Social Security Benefits: Northern Ireland
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the level of unclaimed benefits in Northern Ireland. [100696]
Chris Grayling: Estimates of unclaimed benefits are only available for Great Britain. Matters of social security in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Statistics produced by Northern Ireland on unclaimed benefits are available at:
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/statistics_and_research-take_up
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Social Security Benefits: Overpayments
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking in response to the judgement of the Supreme Court of 14 December 2011 in the case of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v. Payne and Cooper. [99502]
Chris Grayling: The Supreme Court held that the Secretary of State cannot recover an overpayment or Social Fund debt contained within a debt relief order by any means, including by deduction from benefit, during the moratorium period of a debt relief order.
The Department is currently undertaking to offset or refund deductions made in respect of debts included within a debt relief order. These debts will be written off after the moratorium period where they have not been incurred by fraud.
While the full implication of the judgment relating to bankruptcy orders is being considered, we have stopped deductions where we know someone is subject to a bankruptcy order.
The Insolvency Rules will however be amended from 19 March 2012 to exclude Social Fund debt from the scope of debt relief and bankruptcy orders. This is because the Social Fund is cash limited and relies on loan repayments to be available for others in need.
Unemployment: Bethnal Green
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children live in a workless household in Bethnal Green and Bow constituency. [101152]
Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
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 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your question asking what estimate has been made of the number of children living in workless households in Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in the latest period for which figures are available. (101152)
Estimates of the number of children living in workless households are derived from the Annual Population Survey (APS) household datasets. However, due to the specific nature of your request it is not possible to provide reliable estimates because the sample sizes for this survey are not sufficiently large for the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency.
Universal Credit
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what decisions were made in the site selection listed in the Universal Credit Integrated Assurance and Approvals Plan as occurring in February 2012; and if he will make a statement. [100321]
Chris Grayling: No decisions have been made yet on the sites needed to provide telephony and processing support for the delivery of universal credit. We expect to make decisions on the first sites needed by early summer.
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Widowed Parent's Allowance
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether widowed higher rate taxpayers who will not receive child benefit from 2013 will receive widowed parents allowance. [100677]
Steve Webb: When child benefit will cease for people who are higher rate taxpayers, we will ensure that entitlement to widowed parent’s allowance is not affected as a result.
Winter Fuel Payments
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been paid in winter fuel payments to people in care homes in each of the last three years. [99846]
Steve Webb: The requested information is not available as DWP datasets do not identify people who are resident in care homes receiving winter fuel payments.
Work Capability Assessment
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of work capability assessments are undertaken by nursing staff and not by doctors. [99888]
Chris Grayling: There were a total of 77,345 work capability assessments (WCA) conducted in February 2012 by Atos Healthcare, of which 62.9% were undertaken by nurses.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the recommendations made to him on the work capability assessment descriptors for people with fluctuating conditions. [100765]
Chris Grayling: I have placed a copy of the recommendations made on the work capability assessment descriptors for people with fluctuating conditions in the Library.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of work capability assessment decisions by ATOS for which final outcome data is available have not been (a) overturned by the Department and (b) successfully appealed by the claimant. [100852]
Chris Grayling: This information is not available.
Work Experience: Minimum Wage
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the possibility of legal challenge to the Work Experience scheme under the provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998; and if he will make a statement. [100320]
Chris Grayling:
Get Britain Working Voluntary Work Experience placements are established under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (the 1973 Act), which confers powers on the Secretary of State for
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Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), to establish schemes for the purpose of assisting people to find and retain employment. Regulation 12(5) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 provides that workers who are participating in a scheme established under section 2 of the 1973 Act designed to provide training, work experience or temporary work, do not qualify for the national minimum wage provided they are not remunerated by the employer and not engaged in a trial period of work exceeding six weeks. Placements under the Work Experience scheme are not work trials and therefore fall within this exemption.
Work Programme
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints his Department has received from individuals regarding placements they have undertaken with Work programme providers since the start of the programme. [98473]
Chris Grayling: My Department does not collect the information in the form requested.
Since April 2011, we have taken a new approach to complaints about providers, including the Work programme. We require providers to work directly with individuals to resolve complaints about their service. This ensures issues can be resolved at the first point of contact, rather than having to go through other layers of bureaucracy. Equally, it means providers are responsible for resolving and learning from complaints about their service.
If the individual is not happy with the final response from the provider, they can take their complaint directly to the Independent Case Examiner's Service (ICE), the highest level of complaint investigation in DWP. There is a strong financial incentive for Work programme providers to resolve the complaint and put things right to the customer's satisfaction. If ICE conduct a full investigation and find the provider at fault, they are required to pay £5,000 contribution to the ICE costs.
As an additional safeguard, providers' complaint processes are assessed as part of the bidding process to ensure they are appropriate.
From 1 June 2011 to 29 February 2012, ICE took on 11 complaints about Work programme providers. The Independent Case Examiner will provide feedback on the Work programme provider complaint investigations which have been concluded by his office during the 2011-12 report year, including commentary on the adequacy of their complaint processes, in his annual report, due for publication in summer 2012.
Work Programme: Fraud
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department has issued to Work programme providers on guarding against fraud. [98469]
Chris Grayling: Chapter 9 paragraphs 53 onwards of the Work programme provider guidance outlines the responsibilities of providers with regards to minimising the risk of fraud:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wp-pg-chapter-9.pdf
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Irregularities/ potential fraud
53. You have responsibility to minimise the risk of fraud within the programmes you deliver. Funding should be safeguarded against fraud and serious irregularity on the
part of your directors, employees or subcontractors. Such abuse would include false or misleading claims for attachment fees and outcome payments, whether designed to gain immediate financial advantage or overstate performance.
54. Deliberate and/or persistent non-compliance with prescribed standards of delivery would also be subject to investigation if a possible financial impact was identified.
55. In such instance DWP may contact you to pursue enquiries relating to potential abuses of funding. Their remit will be, primarily, to investigate fraud and financial irregularities but it can in certain circumstances extend to non-compliance with
contract and guidance.
56. You should therefore ensure that all staff involved in the delivery and management of contracts are fully aware of the risks and consequences of any falsification, manipulation, deception or misrepresentation. Occurrence of fraud within any individual programme could lead to the termination of all contracts held by you as well as civil or criminal proceedings against those implicated.
DWP issued a note to all providers in August 2011 to remind them of these obligations.
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax Benefit
Helen Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to
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his answer of 5 March 2012,
Official Report
, column 483W, on council tax, if he will ensure that regulations pertaining to the localisation of council tax benefit are published prior to the Report stage and Third Reading of the Local Government Finance Bill. [100856]
Robert Neill: Subject to the parliamentary timetable, the Government plan to publish draft regulations or statements of intent for key regulations to enable scrutiny of Government's intentions for secondary legislation for council tax reduction schemes while the Bill is still in its Commons stage.
Fire Services: Emergency Calls
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average length of time was for a fire service 999 response in rural areas in the latest period for which figures are available. [100450]
Robert Neill: Response times are available for fire and rescue authority areas. The latest period for which data are available is 2010-11. These are shown in the following table for the 15 fire and rescue authority areas deemed to be predominantly rural by the official urban/rural classification.
| Average response times to fires incidents in predominantly rural fire and rescue authority areas, 2010-11 | |||||
| Minutes | |||||
| Dwellings | |||||
| With persons (1) | Without persons (1) | Other buildings | Road vehicles | Other (outdoor) | |
| (1) Dwelling fires are presented ‘with and without persons' as requested. ‘With persons' is where there were one or more casualties or rescues. ‘Without persons' is where there was neither any casualty nor any person rescued. Notes: 1 Response times are from time of emergency call to the time of arrival of the first pumping appliance. 2. As per the established methodology, excludes fires where (i) there was heat and smoke damage only, (ii) the call was made after the fire was known to be extinguished, and (iii) in order to avoid erroneous data or exceptional incidents from skewing the averages, excludes where the response time calculated gives an hour or more. 3. In order to be consistent with data available for periods prior to April 2009, incidents are restricted to 'primary fires'—those involving (a) property excepting chimney fires and/or (b) casualties and/or (c) five or more pumping appliances. This means that smaller outdoor fires are not included in the category 'Other (Outdoor)' fires. | |||||
Fire Services: Finance
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding he has recently provided to fire and rescue services to improve communication interoperability; what outcomes he expects as a result of such funding; and if he will make a statement. [100498]
Robert Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to my written ministerial statement of 1 March 2012, Official Report, column 37-39WS.
Mrs Ellman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what impact assessment his Department carried out on the potential
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effects on fire and rescue services of planned reductions in years three and four of the spending review. [100702]
Robert Neill: We expect to announce the 2013-14 settlement for fire and rescue authorities at around the same time frame as usual. Statutory consultation on the 2013-14 settlement will start around late-November/early-December. Ministers will then take final decisions on the allocations and these will be announced in mid- to late-January.
An assessment of the distributional impact on the level of spending power for each single purpose fire and rescue authority will be made in early 2013.
I also refer the hon. Member to my letter of 6 December 2010 to the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House, which outlines how fire and rescue authorities can make sensible savings without impacting on the quality and breadth of services offered to their communities.
Fire Services: Flood Control
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will make it his policy to impose on the fire and rescue services a statutory duty to assist with flooding. [100265]
Robert Neill: The Government expect shortly to reach a conclusion as to whether flood rescue needs to be explicitly a statutory duty of fire and rescue authorities. We have recently discussed with partners our view that there needs to be flexibility to agree locally the most suitable approach to dealing with flooding, normally through the local resilience forum, rather than impose a statutory duty on only one of the many organisations that would respond to a flooding emergency. This would reflect the principles that underpin the draft Fire and Rescue National Framework for England, consultation on which concludes today.
Housing
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of houses valued over (a) £1,000,000 and (b) £2,000,000 in (i) the south-east and (ii) the north-east. [100111]
Grant Shapps: My Department does not hold this information. We have undertaken no work to produce such valuations, estimates or assessments.
Housing Benefit
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate his Department has made of how many staff work on the processing of housing benefit. [99515]
Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27 February 2012, Official Report, column 37W.
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Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate his Department has made of the costs arising from redundancies of housing benefit staff when housing benefit is absorbed into universal credit. [99516]
Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 March 2012, Official Report, column 768W.
Housing Revenue Accounts: Debts
Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect of further council house sales on the ability of local authorities to service housing revenue account debt. [100284]
Andrew Stunell: The Government have made clear that in reinvigorating the right to buy the viability of the housing revenue account must be maintained. We have laid regulations before Parliament that permit local authorities to retain from receipts obtained from additional right-to-buy sales a sum sufficient to cover the debt on those properties.
Housing: Construction
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many construction jobs in the north-west the NewBuy Guarantee scheme will support. [100399]
Grant Shapps: The NewBuy Guarantee scheme will help up to 100,000 households who previously could not buy a new home because of high deposit requirements. We also expect the scheme to support an estimated 50,000 jobs in construction and related industries by increasing demand for newly-built homes. It is too early to estimate how many of these jobs will be in the north west. My Department will carry out a review of the scheme in 2014 to assess impact.
Housing: Energy
Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the merits of the process of retrofitting energy-saving measures in homes; and what steps he plans to take to encourage homeowners to decarbonise their homes. [100061]
Andrew Stunell: The Department worked closely with the Department of Energy and Climate Change in developing the Green Deal—the Government initiative for retrofitting energy saving measures in homes. This included working through analysis which supports the provisions of the Energy Act 2011 and the regulatory impact assessment.
In addition, the Department has taken key steps to assist home owners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes—in particular: improving the content and format of energy performance certificates to make them clearer and more usable; working to support local authorities and landlords to enable them to better support the energy efficiency of their stock; and we are also
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consulting on extending requirement for additional—consequential—energy efficiency improvements through changes to part L of the building regulations, installed when householders carry out a range of improvements.
Housing: Repairs and Maintenance
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under what circumstances derelict homes that have been refurbished qualify as new homes under the NewBuy Guarantee scheme. [100398]
Grant Shapps: Any derelict home being sold for the first time since refurbishment, and which meets the eligibility criteria, can be bought from a participating builder using the NewBuy Guarantee scheme.
Incinerators: Planning Permission
Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to renew the planning procedures for applications to build incinerators. [100101]
Robert Neill: The Government are reviewing existing waste planning policy as part of the preparation of the National Waste Management Plan, which we aim to publish in spring 2013. Until then, Planning Policy Statement 10 continues to apply.
Land Use: Housing
Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to deal with land banking for housing. [99232]
Andrew Stunell: In “Laying the Foundations: a housing strategy for England” the Government set out how they would be freeing up formerly used public land with the capacity to support up to 100,000 homes over the spending review period. To help accelerate the release of land we have made arrangements for support to be given by an advisory group of experts led by Tony Pidgley as well as by the Homes and Communities Agency. Government Departments have committed to use build now, pay later terms on as much land as possible in order to get new homes built.
So far as land held by the private sector is concerned, the Office of Fair Trading market study, “Homebuilding in the UK (2008)”, did not find
“any evidence that house builders have the ability to anti-competitively hoard land or own a large amount of land with planning permission on which they have not started to build.”
Landlords: Private Rented Housing
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of children living in properties affected by damp. [100113]
Grant Shapps: This information is not held centrally.
The English Housing Survey Headline Report 2010-11 available on the Department's website:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/2084179.pdf
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reports that the proportion of dwellings with damp problems reduced from 13% in 1996 to 7% in 2010.
The previous Government set a target that all social housing should by 2010 meet the Decent Homes standard. This was not met, which is why we are providing £1.6 billion of funding over the spending review period to help make 127,000 council homes decent, and a further £0.5 billion to stock transfer housing associations.
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the use of selective licensing to address bad practices by landlords in the private rented sector. [100114]
Grant Shapps: Local authorities have extensive powers under the Housing Act 2004 to take action against landlords who fail in their responsibilities. These powers include the discretion to introduce selective licensing schemes in areas suffering from low housing demand and/or significant incidence of antisocial behaviour without having to first seek departmental approval. I believe that it is right for these local decisions to be made by those who are directly accountable to local communities. I would urge and encourage local authorities to make full use of their powers to target and tackle the small minority of rogue landlords.
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will consider the findings of the British Social Attitudes Survey in respect of tenant satisfaction in the private rented sector. [100115]
Grant Shapps: We take account of a wide range of data sources in formulating policy about the private rented sector, including the British Social Attitudes Survey. The findings in that survey are broadly consistent with those of other surveys, including the English Housing Survey which is published annually by my Department and which shows that rents in the private sector have reduced in real terms, standards have improved, and only 8% of tenancies are terminated before the tenants chose. The survey draws on a sample of some 17,000 households in England,
Local Government: Trade Union Officials
David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on (a) employment of full-time trade union officials and (b) trade union check-off arrangements. [92564]
Robert Neill: At a time when all councils need to make sensible savings to protect front-line services and help tackle the deficit inherited from the last Administration, Ministers would urge councillors to review the subsidies and funding being provided to trade unions at taxpayers’ expense.
The Cabinet Office will shortly be consulting on a policy paper about how facility time can be reformed and reduced in the civil service. My Department will in due course provide specific guidance for local councils to help inform their own local reviews (reflecting the fact that it is for local councils, as employers, to decide how to manage their own local work forces).
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We hope this guidance will give local authorities assurance and practical help on how they can review and cut back both so-called ‘pilgrims’ and the provision of hidden subsidies like free office facilities. However, a number of councils—such as Swindon and Southampton —have already undertaken reviews recently of facility time to cut costs, highlighting that councils already have discretion and powers to act without the permission of central Government.
We would encourage such matters to be debated openly in council meetings—with councillors declaring any prejudicial interests, such as receiving payments in kind from trade unions.
Councils should ensure that arrangements for collecting union subscriptions through the payroll do not burden taxpayers. We want to raise awareness of the fact that councils are already allowed under law to levy a local administration charge to trade unions for providing this service, or they simply can exercise their right not to offer this payroll facility.
My Department is currently considering the merits of issuing an updated local government transparency code to ensure greater transparency over payments to trade unions and facility time at taxpayers’ expense.
Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department plans to issue to local authorities on (a) employment of full-time trade union officials and (b) trade union check off arrangements. [96226]
Robert Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) today to PQ 92564.
Retail Trade: Urban Areas
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of new retail developments located in town centres in each of the last five years; and what information his Department holds on the likely trend in the location of retail developments in the next five years. [100084]
Grant Shapps [holding answer 15 March 2012]: In the last five years for which figures are available the proportion of retail floor space built in town centres is as follows:
| Percentage of newly built retail floor space in areas of town centre activity with and without 300m buffer | ||
| Without buffer | With buffer | |
No information is available on trends in the location of future retail development.
The independent Portas review covered many issues affecting high streets. The Government will publish their response in the spring, but, in the meantime, measures have been introduced to support high streets through business rate relief, and local authorities have new powers to levy business rate discounts.
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Rough Sleeping
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of rough sleeping; [100098]
(2) what estimate he has made of the incidence of rough sleeping in (a) the UK, (b) England and (c) the west midlands in each of the last five years; [100099]
(3) what guidance his Department issues to local authorities to assist in reducing the incidence of rough sleeping; [100100]
(4) what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on trends in the incidence of homelessness and rough sleeping in (a) the UK and (b) England. [100102]
Grant Shapps: The coalition Government are committed to tackling and preventing rough sleeping. We have acted decisively to introduce a more accurate assessment of rough sleeping levels so that there is clear information in all areas, to inform service provision and action to address the problem. The previous Government's approach to assessing rough sleeping did not capture the full extent of the problem across the country.
The guidance “Evaluating the Extent of Rough Sleeping: A new approach” was published in September 2010. This ensures that every local authority provides information on rough sleeping, unlike the previous system. The guidance is available on the Department's website at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/roughsleepingevaluate
I recently announced additional funding to tackle and prevent rough sleeping. This includes:
£20 million—Homelessness Transition Fund to support the roll-out of “No Second Night Out” and protect vital front line services.
£20 million—Single Homelessness Prevention Fund to help ensure single homeless people get access to good housing advice.
£5 million boost to the Homelessness Change Programme (bringing the total investment to £42.5 million) to deliver improved hostel provision and provide over 1,500 new and improved bed spaces.
£5 million—Social Impact Bond—using a payment by results model to help persistent rough sleepers in London. This is the first Social Impact Bond set up to tackle homelessness in the world.
This comes on top of the existing £400 million homelessness grant this Government have protected over the next four years.
Ministers from the Department for Communities and Local Government regularly meet with their colleagues in other Departments to discuss cross-cutting issues. My colleague Lord David Freud represents the Department for Work and Pensions on the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness which I chair. The group has pledged that for the first time no one should ever need to experience a second night sleeping rough.
Rough sleeping figures for England can be found on my Department's website. Comparative figures for the last five years are not available due to the improved counting adopted by this Government.
The London CHAIN report for 2010-11 highlights that over half of London's rough sleepers are non-UK citizens. We are working with the Passage day centre in
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London to develop a campaign in the key eastern European countries to highlight the problems faced by destitute economic migrants. We are also working closely with the Mayor's team and the relevant embassies to reconnect migrant rough sleepers to their home country.
Traffic Regulation Orders
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in his Department have had with Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport to discuss the advertising of traffic regulation orders. [99662]
Robert Neill [holding answer 13 March 2012]: Ministers and officials within the Department for Communities and Local Government regularly meet colleagues from other Departments to discuss a range of matters.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Advantage West Midlands: Pay
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any staff employed by the Advantage West Midlands development agency received retention bonuses after the announcement by the Government of the abolition of the regional development agencies. [100161]
Mr Prisk: The eight regional development agencies have put in place arrangements to secure the retention of key staff until the agencies are closed. They have made these arrangements with the approval of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and HM Treasury. This is to safeguard the taxpayer's interest in making best use of the significant public assets that the regional development agencies have owned. A retention payment process had been recommended to be put into place by the National Audit Office. At Advantage West Midlands to date, no member of staff has received a retention payment.
Banks: Foreign Workers
Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of jobs in the banking industry which were outsourced overseas in 2011; and what estimate he has made of the number of such jobs which will be outsourced overseas in 2012. [98141]
Mr Prisk: The Government do not estimate or forecast the number of jobs outsourced overseas in total or in any particular sector.
Credit
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on regulation of the peer-to-peer lending sector. [99973]
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Norman Lamb: Peer-to-peer (P2P) businesses (or “platforms”) that act as intermediaries for business to consumer lending are currently regulated under the Consumer Credit Act by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and require an appropriate consumer credit licence. The OFT only grants licences to businesses where it is satisfied that they are fit to hold such a licence.
Debts: Advisory Services
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what discussions he has held with the Money Advice Service on contracts for debt advice for 2012-13; [100332]
(2) how many debt advice providers have had their targets for 2012 increased by more than 50 per cent.; and what effect this will have on their ability to give face-to-face debt advice. [100335]
Norman Lamb: On 22 February 2012, the Money Advice Service published “A Better Deal for Everyone: A New Approach to Debt Advice”. This set out its role in co-ordinating debt advice from 1 April 2012, funded by a new allocation from the levy collected by the Financial Services Authority.
I have not had any discussions with the Money Advice Service on grant funding for 2012/13. Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) have shared information about grant funding agreements for existing face-to-face provision with the Money Advice Service.
BIS are not aware of the detail of the grant agreements being negotiated with debt advice providers for 2012/13 —this is a matter for the Money Advice Service. I am aware, however, that the Money Advice Service has held detailed discussions with all providers concerned.
Employment Agencies: EU Law
Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment has been made of the effect the Agency Workers Regulation have had on the unemployment figures for 2011. [100060]
Norman Lamb: The Agency Workers Regulations came into force on the 1 October 2011. No assessment has been made of the impact the regulations had on the unemployment figures for 2011. We will, however, monitor the impact of the regulations on the market.
Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the Agency Workers Regulations on small, independent recruitment agencies. [100062]
Norman Lamb: No assessment has been made by the Government on the effect of the Agency Workers Regulations on small, independent recruitment agencies. We will work with representatives from trade associations to monitor the impact of the regulations on the market.
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Environment Protection: EU Grants and Loans
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2012, Official Report, column 604W, on carbon emissions, when yearly data from 2006 will be available on the (a) amount of funding allocated by the European Development Fund to low-carbon projects in the UK and (b) the number of businesses that received such funding. [100568]
Mr Prisk: Information regarding funding from the European Regional Development Fund for these purposes will be placed in the Libraries of the House today.
Government Departments: Greater Manchester
Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the amount of office space in empty Government buildings which could be used by entrepreneurs in (a) Rochdale constituency and (b) the rest of Greater Manchester; and where such buildings are located. [99985]
Mr Prisk [holding answer 14 March 2012]: The Government have identified 251 square metres of space in Wigan, Greater Manchester, as potentially suitable for inclusion in the Prime Minister's initiative to make available empty Government office space for entrepreneurs.
Officials are currently undertaking due diligence, and exploring whether or not it is appropriate to include it in the initiative.
Higher Education
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will provide a list of designated higher education courses (a) by provider and (b) in each region. [100068]
Mr Willetts: A list of courses that have been specifically designated for student support purposes is published on the Student Loans Company's website:
http://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/policy-information/designated-courses/full-list.aspx
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he and Ministers have had with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in regards to designated courses. [100252]
Mr Willetts: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and departmental Ministers have discussions with a wide variety of other Government Departments and external organisations, including the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.
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Higher Education: Admissions
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what measures his Department has put in place to ensure that value for money is received for students who enrol on designated courses. [99940]
Mr Willetts: At present, in order to be specifically designated, courses at privately funded institutions must be validated by a recognised UK awarding body, such as a university, which provides quality assurance. However, as private institutions are not currently subject to fee regulation, providers set their own fee levels. It is a matter for students to make an informed choice between courses on the basis of the information available.
We set out in the White Paper “Students at the Heart of the System” our intention to legislate, subject to parliamentary time, so that all providers which access student support funding would be subject to the same conditions. This would cover standards for quality, dispute resolution, information, access (if charging above the basic tuition charge), financial sustainability, reformed student number controls and tuition charge caps.
We believe that new providers and new forms of higher education provision will help stimulate and strengthen market competition, promote student choice and ensure value for money.
Higher Education: Student Numbers
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the student retention rate is of higher education students who enrol on courses with (a) higher education institutions, (b) further education colleges, (c) private (i) not-for-profit and (ii) for-profit higher education providers and (d) providers who run designated courses. [99341]
Mr Willetts: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes information on non-continuation rates of undergraduate students, including non-continuation following year of entry (retention rates), through the HESA Performance Indicators release. The latest available figures show that 89.4% of full-time students starting first degree courses at English higher education institutions in 2008/09 continued at the same institution the following year. Figures for the 2009/10 academic year will become available from 29 March 2012.
Further information on HESA performance indicators can be found at:
http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/2072/141/
The Level 4 and over learner responsive retention rate in general further education colleges including tertiary for 2010/11 is 87.3%. The retention rate is a measure of the ability to complete the course of study for a qualification aim. It is calculated by the number of aims that have been completed divided by the total number of aims started (excluding those learners who have transferred aims).
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) does not hold the data requested on private (i) not-for-profit and (ii) for-profit higher education providers and private providers who run specifically designated courses. The BIS Technical Consultation of August
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2012 stated that we intend to ensure that all higher education providers whose students access student support funding are required to provide sufficient and proportionate information to students and the public.
Industry: Carbon Emissions
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to produce an industrial strategy for the low-carbon sector. [100589]
Mr Prisk: The Government published “Enabling the Transition to a Green Economy” in August 2011, which sets out the policies we are using to support the transition to a green economy and the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector. This publication outlines the range of levers we are using to drive green growth, including the Green Investment Bank.
Information Commissioner
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many appeals his Department has made to an information tribunal contesting a decision notice of the Information Commissioner in the last 12 months. [100308]
Norman Lamb: One appeal has been made to the Information Rights Tribunal by the Department for Business, Information and Skills in the last 12 months.
Manufacturing Industries
Mr Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the opening and closing dates for applications to the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Initiative will be published. [100283]
Mr Prisk: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 15 March 2012, Official Report, column 269W.
McKinsey and Company
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department paid to McKinsey and Company in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [100587]
Norman Lamb: In 2010-11 the Department made payments to McKinsey and Company totalling £501,996 and in 2011-12 (to 13 March 2012) the Department has made payments totalling £908,058. All payments made were in respect of work to establish the Green Investment Bank.
Overseas Students: Entry Clearances
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to the Tier 4 visa system on (a) the number of applications from overseas students in (i) Ireland, (ii) EU nations and (iii) other overseas nations as classified by the University and Colleges Admissions Service and (b) the international reputation of the UK's higher education sector. [99954]
Mr Willetts: The information requested is as follows:
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(a) (i) (ii) Changes to the Tier 4 visa system do not affect students applying to the UK from Ireland or EU nations, as only non-EU students are required to apply for a Tier 4 student visa.
(iii) The latest figures published by UCAS show that, as of 20 February 2012, the number of applicants from non-EU overseas countries was up by 5,266 (from 39,565 to 44,831) compared to the same point last year, a rise of 13.3%.
(b) I have not made any specific assessment of the effect of changes on Tier 4 to the international reputation of the UK's higher education sector. The purpose of the new student visa route is to address past abuses of the visa system by creating controls that make study applications less attractive to those who are not genuine students, while welcoming genuine students to the UK. We have been absolutely clear that we completely recognise the important contribution that international students make to the UK's economy, and to making our education system one of the best in the world and that the UK is fully open for business and welcomes legitimate students.
Overseas Trade: Libya
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what directives his Department issued on UK companies trading with Libya in each of the last two years; how companies were notified of such directives; and if he will make a statement. [100139]
Mr Prisk [holding answer 15 March 2012]: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) does not issue directives to UK companies regarding trade with other countries. We do from time to time make legislation governing the trade and export of strategic and other goods, including legislation enforcing directly applicable European Union (EU) trade sanctions and also advise companies of changes in directly applicable EU law.
In the case of Libya, the EU introduced an embargo on the export of military goods to Libya on 28 February 2011. BIS drafted an order to enable the enforcement of the trade elements of the directly applicable EU embargo, which came into force on 18 March 2011. A notice to exporters on the EU measures against Libya was issued by the Export Control Organisation within BIS on 7 March 2011. In addition, BIS introduced a control on the export of unissued Libyan notes and coins on 2 March 2011. Companies affected by this additional control were directly informed of these changes by the Export Control Organisation.
Sanctions: Iran
David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies breached sanctions on Iran in each of the last five years. [97982]
Mr Gauke: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Treasury.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for enforcing sanctions against Iran that relate to the movement of goods. HMRC works in partnership with the Border Force to enforce these controls.
The following table shows the number of companies that breached UK controls during the last five years where HMRC believes there was also a breach of Iran sanctions.
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| Financial year (1 April-31 March) | Number of companies believed to have breached Iran sanctions on the movement of goods |
It should be noted that more than 95% of the breaches referred to in the table above were detected at the UK border and HM Revenue and Customs or Border Force officers successfully intercepted the goods and prevented them from reaching Iran. However, these cases are nevertheless technically counted as a breach of sanctions because the sale of controlled goods is also restricted under the sanctions regime.
The increase in breaches in 2009-10 and 2011-12 is attributable to the increase in scope of goods covered by the controls.
South East England Development Agency: Government Procurement Card
Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a list of all Government Procurement Card transactions by (a) transaction date, (b) supplier and (c) amount made by the South East of England Development Agency in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11. [100160]
Mr Prisk: The South East of England Development Agency has not made use of Government Procurement Cards and there are therefore no transactions to list.
Students: Finance
Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what effect the Government expect the policy of fee-waiving to have on the availability of bursaries to students. [100017]
Mr Willetts [holding answer 15 March 2012]: According to estimates from the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), including the Government's contribution to the National Scholarship Programme, by 2015 English institutions will make £286 million available to students in the form of bursaries and scholarships.
Institutions charging above the basic fee level must agree Access Agreements with the Director of Fair Access. In Access Agreements, institutions set out the financial support they will offer to disadvantaged students, including bursaries and fee waivers; the additional outreach
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activities they will undertake; and the measures of achievement that they have set themselves.
In our guidance to the Director of Fair Access about Access Agreements, issued February 2011, we suggested that the Director would want to seek to ensure that institutions themselves do not require students to take out higher loans which the institution then recycles into poorly targeted bursary schemes. We suggested that the Director of Fair Access might encourage the use of financial waivers that might have the effect of reducing borrowing to both the public purse and the student. The Director of Fair Access reflected these points in his own guidance to institutions which was published shortly thereafter.
OFFA advises us that there is no hard evidence to support bursaries over fee waivers or vice versa. With student finance changes coming into force from autumn 2012, OFFA will closely monitor the impact of fee waivers and bursaries and plans to conduct research and analysis to see if one method of financial support is more effective than another in supporting and promoting fair access.
Student Loans
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students enrolled on designated higher education courses received a student loan for the purpose of tuition fees but did not complete (a) their first semester, (b) their first academic year and (c) their entire course by higher education provider in each of the last five years. [99340]
Mr Willetts: The requested information will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Table 1 shows total withdrawals by withdrawal category. Table 2 shows total withdrawal figures by individual higher education institutions (HEIs), but this is not broken down by withdrawal category as figures are too small and could potentially identify individuals.
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of graduates who are likely to make early repayments to their student loans by (a) 2015 and (b) 2020. [99342]
Mr Willetts: The following table shows the number of borrowers (English domiciled students in UK higher education institutions and EU students in English higher education institutions) making early repayments and the amounts they repaid, in the last three financial years.
| Count of borrowers (thousand) | Early repayment amount(£ million) | |||||
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
We have made no forecast of future repayments.
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what modelling his Department has undertaken on the repayment level of students loans taken out by students enrolled on a designated course. [100067]
Mr Willetts:
In 2010/11 students on specifically designated courses at privately funded institutions represented 0.6% of the total population of students receiving student
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loans and the Department does not undertake separate modelling of their future repayments. The modelling for students on specifically designated courses at private providers is therefore identical to that undertaken for students on courses at other providers.
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the (a) average institutional fee that will be charged by for-profit providers to students claiming student loans and (b) costs to his Department of the 2012-13 cohort of students during their studies. [100848]
Mr Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not made an estimate of the average institutional fee that will be charged in 2012/13 by institutions not funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England as these institutions are not subject to a fee cap. Eligible students at private institutions who are on courses designated for support will be able to access a fee loan of up to £6,000 if they are studying full-time and £4,500 if they are studying part-time.
In academic year 2010/11 students at private institutions accessed £33 million of fee and maintenance loans from the Student Loans Company, compared to total fee and maintenance loan outlay of £5.6 billion. In 2012/13, total fee and maintenance loan outlay is expected to increase to around £7.6 billion.
Technology: Greater London
Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding has been allocated to Tech City from (a) the public purse and (b) UK Trade and Investment. [100212]
Mr Prisk [holding answer 15 March 2012]: The information requested is as follows.
(a) The Technology Strategy Board's Tech City Launchpad initiative has established a £2 million grant fund for digital projects seeking matched investment. This will enable it to provide support in the form of £100,000 grants to approximately 20 companies
(b) UKTI's budget for the Tech City initiative in FY 2011/12 is £1,791,500. This pays for business specialists, promotional activities and civil service support.
Cabinet Office
Average Earnings: Yorkshire and the Humber
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average income of (a) full-time male, (b) full-time female, (c) part-time male and (d) part-time female workers was in (i) the City of York, (ii) York and North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last five years. [99765]
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 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average income of (a) full-time male, (b) full-time
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female, (c) part-time male and (d) part-time female workers was in (i) the City of York, (ii) York and North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last five years. (99765)
Estimates of average income are not available for the breakdowns requested, but estimates of average earnings are. Average 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.
The following tables show the median gross weekly earnings for full-time male, full-time female, part-time male and part-time female employee jobs in York, York and North Yorkshire and Yorkshire and the Humber in April each year from 2007 to 2011.
| Median gross weekly earnings—for full-time male, full-time female, part-time male and part-time female employee jobs (1) : (i) York, (ii) York and North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber 2007 to 2011 | ||||
| (£) | ||||
| York (2) | ||||
| Full-time male | Part-time male | Full-time female | Part-time female | |
| £ | ||||
| York and North Yorkshire | ||||
| Full -time male | Part-time male | Full-time female | Part-time female | |
| £ | ||||
| Yorkshire and the Humber | ||||
| Full-time male | Part-time male | Full-time female | Part-time female | |
| (1) Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. (2) This refers to York Unitary Authority. Guide to quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: CV <= 5% * CV >5% and <=10% ** CV >10% and <=20% x Unreliable Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics. | ||||
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Employment: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many jobs there were in the City of York in each of the last 10 years. [99764]
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 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many jobs there were in the City of York in each of the last 10 years. (099764)
Table 1 as follows shows the number of total jobs in York for the periods 2000 to 2009 which is the latest are the latest periods available.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk.
| Table 1: Total jobs in York for years 2000 to 2009 | |
| Total j obs (thousand) | |
| Note: Total jobs is a workplace-based measure of jobs and comprises: - employees (from the Annual Business Inquiry) - self-employment jobs (from the Annual Population Survey) - Government—supported trainees (from DfES and DWP) and - HM Forces (from MoD) | |
Employment: Yorkshire and the Humber
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many full-time equivalent (a) civil service, (b) health service and (c) armed forces jobs there were in (i) the City of York, (ii) York and North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 1997. [99767]
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 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question how many full-time equivalent (a) civil service, (b) health service and (c) armed forces jobs there were in (i) the City of York, (ii) York and North Yorkshire and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 1997. (099767)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not compile full-time equivalent jobs statistics for civil service, health service and armed forces. However, ONS does produce full time equivalent employment statistics for civil service, health service and armed forces although this is only available at UK level.
HM Forces work force jobs data is available for Yorkshire and the Humber from 1996 onwards.
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Civil service employment data is available for York, York and North Yorkshire and Yorkshire and the Humber for the periods 2008 to 2010.
HM Armed Forces headcount numbers are produced by Ministry of Defence and available for York, York and North Yorkshire and Yorkshire and the Humber from the Defence Analytical Services Agency website:
www.dasa.mod.uk
Lung Cancer
Tracey Crouch: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what assessment he has made of the level of mortality from lung cancer in (a) Medway Primary Care Trust, (b) West Kent Primary Care Trust and (c) England in each of the last three years; [101135]
(2) what assessment he has made of the incidence rate of lung cancer in (a) Medway Primary Care Trust, (b) West Kent Primary Care Trust and (c) England in each of the last three years; [101136]
(3) what estimate he has made of the (a) five and (b) one year survival rates of lung cancer patients in (A) England, (B) Medway Primary Care Trust and (C) West Kent Primary Care Trust in each of the last three years. [101138]
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 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary questions.
Table 1 shows the number of deaths and the age-standardised mortality rate per 100,000 population where lung cancer was the underlying cause of death, in Medway Primary Care Trust, West Kent Primary Care Trust and England, for 2007 to 2010 (the latest year available).
Table 2 shows the number of newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer and the age-standardised lung cancer incidence rate per 100,000 population in Medway Primary Care Trust, West Kent Primary Care Trust and England, for 2007 to 2009 (the latest year available).
One and five-year relative survival estimates for adults (aged 15-99 years), for 21 common cancers, including lung cancer, in England, are published annually and are available here:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html? definition=tcm%3A77-21521
Survival is calculated from the date of diagnosis.
Table 3, provides one and five-year relative survival for lung cancer for patients diagnosed in 2003-2007, 2004-2008 and 2005-2009, followed up to 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Survival rates for lung cancer are not available for primary care trusts in England. However, one-year survival rates for all cancers combined are available. For patients diagnosed during 1996-2009 and followed up to the end of 2010, the figures are available on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html? definition=tcm%3A77-210452
Figures are presented for each of the 11 years from 1996-2006, for all adults (persons aged 15-99 years), persons aged 55-64 years and persons aged 75-99 years.
Figures on cancer incidence and mortality in the United Kingdom and constituent countries are published annually and are available here:
www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition =tcm%3A77-21518
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| Table 1. Number of deaths and age-standardised mortality rate per 100,000 population (with 95% confidence intervals) where underlying cause of death was lung cancer, England, Medway PCT and West Kent PCT, 2007-10 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) | |||||
| Number | Rate | Lower CI | Upper CI | ||
| (1) Data extracted using the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) codes C33 'Malignant neoplasm of trachea' and C34 'Malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung'. (2) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (3) The lower and upper confidence limits have been provided. These form a confidence interval, which is a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and shows the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. (4) Figures are based on boundaries as of February 2012 and exclude deaths of non-residents. (5) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year Source: Office for National Statistics | |||||
| Table 2. Number of newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer and age-standardised incidence rate per 100,000 population (with 95% confidence intervals), England, Medway PCT and West Kent PCT, 2007-10 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) | |||||
| Number | Rate | Lower CI | Upper CI | ||
| (1) Data extracted using the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) codes C33 'Malignant neoplasm of trachea' and C34 'Malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung'. (2) Age-standardised incidence rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (3) The lower and upper confidence limits have been provided. These form a confidence interval, which is a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and shows the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. (4) Figures are based on boundaries as of February 2012 and exclude deaths of non-residents. (5) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. Source: Office for National Statistics | |||||
| Table 3. One and five-year relative survival estimates for patients diagnosed with lung cancer, England, followed up to 2008-10 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) | |||||||
| One-year survival | Five-year survival | ||||||
| Percentage | Lower CI | Upper CI | Percentage | Lower CI | Upper CI | ||
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| (1 )Data extracted using the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) codes C33 'Malignant neoplasm of trachea' and C34 'Malignant neoplasm of bronchus and lung'. (2) Relative survival is an estimate of the probability of survival from the cancer alone. For convenience, it is expressed as a percentage in the range 0-100%. It can be interpreted as the survival of cancer patients after taking into account the background mortality that the patients would have experienced had they not had cancer. Background mortality is derived from life tables of all-cause mortality rates in the general population. (3) Estimates provided for both males and females are age-specific and have not been standardised to account for changes in the age-structure of the population through time. (4) Differences between survival estimates for the two periods are taken as the arithmetic difference, for example 12% is shown as 2% (not 20%) higher than 10%. Survival figures are rounded to one decimal place, but the differences are based on exact underlying figures. (5) The lower and upper confidence limits have been provided. These form a confidence interval, which is a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and shows the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. Source: Office for National Statistics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. | |||||||
Third Sector
Mr Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much funding his Department gave to (a) the Stephen Lawrence Trust, (b) Magic Breakfast, (c) Barnados and (d) the Children's Society in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [100543]
Mr Hurd: The Cabinet Office has not funded those organisations directly in 2010-11 or 2011-12.
Voluntary Work: Young People
Tony Baldry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost per participant was of the National Citizen Service in its first year; and what proportion of that cost was accounted for by the recruitment process. [100460]
Mr Hurd: Information on the costs of National Citizen Service (NCS) will be published in due course.
Deputy Prime Minister
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr Bone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will bring forward proposals to abolish his office. [100829]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 March 2011, Official Report, column 951W.
Electoral Register: Students
Mrs Ellman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effect that the introduction of individual electoral registration will have on levels of student registration. [100151]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
Research is currently being undertaken into the barriers young people face in registering to vote. This research will inform the development of our proposals for individual electoral registration (IER) and in particular our approach to making the transition for students as simple and accessible as possible. In addition, we are working with organisations which represent students to establish the most effective methods of engaging students throughout the transition to IER. The Government will also be conducting further work to explore the potential of data matching for encouraging students to register.
Urban Areas
Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the guidelines by which those judging applicant towns for city status made their decisions. [100830]
Mr Harper: The Government published guidelines for the format and contents of entries for the Diamond Jubilee competition when the competition was announced. These can still be viewed on the Diamond Jubilee pages of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's website. These guidelines describe information which the Government would expect to find useful in reaching a decision, but do not constitute formal criteria. City status is an honour granted by personal command of Her Majesty; not a right to be claimed by towns which tick certain boxes.
Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the names and positions of those who judged the applicant towns seeking city status. [100831]
Mr Harper: The Queen's decision on the granting of city status was made on the basis of recommendations put forward by Ministers. The Deputy Prime Minister was responsible for advising Her Majesty on this occasion. In this, he was assisted by me and by officials in the Constitution Group of the Cabinet Office.
Justice
Administration of Justice: Secrecy
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what account he took of judicial comments on closed material procedures in the case of Al Rawi and others v. The Security Service in preparation of the Justice and Security Green Paper. [100534]
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Mr Kenneth Clarke: The proposals in the Justice and Security Green Paper were guided by relevant case-law, including the judgment of the Supreme Court in Al Rawi and others v. The Security Service. Many of the judgments took the view that closed procedures were a significant enough departure from the principles of transparent justice that they should be a matter for Parliament and not the courts. For example, Lord Clarke said that “It would be better for the problems which arise in this class of case to be dealt with by Parliament.” The Supreme Court acknowledged that in the absence of a closed procedure a case could be untriable and might have to be struck out, as was the case in Carnduff v. Rock.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to Appendix J, paragraph 11 of the Justice and Security Green Paper, in how many of the cases referred to he estimates the Government will be unable to defend itself because sensitive information is central to its defence. [100535]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: As indicated in the Justice and Security Green Paper, Appendix J, sensitive information could be central to these cases. It follows therefore that there will be a detrimental effect on Government's ability to defend themselves effectively in all of them.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to Appendix J, paragraph 11 of the Justice and Security Green Paper, how many of the cases referred to he estimates could not proceed if sensitive material was excluded by the operation of public interest immunity. [100536]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: It is not possible to predict how many cases would not be able to proceed, because of being struck out, withdrawn or settled. However, as indicated in the Green Paper, sensitive evidence could be centrally relevant and therefore it will obviously affect HMG's ability to defend such cases if sensitive material, engaged in all these cases, is excluded from consideration by PII.
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the procedures for dealing with sensitive material in civil proceedings in the US and other common law jurisdictions. [100538]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: In preparing the Green Paper on Justice and Security, the Government surveyed international practice in a range of common law and civil law systems in order to understand how other Governments address the challenge of handling sensitive material in judicial proceedings. The United States, Canada and Australia were among the common law systems surveyed. A summary of the Government's findings on issues including closed material proceedings (CMPs), Special Advocates, specialist courts, handling of foreign-sourced material and ‘executive veto’ is given in Appendix J of the Green Paper (Cm 8194).
Protection of Badgers: Convictions
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of offences under the provisions of the Badgers Act 1991 in the latest period for which figures are available. [100380]
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Mr Blunt: During 2010 (latest currently available), a total of 30 persons were found guilty at all courts in England and Wales of offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. The 1992 Act repealed the previous Badgers Acts of 1973 and 1991.
Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
Defamation: Scotland
Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on reform of libel law. [100758]
Mr Djanogly: The law of libel in general is a devolved issue, and the proposals for reform of the law in the draft Defamation Bill extend to England and Wales only. Certain provisions which we intend to take forward in a substantive Defamation Bill amend legislation which currently also extends to Scotland. We are clarifying whether any devolution implications exist on those issues, and the Ministry's officials have informed their counterparts in Scotland of the position.
Juries: Mental Illness
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will consider amending the provisions of the Juries Act 1974 regarding the eligibility for jury service of people with mental health conditions. [100013]
Mr Djanogly: As the hon. Member may be aware, Lord Stevenson is taking forward a Private Members Bill—the Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill—which includes provisions amending the Juries Act. During the debate on the Second Reading of this Bill in another place, we made it clear that we support the principles underlying this amendment, but want to ensure that what is implemented is fair and effective. My officials are working with Lord Stevenson to ensure that this is achieved.
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect of the incidence of mental illness on eligibility for jury service. [100014]
Mr Djanogly: Around 1% of the population is summoned for jury service each year. Of these, some 2% declare themselves ineligible as a result of treatment for mental disorder. Overall, approximately 23% of those summoned are disqualified from serving, on a variety of grounds. On the basis of these figures mental illness is not a significant factor in jury summoning.
Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of people disqualified from jury service on mental health grounds; and what comparison he has made of this figure with the incidence of mental illness in the general population. [100015]
Mr Djanogly:
Only about 1% of people in England and Wales aged 18 to 69 are summoned for jury service each year, and around 2% of those summoned for jury service declare themselves ineligible on grounds of mental
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health. This is slightly lower than the proportion of people accessing NHS funded adult specialist mental health services, which was 2,789 per 100,000 population in England in 2010-11
(1).
(1) The Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2011
Legal Aid Scheme
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much additional spending he expects to arise from inclusion of peri-natal neurological care in the scope of legal aid. [98229]
Mr Djanogly: These cases are not at an additional cost to the public purse and have been accounted for as a proportion of the estimated £6 million spend for clinical negligence exceptional cases under the reforms set out in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.