Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Cattle: Accidents
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations he has made to supermarkets on encouraging them not to stock meat from breeds of cattle known to be more dangerous to walkers; [157670]
(2) what advice he publishes to assist farmers in choosing cattle breeds with regard to the safety of members of the public. [157673]
Mr Heath: DEFRA has discussed with the Health and Safety Executive, the National Farmers Union and breed societies the need to promote and strengthen guidance and advice for farmers, landowners and other livestock keepers on cattle and public access.
The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance about the precautions to be taken with grazing cattle including ways to minimise the risk to the public, for example by the way of clear information and signage.
The National Farmers Union's own guidance suggests that its members should make an assessment about the risks posed by livestock being kept in a field with a public right of way including such matters as whether the livestock are well-handled and used to people; whether the livestock have ever been known to react aggressively to people or dogs; whether cattle have very young calves at foot; and the route of the right of way through the field and the field conditions.
The Countryside Code, issued by Natural England, includes guidance on walkers' rights and responsibilities when out in the countryside and in particular advice and information about the best approach to take if a walker with a dog finds themselves being threatened by cattle.
DEFRA has not made representations to supermarkets to discourage them from stocking meat from breeds of cattle known to be more dangerous to walkers.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons his Department has not published a list of dangerous cattle breeds. [157672]
Mr Heath:
There is a list of seven breeds of dairy bull that are prohibited from land crossed by public rights of way in section 59 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Bulls of all other breeds, if aged over 10 months, are also banned from such fields unless accompanied by
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cows or heifers. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs may by order add or remove any breed from the list.
There are no prohibitions on other specific breeds of cattle, as records kept by the Health and Safety Executive indicate that there is no evidence that certain cattle breeds are more dangerous to the public than others.
Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires farmers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, they do not put members of the public at risk by their work activities. This section applies to keeping any cattle that could be a known risk where there is public access.
Floods: Greater London
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of homes in London at risk of (a) flash flooding and (b) other forms of flooding; and if he will make a statement. [158434]
Richard Benyon: Flash flooding is caused by an intense rainfall event, and in London this would be experienced as surface water flooding. Drain London (the Greater London Authority group) has estimated that up to 1.3 million properties are in areas at risk of surface water flooding from a rainfall event with 0.5% probability of flooding.
The Environment Agency's National Assessment of Flood Risk states that in London 534,804 properties are at risk from tidal and/or fluvial (river) flooding.
Food: Procurement
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of food purchased by central Government Departments was procured from UK food producers in the latest period for which figures are available. [156804]
Richard Benyon: DEFRA does not hold figures relating to the source of food purchased by central Government directly or indirectly through its contractors. Figures relating to the Department's own contract show that between July and December last year 100% of fresh beef, fresh lamb and fresh pork (apart from gammon) was UK sourced or produced. Gammon was EU sourced. We do not at present have information relating to other produce.
Raves
Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what system his Department has put in place to monitor the number of illegal raves taking place on farms; and what advice his Department gives to farmers and local police forces on the prevention of illegal raves. [158052]
Richard Benyon:
DEFRA does not have a system in place to monitor the number of illegal raves taking place on farms. There are sufficient legislative controls in place at a local level to deal with these illegal events. We do not give advice to farmers or local police on the
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prevention of illegal raves; dealing with them is an operational matter for the police and relevant local authorities.
Recycling
Mrs Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures are in place to allow the Environment Agency to inspect sites with recycling permits. [153915]
Richard Benyon [holding answer 13 May 2013]: The Environment Agency has a duty to carry out appropriate periodic inspections of waste recycling facilities. It adopts a risk-based approach to inspection and other forms of compliance assessment and does so based on an assessment of the nature, scale and location of the activity and any previous compliance history. The Environment Agency has powers of entry to the sites it regulates.
Copies of all inspection records are provided to the site operator and also placed on a public register held by the Environment Agency.
Regulation
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what processes his Department has put in place to (a) monitor, (b) collate cost information on, (c) review and (d) respond to requests to amend or revoke regulations introduced by his Department; [155794]
(2) what the title was of each set of regulations introduced by his Department in each month since May 2010; and which of those regulations have been (a) subject to the (i) one in one out and (ii) one in two out procedure and (b) (i) revoked and (ii) amended; [155816]
(3) if he will provide the estimated cost of each regulation introduced by his Department since May 2010; and what the estimated benefits of each regulation (a) amended and (b) revoked were. [155960]
Richard Benyon: DEFRA introduced 192 statutory instruments between May 2010 and 30 April 2013 but no primary legislation. In addition, 211 regulations were revoked either in whole or in part. A list of these has been placed in the Library of the House.
Details of the costs to business are set out in the individual Impact Assessments which can be found on:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk
where they are linked to the legislation.
Not all regulations require an Impact Assessment and therefore no costs are available for these regulations. Those regulations annotated with * denote those which did not require an Impact Assessment.
Regulations that have a direct cost to business and are in scope of one-in, one-out (OIOO) and one-in, two-out (OITO) are published in Departments’ six-monthly statements of new regulation (SNR). These are available from BIS here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-the-impact-of-regulation-on-business/supporting-pages/operating-a-one-in-two-out-rule-for-business-regulation
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DEFRA carries out regular reviews of its regulations as specified in individual pieces of legislation. Typically, these are between five to seven years after implementation depending on whether the legislation is domestic or EU in origin.
Under the Red Tape Challenge initiative DEFRA has reviewed approximately 600 regulations, the majority under two themes, “environment” and “water and marine”. The outcomes of these reviews to date, including DEFRA’s implementation plan for environment, are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/series/better-regulation-red-tape-challenge
The water and marine implementation plan is to be published shortly.
Scotland
Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he last met (a) the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and (b) any other Scottish Government Minister; and what was discussed at any such meeting. [155675]
Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), last met with (a) the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, at the devolved Administration meeting on 20 May 2013 to discuss a range of issues.
He also met (b) the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Peter Wheelhouse, at the same meeting.
Wood: Recycling
Mrs Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the market for recycled wood. [153914]
Richard Benyon [holding answer 13 May 2013]: According to WRAP'S 2011 market situation report, wood recycling in the UK increased by 8% in 2008, 4% in 2009 and 7% in 2010 but shows a 5% reduction in 2011. This reduction in wood recycling could be a result of an increase in wood waste exports, which accounted for 194,000 tonnes in 2010 and 654,000 tonnes in 2011.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
Research carried out by WRAP shows that the total amount of wood waste produced in the UK each year is in the region of 4.1 million tonnes. Wood waste going to landfill in the UK accounts for 1 million to 1.2 million tonnes. Our most recent analysis in the call for evidence shows approximately 0.6 million tonnes of wood waste going to landfill in England.
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Justice
Contracts
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what amount was spent in total on the prisoner transit contract in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; [155175]
(2) what total amount was paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey and (e) Capita for all services undertaken on behalf of his Department in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13. [155179]
Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice has spent the following on the Prisoner Transit contract:
| Financial year | Contract spend (£) |
The MOJ has paid the following amounts for services provided by the following suppliers; G4S, Serco, Sodexo, GeoAmey and Capita.
| Net amount (£) | |||
| Supplier | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 |
All reported figures are for contractual spend only.
Hillsborough Stadium
Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he had had with the Director of Public Prosecutions about the possible effect his resignation will have on the pending inquiries into individuals and organisations involved in the investigations into the Hillsborough disaster. [153920]
Mrs Grant: I have not had any discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions on this matter. The Home Office is responsible for the pending police investigations into the Hillsborough disaster.
Human Rights
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights on the enforcement of human rights in the UK. [157225]
Damian Green:
EU accession to the European convention on human rights will enable human rights obligations to be enforced against the EU and its institutions. As a result, they will be liable to legal action in the European Court of Human Rights for breach of convention rights. Protocol 8 to the European treaties provides that the accession agreement will not affect the situation of
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member states in relation to the convention. It does not change the competences of the EU or the powers of its institutions.
Legal Aid Scheme
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposals outlined in his Department's consultation on transforming legal aid on the quality of legal advice provided under legal aid. [156963]
Jeremy Wright: The Government have consulted on a number of proposals to reform legal aid via the ‘Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’ consultation which closed on 4 June 2013. This included proposed model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. We have been clear we must continue to bear down on the cost of legal aid, including the £1 billion of taxpayers’ money spent on criminal legal aid a year, to ensure we are getting the best deal for the taxpayer.
We are clear we will continue to uphold everyone's right to a fair trial—but that does not mean we should not look again at how the system which provides this is operated. Quality assured duty solicitors and lawyers will still be available—just as they are now. The Legal Aid Agency would ensure, as part of the tendering process, that all providers are capable of delivering the full range of criminal legal aid services under contract across their procurement areas. Our proposals envisage a quality review which is more extensive than that in the current system.
The issue of quality is addressed further in the criminal litigation price competition impact assessment which can be downloaded from the consultation web page:
https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-legal-aid
In that impact assessment we comment on the potential impact of quality by the removal of client choice.
We will consider the views we have received on the proposed model of competition, including the impact of those proposals on clients, provider and the wider justice system.
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make an assessment of the compatibility of the removal of client choice for criminal legal aid in the criminal justice system with the United Nations' Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid. [157274]
Jeremy Wright: The Government have recently consulted on a number of proposals to reform legal aid via the “Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system” consultation which closed on 4 June 2013. This includes a proposed model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. As confirmed in that consultation paper, against a background of continuing pressure on public finances, we need to continue to bear down on the cost of legal aid, including the £1 billion of taxpayers' money spent on criminal legal aid a year.
We are clear we will continue to uphold everyone's right to a fair trial. Quality assured lawyers will still be available—just as they are now. The Legal Aid Agency
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would ensure as part of the tendering process that all providers are capable of delivering the full range of criminal legal aid services under contract across their procurement areas.
The Government consider that the proposals are compatible with the United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems.
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to cap the number of cases receiving access to legal aid in each of the 42 procurement areas set out in the Transforming Legal Aid review. [157325]
Jeremy Wright: The Government have consulted on a number of proposals to reform legal aid via the ‘Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’ consultation which closed on 4 June 2013. This included proposed model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. We have been clear we must continue to bear down on the cost of legal aid, including the £1 billion of taxpayers' money spent on criminal legal aid a year, to ensure we are getting the best deal for the taxpayer.
The proposals, if implemented, would not see an introduction of a cap for Criminal Legal Aid and, as such, Criminal Legal Aid will continue to be available for all eligible persons should they require it in all 42 procurement areas.
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he plans to take to mitigate any risks to the quality of service received by legal aid recipients through the proposed removal of client choice. [157450]
Jeremy Wright: The Government have consulted on a number of proposals to reform legal aid via the ‘Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’ consultation which closed on 4 June 2013. This included proposed model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. We have been clear we must continue to bear down on the cost of legal aid, including the £1 billion of taxpayers' money spent on criminal legal aid a year, to ensure we are getting the best deal for the taxpayer.
Quality assured duty solicitors and lawyers will still be available—just as they are now. The Legal Aid Agency would ensure as part of the tendering process that all providers are capable of delivering the full range of criminal legal aid services under contract across their procurement areas. Our proposals envisage a quality review which is more extensive than that in the current system.
Offenders: Rehabilitation
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what dates the provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 relating to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 were initially scheduled to enter into force; whether this date has subsequently been changed; and for what reason any such change has been made. [157027]
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Jeremy Wright: The essential prerequisite for the commencement of the reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 is to put in place a system for producing basic disclosure certificates, which show unspent convictions, which reflects the new rehabilitation periods for England and Wales. Until we do that there would be no way for an individual to obtain an official statement of their unspent convictions under the new rules.
Currently, basic disclosures reflecting the existing rehabilitation periods are only available from Disclosure Scotland and this service is provided to residents of England and Wales as well as Scotland. However, the reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act only revise rehabilitation periods for England and Wales, leaving the position in Scotland unchanged under its legislation. This complicates matters and creates two different rehabilitation regimes within the UK, which means that there are significant business and technical issues to work through.
The Government are considering the best option for implementing these important changes with Disclosure Scotland and the Disclosure and Barring Service and aim to have the reforms in place at the earliest possible point.
Prisoners
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps the National Offender Management Service is taking to improve opportunities for imprisonment for public protection prisoners to progress towards release. [155194]
Jeremy Wright: The primary concern of the Government with regard to prisoners serving indeterminate sentences is that of protecting the public.
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 introduced a new sentencing framework for dangerous offenders. The Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) was abolished for offenders convicted before 3 December 2012 and was replaced by the new Extended Determinate sentence (EDS) and supporting regime. However, the abolition of the IPP sentence has not been applied retrospectively. Therefore, prisoners serving an IPP sentence will remain in custody after they have completed their tariff until the Parole Board directs their release. In making its decisions, the Parole Board will continue to apply the terms of the existing statutory release test.
The population of IPP prisoners has now begun to decrease. This can be explained by the abolition of the sentence which means that no new IPP sentences are given for those convicted on or after 3 December 2012, and the increasing number of releases.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) continues to help IPP prisoners to address successfully the risks evident in their offending, so that, where they do, the Parole Board may decide that those offenders may now be effectively managed in the community. No longer do just accredited courses enable offenders to move on, Offender Managers and Offender Supervisors must provide the Parole Board with a comprehensive assessment of the work undertaken to address offenders' risks—and of offenders' engagement with that work.
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Prisons
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the direct resource outturn expenditure was for each public sector prison in each financial year from 2009-10 to 2012-13. [154063]
Jeremy Wright: As part of the Government's Transparency Agenda, the Department routinely publishes full details of direct resource outturn expenditure for each private and public sector prison in England and Wales after the end of the financial year. The information for financial year 2009-10 to 2010-11 is published as an Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts and available on the Department's website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-performance-statistics-2009-2011
For financial year 2011-12 figures are published on the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-2011-12
Copies of these are also placed in the House library.
Figures for outturn expenditure for financial year 2012-13 have not yet been finalised or audited and therefore not yet available.
The overall cost per prison place has fallen under this Government from £42,914 in 2007-08 to £37,648 in 2011-12. The Government intend to continue to drive down these costs through its strategy of replacing old, uneconomic prisons with new, cost-effective ones.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours on average each prisoner spent per week (a) in a cell and (b) on purposeful activity in (i) each prison, (ii) each category of prison and (iii) the entire prison estate in each of the last five years. [155181]
Jeremy Wright: Information on purposeful activity in each prison, category of prison and for the entire estate is published annually in the Prison Performance Digest. The latest data cover the period to 2011-12 and can be found at the following location:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/163299/prison-performance-digest-2011-12.xls.xls
Average time in cell is measured per week day and this information is provided in Tables 1 and 2 as follows by individual prison establishment and by prison category.
The figures for time in cell are derived from information collected on the average hours per weekday that prisoners are unlocked. By subtracting the average hours unlocked from the 24 hours in a day it is possible to estimate hours spent locked in cell. It should be noted that time in cell includes hours when prisoners are asleep. Time unlocked includes time where a prisoner is either out of their cell or where the cell door is unlocked allowing them to move freely in and out of the cell.
Purposeful activity and time unlocked were two of the NOMS performance indicators of safety and decency in prisons up to 2011-12. The indicators were discontinued at the start of 2012-13.
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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| Table 1: Time in cell by prison establishment: average hours per prisoner per week day | |||||
| Establishment name | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 |
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| Table 2: Time in cell by prison category: average hours per prisoner per week day | |||||
| Category | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 |
| Note: In the above table prisons are categorised according to their predominant function, though some establishments will have more than one function. | |||||
Prisons: Employment
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many jobs are available for prisoners in each prison in the UK; [156654]
(2) what the participation rate is of prisoners in prison work schemes. [156754]
Jeremy Wright: The number of prisoners working in industrial activity in public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 to around 9,000 in 2011-12.
These figures do not include the substantial numbers of prisoners who work within prisons on tasks such as cooking, serving meals, maintenance and cleaning.
Figures are published in the NOMS Annual Report Management Information Addendum:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/163292/noms-annual-report-2011-12-addendum.pdf.pdf
Data have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the level of detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.
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Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) with reference to the answer of 25 April 2013, Official Report, column 1314W, on prisoners: pay, if he will estimate the (a) cost and (b) benefit to the public purse of employing prisoners instead of procuring services privately; [156780]
(2) how many unskilled jobs in prisons are contracted out to private companies; and what the annual cost to the public purse is of procuring unskilled labour in prisons. [156862]
Jeremy Wright: Substantial numbers of prisoners work on essential support tasks in prisons such as cooking, serving meals; grounds maintenance and cleaning. This provides significant work for prisoners and creates economic benefits to the public purse.
Data are not held on the value of prisoner input to the delivery of particular services or the number of prisoners specifically involved in work that could otherwise be outsourced. The Department does not hold data concerning unskilled jobs in prisons.
Where contracting out services is considered, maintaining prisoner input is an important factor to be taken into account—this could include prisoners working on behalf of a contractor.
Probation
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, columns 952-4W, on probation, how many offenders who failed to complete an accredited programme were subsequently (a) placed on an alternative programme, (b) ordered to retake the programme and (c) did not have to undertake any further accredited programmes. [156877]
Jeremy Wright: It is not possible to answer this question in relation to the information provided in the answer of 25 March 2013. This is because the figures provided in the earlier answer were based on completions of the overall programme requirement and not instances of course attendance.
The information provided earlier was based on aggregated completion rates for sex offender treatment programmes, domestic violence programmes and other offending behaviour programmes for each reporting year. These completion rates are calculated using a cohort method which tracks the outcome of individuals at either 12, 18, 30 or 36 months after commencement, depending on programme type, and measures the proportion that completed. Failure to complete in this measure is defined as termination of the programme requirement either during or at the end of the order or licence. Both completers and non-completers included within the original answer may have dropped out of one or more courses and gone on to complete on another course, been placed on an alternative programme or failed to complete a further course. This level of information cannot be derived from the completion rate data.
Training
Priti Patel:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible
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enrolled in publicly-funded training courses in each of the last five years; what the total cost has been of such courses; and what the monetary value was of the 10 highest training course fees in each such year. [155433]
Mrs Grant: Budgets for training and education are devolved and are managed locally by the Ministry's different business groups, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The Ministry does not record this information centrally. Therefore to establish the numbers of staff who have enrolled in publicly-funded training courses and any costs would require a Ministry-wide survey of all its local business areas and non-departmental public bodies. This would incur a disproportionate cost.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Absenteeism
Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the policy of his Department is on promoting physical activity as a strategy for reducing workplace absenteeism. [158308]
Jo Swinson: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), has no locus to promote physical activity in employees in general.
The Government recognise the important role of well-being in the workplace in creating an environment where businesses and individuals can thrive and grow.
Health, Work and Well-being is an important cross-Government agenda, in which BIS is involved and works closely with a number of other Departments.
The Government support a number of initiatives which impact on well-being such as the Every Business Commits framework, which was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2010 that has a specific strand focusing on improving quality of life and wellbeing for employees.
In addition Government also commissioned the independent review of sickness absence undertaken by Dame Carol Black and David Frost CBE. Their report “Health at Work” was published in November 2011.
Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are now working closely with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and others to implement measures aimed at reducing sickness absence in the workplace as set out in the Government's response to the Review (“Fitness for Work”) as published in January 2013.
Apprentices: Kent
Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeships commenced in each sector in (a) Gillingham and Rainham constituency and (b) Medway in each of the last three years. [158701]
Matthew Hancock: Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by parliamentary constituency, local education authority and sector subject area are published in a supplementary table to a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR).
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http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/65659B53-3E92-4E0E-AB62-E106C41B5277/0/Mar2012_Apprenticeships_SSA_Geography_Starts.xls
http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/Statistics/fe_data_library/Apprenticeships/
Copyright: EU Law
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the reopening of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. [158172]
Jo Swinson: Any decision to review the directive is a matter for the European Commission, which have already outlined several areas of work on copyright, including a review of directive 2001/29/EC as provided for in the directive itself. The Government believe that the time is right for such a review to take place, in order to consider the copyright issues that have stemmed from technological change.
The Government want to engage with interested parties on this issue and the Intellectual Property Office will be approaching stakeholders to help flesh out Government thinking so that the UK can develop a clear position and respond if any proposals are tabled.
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills for how many days each week the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise is based at (a) his Department and (b) the Department of Energy and Climate Change; and how many members of staff are employed in the Minister's office at each department. [158443]
Michael Fallon: Most days I work in both Departments. Across the two I have a number of portfolio areas, but common to them all are removing barriers to growth, encouraging investment, and accelerating enterprise.
There are 4.0 FTE in my office in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and 3.5 FTE employed in my office at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Exports: South East Asia
Mr Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 6 November 2012, Official Report, column 594W, on exports: South East Asia, if he will publish an evaluation of the Headstart initiative six month pilot; and if he will place a copy of this evaluation in the Library. [157044]
Michael Fallon: The Headstart pilot, intended for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) new to the market, provides access to office space and locally-established UK expertise in three South East Asian markets: Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. The scheme is offered by the local British Chambers of Commerce in association with UK Trade & Investment and the UK-ASEAN Business Council.
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Following completion of the pilot, UK Trade & Investment has evaluated the outcome, identifying action for development of the initiative. This work will be taken forward as part of the wider Overseas Business Networks initiative announced by the Prime Minister on 12 November 2012, which aims radically to enhance the business-to-business support to UK SMEs in 20 pilot markets over the next 3-5 years.
A copy of this evaluation of the pilot will be placed in the Library.
Gangmasters
Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2013, Official Report, column 381W, on gangmasters, and with reference to the written statement by the Minister of State for Business and Enterprise of 8 November 2012, Official Report, column 43WS, on Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, whether any orders have been made under that Act which are exceptions to the general rule, as set out in that statement, that powers to impose fixed monetary penalties, variable monetary penalties and restoration notices will only be granted where their use is restricted to undertakings with more than 250 employees. [158379]
Michael Fallon: No orders have been made under Part 3 of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 since the written ministerial statement was made on 8 November 2012.
In 2010, one such order gave the Environment Agency and Natural England powers to impose sanctions in England. The Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 (2010/NO.1157) was made on 26 March 2010 and came into force on 6 April 2010.
Welsh Ministers made an order that gave the Environment Agency similar powers in Wales. The Environmental Civil Sanctions (Wales) Order 2010 (2010/No.1821) was made on 14 July 2010 and came into force on 15 July 2010. These powers have now been transferred to the new Natural Resources Body for Wales, which has taken over the Welsh devolved responsibilities of the Environment Agency.
Green Investment Bank
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what contribution he expects the Green Investment Bank to make to green growth. [158078]
Michael Fallon: The role of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is to help overcome limits to the availability of finance to UK green infrastructure projects, demonstrating that such investment can deliver strong commercial returns and helping to mobilise the additional private sector capital required for the transition to a more green economy. To date it has contractually committed £635 million of its £3 billion funding, bringing alongside £1.8 billion of private sector investment that would not have been invested at all, or as quickly, without GIB's involvement.
Chris White: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what contribution he expects the Green Investment Bank to make to green growth. [158096]
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Michael Fallon: The role of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is to help overcome limits to the availability of finance to UK green infrastructure projects, demonstrating that such investment can deliver strong commercial returns and helping to mobilise the additional private sector capital required for the transition to a more green economy. To date it has contractually committed £635 million of its £3 billion funding, bringing alongside £1.8 billion of private sector investment that would not have been invested at all, or as quickly, without GIB's involvement.
Higher Education: Staffordshire
Mr Burley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many people in (a) Cannock Chase constituency and (b) Staffordshire applied to study at (i) the universities of Oxford or Cambridge and (ii) all Russell Group universities in each of the last 10 admission cycles; [158205]
(2) how many people in Cannock Chase constituency (a) applied for and (b) were accepted for a university place in each of the last five years. [158207]
Mr Willetts: The information for these time periods and for this level of detail is not available centrally. Data on applications and acceptances are collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) but they do not routinely publish figures at this level of detail. UCAS is an organisation independent from Government.
Minimum Wage
Mr Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to reduce non-compliance with the national minimum wage. [157045]
Jo Swinson: The Government are committed to the national minimum wage and its effective enforcement. We are absolutely clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and we are working hard to ensure that we reduce non-compliance across the piece.
In 2010, we agreed a five year compliance strategy with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). We are taking a multi-faceted approach that includes targeted communications to raise awareness and help employers to comply, as well as targeted enforcement action with civil and criminal proceedings reserved for the most serious cases.
A key aspect of our strategy is that HMRC investigates every complaint made through the free and confidential Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, HMRC conducts risk-based enforcement in sectors or areas, such as apprenticeships, where there is a higher risk of workers not getting paid the legal minimum wage.
This work is producing results: in 2012/13 HMRC identified £3.9 million in arrears of wages for 26,519 workers. This represents a 33% increase in the number of workers that HMRC were able to help in 2012/13 and a 26% increase in arrears identified compared to 2009/10.
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Sign Language
Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure the services it offers are accessible to British Sign Language users. [157922]
Matthew Hancock: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I provided to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Sir Malcolm Bruce) on 13 May 2013, Official Report, column 85W.
Students: Part-time Education
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the full-time equivalent of HEFCE-fundable part-time students, by parliamentary constituency in which those students have their home address, in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement. [158439]
Mr Willetts: Information on the number of UK domiciled HEFCE-fundable part-time students, by parliamentary constituency at English HEIs for the academic year 2011/12 will be placed in the Libraries of the House. The data have been broken down by level of study.
Information for the 2012/13 academic year will become available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in January 2014.
Please note that these figures do not include HEFCE-fundable part-time students who were registered at FECs as finalised 2011-12 data are not yet available to robustly identify this population at an individual level. We estimate that there were in excess of 10,000 part-time full-time equivalent students at FECs in 2011/12.
UK Trade and Investment
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how the new education advisory group of UK Trade and Investment plans to interact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ensure that embassies understand the value of UK education exports in emerging markets; [157906]
(2) how the education advisory group of UK Trade and Investment works with education-focused private sector and charitable organisations to promote UK education exports abroad; [157907]
(3) what steps he is taking to ensure that UK Trade and Investment's new education advisory group will take a comprehensive view of UK education exports that goes wider than solely increasing the number of international students in UK-based universities; [157902]
(4) how UK Trade and Investment's new education advisory group is being recruited; [157903]
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(5) what the remit will be of UK Trade and Investment's new education advisory group; [157904]
(6) what the timetable is for the recruitment of the new UK Trade and Investment education advisory group. [157905]
Mr Willetts: BIS and UKTI have jointly established an Education UK Unit that will identify high-value export opportunities and support UK providers to respond effectively, fostering the development of UK consortia and helping them to prepare and promote bids. It will act as a ‘one-stop-shop' for overseas Governments or large companies wanting to engage UK partners in their large-scale education projects.
The new unit forms part of the Government's industrial strategy for the education sector. We have long recognised the value of international education partnerships to the UK and already provide considerable in-country support to British companies and educational institutions working alone or in small groups through UKTI, DFID, FCO and the British Council. But there is a clear trend towards countries requiring support with large-scale education projects that require a co-ordinated effort from multiple providers.
The remit of the new unit will be to identify suitable opportunities and support UK organisations to win large-scale commercial contracts across a wide range of education-related products and services, from schools, colleges, universities and private providers, to teaching, equipment, architecture—though higher education and vocational and technical skills. The unit will co-ordinate a joined-up UK response to make the most of these opportunities and the UK. The work of the unit will be driven by the opportunities that emerge and our response will be tailored to the needs of each project. The new unit will be staffed by a combination of existing civil servants and secondments from external organisations with an interest in education exports such as the British Council. Staff are currently being recruited to expand the small team that have piloted the approach since July 2012. The managing director of the unit is being recruited through open external competition. The new team will build to full capacity by autumn 2013.
The Education UK Unit already works closely with relevant staff in embassies overseas, including those in emerging markets, many of whom have already been engaged in supporting UK firms in the education sector to export to and operate in their markets.
The unit engages, often through representative and membership organisations, with a wide range of public, private and charitable organisations that have the potential to export their educational expertise or products. Although the unit will facilitate the formation of consortia, the organisations involved will determine membership and contractual arrangements.