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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 2 November 2012
Education
Children in Care
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with Ofsted regarding the prompt safe sharing of data with local authorities and local safeguarding children boards on newly registered private children's homes. [125532]
Elizabeth Truss [holding answer 29 October 2012]:The Department has had a number of very positive meetings with Ofsted and other key partners on this issue. We shall shortly consult on proposals to enable Ofsted to share data on the names and addresses of children's homes with the police and the Office of the Children's Commissioner, in addition to local authorities on a monthly basis. Local authorities and the police are statutory members of local safeguarding children boards.
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what mechanisms are in place to ensure that when a child in care is transferred from one local authority to another the local authority and local safeguarding children board to which the child moves are informed. [125533]
Mr Timpson [holding answer 29 October 2012]:Regulation (11)(2)(d) of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010, which came into effect on 1 April 2011, requires that prior to approving a placement of a looked after child out of area, the officer nominated by the authority responsible for the child's care must be satisfied that the authority for the area where the child will be living has been notified.
We established an expert group on “out of area” placements to focus on how to improve such arrangements, including the effectiveness of the current notification requirements, and the quality of care and support for looked after children placed “out of area” by their local authorities. The group has met frequently over the summer and I will consider proposals from its work shortly.
Child Protection
Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what systems he plans to put in place to allow safe data sharing between Ofsted, local authorities, the police, local safeguarding children boards and all other agencies that have a role in child protection. [125537]
Mr Timpson
[holding answer 29 October 2012]: All professionals working with children have a duty to co-operate and share information between agencies to
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protect a child. This is essential if children are to receive the help they need. Professionals should have access to the information that they need when they need it to make the right decisions for children and young people.
We believe that it is for local areas to consider the most appropriate way to ensure that data and information are shared safely and effectively across all agencies. We are working with local authorities, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, health colleagues and the police to develop effective information and data-sharing policy and protocols to help vulnerable children and families.
A key part of reinforcing the importance of information sharing between agencies is set out in “Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010)”. We are currently considering how to reinforce this fundamental message in the revised version of “Working Together”, on which we have recently consulted.
Drugs: Misuse
Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the financial costs to his Department arising from illegal drug use in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [125585]
Mr Timpson: The Department for Education has not made any estimates of the financial costs to the Department arising from illegal drug use in the UK.
GCSE
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he had with the Northern Ireland Education Minister prior to his announcement on GCSEs; and if he will make a statement. [121841]
Elizabeth Truss [holding answer 15 October 2012]:Department for Education officials are in regular contact with officials in Northern Ireland and Wales to discuss policy developments. Officials in Northern Ireland were advised in advance of our intention to make the announcement and the consultation was shared. The policy has since been discussed in more detail at official level at one of the Department's regular policy sessions.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much schools in Chatham and Aylesford constituency received in funding from the pupil premium in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and how much they will receive in 2012-13. [124883]
Mr Laws: The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 therefore payments were first made for the 2011-12 financial year. Pupil premium funding is provided to schools which have on roll pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (the deprivation premium); children in care who have been continuously looked after for at least six months (the looked after child premium); and children whose parents are serving in the armed forces (the service child premium).
In the financial year 2011-12, 2,270 pupils in Chatham and Aylesford constituency area were eligible for either the deprivation premium or service child premium, attracting £1.102 million. It is not possible to identify, at
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constituency level, the number of pupils eligible for the looked after child premium or the number of pupils eligible for the deprivation premium in alternative provision settings.
In the financial year 2012-13, 3,870 pupils in Chatham and Aylesford constituency area were eligible for either the deprivation premium or service child premium, attracting £2.382 million.
Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much schools in (a) Crawley constituency, (b) the county of West Sussex and (c) England will receive through the pupil premium in 2013-14. [124930]
Mr Laws: The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011. Pupil premium funding is provided to schools which have on roll pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (the deprivation premium); children in care who have been continuously looked after for at least six months (the looked after child premium); and children whose parents are serving in the armed forces (the service child premium).
We are making available £1.875 billion in 2013-14 through the premium for schools in England. This will allow for an increase in the level of the premium next year to £900 per pupil for those eligible for the deprivation premium and looked after child premium and £300 for those eligible for the service premium.
We are not able to provide allocations for 2013-14 at local authority and constituency level as these will be based on information in the January 2013 school census. Provisional estimates, using information from the January 2012 school census, will be published on the Department for Education's website later this year.
Treasury
Broadband
Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much anticipated revenue from the 4G spectrum auction was allocated to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the 2010 spending review. [124888]
Sajid Javid: The Government made no assumptions at spending review 2010 about the level of receipts from the award of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum licenses. However BIS has since been allocated an entitlement of up to but no more than £600 million.
Child Benefit
Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on introducing a cap on child benefit for families with more than two children. [126028]
Mr Gauke: The Government are exploring further options for making the welfare system fairer and more affordable, and details will be announced in due course.
Dr Alasdair McDonnell:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of families in
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(a)
England,
(b)
Northern Ireland,
(c)
Scotland and
(d)
Wales that would be affected if child benefit payments were to be capped at two children per family. [126214]
Mr Gauke: No such estimate has been made.
Growth Implementation Committee
Ian Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 1043W, on Growth Implementation Committee, what the membership is of the Growth Implementation Committee; when it last met; and who attended its last meeting; [126443]
Mr Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Growth Implementation Committee last met; and who attended that meeting. [126792]
Danny Alexander: The written ministerial statement of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 8WS, by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd), announced an updated Cabinet Committee list. Copies are available in the Library of the House.
Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees, including when and how often they meet and which Ministers have attended, is generally not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
Import Duties: Israel
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 3 September 2012, Official Report, column 78W, on import duties: Israel, how many declaration of origin checks were carried out for goods imported under the EU-Israel Agreement in each year since 2005; and whether all goods imported under the Agreement are subject to such checks. [125976]
Mr Gauke: While HMRC record the number of incorrect origin declarations identified for goods imported under the EU-Israel Agreement each year, they do not keep a specific record of the number of related proofs of origin checked to arrive at that figure. HMRC estimate the number of proofs of origin checked each year to be as follows:
| Period | Total |
HMRC do not check all goods imported under the EU-Israel Agreement. Checks are undertaken on the basis of perceived risk using intelligence received from a variety of sources and on the basis of irregularities previously identified through compliance checks.
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Minimum Wage
Mr Denham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the value of the minimum wage as a proportion of average income in each English county and each unitary authority. [126467]
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 Glen Watson, dated November 2012:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the value of the minimum wage as a proportion of average income in each English county and each unitary authority. (126467)
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. ASHE, produced in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom.
The following table showing the median gross hourly earnings for all, full-time and part-time employee jobs in English regions, counties, focal authorities and unitary authorities, along with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) expressed as a percentage of these figures. The latest period for which figures are available is April 2011.
Due to the size of the tables, they will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
PAYE
Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the number of employers who will not be operating the PAYE real time assessment by the end of October 2013. [126030]
Mr Gauke: We expect the vast majority of employers to be operating PAYE in real time by the end of October 2013. We estimate that up to 8,000 PAYE schemes will not start reporting PAYE in real time until April 2014. These schemes will mainly be Care and Support employers and employers who operate particular non-standard PAYE schemes, having made special arrangements with HMRC under regulation 141 of the PAYE regulations.
Mrs Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many standardised penalty notices HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued to companies deemed to be failing to file PAYE returns in 2011; how many such penalties were paid in full; how many such notices were cancelled after issue; how many such notices were issued to companies which had previously notified HMRC that they no longer employed any staff; what estimate he has made of the number of penalty notices issued in error; and what his policy is on steps to prevent the repeated issue of such notices. [126225]
Mr Gauke: The information requested could be made available only at disproportionate cost, as the data are not centrally held by HM Revenue and Customs data systems.
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Public Service Pensions Bill: Scotland
Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 1019W, on Public Service Pensions Bill: Scotland, what provisions of the Public Service Pensions Bill trigger the Sewel Convention. [126481]
Danny Alexander: The provisions in the Public Service Pensions Bill that trigger the Sewel Convention in Scotland relate to: the pensions of certain members of the Scottish judiciary; and a power to require the closure and reform of pension schemes in public bodies for which the Scottish Parliament has competence.
Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 1019W, on Public Service Pensions Bill: Scotland, (1) if he will place in the Library copies of his correspondence with the Scottish Government regarding the implications of the Public Service Pensions Bill for the Local Government Pensions Scheme Scotland; [126482]
(2) if he will place in the Library a record of his discussions with the Scottish Government regarding the implications of the Public Service Pensions Bill for the Local Government Pensions Scheme Scotland. [126483]
Danny Alexander: HM Treasury has had regular discussions with the Scottish Government on public service pension matters. As was the case with previous Administrations it is not the Government's practice to make correspondence or details of discussions with the Scottish Government public.
Departmental Staff
Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of his Department's staff are (a) male and (b) female. [126174]
Sajid Javid: As at 31 March 2012 the proportion of the Department’s staff was as follows:
| Percentage | |
Taxation: Business
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what powers HM Revenue and Customs have to examine the information given to investors in a company as part of investigations into the tax compliance of that company. [126273]
Mr Gauke:
On creation of HMRC in 2005 a review of powers, deterrents and safeguards was established to align powers and penalties across various taxes. As a result of this review, Parliament introduced Schedule 36 to Finance Act 2008 which modernised HMRC's information and inspection powers from 1 April 2009. These powers include HMRC's right to visit businesses to inspect premises, assets and records and ask taxpayers
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and third parties for more information and documents for the purposes of checking a customer's compliance with their tax obligations.
Specific information powers have also been legislated for in relation to Enterprise Investment scheme (EIS), Seed EIS and Venture Capital Trusts which allow HMRC to ask for information for the purpose of seeing whether the requirements of the schemes have been complied with.
Taxation: Self-assessment
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was to HM Revenue and Customs of processing self-assessment forms in the last tax year. [126274]
Mr Gauke: The information requested could be made available only at disproportionate cost.
Self-assessment forms cover a wide variety of self- assessment notifications, including but not limited to the self-assessment tax return. Depending on the form, they may be made in electronic or paper format requiring automated, manual or a mixture of these processing methods.
Work and Pensions
Atos Healthcare
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the likely level of profits Atos Healthcare can expect to make from Lots 1 and 3 of the contracts for the personal independence payment. [122522]
Esther McVey: The information requested is commercially confidential. Our contracts are subject to commercially negotiated and mutually acceptable terms including appropriate mechanisms to ensure transparency of all charges and value for money for the Department in line with Cabinet Office requirements.
Employment Schemes
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what evaluation of the effectiveness of the Employability Programme has been conducted by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [126361]
Mr Hoban: No formal evaluation of the Employability Programme in the Wessex District has. been carried out. Its processes however were reviewed and brought into line with the national Skills Conditionality process. Skills Conditionality was re-launched in Wessex on 2 July and the Employability Programme was renamed as Skills Conditionality.
Employment Schemes: Young People
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether eligible unemployed young people in Wales are able to access the steps to employment Welsh Government programme in lieu of the work programme. [125418]
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Mr Hoban: Jobcentre Plus is able to refer eligible young unemployed people in Wales to steps to employment up to the point that they volunteer or are mandated i.e. required to attend the Work programme. Claimants will not be referred to the Work programme during their participation in steps to employment.
Housing Benefit
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many social tenants in receipt of housing benefit of working age were subject to the (a) £97.50, (b) £25, (c) £20, (d) £10, (e) £5 and (f) additional earned income disregard in each local authority area in March 2012; [125857]
(2) how many private tenants in receipt of housing benefit of working age were subject to the (a) £97.50, (b) £25, (c) £20, (d) £10, (e) £5 and (f) additional earned income disregard in each local authority area in March 2012; [125858]
Steve Webb: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects his Department to announce its discretionary housing payment allocations for 2013-14; and if he will make a statement. [126349]
Steve Webb: An announcement about the distribution of funding for discretionary housing payments in 2013-14 is expected to be made in early December. As in previous years, the Department will issue a circular to local authorities with their individual allocation.
Incapacity Benefit
Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disabled people formerly receiving incapacity benefit have entered into work in the last two years. [125363]
Mr Hoban: The requested information is not available.
Personal Independence Payment
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place a copy of his Department's impact assessment of Lots 1 and 3 of the contract with Atos Healthcare for the personal independence payment in the Library. [122490]
Esther McVey: No impact assessment has been produced of Lots 1 and 3 of the contract with Atos Healthcare, as there is no requirement to do so. All DWP procurement exercises follow a robust commercial process which is in line with EU public procurement requirements and includes the evaluation of proposals against agreed and published evaluation criteria. However, that process does not include any requirement to deliver an impact assessment.
Any change of policy does though require such an impact assessment and that has been published for the personal independence payment “Disability Living Allowance reform (Personal Independence Payment)”.
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Shared Housing
Mr Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether he has any plans to exempt from the shared accommodation rate those individuals at risk of serious harm or injury as a result of gang-related youth violence; [126199]
(2) whether his Department has made an assessment of the possible effect of extending the age threshold for the shared accommodation rate on programmes designed to (a) facilitate exit routes for those seeking to move away from involvement with violent gangs and (b) protect both witnesses and victims of gang-related youth violence. [126200]
Steve Webb: The shared accommodation rate was extended to include those aged 25 up to 35 from January 2012. There are no plans to make any further exemptions for those individuals who may be at risk as a result of gang-related youth violence. However, the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme is available to address the individual circumstances of claims where local authorities may consider further support is needed.
No estimate has been made of the possible effects of extending the age threshold on those programmes which facilitate exit routes for those involved in violent gangs and protect witnesses and victims of gang-related violence. As young people under 25 were already subject to the shared accommodation rate, the change in policy to extend the age threshold is unlikely to have any further impact.
Social Security Benefits
Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the contribution by the Minister for Welfare Reform, House of Lords, Official Report, column 1464, what progress has been made on the review of benefits for disabled children. [125885]
Esther McVey: During the passage of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 the Minister for Welfare Reform committed to look at the gateway which passports children to the disability additions under universal credit. Our current plans are to do this by the end of 2015, when evidence from the introduction of the personal independence payment for people aged 16-64 will be available, as well as further evaluation from pathfinder testing of the single assessment process for children and young people with special educational needs.
We will work with disabled people and disability organisations, so that we have a gateway in place that ensures the most severely disabled children get the right support.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households identified as being affected by the household benefit cap have gained work through the Work programme since 1 February 2012; and if he will make a statement. [126350]
Mr Hoban: Statistics on the number of households which are likely to be affected by the benefit cap and have found employment through the Work programme are not available.
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Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households identified as being affected by the household benefit cap have been offered early access to the Work programme since 1 February 2012; and if he will make a statement. [126351]
Mr Hoban: Statistics on the number of households identified as being affected by the household benefit cap and who have been offered early access to the Work programme are not available.
Social Security Benefits: Cumbria
John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Barrow and Furness constituency and (b) Cumbria were in receipt of (i) the means-tested portion of jobseeker's allowance, (ii) the means-tested portion of employment and support allowance and (iii) income support in the 2011-12 tax year. [125425]
Mr Hoban: Information on the number of people in receipt of income support in Barrow and Furness constituency, and local authorities in Cumbria for the periods February 2011 and February 2012 can be found at:
http://83.244.183.180/100pc/is/tabtool_is.html
Information on the number of people in receipt of employment and support allowance (income based) in Barrow and Furness constituency, and local authorities in Cumbria for the periods February 2011 and February 2012 can be found at:
http://83.244.183.180/100pc/esa/tabtool_esa.html
Information on the number of people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance (income based) is only available from DWP 5% sample data. Information on Barrow and Furness constituency, and local authorities in Cumbria for the periods February 2011 and February 2012 can be found at:
http://83.244.183.180/5pc/jsa_prim/tabtool_jsa_prim.html
Guidance for users is available at:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf
Social Security Benefits: Greater London
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) the London Borough of Brent and (b) London have received letters from his Department informing them that they could potentially be affected by the household benefit cap; and if he will make a statement. [126348]
Mr Hoban: The information requested has already been published by the Department. It is available at:
http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=adhoc_analysis
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of households that will be affected by the household benefit cap in April 2013 in each (a) local authority area in London and (b) parliamentary constituency in London; and if he will make a statement. [126441]
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Mr Hoban: On 16 July 2012 the Department published an updated impact assessment for the household benefit cap, which estimated that in Great Britain 56,000 households would be affected by the cap in the first year of its implementation (the financial year 2013-14).
A table showing a breakdown of the number of households who will be affected, by local authority, was placed in the Library and can be found at:
http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2012-1447/LocalAuthoritybreakdownaffectedbybenefitcap.doc
A table showing a breakdown by parliamentary constituency has been placed in the Library. (DEP2012-1587)
Please note that in both of the tables household numbers are rounded to the nearest 100. Areas with fewer than 100 households affected are denoted by “..”, as additional disclosure control has been applied to these areas. For this reason, figures will not sum to the total number of households affected in the July 2012 impact assessment for the household benefit cap.
We assume that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible. Therefore, please note that these figures are subject to change prior to the policy being implemented in April 2013.
Work Programme
Sir Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which (a) prime contractors and (b) sub-contractors have withdrawn from the Work programme since it began. [126442]
Mr Hoban: No prime contractors have left the Work programme.
As expected, Work programme supply chains are dynamic, and adapt to meet the emerging needs of participants. The Department conducts a six-monthly stock take of sub-contractors that make up the supply chains.
The first stock take took place in August 2011, to allow supply chains time to bed in after the Work programme was launched. A further stock take was undertaken in January 2012. Across these two stock takes in total it was identified that 44 new organisations had joined the supply chain and 41 were no longer sub-contractors as follows:
2D Voluntary and Community Support
Arch
Autism West Midlands
BRAVE
Brighton and Hove Council
British Refugee Council
Bromley Field Studies
Business Enterprise UK (NE Employers Coalition)
Cheshire CVS
Cornwall Neighbourhood for Change
Create
Escape
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Greater Manchester NHS Trust
Growing Well
GWE Business West
Hartlepool County Council (Hartlepool Works)
Independence Trust
LHA Support Services Ltd
New Highway
North Somerset Enterprise Agency
North West Third Sector SPV Ltd
Nove New Opportunities
P3
Phoenix Security
Ranstad Support
Remit Ltd
Right 2 Work (Oaklea Trust)
Right Direction
Second Step
Shire4Education Ltd
SIGTA Ltd
Skills4Success
Social Enterprise
Social Enterprise West Midlands
The Armstrong Group
The Peoples Supermarket
Twin Valley Homes
West Midlands College Network
Wiltshire Mind
Wiltshire Probation
Zinc
A further stock take will be published shortly.
Home Department
e-Borders
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will place in the Library a copy of the original business case for the e-Borders programme. [124606]
Mr Harper: A copy of the e-Borders Full Business Case, dated 12 November 2007, will be placed in the Library of the House.
This document is restricted and will therefore need to be redacted before it can be made available. I expect that it will be placed in the Library before the end of this financial year.
Deportation: Offenders
Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national criminals were not deported due to the provisions of section 33(4) of the UK Borders Act 2007, in each year since that provision entered force. [124856]
Mr Harper: Between April 2012 and September 2012, 54 individuals were extradited from the UK and therefore not deported from the UK under Section 33(4) of the UK Border Act 2007. Data prior to 2012 are not available.
This is internal management information and is subject to change.
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Foreign Workers
Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many jobs that meet the £20,000 annual salary requirement for a Tier 2 (casual) work visa by region have become available during the last six months. [124094]
Mr Harper: Data on vacancies in the UK labour market are not held by the UK Border Agency. Nor is this information available through published statistics.
Training
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2012, Official Report, column 107W, on training, what the cost was of the training; and which company provided the training. [124314]
Mr Harper: The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Equalities and Criminal Information, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), attended a half-day media and presentation training session. This was paid for from the central civil service Core Learning Programme fund, therefore the Home Office incurred no direct cost.
The former Minister of State for Crime Prevention and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction, Lord Henley, attended a two-hour media session. The training was facilitated by a private individual consultant. The cost of this training was £843.60.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Badgers: Disease Control
Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the participants in the proposed badger cull pilots have lodged as a contingency in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Somerset. [126345]
Mr Heath: The amount lodged for contingency purposes by the participants in the proposed pilot badger cull is commercially confidential and, as such, cannot be released.
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the practicalities of testing badger setts for the presence of tuberculosis; and if he will make a statement. [126427]
Mr Heath: It is very hard to detect M.Bovis in samples taken around badger setts as badgers only excrete very low levels of the bacteria and do so intermittently. There is currently no diagnostic test available which is sufficiently sensitive, specific and suitable for use in the field. However, DEFRA is continuing to fund research to develop diagnostic tests, for use on individual badgers and on samples from setts, including tests based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and non-invasive methods of obtaining samples from badgers.
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Dangerous Dogs
Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dogs in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland were placed on the register of exempt dogs under section 4A and section 4B procedures under the Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Act 1997 in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011. [124773]
Mr Heath: The total number of dogs shown on the Index of Exempted Dogs as having certificates issued in 2010 and 2011 respectively was as follows:
| 2010 | 2011 | |
We are not able to distinguish between dogs placed on the Index under section 4A and section 4B procedures under the Dangerous Dogs (Amendment Act) Act 1997.
Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were subject to proceedings in a magistrates' court for offences under the Dogs Act 1871 in 2011; and if he will make a statement. [124774]
Mr Heath: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Dogs Act 1871 cannot be separately identified from offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989.
The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989 in England and Wales in 2011 is 129.
Dogs: Electronic Training Aids
Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will permit the pre-release of the peer-reviewed research into the use of electronic training aids on dogs to animal welfare organisations before publication; and if he will specify the date on which the research is due to be formally published. [125874]
Mr Heath: I am unable to agree to the pre-release of the research on electronic training aids on dogs. However, the final research will be published shortly.
Food Labelling
Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the hind meat of an animal that has been ritually slaughtered will be included in the list of consistent visuals to show on the new food package label that his Department plans to introduce in 2013. [126015]
Mr Heath: The Department has no plans to introduce any rules around the use of any pictograms in food labels. The introduction of pictograms is an area for the European Commission to act as it would be part of a single market initiative. Although there are a few areas of food labelling where the UK can act on its own initiative, this is not one.
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Entry Clearances
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the potential saving to the public purse of the withdrawal of free visas for children from Belarus and Ukraine brought to the UK by the charity Chernobyl Children's Life Line. [126297]
Mr Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has until now funded Chernobyl children visas in Belarus only. In the most recent complete financial year—2011-12—the Chernobyl Children's Life Line (CCLL) charity supported 827 visa applications in Belarus. Based on that figure, the cost to the FCO for these visas was approximately £62,850. It should be noted that the 827 CCLL-supported visa applications included a small number of group leaders, whose visas were not provided as gratis. It is not possible to break down the figures for CCLL further to remove this small number of non-gratis visas.
As a goodwill gesture in this final year of gratis visas, we have offered to cover the cost of Chernobyl children visas obtained in Ukraine as well as Belarus, by all eligible Chernobyl Children's charities, up to a ceiling of £200,000 overall for the year. We do not yet have final figures for CCLL-supported visa applications in Ukraine for this financial year.
The decision to end the gratis visa scheme was taken in 2010 in line with a number of other difficult spending decisions in the context of £100 million of cuts for the FCO as a whole. Although the costs of the gratis visa scheme may seem modest, the £200,000 ceiling for the current financial year is comparable with the annual running costs of one of our very small embassies.
EU Institutions
Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the level of transparency of EU institutions; and if he will take steps to increase public access to documents produced by those institutions. [126019]
Mr Lidington: EU institutional transparency is governed by the Access to Documents Regulation (1049/2001). The Government's assessment is that this regulation currently works well. The UK is participating in discussions about potential amendments to the regulation in that context.
The Government are committed to ensuring that transparency levels at the EU Institutions are appropriate, and that the principle of access to information does not undermine the protection of personal data.
Kazakhstan
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his counterpart in Kazakhstan in respect of Pastor Makset Djabbarbergenov. [125941]
Mr Lidington:
The British embassy in Astana is aware of the case of Pastor Makset Djabbarbergenov. The embassy is closely monitoring developments alongside
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the EU delegation and US embassy, and is in regular contact with local representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who are acting on behalf of the Pastor. Our embassy will continue to support the UNHCR's efforts to resolve the case.
Pakistan
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his counterpart in Pakistan in respect of Rimsha Masih. [125942]
Alistair Burt: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 10 September 2012, Official Report, column 11W.
Ukraine
Mr MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the conduct of recent elections in Ukraine; and if he will make a statement. [126125]
Mr Lidington: As I said in my statement to the House on 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 160, the preliminary report from the international election observers indicates a number of shortcomings the way in which the elections were conducted. We hope that in the remaining stages of the electoral process, in any appeals that follow, and, crucially, in how the Ukrainian Government conduct themselves after the elections, we will not see the wholesale democratic backsliding that we fear and that would set back Ukraine's relationship with Europe.
The UK remains a strong supporter of Ukraine's European aspirations. We will urge the new Ukrainian Government, when they are formed, to address what needs to be done to bring new vigour to the process of building and sustaining healthy and robust democratic institutions.
USA: Political Parties
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many representatives of the Government attended the 2012 (a) US Democratic party national convention and (b) US Republican party national convention; and what the cost of their attendance was. [126202]
Alistair Burt: Our ambassador to the United States and six representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's US network attended the Democratic and Republican national conventions at a cost of $14,353.29 (approximately £8,888.73), and $16,460.64 (approximately £10,193.76) respectively. The delegations were the same size as those that attended the conventions in 2008.
Health
CJD
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria will be used to assess the suitability of any newly-developed tests on blood products for vCJD. [126004]
Anna Soubry:
The European Commission has set criteria to be used in the assessment of assays (that is, tests) to detect the abnormal prion protein associated
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with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), for the purposes of blood screening, diagnosis and confirmation. These are set out in the amendment made on 20 December 2011 to Directive 98/79/EC on in vitro diagnostic medical devices (the directive).
The directive sets out common technical specifications (CTS) for the analytical and diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of vCJD assays for blood screening, covering the material and the number of specimens to be tested, and performance levels to be achieved for acceptance of the assay.
The addition to the directive relating to vCJD assays, including the CTS, is published at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:341:0063:0064:EN:PDF
The requirements of the directive are implemented in United Kingdom law by the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulations 2002, as amended.
Blood: Contamination
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will publish (a) a list of all known blood-borne infections, distinguishing between those known to be pathogenic and non-pathogenic and (b) the dates when de-activation techniques were introduced for each of those infections. [126006]
Anna Soubry: NHS Blood and Transplant has prepared a list of all blood-borne infections, distinguishing between those known to be pathogenic and non-pathogenic, which has been placed in the Library.
Heat treatment of some fractionated plasma products, such as clotting factors for the treatment of haemophilia, was introduced in 1985. Heat treatment inactivates viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C. Since then, the measures in place to assure the safety and quality of blood components, and blood products manufactured from them, have developed and improved significantly, and those standards are regulated by law.
It is currently not possible to eliminate microbiological agents from red cell units without damaging the viability of red cells. Pathogen inactivation of imported fresh frozen plasma is achieved by the use of Methylene Blue, and by leucodepletion (removal of white cells) to reduce the risk of transmission of white cell associated viruses. The risk of bacterial contamination of platelets is reduced by bacterial screening.
The most effective way of protecting patients against both known and unrecognised blood-borne infections is to avoid the use of blood products from potential donors who have greater probability of having been exposed to blood-borne infections. Therefore, all donors undergo a routine health questionnaire prior to blood donation to assess their suitability. All donations undergo mandatory testing for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, human T-cell lymphotrophic virus and treponemal (eg syphilis) infections. Additional discretionary testing is used for those donors whose responses to the health questionnaire suggest possible exposure to infections. In addition, United Kingdom blood services have in place travel deferrals to reduce the risk of transmission of blood-borne infections from areas of high incidences such as malaria.
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CJD
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to invest in research into sterilisation in areas with a high risk of vCJD. [126005]
Norman Lamb: Decontamination research remains a priority for the Department.
A total of £3,245,211 has been committed to funding research into decontamination of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) contaminated surfaces from 2011 to 2016. Methods of decontamination of surgical instruments, improved systems of detection of protein contamination on surgical instruments and optimisation of the function of washer disinfectors are areas that the Department currently funds. The results of these studies, which are applicable beyond vCJD, will feed into Department guidance on surgical instrument and endoscope decontamination for national health service staff and Service Commissioning groups.
In addition to surgical instruments that may be exposed to neural tissues, a high risk tissue, endoscopes may also meet lymphoid tissue infected with vCJD. Defining the level of damage and potential level of contamination and exploring novel means of sterilising the lumen of the endoscope are currently under way.
Hospitals: Parking
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the revenue raised annually by hospitals through parking charges in (a) England, (b) the west midlands, (c) Dudley and (d) London. [125977]
Norman Lamb: The national health service provides data to the Department annually relating to car parking; however, data relating to the revenue raised annually by hospitals from patients, visitors and staff through parking charges are not currently collected from the NHS.
Historically, the Department collected annual data from NHS trusts on car parking provision and any associated charges, through the Estates Returns information Collection. The collection of this data ceased after the 2007-08 collection, in order to lessen the burden on the NHS to provide central returns.
The data on total income from patients, visitors and staff which were collected for 2007-08 are provided in the following table:
| 2007-08 | |
| £ million | |
The information provided has been supplied by the NHS and has not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what information his Department holds on which NHS hospitals charge for parking; and in each case at what hourly rate; [125981]
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(2) what information his Department holds on which NHS hospitals charge their staff for parking; and in each case at what hourly rate; [125982]
(3) what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of hospitals that charge for parking in (i) England, (ii) the west midlands, (iii) Dudley and (iv) London; [126007]
(4) what estimate he has made of the average hourly parking rates at hospitals in (a) England, (b) the west midlands, (c) Dudley and (d) London. [126008]
Norman Lamb: The national health service provides data to the Department annually relating to car parking. This includes the following data at hospital sites:
average fee charged per hour for patient/visitor parking; and
average fee charged per hour for staff parking.
These data for the latest available year, 2011-12, have been placed in the Library.
Based on the above data for 2011-12, estimates of the number, proportion of hospitals that charge for parking and average hourly parking rates for patients and visitors at hospital sites are:
| Number of hospital sites that charge for parking | Percentage of hospital sites that charge for parking | Average hourly parking rates per hospital site (£) | |
All the data provided hves been supplied by the NHS and have not been amended centrally. The accuracy and completeness of the information is the responsibility of the provider organisation.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on hospitals that make it their policy to charge accident and emergency patients and their families for parking. [125983]
Norman Lamb: Car parking policies cannot be set nationally; national health service organisations have the autonomy to make decisions locally on the provision of car parking to patients, visitors and staff. The local decisions will include accident and emergency patients and their families.
Patients whose healthcare needs require frequent or extended access to hospitals have a fundamental right to fair and appropriate car parking concessions and we expect hospital trusts to deliver them.
NHS: Pay
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of (a) NHS employees and (b) employees working for organisations providing services under contract to the NHS paid less than (i) £7.20 per hour outside London and (ii) £8.30 per hour in London. [126341]
Dr Poulter:
Under Agenda for Change no national health service employee earns less than £7.20 per hour outside London or £8.30 per hour in inner and outer
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London. The minimum annual salary for NHS staff is £14,153, which equates to £7.24 per hour outside London. In the high cost areas of inner London, outer London and fringe NHS employees earn £9.30, £8.98 and £7.72 per hour respectively.
Information on the salaries of employees working for organisations providing services under contract to the NHS is not collected centrally.
Strokes
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent progress he has made in implementing the recommendations of the National Stroke Strategy. [126434]
Anna Soubry: We are continuing the Accelerating Stroke Improvement programme in 2012-13 to ensure that improvements continue to be made in line with the Stroke Strategy and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Quality Standards. We are also considering how best to build on the strategy in the development of the Cardiovascular Outcomes Strategy.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding he plans to allocate to the Act FAST stroke awareness campaign in 2012-13. [126435]
Anna Soubry: The Department is currently assessing the latest data from the last Act FAST campaign to determine the cost effectiveness of running a future campaign.
Communities and Local Government
Local Government: Pay
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information his Department holds on the number of (a) local government employees and (b) employees working for organisations providing services under contract to local authorities paid less than (i) £7.20 per hour outside London and (ii) £8.30 per hour in London. [126343]
Brandon Lewis: The Department does not hold this information.
Energy and Climate Change
Boiling Water Reactors
Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the advanced boiling water reactor design employed by Hitachi for nuclear power generation was subject to his design assessment approval process. [126352]
Mr Hayes: The GE-Hitachi advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) has not, as yet, been assessed by the independent nuclear regulators (Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency) as part of their generic design assessment (GDA) process. I welcome Hitachi's announcement on 30 October that following completion of its purchase of Horizon it will immediately work towards achieving acceptance of the ABWR for potential construction in the UK through the GDA process.
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Climate Change Convention
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent progress he has made in negotiations on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [126178]
Gregory Barker: The UNFCCC has delivered significant achievements in building a multilateral rules-based regime in recent years. This includes agreement to the need to limit average global temperature rise to no more than 2° above pre-industrial levels. We have emission reduction pledges under the UNFCCC from developing and developed countries covering over 80% of global emissions, which take us around halfway towards the 2° goal if implemented in full, and guidelines for measurement, reporting and verification of emissions have been agreed.
There has been commitment from developed countries to mobilise $100 billion per annum by 2020 from a range of public, private and innovative sources to support developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation and transparency. Furthermore, commitments approaching $30 billion of Fast Start Finance were made for the period 2010-12; and the Green Climate Fund has been operationalised and is making progress on its design so that it can be ready to receive funding as soon as possible.
Also of note is the establishment of the technology mechanism to facilitate technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation; the Adaptation Committee; a new global market mechanism; and modalities have been developed for a mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries.
In Durban at the end of 2011, parties to the UNFCCC agreed to negotiate by 2015, at the latest, a new global legal deal to come into force from 2020 and for the first time applicable to all. Parties also agreed to address the gap in mitigation ambition in the period up to 2020.
In the context of the Durban package, the EU agreed to sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to start from 1 January 2013, as part of a transition to a single global deal applicable to all, preserving the architecture and mechanisms of this rules-based, multilateral, legally binding agreement as something we can build on.
We will be looking to take further steps forward on all elements at Doha at the end of this year.
Carbon Reduction
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) whether he has any plans to reform the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme or to establish a successor scheme that seeks to recycle all or part of the monies paid in by participants to the most energy-efficient participants; [126432]
(2) whether he has plans to establish a successor scheme to the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme that seeks to use all or some of the monies levied by the Government on participants to directly support public energy efficiency or renewable energy programmes. [126433]
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Gregory Barker: Following the recent consultation on simplification of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency scheme, I intend to announce Government's decision on simplification and the future of the CRC later this year. The revenue from the CRC scheme contributes towards reducing the deficit and any future decisions on how to use these monies will be taken in light of prevailing economic factors. The Government's spending priorities are not, in general, determined by the way in which the money is raised as this imparts inflexibility.
Fossil Fuels: Scotland
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on what date he last met a Minister from the Scottish Government to discuss the decommissioning of oil and gas fields in the event of Scottish separation. [126231]
Mr Hayes: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), has not met Scottish Government Ministers to specifically discuss oil and gas decommissioning in the event of Scottish separation.
North Sea Oil and Gas
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of any contribution to greenhouse gas emissions that may result from (a) the 167 new North Sea oil and gas licences announced on 25 October 2012 and (b) the policy that he announced on that date that every last economic drop of oil and gas from the North Sea will be produced; if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of these developments on (i) the achievement of the UK's domestic carbon budgets, (ii) his objective of reducing the UK's dependency on fossil fuels and on volatile global energy prices and (c) the UK's international efforts to secure global action to avoid dangerous climate change; and if he will make a statement. [126003]
Mr Hayes: We are fully committed to meeting our carbon budgets, and to meeting our international commitments on action to avoid dangerous climate change. However, our energy needs today are predominantly supplied by oil and gas. Despite our ambitious programmes to shift supply to low-carbon sources and to improve energy efficiency, projections point to the need for a substantial proportion of our overall energy needs to be supplied by oil and gas for years to come.
The choice is therefore between obtaining these supplies from indigenous sources, with all the benefits that provides to UK employment and the economy, or paying to obtain supplies from abroad. Though some 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent have already been produced from the UK continental shelf, there may be 20 billion more which could yet be produced. Our work on oil and gas licensing, exploration and development therefore aims to secure over time the maximum economic recovery of these resources.
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Nuclear Power Stations
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2012, Official Report, column 668W, on nuclear power stations, when he expects the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to complete its assessment of the proposals from GE-Hitachi and CANDU. [126479]
Mr Hayes: NDA expects to complete the initial assessment of both proposals around the end of the year. DECC and NDA will then work together to determine how further work on either of these options will be taken forward.
Justice
Human Trafficking
Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) nationality and (b) gender was of each suspected victim of trafficking referred to the Trafficking Victim Support Scheme operated by the Salvation Army in August 2012; in which region each of the suspected victims was found; and which agency referred each case to the scheme. [125973]
Mrs Grant: In August 2012 there were 51 referrals to the Government-funded support service for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales administered by the Salvation Army. Details are provided in the following table:
| Nationality | Gender | Region | Referring agency |
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Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) nationality and (b) gender was of each suspected victim of trafficking referred to the Trafficking Victim Support Scheme operated by the Salvation Army in July 2012; in which region each of the suspected victims was found; and which agency referred each case to the scheme. [126129]
Mrs Grant: In July 2012 there were 50 referrals to the Government-funded support service for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales administered by the Salvation Army. Details are provided as follows:
| Nationality | Gender | Region | Referring agency |
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Prisoners
Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were in prison for offences of (a) homicide, (b) sexual offences, (c) violent offences, (d) crimes against children, (e) robbery and (f) burglary in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many such people were serving sentences of (i) four years or less, (ii) one year or less and (iii) six months or less. [126085]
Jeremy Wright: Figures on offenders serving immediate custodial sentences by offence group and sentence length are provided in the table. It is not possible to separately identify the numbers serving sentences for crimes against children, because the prisoner offence details held centrally do not include information on the age of the victim.
We are toughening up sentencing for the most serious and dangerous offenders. Anyone convicted of murder must receive an automatic life sentence. We have now also introduced mandatory life sentences—a “two strikes” policy—so that a mandatory life sentence will be given to anyone convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent crime. This will mean that mandatory life sentences can be given for crimes other than murder. In addition, the new extended determinate sentence will mean that all dangerous offenders convicted of serious sexual and violent crimes will be imprisoned for at least two thirds of their custodial term—and they will be subject to extended monitoring in the community on release.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
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| Prison population serving an immediate custodial sentence(1), England and Wales as at 30 September 2012 | ||||
| Of which: | ||||
| Offence group/offence | Total | Six months or less | Less than 12 months | Less than four years |
| (1) Figures for immediate custodial population includes recallees, but excludes fine defaulters. (2) Includes: Murder, Manslaughter, Attempted homicide, Making threats to kill, and Causing death by careless/dangerous driving. (3) Includes: Theft and Handling, Fraud and forgery, Drug offences, Motoring offences, and offences not recorded. | ||||
Reoffenders
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the actual rate of reoffending was better than the predicted rate (a) nationally and (b) locally for all probation trusts in England and Wales on the latest date for which figures are available, relative to national targets for 2011-12. [126120]
Jeremy Wright: Nationally the 2010 adult proven reoffending rate was 25.3% and the predicted rate was 25.8%.
By probation trust, for those adult offenders commencing a court order in 2010, 28 probation trusts had no significant difference between the actual and the predicted rate of reoffending. Six probation trusts (Gloucestershire, Humberside, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and West Midlands, Thames Valley and Warwickshire) had a significantly lower actual rate of reoffending than the predicted rate. One probation trust (Nottinghamshire) had a significantly higher actual rate of reoffending than predicted.
By probation trust, for those adult offenders released from prison on licence in 2010, 29 probation trusts had no significant difference between the actual and the predicted rate of reoffending. Two probation trusts (Devon and Cornwall and Staffordshire and West Midlands) had a significantly lower actual rate of reoffending than the predicted rate. Four probation trusts (Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Thames Valley and Wales) had a significantly higher actual rate of reoffending than predicted.
Proven reoffending is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up period or a further six month waiting period to allow cases to progress through the courts.
This question has been answered using the Ministry of Justice's published proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales, These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the latest available bulletin is for the period January to December 2010.
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Transport
Aviation
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will assess the time taken to issue a licence after the satisfactory completion of training and test for an aviation licence or variation of a licence; what the reasons are for the time taken when there is a delay in issuing such licences; and if he will make a statement. [126363]
Mr McLoughlin: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has a published target to issue personnel licences within 10 working days of the receipt of the application. However, new EU aviation safety legislation that came into effect on 17 September has required the CAA to put new procedures in place and created a temporary increase in licence applications. As a result the 10-day target is not being met in all cases since that date. The CAA has had to prioritise applications for professional pilot and air traffic controller licences to ensure that they are issued within the published target. This has meant that some applications for other licences and ratings have been taking up to 26 working days to be processed. The CAA continues to offer a same-day service for applicants who visit its offices at Gatwick. The CAA is working hard to reduce delays and issue all licences within the published target.
Taxis
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals in respect of taxi and private hire services. [126362]
Norman Baker: The Department for Transport last year asked the Law Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the legislation governing taxis and private hire vehicles. The Commission will report to us at the end of next year, with a draft Bill. Any progress beyond that will, of course, depend on wider Government priorities for securing parliamentary time.
West Coast Railway Line: Franchises
Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the grade was of each of the successive senior responsible owners of the West Coast franchise competition; and between what dates each served in the role; [126353]
(2) for what reason each of the three senior responsible owners of the West Coast franchise competition ceased to perform that role; [126354]
(3) how many previous rail franchise competitions each of the three senior responsible owners of the West Coast franchise competition had a similar responsibility; [126355]
(4) what arrangements were made for the handover from and to each successive senior responsible owner for the West Coast franchise competition. [126357]
Mr McLoughlin:
I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 15 October 2012, Official Report, columns 46-47, along with the terms of reference of the Laidlaw inquiry and a copy of his
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interim report, both of which have been deposited in the Libraries of the House. This issue will be considered by the Laidlaw inquiry. I am not going to prejudice the findings of his final report, which is due by the end of November.
Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what date his Department plans to provide to the Laidlaw inquiry all the documentation it has requested. [126356]
Mr McLoughlin: The Laidlaw inquiry is an ongoing inquiry and requests for information held by the Department have been and continue to be made at regular intervals. The Department for Transport endeavours to meet all of these requests as soon as possible. The inquiry team has had the full co-operation of the Department throughout the 10-day initial review process and this remains the case.