIA have carried out a consultation period, which is to be extended to encompass the voluntary sector. Key areas for refresh will be around honour based violence, stalking and harassment, risk identification, assessment and management and the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act (2004) (non-molestation and civil and criminal law interface). Training is still being undertaken within individual police forces to the current modular system.
Violence Against Women
7. James Duddridge: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps the Government are taking to reduce levels of violence against women. [238588]
Maria Eagle: We want to see continued progress in reducing levels of violence against women.
That is why we have made it a priority action, in public service agreement 23 “Making Communities Safer”, to ‘reduce the most serious violence, including tackling serious sexual offences and domestic violence’.
But we are not complacent about the scale of the problem which is why my department is working closely with Home Office on the forthcoming consultation on violence against women and women’s safety which will ask people about what more we should be doing to tackle these crimes.
Disabled Civil Servants
8. Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on measures to increase the proportion of people with disabilities employed as civil servants. [238589]
Maria Eagle: I attend the Cabinet Committee on the Life Chances for Disabled People and will raise this issue at its next meeting. The proportion of civil servants declaring a disability has more than doubled from 3.1 per cent. in 2001 to 6.7 per cent. in 2007.
Television Licence Fee
10. Mr. Chope: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality if she will hold discussions with ministerial colleagues on the reasons for the over-representation of women among those brought before the courts for evading payments for television licence fees. [238591]
Maria Eagle: I will do so. I understand that when TV Licensing Enquiry Officers visit premises using television without a valid licence, whichever responsible adult opens the door will have a prosecution statement taken from them. TV Licensing offers people many opportunities to pay their licence and prosecution is always a last resort.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many external consultants work for the Government Equalities Office. [237573]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office currently employs two consultants. They provide advice on research into equalities issues, help the development of GEO’s research strategy, and run research seminars. Costs incurred to date since the consultancy contracts were let in May 2008 and October 2008 are £19,847.
Departmental Early Retirement
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many employees in the Government Equalities Office have taken early retirement since its inception; and at what total cost. [238959]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007. Since then, no employees have taken early retirement.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the cost of maintaining the Government Equalities Office website for 2007-08 was; and what the forecast costs of maintaining it in 2008-09 are. [237570]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office website
was launched on 10 January 2008. The cost of maintaining this site since 10 January 2008 was £891.83. The forecast cost of maintaining the site in 2008-09 is £2,350.00.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many (a) page hits and (b) visitors the Government Equalities Office website received in 2007-08. [237571]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities website
was launched on 10 January 2008. From 10 January 2008 to date, the site has received a total of 542,788 page hits and a total of 22,928 unique visitors.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in the Government Equalities Office has been in the last 12 months. [238179]
Maria Eagle: Since the Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007, there has been no provision of Government cars for special advisers.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much was spent on entertainment by the Government Equalities Office in Eland House in 2007-08; and how much of that was accounted for by (a) food and (b) alcohol. [237563]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office moved to Eland House in February 2008. Since this move there has been no expenditure on entertainment.
Departmental Press Releases
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many press releases have been issued by the Government Equalities Office in each year since its inception; and if she will make a statement. [238980]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007. Since then, 91 press releases have been released.
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many questions for written answer were tabled to her and her predecessors as Minister for Women in Session (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2005-06, (e) 2006-07 and (f) 2007-08 to date; and how many were (i) answered substantively and (ii) not answered on grounds of disproportionate cost. [235379]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007. Before this, parliamentary questions relating to the GEO's antecedent body, the Women's Equality Unit, were handled by a number of Government Departments. For that reason, information on questions answered by these Departments before October 2007 is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
During the current parliamentary session to date, the Government Equalities Office has answered 260 written questions. The vast majority of these have been answered substantively but detailed information on disproportionate cost replies is not collated separately and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Public Opinion
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much the Government Equalities Office has spent on (a) focus groups and (b) opinion polls in each year since its inception; how much she estimates will be spent on each category in 2008-09; and if she will make a statement. [239039]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007. There was no expenditure on focus groups or opinion polls in 2007-08. The Government Equalities Office has not spent any money on focus groups in 2008-09. Expenditure on opinion polls has amounted to £30,332, as follows:
| Company | Title | Amount (£) |
Transport
Rail Fares
7. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects of the new fare structure for railways introduced by the Association of Train Operating Companies. [238598]
Paul Clark: The new, simplified fares structure was introduced by train operators in full in September this year. It has made fares easier for passengers to understand and has been welcomed by passenger organisations.
Motorcycle Driving Test
8. Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to introduce the new motorcycle driving test; and if he will make a statement. [238599]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We plan to allow candidates and trainers to book the new practical motorcycle test from 30 March 2009 and conduct the test from 27 April 2009. We are going to consult on a modular testing arrangement and a statement will follow shortly.
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