Incapacity Benefit

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's risk register for the decision to rollout nationwide the incapacity benefits migration programme. [107231]

Chris Grayling: The Department has no plans to publish any risk registers regarding its operations. The phased approach to incapacity benefit migration was itself a risk mitigation prior to implementing the change nationally. There is no specific risk register now that migration is part of day to day operations.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Mr Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the median length of waiting time was for callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines in the latest period for which figures are available. [108615]

Chris Grayling: It is not possible to obtain the median figure as requested, as this would require a full list of every individual instance rather than the aggregated

23 May 2012 : Column 730W

figures our Management Information system presents. All figures routinely reported within the DWP represent mean, rather than median, averages.

The relevant mean figures are as follows:

First contact (jobseekers allowance new claims—April 2012—operational month (7 April to 4 May 05)

Average wait time to answer: 2 minutes, 45 seconds

Please note, these figures will also include calls relating to IS new claims.

JSA inquiries (jobseekers allowance existing claims)—April 2012—operational month ( 7 April to 4 May)

Average wait time to answer: 3 minutes, 59 seconds

Please note that figures for April will have been significantly impacted by both increased seasonal demand at the start of the new business year and condensed demand following bank holidays and so do not necessarily provide representative figures of call centre staff performance under the conditions encountered during the majority of the operational year.

All figures represent wait time from customer entry into the relevant queue excluding any time spent progressing through any messaging presented prior to the queue being reached. Figures for both service lines will include all calls received including inappropriate/misdirected contact.

Mr Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the length of time waited by the top 85 percentile of callers to the jobseeker's allowance advice lines was in the latest period for which figures are available. [108616]

Chris Grayling: I can advise that the top 85 percentile is not available. The telephony platform would not capture wait times by individual in order for us to calculate the wait time for that or indeed any proportion of the total.

Pension Funds: Overseas Investment

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what pension fund overseas investment was as (a) equities and (b) debt instruments in each of the last 30 years; how much investment there was in each year; and what proportion it was of total UK investment in each year. [108309]

Steve Webb: Information for the period requested is not available. Information from 2006 onwards is published by the Office for National Statistics, and is set out in the table.

Pension fund investment—assets acquired
£ million
  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Overseas equities

128,744

199,280

141,499

136,756

153,912

155,194

Overseas debt instruments

60,734

112,600

122,138

104,749

86,843

95,009

Total investment by pension funds

499,430

643,982

556,282

555,428

501,298

528,534

23 May 2012 : Column 731W

23 May 2012 : Column 732W

Overseas as a proportion of total (%)

37.9

48.4

47.4

43.5

48.0

47.3

Notes: 1. The table shows the cash value of assets acquired by self-administered pension funds in each year. A self-administered pension scheme is defined as an occupational pension scheme with units invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts. The data relate to the self-administered pension and superannuation funds of the private sector and to the funded, self-administered schemes of local authorities and employees previously employed in the nationalised industries. Insurer-provided pensions are excluded from the figures. 2. Overseas equities consist of overseas ordinary and preference shares and overseas mutual fund holdings—although note that mutual fund holdings could also consist of bond holdings. Overseas debt instruments consist of overseas corporate and Government bonds and holdings of overseas loans and mortgages. 3. Total investment figure is for long-term investment by self-administered pension funds only and excludes cash and other short-term holdings such as money market funds, which amount to roughly around £40 to £45 billion a year. Source: Office for National Statistics, Investment by Insurance Companies, Pension Funds and Trusts: 4th Quarter 2011, available to download at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Pension+funding

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the overseas earnings were of pension funds (a) in dividends, (b) in interest, (c) in total and (d) as a proportion of total UK earnings in each of the last 30 years. [108310]

Steve Webb: The data required to answer this question are not available. Information about total investment income received by self-administered pension funds from 2006 onwards is published by the Office for National Statistics, and is set out in the table:

Pension fund investment income
£ million
  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Rents, receivable from properties

1,913

1,892

1,874

1,764

1,760

1,837

Dividends received from investment

12,474

11,374

10,810

8,633

7,876

8,727

Interest earned on investments

6,553

7,513

9,697

8,784

9,686

10,614

Total investment income

20,940

20,779

22,381

19,181

19,322

21,178

Note: The table shows the cash value of investment income earned by self-administered pension funds in each year. A self-administered pension scheme is defined as an occupational pension scheme with units invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts. Source: Office for National Statistics, Investment by Insurance Companies, Pension Funds and Trusts: 4th Quarter 2011, available to download at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Pension+funding

Pensioners: Income

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average single pensioner weekly incomes were of (a) male and (b) female pensioners in today's prices in each of the last 30 years. [108300]

Steve Webb: The following table provides the median single pensioner net weekly equivalised incomes, Before and After Housing Costs, by gender in 2009-10 prices for all available years.

Net median weekly income by gender
(£ per week, 2009-10 prices)
    Before Housing Costs After Housing Costs
Source Year Male Female Male Female

FES

1979

108

99

83

74

 

1981

115

106

87

78

 

.1987

129

118

94

85

 

1988

126

118

90

83

 

1989

124

117

93

82

 

1990-91

134

122

107

88

 

1992

141

129

106

91

 

1993

150

138

110

94

 

1994-95

152

140

113

95

 

1995-96

153

145

112

97

 

1996-97

161

148

122

101

 

1997-98

161

150

119

105

 

1998-99

164

152

124

111

 

1999-2000

171

161

135

121

 

2000-01

176

166

137

129

           

FRS

2001-02

191

175

159

135

 

2002-03

192

181

156

141

 

2003-04

203

183

168

142

 

2004-05

203

192

170

158

 

2005-06

205

197

176

164

 

2006-07

209

193

173

162

 

2007-08

213

194

184

163

 

2008-09

220

204

191

172

23 May 2012 : Column 733W

 

2009-10

232

212

197

176

Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Pensioners' Income Series (PI) data sourced from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) and the Family Resources Survey (FRS). 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost and an After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Costs they are. 3. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 4. The reference period for FRS-based PI figures is the financial year. FRS-based estimates are not available before 1994-95. FES-based PI data are based on calendar years. Data are presented for available years. The years presented correspond to publications that have correct data and where we have spent the time in ensuring income definitions, etc. are consistent. 5. Weekly incomes have been rounded to the nearest pound. 6. Older data is sourced from the FES. The two surveys have different response rates and response profiles, and there are some definitional differences in the data that are collected. Because of these differences, direct comparisons between results from the FES and FRS should not normally be made. 7. FES-sourced figures are for the United Kingdom and FRS-sourced figures are for Great Britain up to 2001-02 and for the United Kingdom from 2002-03. 8. It was announced in May that the 2009-10 results will be revised when the 2010-11 results come out. See the DWP PI website for further information. Source: Pensioners' Incomes Series 2009-10

Personal Independence Payment

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether an assessment by the social services department of a local authority that a person with a disability requires care and support will be sufficient evidence of eligibility for the personal independence payment. [108864]

Maria Miller: Within the personal independence payment we intend to move away from the blanket exemptions and automatic entitlement provisions that exist within disability living allowance and treat every claimant as an individual. As such, entitlement to the personal independence payment will not be based upon individuals' specific health conditions or impairments nor on what existing entitlement to other benefits or support they may have, including social care support. The assessment for the new benefit will instead focus on the extent to which claimants' health condition or impairment affect their day to day lives, by assessing ability to carry out key everyday activities. This will ensure that priority in the benefit goes to those people who face the greatest barriers to living independent lives.

While the fact that claimants have entitlement to social care or other support will not be a factor in whether they are entitled to the personal independence payment, we do want to ensure that our assessments are based on the best and most appropriate evidence. Evidence

23 May 2012 : Column 734W

is likely to come from a range of sources and individuals will be able to provide us with the evidence they consider relevant and to tell us which other professionals may be able to advise us on their circumstances, for example, GP, nurse, hospital consultant or social worker. Reports produced as part of assessments for other support may form a useful part of this evidence mix.

This suite of information and evidence will allow for a far more personalised approach to be undertaken both on overall entitlement to the benefit and on whether a face-to-face consultation is needed with the individual as part of the assessment. Such an approach will allow for more informed decisions to be made, taking full account of how the health condition or impairment impacts upon the individual.

Social Security Benefits: Data Protection

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private businesses and public bodies have access to information held by his Department relating to individuals' employment history and working age benefit claims; and for what reasons each body has access in each case. [109030]

Chris Grayling: The Department lawfully allows specific organisations to access personal data for a wide range of statutory purposes. This access may be required, for example, by the Department's data processors, organisations working with individuals to assist them into employment, or other data controllers, such as local authorities to assist with the assessment of housing benefit.

A wide range of private and public organisations is provided with information for such purposes and compiling a single list of the uses made by each of them could be done only at disproportionate cost.

The Department has provided further detail of the ways in which personal information is used, in an explanatory leaflet ‘DWP and your personal information’ in its published Privacy Policy which is available on the Department’s internet pages at the following address:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/privacy-policy/#DPA

Universal Credit

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish his Department's risk register on the introduction of universal credit. [108244]

Chris Grayling: There are no plans to publish the Department's risk register on the introduction of universal credit.

Working Hours

Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average number of hours was worked per week by people employed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) each Scottish constituency in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012. [109202]

Mr Hurd: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

23 May 2012 : Column 735W

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average number of hours worked per week was of people employed in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) each Scottish constituency in May (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012. (109202)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics on Average Hours Worked, for regions and constituencies from the Annual Population Survey (APS). Estimates for the UK have also been provided from this source for consistency. However, these UK estimates will therefore differ from those in the National Labour Market Statistics Bulletin which are produced from the Labour Force Survey.

Table 1 shows the mean actual number of hours worked per worker per week for the geographies requested for the 12 month APS periods ending September 2010 and September 2011, the latest period for which figures are available. Data for 2012 are currently not available.

As with any sample survey, estimates from APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

Mean hours worked per worker per week (1) by UK, Scotland and Westminster parliamentary constituencies in Scotland
  12 months ending:
  September 2010 September 2011

United Kingdom

31.8

31.7

Scotland

31.4

31.3

Aberdeen North

31.8

30.7

Aberdeen South

31.2

31.7

Airdrie and Shotts

33.0

31.7

Angus

31.7

31.8

Argyll and Bute

31.7

32.0

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock

30.9

31.5

Banff and Buchan

31.7

32.7

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

31.2

31.2

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

31.6

29.0

Central Ayrshire

31.2

31.2

Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill

30.0

31.7

Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch

33.8

32.8

Dumfries and Galloway

30.8

33.0

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

30.8

32.1

Dundee East

30.5

29.7

Dundee West

30.3

28.8

Dunfermline and West Fife

31.7

31.1

East Dunbartonshire

30.6

31.1

East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow

31.2

32.0

East Lothian

31.6

31.0

East Renfrewshire

31.7

32.8

Edinburgh East

29.8

32.1

Edinburgh North and Leith

31.1

32.6

Edinburgh South

35.6

31.7

Edinburgh South West

29.6

33.6

Edinburgh West

32.5

31.5

Falkirk

32.2

30.0

Glasgow Central

28.5

34.0

Glasgow East

30.4

27.6

Glasgow North

34.8

30.0

Glasgow North East

30.3

28.5

Glasgow North West

29.9

31.2

23 May 2012 : Column 736W

Glasgow South

33.2

30.8

Glasgow South West

28.4

30.8

Glenrothes

31.3

29.9

Gordon

32.2

31.5

Inverclyde

31.1

31.8

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

31.5

31.6

Kilmarnock and Loudoun

31.1

31.5

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

29.6

30.3

Lanark and Hamilton East

32.6

29.2

Linlithgow and East Falkirk

31.5

30.8

Livingston

32.9

31.6

Midlothian

30.3

29.7

Moray

32.9

31.9

Motherwell and Wishaw

31.1

32.9

Na h-Eileanan an Iar

29.1

35.0

North Ayrshire and Arran

30.7

31.4

North East Fife

34.5

32.7

Ochil and South Perthshire

33.0

31.8

Orkney and Shetland

31.3

30.1

Paisley and Renfrewshire North

30.8

32.4

Paisley and Renfrewshire South

29 2

30.9

Perth and North Perthshire

32 5

31.5

Ross, Skye and Lochaber

30.4

30.0

Rutherglen and Hamilton West

29.7

31.6

Stirling

30.9

31.0

West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

32.6

30.6

West Dunbartonshire

30.1

29.1

(1) Average actual hours worked per week in main and second job including paid and unpaid overtime. Source: Annual Population Survey

Education

Academies

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools he expects to convert to academy status in 2012. [106884]

Mr Gibb: 2,160 applications to convert to academies had been received up until 1 May 2012. 1,450 of these schools have already converted to academy status. The academy conversion programme is a demand-led programme with conversion numbers dependent on schools submitting applications. I cannot therefore advise how many schools will convert to academies in 2012.

Academies: Primary Education

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance is given to officials in his Department on the information to be provided in writing when they are advising primary schools on possible conversion to academy status. [108804]

23 May 2012 : Column 737W

Mr Gibb: No guidance is given to departmental officials about what information should be provided in writing to schools that are considering conversion to academy status. Officials communicate with these schools in person, on the phone, and in writing. In addition, primary schools can access written information available on the Department's website including details about academy status and the process for becoming an academy, a description of the role of a sponsor and case studies of open academies. The website is available here

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/primary

Adoption: Reading (Berkshire)

Alok Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were in foster care awaiting adoption in Reading West constituency in each of the last three years. [106662]

23 May 2012 : Column 738W

Tim Loughton: The information requested for Reading borough council can be found in the tables. Information at constituency level is not available.

The decision that a looked after child should be placed for adoption is made by their local authority but the local authority cannot actually place the child with prospective adopters without either a placement order or parental consent (depending on the individual circumstances of the case).

Information about the decision that a child should be placed for adoption has only been collected for all looked after children, for whom a decision was made, since 2009. Previously, this information was collected only for children who had been adopted. Consequently, the number of children waiting for adoption can only be provided for the last three years.

Looked after children for whom the decision was made that they shou ld be placed for adoption while placed In foster care, who were adopted, had the decision that they should be placed for adoption reversed or who were still waiting to be adopted at 31 March (1, 2, 3, 4) . Years ending 31 March 2009 to 2011. Coverage: Reading
Number
    Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption
    2009
Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6)

2009

15

0

0

15

0

2010

10

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

2011

15

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Number
    Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption
    20 10
Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6)

2009

15

x

0

10

x

2010

10

0

0

10

x

2011

15

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Number
    Year in which the decision was made that the child should be placed for adoption
    20 11
Year in which the child was adopted, for whom the decision was reversed or was waiting to be adopted Number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption Number of children adopted in year ending 31 March Number for whom decision reversed in year ending 31 March Number awaiting adoption at 31 March (5) Number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March (6)

2009

15

x

0

x

x

2010

10

x

0

5

x

2011

15

x

0

15

5

23 May 2012 : Column 739W

23 May 2012 : Column 740W

n/a = Not applicable x = Figures not shown in order to protect confidentiality (1) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. Consequently, the figures may not add up. For confidentiality purposes, numbers from one to five inclusive have been replaced by a cross (x). Where any number is shown as zero (0), the original figure submitted was zero (0). (2) Only children looked after in a foster care placement when the decision was made that they should be placed tor adoption have been counted. (3 )For children living with the family intending to adopt them (ie placed for adoption), it is tor the prospective adopters to apply to court for an adoption order. (4 )Children waiting to be placed for adoption may either bewailing for a placement order to be made by the court or be in (he process of being matched with prospective adopters. (5) The number of children at 31 March awaiting adoption is calculated as the total number of children in foster care for whom the decision was made that they should be placed for adoption, minus the total number of children who were adopted or for whom the decision was reversed. The number includes children who have been placed for adoption, but for whom an adaption order has not yet been made, as well as children who have not yet been placed. (6) The number awaiting adoption who were placed for adoption at 31 March is a subset of all children who were awaiting adoption at 31 March, and indicates that the child is living with his/her prospective adopters but an adoption order is not yet in place. Source: SSDA 903

Information on adopted children can be found in the Statistical First Release “Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (including adoption and care leavers)—year ending 31 March 2011”, which is available on the Department's website via the following link:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001026/index.shtml

Apprentices: West Midlands

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many apprentice starts there were for 16 to 18 year- olds in (a) Redditch constituency and (b) the West Midlands in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012. [107047]

Mr Hayes: Table 1 shows the number of apprenticeship programme starts aged under 19 in Redditch parliamentary constituency, the West Midlands region and England for academic years 2009/10 to 2010/11, the latest full year for which final data are available.

Table 1: Apprenticeship programme starts by learners aged under 19 by geography, 2009/10 to 2010/11
  2009/10 full year 2010/11 full year

Redditch constituency

150

200

West Midlands region

13,590

15,690

England total

116,800

131,700

Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred except for England total which are rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Age is based on age at the start of the programme. These figure includes a small number of under 16-year-olds. 3. Geography is based upon the home postcode of the learner. The England total includes some postcodes which are not known. Geographic information is based on boundaries of regions as of May 2010. Source: Individualised Learner Record

Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by age is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 29 March 2012:

http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if the Government will consider reviewing Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and its use for tackling and preventing child neglect. [109036]

Tim Loughton: The earlier that help is given to vulnerable children and families, the more chance there is of turning lives around and protecting children from harm. The Government's vision is for a child centred system which includes providing effective help when a problem arises at any stage in a child's life.

Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 makes it an offence to assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon or expose a child in a manner that is likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the child or injury to his health. Section 1 specifies that this includes any mental derangement. It does not therefore focus solely on a child's physical needs.

Concerns about a child's welfare may arise in many different contexts and the nature of these concerns will vary greatly from case to case. What is important is that action is taken quickly so that a problem does not escalate.

Understanding families and the experiences of children within them can be complex and signs of low level abuse and neglect may be misleading. Professionals working in universal services—health, education, police and early years—have a responsibility to identify the early signs of abuse and neglect, to share that information and work together to provide children with the help they need.

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are being neglected. Under section 47 local authorities have a duty to make inquiries when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm.

Revisions we are proposing to make to the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2010) will continue to set out the processes to be followed when there are concerns about a child's safety and welfare. These concerns may be serious enough to justify initiating action in the family court. The threshold criteria set out in section 31 of the Children Act 1989 are used by judges when deciding whether a child has suffered significant harm and should be the subject of a statutory care or supervision order.

However, statutory guidance itself is not sufficient to effect the change needed. We are helping children's services, police and the NHS to work together and focus on early identification before problems escalate. We are also working with Ofsted to make sure their inspections look at whether children are getting the help they need. We are undertaking a number of reforms to strengthen

23 May 2012 : Column 741W

social work practice. This includes improving the social work degree and developing further the skills of existing social workers in critical areas such as child protection. We have advertised for and intend to appoint a Chief Social Worker, who will work with the new College of Social Work and the newly designated Principal Child and Family Social Workers in local authorities to drive improvement and raise standards. The Department has also commissioned Action for Children and the University of Stirling to produce training materials to help equip the work force to respond effectively to children who are likely to be, or have been, neglected. These materials will be published soon.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the number of children who went missing from care in the last year for which figures are available. [106451]

Tim Loughton: The information requested is contained in the following table.

The Department collects information from local authorities on looked after children who are missing for more than 24 hours from their agreed placement and whose whereabouts are either known or unknown to social services.

For completeness, the table also contains information on the total number of children looked after at any time during the year ending 31 March 2011.

Looked after children who went missing from their agreed placement during the year ending 31 March 2011 (1,2) . Coverage: England
  Number

Total number of children looked after at any time during the year

90,920

Children looked after who went missing during the year(3,4,5)

930

(1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements. (3) Figures include looked after children who were missing from care for a period of more than 24 hours. (4) Children who went missing more than once during the year have been counted once. (5) Figures include children who are absent from their agreed placement including those cases where (a) the young person is in a refuge for children at risk, or (b) the whereabouts of the young person is known to social services (not in refuge), or (c) the whereabouts of the young person is unknown. Source: SSDA903

Children: Poverty

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what percentage of children were living in poverty in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne North constituency, (b) the north east and (c) England in the latest period for which figures are available. [106482]

Maria Miller: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Estimates of the number and proportion of children living in poverty are published in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. HBAI uses household

23 May 2012 : Column 742W

income adjusted (or 'equivalised') for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living.

The sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates at local authority level. However, figures at a regional level for England and the north east are available. Three survey years have been combined because single year estimates are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.

Statistics covering 2007/08 to 2009/10 are the most recent available.

The following table shows the proportion and number of children living in relative poverty before housing costs (BHC) for 2007/08 to 2009/10 in England and the north east.

Table 1: Number and proportion of children living in relative poverty (BHC) in England and the north east, 2007/08 to 2009/10
Region Number (million) Proportion (%)

England

2.3

21

North East

0.1

26

Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) available at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai_arc This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 2. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 3. Figures have been presented on a before housing cost rather than an after housing cost basis. For before housing costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for after housing costs they are. 4. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 5. The reference period for these HBAI figures is the financial year. 6. Numbers of households with children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children. 7. Proportions of households with children have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 8. This measure is defined as: - Relative poverty: households with children with equivalised incomes below 60% of contemporary median household income before housing costs (BHC). 9. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets four income-based UK-wide targets to be met by 2020. The targets are based on the proportion of children living in households with relative low income, combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. Source: Households Below Average Income 1994/95 to 2009/10, DWP

Departmental Staff: Political Affiliation

Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what (a) grants and (b) contracts his Department has awarded to companies or organisations run by individuals who previously held an elected position as a member of the (i) Conservative party and (ii) Liberal Democrat party since May 2010; what the (A) value and (B) nature was of these contracts; and whether they were publicly advertised. [107142]

Tim Loughton: We hold details of organisations that receive a grant from or were awarded a contract by the Department, but we do not hold any further detail

23 May 2012 : Column 743W

about individuals within those organisations to know whether they were employed by or held an elected position of the Conservative party or the Liberal Democrat party. To provide this information would incur disproportionate costs to this Department.

With regard to grants, within the Department we have a stated aim, endorsed by our former permanent secretary, of competing all grants that the Department gives. Depending on the subject matter of each grant, we advertise on Contracts Finder

http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk

relevant trade websites or publications or on the Funding Central website

http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/Default.aspx

With regard to contracts, it is the Department's policy to advertise all suitable contracts in either Contracts Finder (link as above), the Official Journal of the European Union

http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do

or other publications relevant to the subject matter of the contract.

A suitable contract is one with a value over £20,000 and where the goods or services are not available via an existing framework agreement. Contracts with a value below £20,000 and which are not available from a framework agreement are competitively tendered by selecting suitable organisations to bid based on objective criteria.

E-mail

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received

23 May 2012 : Column 744W

from the Information Commissioner's Office on the use of private e-mails and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [106412]

Tim Loughton: In December 2011 the Department received a report from the Information Commissioner on the findings of its good practice visit in October 2011, which included consideration of the use of personal e-mail and the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Information Commissioner published those findings on 15 December 2011.

The Information Commissioner and his staff regularly make representations to departmental officials in the course of relevant Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act casework.

Free School Meals: Durham

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in North West Durham constituency are registered for free school meals. [108854]

Mr Gibb: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is shown in the tables.

Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals as at January 2011 is published in the Statistical First Release 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011' available at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml

Maintained nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools, and pupil referral units (1, 2, 3, 4) , number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6, 7) , January 2011, England
  Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools (1, 2) State-funded secondary schools (1, 3)
  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals

England

3,873,175

743,255

19.2

2,837,825

450,275

15.9

Durham

35,813

7,945

22.2

26,381

4,999

18.9

North West Durham constituency

6,273

1,223

19.5

3,802

664

17.5

  Special schools (4) Pupil referral units
  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals

England

79,030

28,830

36.5

13,725

4,745

34.6

Durham

1,068

564

52.8

79

38

48.1

North West Durham constituency

52

20

38.5

(8)

(8)

(8)

  Total (7)
  Number on roll (5, 6) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (5, 6) Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free meals

England

6,803,755

1,227,110

18.0

Durham

63,341

13,546

21.4

North West Durham constituency

10,127

1,907

18.8

23 May 2012 : Column 745W

23 May 2012 : Column 746W

(1 )Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes primary academies. (3 )Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies. (4 )Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (5 )Includes pupils who are sole or dual main registrations, includes boarders. In Pupil Referral Units includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. (6 )Pupils who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between 5 and 15. (7 )Includes maintained nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools, and Pupil Referral Units. Excludes pupils in alternative provision as full and part-time status is not collected. (8 )Not applicable. No schools of this type. Note: National totals have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: School Census

Home Education

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent to which local authorities are fulfilling their duty to identify home-schooled children who are not receiving a suitable education. [108258]

Mr Gibb: The Department has not recently undertaken an assessment of how local authorities are fulfilling their statutory duty to identify those children of compulsory school age who are not receiving a suitable education at home. However, the Department plans to review its statutory guidance on children missing education for local authorities later in the autumn.

Lost Property

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [108923]

Tim Loughton: There are no recorded losses from the Department for items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Departmental Staff

Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent employees his Department employed in May 2010; and how many it employed at the latest period for which figures are available. [108164]

Tim Loughton: The Department employed 2,622 or 2,504.1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees on the 31 May 2010. A more detailed breakdown covering how the Department and its arms length bodies have changed since March 2010 is as follows.

  March 2010 March 2012 April 2012
  Headcount FTE Headcount FTE Headcount FTE

Total group

9,710

9,258

7,860

7,385

7,542

7,073

DFE Total

7,435

7,062

6,244

5,828

5,943

5,535

DFE plus Executive Agencies

2,691

2,571

2,789

2,673

4,024

3,868

DFE Core

2,691

2,571

2,699

2,585

2,818

2,699

Executive Agencies

0

0

90

88

1,206

1,169

NDPBs

4,744

4,492

3,455

3,155

1,919

1,667

Non-Ministerial Departments

2,275

2,196

1,616

1,557

1,599

1,538

Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many full-time equivalent employees have (a) left and (b) been recruited to his Department in the last two years. [108179]

Tim Loughton: 111 people joined and 750 left the Department between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2012.

Primary Education: Birmingham

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many vacant primary school places there were in (a) Birmingham, Ladywood constituency and (b) Birmingham city council area in each of the last five years for which information is available. [108731]

Mr Gibb: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of unfilled places in maintained primary schools (except special schools) via an annual survey. The following table shows the number of unfilled places in maintained primary schools and academies in Birmingham between 2007 and 2011, which are the most recent data available. The number of unfilled places are reported at local authority level and not broken down by constituency.

Unfilled places in maintained primary schools in Birmingham (including academies)
  Total

2007(1)

8,649

2008(1)

8,730

2009(1)

8,414

2010(2)

7,875

2011(2)

7,635

(1) Number of places relate to the position as at January (2) Number of places relate to the position as at May Source: Surplus Places Survey and School Capacity Collection

23 May 2012 : Column 747W

Schools: Admissions

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) on how many occasions a direction to admit was sought from the Education Funding Agency for each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available; [106506]

(2) for how many children a direction to admit was sought from the Education Funding Agency in each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available; [106507]

(3) for how many children a direction to admit was granted in each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available; [106508]

(4) what the Education Funding Agency's average response time was to requests for direction to admit, timed from the moment that local authorities first made a request for a direction to admit in the latest period for which figures are available. [106509]

Mr Gibb: The Secretary of State has powers to direct admission to an academy if a local authority makes a complaint and the academy is found to have breached the terms of its Funding Agreement or the Admissions Code. Such requests are considered by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which took over this responsibility from the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) on 1 April 2012.

Since the start of the academic year 2011/12 the YPLA and EFA have received a total of 14 requests from local authorities to direct admission to an academy. All have been resolved without the need for the Secretary of State to issue a direction order.

The number of requests to direct admission broken down by local authority is set out in the following table. Each case is treated on a case by case basis. In all cases, the Department and the EFA will work with the relevant local authority and schools to ensure that the child is in school as quickly as possible.

Requests to direct admission to an academy by local authority
Local authority Number of requests sought Number of children

Buckinghamshire county council

1

1

Doncaster council

1

1

Hillingdon council

2

10

Kent county council

1

1

Newham council

1

1

Norfolk county council

2

2

Nottinghamshire county council

1

1

Stoke-on-Trent city council

2

2

Suffolk county council

1

1

Thurrock council

1

1

Warwickshire county council

1

1

Total (2011/12 academic year)

14

22

The Department does not collect figures on the number of children admitted to maintained schools as the result of directions issued by local authorities. Local authorities only direct a school to take a child as a last resort

23 May 2012 : Column 748W

preferring instead to work with their schools, through the locally agreed Fair Access Protocol. This ensures, in the vast majority of cases, that children are placed in school quickly. All local authorities are required to have and operate a Fair Access Protocol, with which all schools and academies in their area are required to participate.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure non-maintained schools do not disadvantage maintained schools by engaging in unfair admissions practices. [108667]

Mr Gibb: The School Admissions Code, which came into force on 1 February 2012, sets out a national framework that ensures that all state-funded school places, including places in academies and free schools, are awarded in a fair and open way. It is the responsibility of every admission authority to ensure that the admission arrangements they determine are compliant with the Code. Other non-maintained schools such as non-maintained special schools and independent schools are free to set their own admissions arrangements.

Schools: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of oral and written representations from Shropshire head teachers highlighting the effects on school infrastructure of Shropshire receiving less than the national average level for school funding. [109085]

Mr Gibb: The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my noble Friend, Lord Hill of Oareford, recently met my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) and a headteacher from Shropshire to discuss the future of school funding.

As the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), set out in his statement to the House on 26 March 2012, Official Report, columns 88-89WS, we will introduce a new national funding formula during the next spending period. This will ensure that funding is distributed across the country fairly and transparently. It is important that the components of a new national formula are right and introduce change at a pace which schools can manage.

Trade Unions

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies had (i) part-time; and (ii) full-time paid facility time arrangements in 2011-12; [107341]

(2) how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies in 2011-12; and at what cost to the public purse; [107342]

(3) how many days were utilised for paid facility time by each trade union representative in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies for trade union (i) duties and (ii) activities in 2011-12; [107343]

23 May 2012 : Column 749W

(4) if he will place in the Library copies of the facility time agreements between trade unions and (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies; [107344]

(5) how many trade union representatives in (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-department public bodies have faced disciplinary action for abusing paid facility time or public resources in each of the last five years; [107345]

(6) how many meetings have taken place between (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies and trade union representatives utilising paid facility time in each of the last five years to discuss (i) collective bargaining, (ii) redundancies, (iii) negotiations relating to employment, pay and conditions and (iv) other trade union and industrial relations duties; and what the dates and times were of each meeting; [107346]

(7) on how many occasions trade union representatives from (a) his Department and (b) each of its non-departmental public bodies have utilised paid facility time to represent an employee at a meeting or other industrial relations matter in each of the last five years. [107347]

Tim Loughton: In 2011-2012 the Department had three full-time and 30 part-time trade union representatives. A minimum of 396 days were used as paid facility time, 293 for duties and 103 for activities at a total cost of £220,000.

In CAFCASS (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) there were the equivalent of 5.5 full-time officials with a total of 1,270 days facility time used at a cost of £500,000.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) has two-part time officials. Additional information in relation to the cost and number of days spent on facilities time is not held centrally.

A copy of the facilities agreements for the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the OCC have been placed in the House Libraries.

Fewer than five trade union representatives in the Department and its non-departmental public bodies have faced disciplinary action for the misuse of facility time in the last five years.

Included in the following table are the details of formal meetings between the Department and the trade unions. The table documents the minimum number of meetings held; additional meetings have taken place on a formal and informal basis but this information is not held centrally. This information covers the period 2011-12. Information for earlier years is not available. Information as supplied by CAFCASS and OCC is also included.

The Department and its non-departmental public bodies do not collect information detailing the amount of facility time used to represent an employee at a meeting. All information contained here is in relation to the Department for Education, CAFCASS and the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) only. Information relating to NDPBs that were abolished with effect from 31 March 2012 is not available.

23 May 2012 : Column 750W

Meetings held between Department for Education and trade unions 2011-12
Date Time Meeting type

8 April 2011

11.00-13.00

Other

11 April 2011

11.00-12.00

Other

14 April 2011

15.00-17.00

Other

27 April 2011

11.00-13.00

Other

5 May 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

5 May 2011

11.00-12.00

Other

24 May 2011

16.00-17.00

Other

6 June 2011

13.00-15.00

Other

13 June 2011

15.00-16.00

Other

13 June 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

15 June 2011

10.00-11.00

Other

5 July 2011

16.00-17.00

Other

14 July 2011

15.00-17.00

Other

26 July 2011

13.00-14.00

Other

4 August 2011

13.00-15.00

Other

20 September 2011

13.00-14.00

Other

20 September 2011

15.00-16.00

Other

21 September 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

4 October 2011

15.15-16.15

Other

6 October 2011

10.00-10.30

Other

11 October 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

17 October 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

18 October 2011

14.00-15.00

Other

6 December 2011

17.15-18.00

Other

8 December 2011

11.15-12.00

Other

16 January 2012

13.00-14.00

Other

18 January 2012

14.00-15.00

Other

1 February 2012

14.00-15.00

Other

4 May 2011

12.30-13.30

Pay and Conditions

25 May 2011

15.30-16.30

Pay and Conditions

15 July 2011

10.00-11.00

Pay and Conditions

9 August 2011

10.00-12.00

Pay and Conditions

7 September 2011

12.00-13.00

Pay and Conditions

19 September 2011

13.00-15.00

Pay and Conditions

27 October 2011

14.00-15.00

Pay and Conditions

16 November 2011

10.00-12.00

Pay and Conditions

28 November 2011

15.00-16.00

Pay and Conditions

1 December 2011

13.00-14.00

Pay and Conditions

7 December 2011

10.00-12.00

Pay and Conditions

10 January 2011

10.00-11.00

Pay and Conditions

11 January 2012

10.00-12.00

Pay and Conditions

25 January 2012

10.00-11.00

Pay and Conditions

9 February 2012

10.00-11.00

Pay and Conditions

14 February 2012

13.00-14.00

Pay and Conditions

21 February 2012

13.00-14.00

Pay and Conditions

7 March 2012

10.00-12.00

Pay and Conditions

Meetings held between CAFCASS and trade union 2011-12

12 operational meetings and 10 national meetings. Further details are not available.

Meetings held between Office for the Children’s Commissioner and trade unions

Approximately six meetings were held. Further details are not available.

Justice

Courts: Enforcement

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the potential saving to the Exchequer of privatising the court enforcement service. [109031]

23 May 2012 : Column 751W

Mr Djanogly: The policy and commercial strategy, in relation to possible future plans to work with a commercial partner to deliver criminal compliance and enforcement functions within HM Courts and Tribunals Service, is still under development. Any associated benefits and savings resulting from the implementation of such a policy are still subject to review and approval and would not be fully determined and validated until the commercial process has concluded.

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people are employed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service on court enforcement in each region. [109032]

Mr Djanogly: The number of enforcement staff in each of the HM Courts and Tribunals Service regions are as set out in the following table:

Region Number of enforcement staff

London

231

Midlands

367

North East

366

North West

272

South East

248

South West

206

Wales

157

Total

1,847

Family Courts: Worcestershire

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the waiting times for Family Court hearings in child protection cases in Worcestershire. [109022]

Mr Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) are working with system partners (Department for Education, CAFCASS (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), local authorities) to improve family performance across the board, particularly in relation to the ‘public law' cases that deal with child protection issues. This work includes assessing waiting times at courts, and working to ensure that all courts have sufficient capacity to ensure that public law cases can progress in a timely manner.

To improve court capacity, HMCTS has allocated an extra 4,000 county court sitting days across England and Wales in this financial year, which represents an overall increase of 8,000 days compared with 2009-10. Of the 4,000 extra days released, 680 have been allocated to the Midlands region, and 31 of these have been allocated for use at Worcester county court. This represents an increase to Worcester's dedicated family sitting day allocation of just over 20%. HMCTS has also ring-fenced the sitting days allocated for family cases in the magistrates courts to ensure that they are used as intended. HMCTS are monitoring the effect that these extra days are having on the timely progression of cases, and have developed regional action plans to ensure that local performance is improved, and that any local barriers to performance improvement are tackled.

The progression of child protection cases is managed within a judicially led framework known as the Public Law Outline (PLO). The PLO specifies that the first

23 May 2012 : Column 752W

hearing should take place within six days from issue, and then a case management conference should be held within 45 days from issue. There are no targets for when issue resolution and final hearings should take place, but the PLO is clear that these should be at a pace that is consistent with the child's individual needs and circumstances. It must be noted however that all parties— legal representatives, local authority representatives, CAFCASS guardians, parents—must be available to attend that hearing in order for it to be effective. Waiting times for court hearings are therefore dependent not only on court capacity, but on the availability of the parties and other agencies to attend the dates offered. Public law hearings can often be up to five days, which will obviously affect the parties' ability to attend at short notice. In some cases the court will need to arrange an urgent hearing, for example to consider an application for an emergency protection order. In such cases the court will make all efforts to ensure that an emergency hearing takes place immediately. The HMCTS action plans outlined above also include a range of activities to improve adherence to the PLO, and to liaise with CAFCASS or local authorities on how attendance for hearings can be improved.

The independent Family Justice Review, chaired by David Norgrove, put forward recommendations to improve the progression and timeliness of public law cases. The Government response, published in February this year, set out the range of actions that the Government would take to address the shortcomings identified by the review, and take its recommendations forward. One such recommendation is the establishment of a dedicated Family Justice Board, which will have the key responsibility for improving performance nationally. This national board will be supported by a network of local Family Justice Boards based around local courts and local authorities. These local boards are currently being established and will tackle local performance issues, and ensure open communication lines between courts and local child protection agencies.

While the Government do not collect statistics on how long parties wait for hearings at particular courts, we do measure how long it takes for child protection cases to be completed. In Worcestershire, overall average case duration for care and supervision applications for October to December 2011, the latest period available, is as follows:

Worcester county court: 70 weeks (revised since the provisional figure of 68 was published on 29 March 2012).

Worcestershire Family Proceedings Courts: 44 weeks

The national average for care and supervision case duration currently stands at 55 weeks, and all local case durations can be found on the Open Justice website:

http://open.justice.gov.uk/courts/care-proceedings/

The Government are committed to reducing this average both nationally and at all local courts, and intend to legislate for a six month time limit in child protection cases. In the meantime all agencies have been tasked, under the stewardship of the Family Justice Board, with improving their performance and reducing case duration significantly in advance of the time limit being implemented.

23 May 2012 : Column 753W

Fraud: Direct Mail

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to make redress more readily accessible for victims of mail scams. [106810]

Norman Lamb: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

I am of course aware of the damage and harm that mail scams can have on victims and their families, and the Government recognise the need for a concerted effort to stop them. That is why the National Fraud Authority (NFA), the Metropolitan Police Service and other agencies have worked together to target this matter. They have engaged with partners, involving officials in my Department and with Royal Mail, to tackle scams and stop scam mail from getting into the postal system in the first place and sever the link between the fraudster and possible victims. A direct result of this was the recent seizure by the Metropolitan Police Service of a large consignment of scam mail.

I believe it is important that the greatest effort is applied where it will have the greatest impact. This is by confronting and preventing the mail from getting into the postal system in the first place, and by doing so stopping this type of mail from getting anywhere near its intended victims. This needs to be intelligence-led and based on effective evidence. Where mass marketed scams originate from overseas, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Office of Fair Trading work closely with overseas counterparts to tackle the worst perpetrators.

I am therefore confident that the Department working with appropriate bodies and the industry, is doing all it can to stop scams getting into the postal system, to ensure that consumers have access to effective advice and victims have access to support.

In addition Action Fraud, the UK's fraud reporting centre, offers a service to all victims and potential victims of mail scams to report instances of fraud. The crime and information reports collected are sent directly to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau based at the City of London police. The data is used to inform our picture of fraud and better target resources for preventative and investigative purposes.

www.actionfraud.police.uk

0300 123 2040

Legal Aid Scheme

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of his Department's total procurement expenditure was spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11, (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12. [107821]

Mr Kenneth Clarke: The proportion of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) spent on legal aid providers in (a) the fourth quarter of 2010-11 (b) the first quarter of 2011-12 and (c) the second quarter of 2011-12 is as shown in the following table:

Quarter Proportion represented as a percentage (%)

January to March 11 (fourth quarter of 2010-11)

40

23 May 2012 : Column 754W

April to June 13 (first quarter of 2011-12)

37

July to September 11 (second quarter of 2011-12)

42

Lost Property

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many items of equipment valued at £10,000 or more his Department lost in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [108932]

Mr Djanogly: In 2010-11, the Department lost four items of equipment worth more than £10,000. No items of equipment of this value were lost in 2011-12.

Members: Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 2 April 2012 with regard to Mr M Lawless. [109013]

Mr Kenneth Clarke: I have written to the right hon. Member today.

Parc Prison

Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve pastoral support for prisoners at Parc Prison, Bridgend; and if he will make a statement. [109028]

Mr Blunt: We wish to ensure that prisoners from all religious faiths are given the opportunity and facilities to practice their religion. All prisons have multi-faith chaplaincy teams to facilitate this and to provide pastoral support to prisoners and staff.

At HMP and YOI Parc, the chaplaincy provides pastoral support to anyone who needs it, regardless of faith background. The support available meets the needs of the prison population and there are no immediate plans to change the existing arrangements.

Prisons: Video Recordings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make an assessment of the powers used by HM Prison Ranby to request video footage from the West Retford Hotel in 2011 and 2012. [106534]

Mr Blunt: The use of third-party overt CCTV in the course of administering disciplinary proceedings is not in breach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and no further action is necessary.

Private Prosecutions

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2012, Official Report, column 180W, on alternatives to prison: Greater Manchester, (1) whether his Department keeps records of payments made to meet defendants' costs from central funds in private prosecutions; [108845]

23 May 2012 : Column 755W

(2) how much has been paid from central funds to meet defendants' costs in private prosecutions in (a) total and (b) cases brought by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals in each of the last five financial years. [108846]

Mr Djanogly: The Department keeps records of payments made to meet defendant's costs from central funds, but departmental accounting systems do not identify centrally payments where the prosecution had been brought (a) privately or (b) by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals.