TrustMark Scheme
Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans his Department has for development and support of the TrustMark scheme; and if he will make a statement. [45812]
Mr Prisk: As the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), said in the Westminster Hall debate on 9 February 2011, Official Report, columns 103-04WH—TrustMark is an easy way for consumers to identify a builder who has agreed to abide by industry standards of competence and fair trading and to be independently inspected. The Government support the TrustMark Scheme as an effective way to raise industry standards and empower consumers to select with confidence a reputable tradesperson in the domestic repair, maintenance and improvement sector.
Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with representatives of TrustMark since May 2010; what meetings officials in his Department have had to discuss the TrustMark scheme; and what further meetings are planned with TrustMark representatives. [45813]
Mr Prisk: No discussions have taken place between Trustmark and Ministers in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) since May 2010. Officials in this Department have met Trustmark representatives on six occasions over this period.
BIS officials met with the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), to discuss the TrustMark scheme on 26 January 2010.
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BIS Ministers have not met with representatives of TrustMark (2005) Ltd during this period, but an introductory meeting between the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs and Liz Male, the new chair of TrustMark (2005) Ltd, is planned for 21 March 2011.
Further routine meetings between TrustMark (2005) Ltd executives and officials are anticipated although no diary dates have been made.
Cabinet Office
Average Earnings
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of the difference in the pay of high and low earners in the (a) public and (b) private sector. [44911]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what recent assessment has been made of the difference in the pay between high and low earners in the (a) public and (b) private sector. (44911)
Levels of earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for all employees on adult rates of pay whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. The ASHE, carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom.
There is no single definition of high and low earners within ONS. However, for illustration, the table attached shows for 2010 the 95th and 5th percentiles for the gross weekly pay for full-time employees on adult rates of pay in the public and private sector, whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence.
| Gross weekly pay for full-time employee jobs (1) in the public and private sector, 2010 | |||
| Gross weekly pay (£) | |||
|
|
5 percentile | 95 percentile | Difference |
| (1) Full-time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. As at April 2010. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics. | |||
Bowel Cancer
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many patients were diagnosed with bowel cancer in each of the last 10 years. [46002]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many patients were diagnosed with bowel cancer in each of the last 10 years. [46002]
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The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of bowel cancer (incidence) are for the year 2008. Please note that the number of cases may not be the same as the number of people diagnosed with cancer, because one person may be diagnosed with more than one cancer.
Table 1 provides the number of newly diagnosed cases of bowel cancer in England, in each year from 1999 to 2008.
The latest published figures on the incidence of bowel cancer in England can be found at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/mb1-39/mb1-no39-2008.pdf.
| Table 1. Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of bowel cancer, persons, England, 1999 to 2008 (1, 2,3) | |
|
|
Persons |
| (1 )Bowel cancer is another name for colorectal cancer. Both are coded as C18-C20 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). (2 )Based on boundaries as of February 2011. (3 )Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. | |
Public Houses: Manpower
Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed in the (a) public house and beer sector in each of the last three years. [46430]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2011:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people were employed in the public house and beer industries in each of the last three years. (046430)
Annual statistics on the number of employees are published by ONS in its annual employment statistics from the Business Register Employment Survey (BRES). These figures detail the number of employees and exclude the self employed. An estimate of jobs, which includes self employed, would only be available through the Labour Force Survey but, due to BRES having a superior level of accuracy of industrial classification ONS has used the latter as its source for the information provided in the following table. The latest period to which figures are available is 2009.
Table 1 provides information showing the numbers of employees engaged in the industries ‘manufacturing of beer’ and ‘public houses and bars’ in Great Britain for 2008 and 2009.
| Table 1: Number of employees in Great Britain for defined industries | ||
| Thousand | ||
| Period | ||
| 5-digit standard industrial classification | 2008 | 2009 |
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Voting Rights: Prisoners
Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many applications for compensation his Department received in respect of prisoners claiming the right to vote in UK elections in each of the last five years; and how much has been paid in such compensation. [26968]
Mr Harper [holding answer 29 November 2010]: I have been asked to reply.
Data on the number of individual compensation claims received in the past five years are not compiled centrally.
However, around 585 prisoners made a claim in the domestic courts for compensation and/or a declaration that their rights were infringed by the fact that they were denied the right to vote in the May 2010 general election. The Government successfully applied to the High Court to strike these cases out, on the basis that
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damages cannot be awarded in the domestic courts under the Human Rights Act for a failure to introduce compatible legislation. The judgment was published on 18 February 2011.
In addition, UK prisoners have made claims to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. I understand that as at the beginning of February 2011, the European Court of Human Rights had received approximately 3,500 claims from UK prisoners unable to vote in elections. The Court has suspended consideration of these claims on the basis that the Government will implement the Hirst and Greens and MT judgments. The Government have sought to refer the Greens and MT judgment against the UK to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. If the Grand Chamber agrees to the referral, they will look again at the case and issue their own judgment. How the suspended claims are dealt with may depend on whether the Grand Chamber decides to accept the referral.