Defence
Aircraft Carriers
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2012, Official Report, column 310W, on aircraft carriers, what estimate he has made of the expected number of days in a year a single Queen Elizabeth class carrier will be operational; and how many days each year he estimates will be required for refit and maintenance. [125067]
Mr Dunne [holding answer 26 October 2012]:I am withholding the information on how many days a Queen Elizabeth class carrier will be operational in a year, as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces. The in-service support solution for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers is still in development, with a decision expected around the middle of this decade.
Unmanned Air Vehicles
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department made of trials of Scan Eagle aboard HMS Sutherland; and if he will make a statement. [124753]
Mr Dunne [holding answer 25 October 2012]:Scan Eagle was trialled aboard HMS Sutherland in February-March 2005 and February-March 2006. The trials established that, in principle, a system like Scan Eagle can usefully be operated from a vessel of this size in a range of roles, for example, spotting for naval gunfire support.
Wales
Police and Crime Commissioners
Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on steps to ensure that the election of police and crime commissioners will be conducted on a fully bilingual basis in Wales in the last 12 months; [126424]
(2) when he was informed of the need for legislation to be passed to ensure that the elections of police and crime commissioners in Wales are conducted on a fully bilingual basis. [126425]
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Mr David Jones: The Government are, and always have been, committed to conducting the election of police and crime commissioners in Wales on a fully bilingual basis, and to passing the necessary legislation to enable this to happen.
Deputy Prime Minister
Political Parties: Finance
Annette Brooke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to commence the provision in the Political Parties and Election Act 2009 that all donors who give over £7,500 are domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. [126501]
Miss Chloe Smith: The Government are committed to looking at the issue as part of the wider work to pursue agreement on the reform of party political funding. Discussions between the main political parties at Westminster are currently under way and the Government hope consensus will be reached swiftly.
It is important to ensure that these specific provisions are workable in practice as well as consistent with the wider legislative framework. There is already a robust legal framework in place to ensure that only individuals that are registered on the electoral register and organisations that conduct business in the UK can make donations.
Secondment
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff in his Office are on secondment from an external organisation; and in respect of each such member of staff, what the name is of the organisation and the planned duration of the secondment. [122012]
Mr Maude: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
For the purposes of corporate administration and financial management, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. There are currently no staff in the Deputy Prime Minister's Office on secondment from an external organisation.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of how many (a) businesses and (b) employees will be adversely affected by the proposed changes to section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. [125925]
Jo Swinson: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave him on 11 September 2012, Official Report, columns 210-11W.
Ford Motor Company
Mr Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions his Department had with Ford UK about their strategic plans for offering a grant from the Regional Growth Fund. [126263]
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Michael Fallon: As part of its relationship with Ford UK, the Department's Automotive Unit has regular and ongoing discussions with the company. Those discussions included understanding the context to Ford's bid for Regional Growth Fund (RGF) support. The bid was appraised by the RGF Secretariat on its own merits against the objectives of the Fund. All shortlisted bidders, including Ford, were given the opportunity to clarify issues of fact during the appraisal process. The RGF Secretariat did not have any other discussions with Ford UK about their strategic plans.
Graphene
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the level is of Government investment in graphene development and research; in which vehicles such investments were made; and what progress has been made in such development and research. [126440]
Mr Willetts: The Government are investing significant funding to support research into the properties of graphene, potential applications for this material and activities relating its commercialisation. These investments are:
£38 million to create a National Institute of Graphene Research at the University of Manchester;
£12 million capital for graphene research equipment in other leading research groups across the UK to complement existing activity in graphene science and engineering;
£10 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to support graphene engineering research—focused on manufacturing processes and technologies linked to graphene; and
£10 million jointly from EPSRC/Technology Strategy Board to establish an Innovation Knowledge Centre in graphene and related carbon-based nanotechnology to accelerate the commercial application of merging graphene technologies.
In addition, EPSRC has previously awarded £17 million of research grants to universities working on graphene related research. UK universities have also attracted an additional €8 million of funding from the European Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation, and a further £3 million from other sources, including the Learned Societies.
Growth Implementation Committee
Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who attended the first two meetings of the Growth Implementation Committee of the Cabinet in September and October 2012; and if he will publish the full membership of that Committee. [126431]
Michael Fallon: The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude’s), written ministerial statement of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 8WS, announced an updated Cabinet Committee list. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House. The oral evidence given by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), to the Select Committee for Business, Innovation and Skills on 30 October 2012 also refers.
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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.
Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
Mr Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what grants have been offered or made from the Regional Growth Fund to companies in the motor industry. [126262]
Michael Fallon: In total £341 million has been allocated to 50 projects and programmes in the automotive sector from the three Regional Growth Fund bidding rounds.
International Development
Developing Countries: Disability
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will take steps to propose the insertion of a reference to people with disabilities in the millennium development goals. [125953]
Lynne Featherstone: The UK recognises the importance of including disabled people in development programmes that aim to improve the lives of the poorest. The Ministerial Declaration of July 2010 agreed at the United Nations (UN) accepted that it was essential to address the needs of disabled people if the millennium development goals (MDGs) were to be achieved. The Declaration and accompanying report highlighted the link between disability and marginalisation in education. It emphasised the need to ensure that women and girls with disabilities are not subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination or excluded from participation in the implementation of the MDGs.
The UN is currently drafting a new resolution on including disability in development and is planning a high-level meeting on the realisation of the millennium development goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities in September 2013. This work is expected to contribute to the discussions on the post-MDGs work.
Developing Countries: Primary Education
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to recent UNESCO estimates of high numbers of children with disabilities being excluded from education, what assessment she has made of progress towards achieving the millennium development goal of universal primary education by 2015. [125954]
Lynne Featherstone: The UK Government are committed to helping provide a good quality basic education for all children, including those with a disability.
The UK is playing its part in helping to achieve the millennium development goal of universal primary education. The DFID 2012 annual report shows that the UK is supporting 5.3 million children in primary education (2.5 million girls) and 600,000 in lower secondary education in developing countries. The UK has also helped to train 90,000 teachers. Improving access for
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children with disability is an important concern, for example DFID is supporting the Schools Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) in Nepal to improving enrolment and attendance in school by children with disabilities. The SSRP includes a number of initiatives such as: targeted scholarships provided to disabled girls; enrolment and progress by disabled students is tracked; and schools are constructed for children with special needs.
DFID supports disabled people through a variety of means including through country programmes and multilateral organisations such as Global Partnership for Education, UNICEF and the European Commission. We provide support through the Global Poverty Action Fund, Comic Relief and through strategic Programme Partnership Arrangements with organisations like Action for Disability and Development (ADD) and Sightsavers.
Over the comprehensive spending review period the UK has pledged to support 9 million children in primary school, over half of whom will be girls and 2 million in lower secondary education. In addition, the DFID Girls Education Challenge will support up to an additional 1 million of the world's poorest girls, including those with disability, to complete their education.
Cabinet Office
Childbirth
Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many live births there were in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each quarter since the first quarter of 2011. [126787]
Mr Hurd: 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 question on how many live births there were in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each quarter since the first quarter of 2011. (126787)
Figures for live births have been compiled from birth registration data. The following table shows the number of live births by quarter for 2011 and up to March 2012 in the areas requested.
Live births in the UK by constituent country and quarter, 2011-12 | ||||
Number of live births (thousand) | ||||
Year and quarter ending | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
(1) All 2012 and all Northern Ireland data are provisional |
Civil Servants: Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many civil servants in central Government Departments have been (a) subject to disciplinary action and (b) dismissed as a consequence of convictions for offences of child abuse since 1982. [124932]
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Mr Maude: Information about the discipline and dismissal of civil servants is not held centrally. Under the terms of delegation Departments are responsible for their own discipline regimes and record keeping.
Employment
George Galloway: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will take steps to publish labour market data each month instead of quarterly. [126475]
Mr Hurd: 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 Parliamentary Question asking if steps will be taken to publish labour market data by each month instead of quarterly. (126475)
ONS publishes monthly estimates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity. However these single month estimates are not designated as National Statistics. This is because they do not have the methodological robustness associated with the headline three-month average estimates that are derived from the Labour Force Survey. They do though prove to be a useful indicator of short term movements in the data and can be used to monitor the sampling effect that is inherent in the survey.
However the headline National Statistics estimates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity are published for rolling three-month average time periods. These estimates are derived from LFS, a large household survey, which collects and produces data on a monthly basis, but as part of a quarterly sample design.
The Office for National Statistics publishes a labour market statistical release every month. This contains a combination of estimates that are for monthly, and three-month average, time periods. Monthly estimates include the claimant count, which measures the number of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants, and labour disputes.
Publishing robust labour market data from a monthly sample would require a redesign of the LFS. The Office for National Statistics has considered this, but is not pursuing at this time.
Mobile Phones
Mike Freer:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which companies supply (a) mobile telephones
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and
(b)
mobile data services to his Department. [125655]
Mr Hurd: Mobile telephony services for the Cabinet Office are provided by Vodafone. As part of my Department's transparency programme contracts are published on Contracts Finder at:
www.data.gov.uk
Pay
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the total paybill was for his Department in the last year for which figures are available; how many people were employed by his Department in that period; how many such employees earned (a) less than £21,000 per year, (b) £40,000 a year or more, (c) £45,000 a year or more and (d) £50,000 a year or more; and what proportion of the total paybill was paid to employees earning (i) over £40,000 a year, (ii) over £45,000 a year and (iii) over £50,000 a year. [126139]
Mr Maude [holding answer 1 November 2012]: Information on paybill is included in my Department's annual accounts. In addition, as part of this Government's transparency programme detailed information is published online. This includes information on staffing numbers, pay for senior officials and departmental organograms.
Public Inquiries
John Stevenson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what the (a) highest and (b) lowest cost was of a public inquiry held in the last 10 years; [119573]
(2) what the average cost was of public inquiries held in each of the last 10 years; [119574]
(3) how many public inquiries there have been in each of the last 10 years; [119575]
(4) what the average length of time taken was for a public inquiry between 2002 and 2012 to date; and what the (a) longest and (b) shortest such inquiry has been. [119576]
Miss Chloe Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the following table:
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Voluntary Work: Young People
Mr Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what estimate he has made of the funding required by the organisation due to manage the National Citizen Service; [126430]
(2) when he plans to make an announcement about the establishment of a new organisation to manage the National Citizen Service. [126436]
Mr Hurd: We will announce plans for future delivery of National Citizen Service (NCS) in due course. NCS has funding through 2013-14 and 2014-15, and the Government will be seeking to achieve value for money and innovation in the management and development of the programme.