Home Department

Deportation: Offenders

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many foreign nationals who successfully appealed against their deportation under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 used Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as part of their appeal in each year since the implementation of the Act; [178837]

(2) which articles of the European Convention on Human Rights were used as part of their appeal by those foreign nationals who successfully appealed against their deportation under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 in each year since the implementation of the Act. [178838]

Mr Harper [holding answer 10 December 2013]: Although we have previously answered these questions in full, we have reviewed the process by which they were answered and found that while we managed to provide a robust response, it exceeded the amount of time that we could expend.

Gaining a view on the grounds for appeal requires a manual review of all the records involved because this specific piece of information is not recorded at the outset of the appeal in a manner which we can interrogate electronically.

Any refresh of this information would require us to perform the manual review again, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

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I refer to the reply given on 23 April 2013, Official Report, column 793W, on the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) who successfully appealed against deportation under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130423/text/130423w0001.htm#130423 w0001.htm_wqn26

We are, however, able to provide the following table, which shows the number of appeals lodged against deportation between January 2008 and September 2013. The data provided relate to all deportation appeals and not just those whose case is being pursed under section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007.

Immigrants: Detainees

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average daily cost of detention per person in each of the last three years was at (a) Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre and (b) all immigration detention centres. [182889]

Mr Harper: The Home Office has 10 immigration removal centres, seven of which are operated by private sector suppliers under contract, and three by the National Offender Management Service under a service level agreement.

The operating cost for each privately-operated immigration removal centre is commercially confidential and public disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of the Home Office and its suppliers. Budgets are set according to anticipated expenditure set out in each of the contracts or the service level agreement.

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However, details of detention and removal costs can be found in the Home Office's Annual Report and Accounts available on the Home Office website at:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/

The Home Office also publishes payments in excess of £25,000 on its website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/transparency/transparency-spend/

The overall cost of operating the detention estate has fallen, a contributing factor of which is the way the Home Office has developed a healthy interest in its services from the private sector. Competition has helped to drive service improvements and reduced costs. The cost of operating the detention estate for the last three years is:

All Immigration Removal Centres operated by the private and public sector have their contract or service level agreement managed by a central commercial team.

The Home Office has a team of staff based in each centre to monitor day-to-day service delivery and compliance. Meetings take place with the Centre Manager at an operational level on a weekly basis and at a commercial level on a quarterly basis.

Refugee Integration and Employment Service

Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many refugees the Refugee Integration and Employment Service helped in (a) each year it was operational and (b) total; [182212]

(2) how much it cost to fund the Refugee Integration and Employment Service in (a) each year it was operational and (b) total. [182222]

Mr Harper [holding answer 13 January 2014]: The Refugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES) operated from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2011 when, in line with the contract terms, the service ceased. The total number of refugees assisted in each of these three operational years was:

The total number of refugees helped was 12,464.

The costs for each of the four financial years in which RIES operated were:

The total cost was £25,667,394.

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House of Commons Commission

Parliamentary Tours

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, how many hon. Members' sponsored tours of the Palace of Westminster took place during non-sitting Fridays during (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; and how many are booked for 2014. [183163]

John Thurso: The number of hon. Members' sponsored tours of the Palace of Westminster that took place during (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013 is as follows:

2014: 285 tours for 5,830 participants have so far been booked on 23 non-sitting Fridays between January and June. In total, 2,231 tours have been booked for 43,411 participants.

International Development

Afghanistan

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department has committed to each of her Department's strategic priorities for Afghanistan. [183131]

Mr Duncan: DFID's priorities in Afghanistan are: supporting peace, security and political stability; promoting economic growth and jobs; and helping the state to deliver improved services. In 2013, the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) announced that tackling violence against women and girls would also be a strategic priority for DFID in Afghanistan in future.

DFID publishes Afghanistan funding by sector in its annual report. It is not possible to precisely disaggregate funding against our overlapping and mutually reinforcing priorities. However, from total expenditure of £180.7 million in 2012-13, DFID spent 69.6% on governance and security and 14.6% on wealth creation. The remainder of this budget was spent on other areas including support to women and girls, education, and humanitarian funding.

Argentina

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the Government plan to give to Argentina during the current Parliament. [182942]

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Mr Duncan: DFID does not provide aid to Argentina—the FCO provides a small amount of overseas development assistance to support British Council and Chevening Scholarship programme activity. The FCO spent £1.95 million in this way in 2012. There are no plans to increase ODA funding allocated to Argentina during the lifetime of the current Parliament.

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the UK has given to Argentina since May 2010. [182943]

Mr Duncan: The UK has reported that the following aid was provided to Argentina between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2012. None of this expenditure was funded from DFID's budget:

Justice

Employment Tribunals Service

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications have been made to the Employment Tribunal in each month since July 2013; how many of those have included an application for fee remittance in each such month; how many fee remittance applications have been processed in each such month; and what proportion of those fee remittance applications have been processed within the 48-hour target turnover in each such month. [181504]

Mr Vara: The number of claims received by the Employment Tribunal is published by the Ministry of Justice Tribunal Statistics (quarterly) on the GOV.UK website at the address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Data concerning outcomes of fee remission applications made, in employment tribunal cases and in other court and tribunal jurisdictions, are not routinely published. To obtain the information requested requires interrogation of the employment tribunals' fees and remission database, and quality assurance checks on that data to ensure they are accurate, reliable and in a form suitable for publication. I have asked my officials to undertake this work, and I will write to the hon. Lady as soon as I am able.

There is no 48-hour turnaround target for processing fee remission applications. The Employment Tribunal aims to process fee remission applications in 10 days. The time taken processing the remission does not affect the limitation period for the claim.

Prisons: Ambulance Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) on how many occasions ambulances have been called out to HM Prison Oakwood by (a) month and (b) nature of incident since the opening of that prison; [183062]

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(2) on how many occasions ambulances were called out to each prison in England and Wales in each month of 2012. [183063]

Norman Lamb: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Health.

This information is not collected centrally by the Department or NHS England.

In 2011, the Department and National Offender Management Service reissued guidance on emergency access for ambulance services to prisons, National Health Service commissioners and NHS ambulance trusts. This states that

“the most important aspect of emergency care for prisoners is that an ambulance is called in all cases where there are grave concerns about the immediate health of a prisoner”.

A copy of this guidance has been placed in the Library.

Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to improve conditions at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre since the last unannounced inspection by HM chief inspector of prisons in October 2013. [182883]

Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Department.

We welcome the report by HM chief inspector of prisons following their last unannounced inspection of Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre. In line with protocol, a service improvement plan has been drawn up responding to the recommendations made in the report, a copy of which will be sent to HM chief inspector of prisons. We will be working closely with the service provider to implement accepted recommendations to help improve the experience of detainees.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Government

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on a plan for the implementation, legislation and provision of funding for measures dealing with the legacy of the past that arise from the Haass negotiations. [183386]

Mrs Villiers: I refer the hon. Lady to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) on 15 January 2014, Official Report, column 841, and the hon. Members for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) and for Belfast South (Dr McDonnell) on 15 January 2014, Official Report, column 842.

Prime Minister

Annuities

Mr Sanders: To ask the Prime Minister if he will transfer responsibility for policy relating to annuities from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. [182947]

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The Prime Minister: There are no plans for any changes in responsibility. HM Treasury works closely with the Department for Work and Pensions on matters relating to this area of policy.

Chiefs of Staff

Mr David Davis: To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish the dates of all meetings between him and the Chief of Defence Staff between 11 May 2010 and 31 May 2011. [183117]

The Prime Minister: I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, including the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Transport

A303

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he intends to publish the draft scope for the A303 feasibility study for consultation with stakeholders. [183132]

Mr Goodwill: The Department has committed to undertaking six feasibility studies as part of the process of identifying and funding solutions to tackle some of the most notorious and long-standing road hot spots in the country. The studies include work on the problems on the A303/A30/A358 corridor.

As part of that process we committed to engage with stakeholders to develop and agree the detailed scope of the study. On 15 January I wrote to my hon. Friends whose constituencies lie within the proposed geographic scope of the study, to set out a brief synopsis of our proposals for the study. The Department has put in place arrangements to discuss details of the proposed scope of the study work with relevant stakeholders during January and February.

I will provide the hon. Lady with copies of the documentation sent to my hon. Friends.

Driving Tests

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost to the public purse was of legal advice on the legal challenge by Pearson Driving Assessments to the award of the theory test contract. [183327]

Stephen Hammond: As set out in the answer from the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr Goodwill), of 9 December 2013, Official Report, column 81W, the decision to award a framework agreement for the supply of computer-based testing for Government was subject to a formal challenge by Pearson Driving Assessments; the total cost of legal advice was £880,561.72, including VAT, as at 16 January 2014.

Driving: Licensing

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the prevalence of copycat websites for the application for

17 Jan 2014 : Column 726W

and renewal of driving licences; and what steps he is taking to inform the public about such websites. [183164]

Stephen Hammond: The Department is aware of several websites not connected to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) or the official Government website that are offering services to customers who are applying for driving licences.

The DVLA has published advice on GOV.UK to remind motorists that GOV.UK is the first stop for motoring services and that other websites may charge additional fees. The DVLA also directs motorists to GOV.UK in all its leaflets, forms and in news stories and its social media channels.

The Office of Fair Trading has ruled that websites which charge additional fees are not acting illegally. The Government, led by Cabinet Office Government Digital Service, will continue to investigate reports of organisations which may be actively misleading users about their services or acting illegally, taking swift action when necessary.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the findings of KPMG on its report on the regional economic impacts of High Speed 2, what steps he is taking to ameliorate any negative impact of investment in High Speed 2 on the south-west region. [183190]

Mr Goodwill: The KPMG report on HS2 Regional Economic Impacts considers only the impacts from HS2 and does not reflect the impacts of other transport investment. The Government recognise the importance of investment in all forms of transport and have provided for significant capital spending on our transport networks, with total funding of £73 billion over the period from 2015 to 2021. For example, the electrification of Great Western railway and the introduction of new IEP rolling stock will bring benefits to the south-west region.

M6

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2014, Official Report, column 390W, on M6, what the location was and details were of each of the road traffic collisions in 2013; and what the location and duration of the ensuing road closure was in each case. [183388]

Mr Goodwill: Following are details of the 25 road traffic collisions on the M6 in the Cumbria and Lancashire areas in 2013. Provided are the date and time of the incident, the location, the total impact duration and also if the incident recorded a total or whole closure.

Note:

The total impact duration is the time where the capacity, of one or more running lanes, has been reduced and not just the time that all lanes were closed.

The location description provides the reference of the marker post, the motorway junction, the motorway name, the maintenance area and the geographical area.

17 Jan 2014 : Column 727W

Motor Vehicles

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage registration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency of foreign-registered vehicles which are in the UK beyond a six-month period. [183330]

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Stephen Hammond: Information about the requirement to register and license a foreign-registered vehicle after the six-month period has expired is available on GOV.UK and in the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's information leaflets.

Where the DVLA receives information about foreign registered vehicles the DVLA will contact the keeper where possible to advise them of UK tax and registration rules. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of providing information on these vehicles to the police for use with their Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras. Officials are also discussing with four police forces the potential for using intelligence information as part of a pilot scheme to carry out enforcement against vehicles that stay longer than the six-month exemption period.

Railways: Electrification

Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make an assessment of the potential benefits and disadvantages of electrifying the rail line between Newbury and Penzance. [182945]

Stephen Hammond: The Department has made no such analysis. Following the Government's major investment in rail electrification as part of the Rail Investment Strategy (RIS) for 2014-19, Network Rail is working with train operators and other stakeholders to identify the best candidate schemes for future investment, as part of its industry electrification strategy in advance of decisions on the following five-year Network Rail Control Period.

Roads: Safety

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review his Department's guidance to local authorities on shared space. [182827]

Mr Goodwill: The Department for Transport's guidance on the design and provision of shared space schemes, Local Transport Note 1/11: ‘Shared Space’, was published in October 2011, and there are no current plans for it to be revised.

Treasury

Corporation Tax

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many penalty notices issued with regard to late submission of a corporation tax return were waived in each of the years ending 31 March from 2007 to 2013 inclusive; what the total monetary amount waived was in each such year; and if he will make a statement. [182416]

Mr Gauke: HMRC does not ‘waive' penalties. Every penalty imposed is either paid, pursued for payment, discharged on successful appeal, or remitted as an uncollectible debt—typically where a company has become insolvent or been struck off the Companies House Register.

Amounts remitted can be reinstated if new considerations come to light.

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Food and Drink Federation

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings representatives of the Food and Drink Federation attended with (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department in each year since 2010. [183074]

Mr Gauke: Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Gangmasters Licensing Authority

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 157W, on Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), what proportion of notifications of breaches of minimum wage received by the National Minimum Wage Inspectorate from the GLA (a) were investigated and (b) resulted in compensation payments in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13. [182752]

Mr Gauke: The Government take the enforcement of NMW very seriously and HMRC enforces the national minimum wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999. It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW. The value of penalties charged has increased by 41% between 2012-13 and 2009-10.

The information requested is not available.

Revenue and Customs: Cheltenham

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the Cheltenham Tax Enquiry Office is being closed; and if he will make a statement. [183127]

Mr Gauke: No decision has been made regarding the closure of the Cheltenham office. The future of HM Revenue and Custom's inquiry centres has yet to be decided.

HMRC is evaluating all of the information gathered from the pilot together with the feedback from the public consultation and plans to announce its decision on the way forward in February 2014.

Tax Yields

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the value of the total tax receipts from (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) England, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland excluding any revenue from the North sea in each year since 1990; [183344]

(2) what estimate he has made of the value of North sea revenues in each year since 1990 from (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland according to (i) population split and (ii) a geographical split of that revenue. [183353]

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Mr Gauke: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes total UK tax receipts in its annual Blue Book. Table 1 shows total UK tax receipts from 1990 to 2012, and includes taxes paid to both central and local government. This information is also available on the ONS website:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/united-kingdom-national-accounts/index.html

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for collecting the vast majority of tax receipts. HMRC publishes the total tax receipts it collects, including those from the North sea, on its website:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/receipts.htm

HMRC has also published (October 2013) a set of statistics presenting the disaggregation of tax receipts between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These are also available on the same website, and include the allocation of North sea receipts (those from corporation tax and petroleum revenue tax) according to a geographical and population split.

The sub-national statistics are a first publication, so should be treated with some caution. Sub-national data are not available for earlier years.

Taxation: Self-assessment

Mr David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the prevalence of copycat websites for tax returns; and what steps he is taking to inform the public about such websites. [183166]

Mr Gauke: HMRC takes the security of customer data very seriously. The Department is aware of ‘phishing' attacks that invite customers to submit their personal and financial information via websites purporting to be HMRC and, once reported, HMRC works with the hosting providers to remove such sites. HMRC also employs an industry-leading anti-phishing service, which proactively searches for fraudulent, HMRC-branded, websites and removes them. The dovetailing of these two approaches to phishing websites has enabled HMRC to remove well in excess of 1,000 fraudulent sites.

In addition to phishing sites there are a number of websites which offer services such as the submission of a tax return on behalf of an individual for a fee. Often HMRC software will enable a customer to undertake the action themselves free of charge.

HMRC takes action to review reported websites offering services to customers to ensure that there is no infringement on brand and disclaimers are placed within the website to identify that there is no affiliation to HMRC. While such websites are not operating illegally, information within HMRC’s online security pages at:

https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/advice.htm

provides advice to our customers to be vigilant of such websites.

Work and Pensions

Employment and Support Allowance: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment

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and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber (1) how many people receiving employment and support allowance in York Central constituency were moved

(a)

from the support group to the work-related group and

(b)

from the work-related group to the support group in each month since October 2012; [183341]

(2) how many people living in York Central constituency receiving employment and support allowance were moved from the support group to the work-related group; how many of those people sought a review of that decision; and how many of those seeking a review were (a) moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review, (b) not moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review and (c) still awaiting the decision on their request for review in each month since October 2013. [183389]

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2014, Official Report, columns 280-81W.

Fracking

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions the Health and Safety Executive has had with Government Departments about the health and safety implications of fracking; and if he will make a statement. [183345]

Mike Penning: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a member of the cross-Government Shale Gas Strategy Group established by DECC's Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO). This ensures that the regulatory regime for shale gas operations is robust and coordinated.

HSE also has regular discussions with the Environment Agency (EA), which includes the operation of the Memorandum of Understanding between HSE and EA to ensure that shale gas operators are managing and controlling health, safety, and environmental risks. There are arrangements for joint inspections with EA during the exploratory phase of shale gas development.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of tenants affected by the under-occupancy penalty who have taken in a lodger. [183133]

Esther McVey: This information is not available.

Jobseeker's Allowance

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what targets he has set for moving applications for jobseeker's allowance online; and whether these targets are variable by region. [183337]

Esther McVey: DWP introduced a target of 80% take-up by September 2013 as part of its Structural and Efficiency Reform Plan. This target was achieved ahead of deadline and take-up of the JSA Online service has been consistently above 80% since August 2013. There are no plans to apply regional variations to the 80% target.

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Jobseeker's Allowance: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people receiving jobseeker's allowance (JSA) in York Central constituency had JSA withdrawn as a result of their failure to comply with conditions laid down by his Department in each month since October 2012. [183340]

Esther McVey: The information is tabled as follows:

Procurement

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many officials at each grade in his Department have the authority to execute a purchase; what proportion of those officials have professional procurement qualifications; and what the key indicators used in his Department to assess procurement officer's performance are. [183364]

Mike Penning: The DWP Commercial Director leads a delegated procurement authority (DPA) policy whereby 611 staff across the Department have one of five DPA levels:

DPA Level 1-awarded to non-specialist staff giving authority to purchase low-value, low-risk goods or services from previously established commercial arrangements, such as frameworks for office supplies.

DPA Level 2-awarded to non-specialist staff in purchasing teams giving authority to enter into low-risk contracts below £10,000 for specified ranges of goods and services.

DPA Level 3 to 5-awarded to procurement specialists in designated procurement posts based on an individual's skills, experience and qualifications. DPA Level 3 allows purchasing up to the EU threshold; DWP Level 4 to above the EU threshold up to £5 million; and DPA level 5 above £5 million.

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DPA is not awarded on the basis of grade and the information requested about the numbers at each grade could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The key indicators used in the Department to assess the performance of staff engaged in procurement are based on the Civil Service Competency Framework, focusing on:

Achieving commercial outcomes

Delivering value for money

Managing a quality service

Changing and improving

Leading and communicating

Collaborating and partnering

Delivering at pace.

Social Security Benefits

Sir Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has plans to close the gap in benefits created by the suspension of employment and support allowance to clients subject to an adverse mandatory reconsideration, pending resolution of their tribunal hearing; and if he will make a statement. [183128]

Mike Penning: There are no current plans for making changes to the arrangements for the payment of benefits during mandatory reconsideration. Claimants may be able to claim other benefits during the mandatory reconsideration period, such as jobseeker's allowance.

Social Security Benefits: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in York Central constituency were receiving (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) employment and support allowance—support group and (c) employment and support allowance—work-related group in each month since October 2012. [183342]

Esther McVey: The information available is shown in the following tables.

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Monthly statistics on the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants and quarterly statistics on employment and support allowance claimants are published and can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

Training

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Ministers in his Department have undertaken training courses; and in the case of each such course what the (a) name of the course provider was, (b) purpose of the course was and (c) cost of each session in the course was. [183236]

Esther McVey: Civil Service Learning no longer has any responsibility for ministerial training. This has been passed to the Institute for Government.

Based on this Department's own records I can confirm that none of its Ministers have undertaken any recent training.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2014, Official Report, column 455W, on universal credit, when he expects that the 50 required IT specialists will be (a) recruited and (b) in post. [183369]

Esther McVey: The necessary recruitment is underway, and we will bring specialists on board on a carefully controlled trajectory as they are needed.