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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Northern Ireland

Belfast City Airport

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions she has had with Mr Willie Walsh about British Airways's (a) commitment to and (b) expansion at Belfast city airport; and if she will make a statement. [183556]

Mrs Villiers: I have had no recent discussions with Mr Walsh on expanding BA operations at Belfast city airport but my officials keep in touch with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Departments concerning air routes from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

I understand that the British Airways flight to London is commercially successful and well used by the public—indeed passenger numbers on both Belfast City to Heathrow routes rose by 12% in 2012 compared to 2011.

Buildings

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which buildings occupied by her Department are owned or part-owned privately; what the total value is of the rent paid to private landlords for the use of such buildings for official duties; and to whom such rent is paid. [183644]

Mrs Villiers: My Department does not occupy any building that is owned or part-owned privately and does not, therefore, pay rent to private landlords.

Co-operative Bank

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when she or Ministers in her Department have discussed banking issues with the Co-operative Bank since 2010. [183830]

Mrs Villiers: There have been no further discussions since those in 2010.

Electoral Register: Northern Ireland

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect on registration levels of attainers in Northern Ireland of the introduction of individual voter registration. [183431]

Mrs Villiers: The registration of attainers fell following the introduction of individual voter registration in Northern Ireland. In its 2003 report on the impact of the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, the Electoral Commission commented that attainers appeared to be significantly under-represented on the register, with fewer than 25% of 17 and 18-year-olds registered to vote.

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Registration of attainers improved significantly with the introduction of a schools programme. The Electoral Commission's 2012 report on continuous electoral registration in Northern Ireland estimated that 66% of attainers were registered, in comparison with 55% in Great Britain.

Flood Control

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what resources from her Department were used or made available during the recent flood precautionary measures in Northern Ireland. [183525]

Mrs Villiers: The civil contingency policy branch within the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has responsibility for these matters in Northern Ireland. There are established procedures for liaising with the Civil Contingencies Secretariat within the Cabinet Office.

My officials spoke to their counterparts in OFMDFM at regular intervals during the period of severe weather and were advised that the Northern Ireland Executive had the resources that they required to deal with the impact of the adverse conditions.

Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive about the setting up of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry; and what funding her Department has allocated to assist the work of that inquiry. [183526]

Mrs Villiers: I have not had discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive regarding the setting up of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry. Funding of the inquiry is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Immigration

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent discussions she has had with Secretary of State for the Home Department about immigration into Northern Ireland and overall levels of migration. [183529]

Mrs Villiers: I have had no recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), on these matters, nor have I received any representations from hon. and right hon. Members or MLAs to do so.

Northern Ireland Government

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the US Administration since the ending of the Haass talks in Northern Ireland. [183527]

Mrs Villiers: The Government have maintained contact with the US Administration about the outcome of the Haass process, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has discussed these matters with the President by telephone. I have met the US ambassador and consul general to discuss the Haass process.

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Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland since her appointment; and what assessment she has made of the work of that service. [183528]

Mrs Villiers: Justice matters in Northern Ireland are devolved. I have not met the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland, though I recognise the important role that the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland plays as part of the wider delivery of justice to the community.

Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in her Department in each of the last three years. [183667]

Mrs Villiers: No one, either under or over 16, has undertaken work experience in my Department in the last three years.

Prime Minister

Councillors: Bassetlaw

John Mann: To ask the Prime Minister (1) what resources of his Office were used to invite Conservative councillors to a meeting in Beckingham on 13 January 2014; [183832]

(2) in what capacity he met local Conservative councillors in Beckingham on 13 January 2014; and on how many occasions in 2013 he met Conservative councillors without inviting the hon. Member or councillors for the area in which the meeting took place. [183834]

The Prime Minister: The staffing costs for my political office are a matter for the Conservative party. I informed the hon. Member's office of my visit on 10 January 2014. I enjoyed discussing the merits of shale gas with the hon. Member on the visit.

India

Mr Watson: To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the correspondence dated 3 February 1984 from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the then Prime Minister proposing a response to the Indian Government's request for advice on their plans for the Golden Temple; and if he will make a statement; [183941]

(2) when he expects the review into the events in Amritsar in 1984 to be completed; if he will publish all withheld files on the matter that were not placed in the National Archives under the 30-year rule; and if copies of that review will be placed in the Library; [183942]

(3) if the review into events in Amritsar in 1984 will examine the role played by Gary Sazena and R.N. Kao of the research and analysis wing of the Indian secret service; whether each such man visited the UK at any

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time; whether each such man received training in the UK; and what the nature was of intelligence provided to those individuals from the Government. [183943]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him and the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden), on 15 January 2014, Official Report, columns 849-850.

Attorney-General

Buildings

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Attorney-General which buildings occupied by the Law Officers' Departments are owned or part-owned privately; what the total value is of the rent paid to private landlords for the use of such buildings for official duties; and to whom such rent is paid. [183631]

The Solicitor-General: The Treasury Solicitor's Department and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate are located at One Kemble Street (OKS) London, WC2B 4TS and Southern House (CSH) Wellesley Grove, Croydon, Surrey, CRO 7HJ. These buildings are owned privately and both buildings are used for official duties. The total value of the rent paid per annum for OKS and CSH is £3,622,271.43 (inclusive of non-refundable VAT).

For OKS the rent is paid to the landlord, the Civil Aviation Authority. For Southern House the rent is paid to the landlord, London and Continental Railways.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is a tenant in 2-4 Cockspur Street, London, SW1Y 5BS. The building is owned by the Crown Estate. The Canadian high commission has a 101-year lease from the Crown Estate for the building. The SFO makes rental payments to the Canadian high commission for the space it occupies in the building. The value of rent payments by the SFO in 2013-14 is £1,486,444.00 (exclusive of VAT).

The Attorney-General's Office (AGO) at 20 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0NF is privately owned and the AGO pays a total rent of £462,820.00 (exclusive of VAT) per annum to R&K LLC.

Of the Crown Prosecution Service's property holdings, it currently occupies 35 buildings which are privately owned at a total annual rental of £13,473,632.77 (excluding VAT). A list of the 35 buildings together with details of rent paid annually and to whom, has been deposited in the Library of the House.

Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Attorney-General how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in the Law Officers' Departments in each of the last three years. [183651]

The Solicitor-General: The number of people over 16 years old who have undertaken work experience with The Law Officers' Departments in each of the last three years is detailed in the following table.

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In 2011 one individual aged 16 years or under undertook work experience in TSol.

The Crown Prosecution Service fully supports work experience placements for people aged 16 and under. These are arranged locally and no central record is held of those who have participated.

The SFO has also provided short unpaid work experience opportunities for example to year 10 pupils, however there is no record of how many such opportunities have been provided.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Regulation

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how he intends to implement those recommendations of the MacDonald report concerned with earned recognition. [183822]

George Eustice: DEFRA published a detailed plan of the opportunities for implementing earned recognition into inspection regimes in August 2013. The earned recognition plan sets out what actions DEFRA is taking to implement an earned recognition approach into on-farm inspection regimes.

The plan highlights that 14 out of 31 on-farm inspection regimes already give farmers and food processors the opportunity to earn recognition. As a result farmers who play by the rules are receiving fewer inspections. For example, 740 members of the Environment Agency's pig and poultry scheme are inspected once every three years rather than annually, and as of this month, our piloting of earned recognition in egg marketing inspections will reduce routine inspection visits to medium and large producers from two to three inspections per year to around one inspection per year.

We remain committed to exploring new opportunities for applying an earned recognition approach.

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how his Department plans to measure any benefits to farmers arising from implementation of the recommendations of the Macdonald taskforce on farming regulation; [183838]

(2) how his Department will measure benefits to farmers from the implementation of the recommendations of the MacDonald taskforce. [183821]

George Eustice: The farming regulation task force implementation group, chaired by Richard Macdonald, was appointed in February 2012 to hold to account, and ensure transparency in, the work of Government to

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meet the 137 commitments made in response to the farming regulation task force report.

The implementation group will step down in March 2014 when a final assessment of DEFRA's progress against task force commitments will be published.

This independent assessment will set out what impacts DEFRA's actions to reduce unnecessary burden will have on the ground, and how these changes will directly benefit farmers.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 January 2014, Official Report, columns 470-1W, on bovine tuberculosis, what steps he is taking to ensure the independence of the assessment of the effectiveness of the trials. [183899]

George Eustice: The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) was appointed to work independently and will prepare its own report based on its members' consideration of the results of the monitoring. Panel members are drafting their report, conclusions and recommendations themselves. DEFRA has only been involved with the logistics of the panel's meetings on request, and in commissioning any further analysis or data that the panel has requested in order to fulfil its terms of reference.

Furthermore, before being submitted to the IEP, all the data collection and statistical analyses were subjected to scrutiny by independent auditors.

Buildings

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which buildings occupied by his Department are owned or part-owned privately; what the total value is of the rent paid to private landlords for the use of such buildings for official duties; and to whom such rent is paid. [183638]

Dan Rogerson: The requested data are set out in two documents which will be placed in the Library of the House.

The aggregate total of annual rents payable for each of the leasehold sites listed in the documents on the Core DEFRA estate as at 16 January 2014 is £16,464,573.59

Common Agricultural Policy

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much and what proportion of common agricultural policy pillar 2 funding he plans to allocate to (a) fostering knowledge transfer and innovation, (b) enhancing competitiveness, productivity and farm viability, (c) promoting food chain organisation and risk management, (d) restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems, (e) promoting resource efficiency and supporting the shift towards a low carbon and (f) promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas in each year to 2017-18. [183900]

George Eustice: The budget available for rural development in England over the next CAP period to 2020 will be at least £3.5 billion. Over £3 billion (87%)

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will be spent on improving the environment. Around £450 million (13%) will be spent on growth-focused schemes. Of this, £177 million (5%) has been allocated to local enterprise partnership areas via the growth programme for rural growth projects; £140 million (4%) will be targeted at farming and forestry competitiveness and £140 million (4%) will be spent through LEADER on local projects with a strong focus on jobs and growth. The detailed rural development programme that we submit to the European Commission later in the year will set out how the funding will be broken down between priorities and years in more detail.

Flood Control

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support his Department gives to farmers to plant trees on high lands as a means of counteracting flooding; and if he will make a statement. [183447]

Dan Rogerson [holding answer 20 January 2014]: DEFRA flood management grants are available for work that reduces flood risk and demonstrates value for money. Work could cover planting trees. Payments are assessed in relation to the value of economic flood damages avoided and the reduced risk to households.

Further grants may also be available under the rural development programme later in 2014 for woodland planting generally, if this is needed to deliver a level of funded planting in 2014-15 in line with the overall annual rate under the existing programme.

DEFRA has announced that 2,000 hectares of new woodland will be created through the planting of 4 million trees as part of a £30 million Government investment in woodland through the rural development programme in 2014-15. The investment in new planting will amount to £6 million.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much of the additional £120 million provided in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England in 2013-14 and 2014-15 has been allocated to the (a) Lower Don Valley in Sheffield, (b) Ipswich tidal barrier, (c) Derby riverside area and (d) Exeter flood defence schemes; and what stage of construction each such scheme has reached; [183875]

(2) how much of the additional £120 million allocated in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England in 2013-14 and 2014-15 that has been allocated to the (a) Lower Don Valley in Sheffield, (b) Ipswich tidal barrier, (c) Derby riverside area and (d) Exeter flood defence schemes will come (i) from departmental revenue and capital expenditure and (ii) through a standard partnership funding framework. [183874]

Dan Rogerson: The 2012 autumn statement provided an additional £120 million capital funding, as DEFRA grant in aid to the Environment Agency for flood protection in England in 2013-14 and 2014-15. The Environment Agency has allocated some of this money under the normal methodology for allocating grant in aid, and some of this money to schemes which make a particular contribution towards economic growth.

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In total £30.8 million of this additional £120 million has been allocated to the (a) Lower Don Valley in Sheffield, (b) Ipswich tidal barrier, (c) Derby riverside area and (d) Exeter flood defence schemes as detailed in the following table, which also identifies what stage of construction each such scheme has reached.

As set out in the table above, £2.1 million of the £30.8 million for these four schemes was allocated through the usual partnership funding methodology for the allocation of DEFRA grant in aid.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of the £148 million proposed to be secured from external non-governmental funding for anti-flooding measures in 2011-12 to 2014-15 is proposed to be generated by (a) income, (b) income committed from each source and (c) allocated to each flood protection scheme. [183876]

Dan Rogerson: There are many different contributors to the flood and coastal erosion risk management projects. Of the 507 schemes running in 2013-14, 143 have agreed external contributions through partnership funding approach, in addition to DEFRA's grant in aid. Funding arrangements differ from project to project, and in cases where private contributions are involved, may be confidential. The Environment Agency will publish an updated programme on its website in February. Every scheme planned in the next few years will be listed along with indicative contributions from external partners.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding for flood protection had been raised through a standard partnership funding framework on 31 December 2013. [183877]

Dan Rogerson: In addition to DEFRA grant in aid, the Environment Agency estimates that a total of £67.6 million has been raised through funding from external contributions from April 2011 up to 31 December 2013 for flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding for flood protection is planned to be raised through a standard partnership funding framework in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16. [183878]

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Dan Rogerson: In addition to DEFRA grant in aid, the Environment Agency anticipates that external contributions through the partnership funding approach to the construction of flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes will reach £58.4 million in 2013-14, £61 million in 2014-15 and are so far planned to exceed £39 million in 2015-16.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which 50 flood defence schemes have been prioritised by the Environment Agency; how much has been allocated to each scheme; and what the construction status is of each such scheme. [183879]

Dan Rogerson: The additional £120 million provided in autumn statement 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-882, allowed the Environment Agency to promote nine projects to reduce flood risk specifically to facilitate growth and to accelerate the delivery of a further 33 projects to reduce the risk of flooding. I have placed a table in the Library of the House which shows the schemes, the funding allocated to each of them and their current construction status.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much of the additional £120 million provided in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England for (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 had been secured through a standard partnership funding framework on 31 December 2013; [183881]

(2) how much of the additional £120 million provided in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England for 2013-14 and 2014-15 is intended to be secured through a standard partnership funding framework. [183880]

Dan Rogerson: The additional £120 million capital provided in autumn statement 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-882, enabled the Environment Agency to promote nine projects to reduce flood risk specifically to facilitate growth and to accelerate the delivery of a further 33 projects to reduce the risk of flooding. Part of this £120 million was allocated to the nine growth projects under a specific methodology designed for this purpose. The remainder of the £120 million was allocated to the 33 accelerated projects, under the usual partnership funding methodology. In addition, all these 42 projects were also eligible for, and received, further DEFRA grant-in-aid funding in line with the usual partnership funding methodology.

In terms of the funding allocated under the usual partnership funding methodology to the 33 accelerated projects, £8.9 million was allocated in 2013-14 before 31 December 2013. An indicative allocation of £107.9 million has been made under the same approach for 2014-15 as detailed in a table I have placed in the Library of the House. Final allocations for 2014-15 will be confirmed by the Environment Agency in February. As set out above, these figures include that part of the additional £120 million which was allocated to these projects.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the additional £120 million provided in autumn statement

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2012 for flood protection in England for

(a)

2013-14 and

(b)

2014-15 has been allocated to a specific flood defence scheme to date. [183882]

Dan Rogerson: Some £29.8 million of the £120 million provided in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England was allocated to schemes to date in 2013-14. The remaining funding for 2014-15 will be allocated by the Environment Agency board on 6 February 2014.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which projects and schemes have (a) been allocated and (b) received how much funding from the additional £120 million provided in autumn statement 2012 for flood protection in England in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15. [183883]

Dan Rogerson: The additional £120 million capital funding provided in autumn statement 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-882, allowed the Environment Agency to promote nine projects to reduce flood risk specifically to facilitate growth and to accelerate the delivery of a further 33 projects to reduce the risk of flooding. I have placed a table in the Library of the House detailing the allocations for 2013-14 and indicative allocations for 2014-15. The 33 accelerated projects had already been allocated a portion of DEFRA flood defence grant-in-aid and would have been delivered in any case, but to a slower time scale. For this reason the total figures in the table add up to more than £120 million. The additional funding provided in the 2012 autumn statement means that these projects will be delivered more quickly than would otherwise be the case allowing other projects to come into the programme sooner in the future.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spend on (a) maintaining existing flood defences and (b) new flood defences in each year between 2009-10 and 2013-14; and what his Department's (i) revenue, (ii) capital and (iii) total expenditure on flood protection is planned for each year to 2024-25. [183901]

Dan Rogerson: The information is as follows:

Figures for DEFRA total spend on capital and revenue between 2009-10 and 2012-13 and budgets for 2013-14 and 2014-15 are published on line at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273582/flood-coastal-erosion-funding.pdf

In those figures, capital expenditure includes spending on improving defences and major refurbishment as well as new defences, and plant and equipment related to

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managing flood and coastal erosion risks. No record is kept of the breakdown between capital invested in new defences and improving or replacing existing assets.

The total revenue allocation to the Environment Agency after 2014-15 has not yet been set. However, I have indicated that the Environment Agency's budget for the maintenance of existing flood defences will increase by £5 million in 2015-16.

DEFRA’s budgeted capital expenditure for flood and coastal erosion risk management for 2015-16 is £370 million, and then the same each year in real terms until and including 2020-21. Capital allocations for 2021-22 and after have not yet been decided.

Hill Farming

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to (a) maximise the biodiversity benefits of high nature value (HNV) farming; and what steps he is taking to ensure that HNV farming is effectively monitored. [183890]

George Eustice: As set out in the Government's response to the consultation on the implementation of CAP reform in England, published on 19 December, we are committed to looking at how the new Programme might address the environmental benefits that High Nature Value farming systems and High Nature farmland can provide. We will also be developing an indicator to be able to measure more fully the impact of the new Rural Development Programme on High Nature Value farmland.

Lions: West Africa

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs following a recent report on the significant reduction in numbers of the West African lion in recent years, if she will take steps to assist in the prevention of the continuation of the significant decline. [183677]

George Eustice: The UK is concerned about the conservation of lions in the wild. We funded a conference in March 2012 in Johannesburg at which a number of lion range states considered the conservation needs and status of the African lion. The level of protection afforded to lions under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is currently under review by the CITES Animals Committee, of which the UK is a member. In view of concerns raised that the imports of hunting trophies of African lions from some countries are unsustainable, we have agreed in principle with other EU member states that stricter measures should be introduced in relation to the importation of hunting trophies of lions and some other species.

We will continue working with other CITES Parties and relevant non-Government organisations to ensure the long-term survival of this important species. In February, the Prime Minister will host a high level conference in London on the illegal wildlife trade to stimulate action to protect wildlife species, including lions, which are at threat from poaching and trafficking.

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Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last three years. [183659]

Dan Rogerson: The information required to answer this question is not held in a format that would enable it to be answered other than at disproportionate cost.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Afghanistan

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will discuss the security of the Hazara community in Afghanistan and the effect on this community of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2014 at the Foreign Affairs Council planned for 20 January 2014. [183951]

Hugh Robertson: We are working closely with the EU and its member states to ensure that the protection of human rights, including the rights of minorities such as the Hazara community, remains a top priority for the EU's future work in Afghanistan. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), used the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 20 January to reinforce this message and underlined the importance of human rights being reflected in any future EU strategy for Afghanistan.

Bahrain

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Bahrain. [902110]

Hugh Robertson: The most recent assessment of the human rights situation in Bahrain is in the FCO's update to its annual human rights report, published in September 2013. The report noted the positive steps taken by the Bahraini Government to improve the human rights situation and highlighted areas where more needed to be done.

British Overseas Territories

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will assist the Overseas Territories to set up public registers of beneficial company ownership. [183409]

Mr Gauke: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Treasury.

We are working closely with the Overseas Territories on beneficial ownership. They are each consulting, or preparing to consult, on whether to implement a publicly accessible central registry. We are engaging with the

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Territories throughout this process, and will continue to work with them as we implement our action plans and further develop policy.

Middle East

Mr Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times he has made representations to his Israeli counterpart on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in each of the last 12 months. [183766]

Hugh Robertson: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has made four representations to the Israeli Foreign Minister on this issue in the last 12 months.

Procurement

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's 10 largest contracts let since the financial year 2010-11 are; what savings have been made in such contracts; what the level of overspend or underspend was in each such contract; and what steps his Department has taken to monitor the performance of each such contract following the contract award. [183960]

Mr Lidington: The 10 largest contracts let by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) since financial year 2010-11 are listed here. For reasons of commercial confidence we cannot supply exact contract values.

£90-10 million

Vodafone Cable and Wireless—ECHO telecommunications programme

G4S—Afghanistan guarding

£30-90 million

Computacenter—Firecrest/Desktop Infrastructure contract

Detica—Service Management Integrator Framework

GardaWorld—Baghdad guarding

ISS—Facilities Management

Bouyeges—Abuja BHC construction

£0-30 million

G4S—UK Guarding

GardaWorld—Libya guarding

Capgemini—Prism

GardaWorld—Libya guarding.

Five of these contracts have only commenced in the past few months and so data are not yet available on actual spend profile or savings. Information regarding the remaining five contracts cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost. Budget management of contracts is devolved to Departments rather than held centrally, and parties managing contracts are held to account for financial contract performance by relevant budgetary processes.

Best procurement practice is followed in the letting of all contracts in accordance with guidelines set out by the Government Procurement Service. Steps to monitor the performance of these contracts are set out in the governance procedures of each contract which are determined on a case-by-case basis and must include

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regular gateway reviews and measurement against key performance indicators to ensure performance against contractual milestones and value for money.

Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last three years. [183660]

Hugh Robertson: The number of people aged 16 and under who undertook work experience at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in each of the last three years is zero. The number of people over 16 years old who undertook work experience at the FCO in each of the last three years is:

2011: 46

2012: 83

2013: 84 (this includes 41 graduate interns who started placements in 2012).

Home Department

Asylum

Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many houses provided through the COMPASS contracts do not meet contractual standards on quality owing to (a) minor and (b) major defects. [182742]

Mr Harper: The COMPASS performance management reporting process is not property based.

Instead it measures the timeliness of fault rectification and the impact of a property defect on the service user. In the month of October 2013 (the most recent validated report), the overall number of asylum seekers affected by minor defects was 172 and by major defects was 75. Defects have therefore affected less than 1% of the circa 25,000 asylum seekers who were accommodated in October 2013.

Asylum: Appeals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2013, Official Report, column 316W, on asylum: appeals, in how many asylum and immigration cases where the applicant has appealed to HM Courts and Tribunal Service the Secretary of State's decision has been withdrawn (a) prior to the scheduled hearing date and (b) on the scheduled hearing day, in the last 12 months; and how many of the cases where decisions have been withdrawn by the Secretary of State have subsequently had no further decision issued. [181159]

Mr Harper: The data relating to the Secretary of State for the Home Department decisions withdrawn in the last 12 months are set out in the following table, broken down by (a) those withdrawn prior to the scheduled hearing date, and (b) those withdrawn on the scheduled hearing date.

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We are unable to answer the third part of the question as we are unable to accurately link appeal withdrawals to case outcomes.

In answering this question we also wish to clarify the answer given to PQ 175606, answered on 12 December 2013, Official Report, column 316W. In my answer of 12 December 2013, I only provided a count of those cases recorded on our system as having a decision withdrawn and did not include other cases where the appeal was treated as withdrawn. In my answer today, the data relates to cases where the Tribunal will have treated the appeal as withdrawn as a consequence of the Secretary of State withdrawing a decision subsequent to the appeal being lodged. The two events—withdrawn decision and withdrawn appeal—are recorded separately on the system and consequently figures will differ depending on which field is interrogated for information.

Bank Services

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with what bank her Department's bank overdraft is held; and what fees and charges were payable on the core Department's bank overdraft in the last financial year. [183250]

James Brokenshire: The Home Office banks with the Government Banking Service (GBS), and in line with Government policy, does not go overdrawn. Therefore, we did not incur any charges in relation to overdrafts.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proportion of the policing of the pilot badger culls was carried out on public land; and if he will separately calculate the costs of such policing; [184162]

(2) whether the costs of policing that part of the pilot badger culls which took place on private land were passed on to the relevant culling company for the reimbursement of the Exchequer. [184161]

Damian Green: This information is not held centrally.

22 Jan 2014 : Column 204W

EU Nationals: Deportation

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the powers under which EU citizens may be administratively removed from the UK; what conditions must be fulfilled for such removals to take place; and how many people of what EU nationality have been so removed in each year since 2008-09. [183495]

Mr Harper [holding answer 20 January 2014]:EU nationals only have a right of residence in another member state for longer than three months if they are exercising treaty rights as a worker, jobseeker, student, self-employed or self-sufficient person. Member states can administratively remove EU nationals who do not fulfil the residence requirements.

Since 1 January 2014 those EU nationals who are administratively removed from the UK for not fulfilling the residence requirements will also be unable to re-enter for 12 months following their removal, unless they can demonstrate that they will be immediately exercising treaty rights.

Member states can also administratively remove EU nationals who abuse free movement rights. Since 1 January 2014 EU nationals who participate in, or facilitate, marriages of convenience, those who fraudulently acquire a right of residence, and those who seek to circumvent the requirements for residence can be administratively removed by the Home Office. EU nationals who are administratively removed from the.UK for the abuse of free movement rights will be unable to re-enter if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that readmission would lead to abuse.

Separate deportation removal powers apply for cases of criminality.

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of EU nationals removed or departing voluntarily from the UK on a quarterly and annual basis, which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tables-for-immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2013

Government Procurement Card

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps she has taken to ensure proper use of Government procurement cards in her Department; and what system is in place to prevent abuse of such cards. [183931]

James Brokenshire: The Home Department has clear policy, setting out the process for the use of Government procurement cards (GPC) and separation of duties between card holders, authorisers and reviewers, as follows:

Any spend requests outside of policy must be reviewed and authorised by Service Operations GPC team to agree or decline as appropriate;

Card holders' line managers are responsible for approving monthly expenditure statements for each card held in their respective business unit complying with the processes set out in the GPC card holder guidance manual;

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On completion of the process the transaction log and supporting documents are passed to the card officer for random checking for compliance and retention;

As required by policy, approving managers submit an annual declaration, by 31 March each year to the GPC team confirming that all GPC cards held in their business unit have been appropriately managed, all spend properly accounted for and declaring any instances of inappropriate use of the cards throughout the previous financial year;

Failure to submit the annual return may result in all cards for that business unit being suspended and the facility withdrawn;

Monthly reports are received from the card issuer in respect of transactions which are then reviewed by the GPC team and any unusual transactions are then questioned with the card holder; and

Several card categories have also been closed to users to ensure spend is channelled through Home Office contracts and reduce the amount of ad hoc spend.

Referrals are made to spot buy colleagues where frequent or high value spend is identified to ensure value for money.

Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on an unannounced inspection of Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre on 5 to 16 August 2013, what steps her Department plans to take to improve scrutiny of GEO Group UK Ltd management of Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. [183954]

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Mr Harper: All immigration removal centres operated by the private sector, including Harmondsworth, have their contracts managed by a central commercial team. The Home Office has staff based in each immigration removal centre to monitor contract delivery and compliance. Meetings take place with the contractor, at an operational level on a weekly basis and, on a commercial level on a quarterly basis.

The performance by the contractor running Harmondsworth has been below the high standard expected and in response to the inspection report a Service Improvement Plan is being drawn up addressing each recommendation made and outlining what action will be taken.

Under the protocol with Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons this will be undertaken within two months of the report's publication. Thereafter, the Home Office has 18 months to effect the improvements.

However, the Home Office has already engaged with the contractor and put in place a range of actions to address the areas of immediate concern.

Immigration Controls

Mr Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times passport control targets have been missed since 31 May 2013. [177835]

Mr Harper: Published data of clearance of passengers at the border within published service standards up to and including quarter one 2013-14 are set out in the following table:

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Immigration Controls: Ports

Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasion freight checks were suspended in the ports of (a) Ayr, (b) Barrow in Furness, (c) Barry, (d) Belfast, (e) Birkenhead, (f) Bristol, (g) Burntisland, (h) Cardiff, (i) Clydeport, (j) Dundee, (k) Felixstowe, (l) Fleetwood, (m) Garston, (n) Goole, (o) Grangemouth, (p) Grimsby, (q) Hartlepool, (r) Harwich, (s) Heysham, (t) Hull, (u) Immingham, (v) Ipswich, (w) King's Lynn, (x) Leith, (y) Liverpool, (z) London, (aa) London Gateway, (bb) Lowestoft, (cc) Medway Ports, (dd) Methill, (ee) Newport, (ff) Plymouth, (gg) Port Talbot, (hh) Rosyth, (ii) Silloth, (jj) Southampton, (kk) Swansea, (ll) Tees, (mm) Teignmouth, (nn) Tilbury and (oo) Troon for (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13. [183081]

Mr Harper: To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border Her Majesty's Government cannot comment on port specific statistics.

Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Border Force staff were employed in the ports of (a) Ayr, (b) Barrow in Furness, (c) Barry, (d) Belfast, (e) Birkenhead, (f) Bristol, (g) Burntisland, (h) Cardiff, (i) Clydeport, (j) Dundee, (k) Felixstowe, (l) Fleetwood, (m) Garston, (n) Goole, (o) Grangemouth, (p) Grimsby, (q) Hartlepool, (r) Harwich, (s) Heysham, (t) Hull, (u) Immingham, (v) Ipswich, (w) King's Lynn, (x) Leith, (y) Liverpool, (z) London, (aa) London Gateway, (bb) Lowestoft, (cc) Medway Ports, (dd) Methill, (ee) Newport, (ff) Plymouth, (gg) Port Talbot, (hh) Rosyth, (ii) Silloth, (jj) Southampton, (kk) Swansea, (ll) Tees, (mm) Teignmouth, (nn) Tilbury and (oo) Troon in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14 to date. [183082]

Mr Harper: It is Border Force policy not to release port-specific staff numbers on grounds of national security.

Offenders: Deportation

Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2013, Official Report, column 438W, on offenders: deportation, what steps she is taking to deport Paulo Sapstyn. [183897]

Mr Harper: The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.

Police: Body Searches

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what her policy is on the use of strip searching of detainees; [183116]

(2) if she will review her Department's guidelines on when it is appropriate for the police to conduct strip searches. [183109]

Damian Green [holding answer 17 January 2014]: The ability of the police to conduct thorough and, in certain circumstances, intimate searches is essential to combat many types of crime, including drug dealing and the possession of offensive weapons.

Any searches conducted by the police must be lawful and in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its codes of practice. It is the responsibility of chief constables to ensure compliance with the law and the codes.

Electoral Commission Committee

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which electoral registration campaigns have been the most successful in each of the last three years. [183572]

Mr Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has completed five public awareness campaigns in the last three years, four of which included a significant element focused on voter registration.

The Commission uses the number of registration form downloads from its aboutmyvote.co.uk website to measure the success of its campaigns. The perceived importance of an election has a significant effect on the number of registration forms downloaded, the Commission consequently sets campaign targets based on the nearest equivalent election. This means that it is not possible to say accurately which campaign in the last three years was the most successful.

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Registration form download figures are available for three campaigns over the time period requested and are as follows:

The Commission also ran a public awareness campaign to support the Northern Ireland autumn canvass in 2013. The campaign encouraged people to return the canvass form that they received, rather than download one from the Commission's website. 30% of people surveyed in Northern Ireland said they returned the canvass form because of the Commission's public awareness campaign, which met the target set for the campaign based on the nearest equivalent campaign in 2006.

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much was spent on each electoral registration campaign in each of the last 10 years; and how many voters were registered as a result of each such campaign. [183573]

Mr Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it maintains data for its registration campaigns dating back to the 2005 UK general election. Electoral registers are held by each electoral registration officer individually, which means it has not been possible to accurately measure changes in registration levels directly attributable to the Commission's public awareness campaigns. The Commission therefore uses the number of registration forms downloaded from its aboutmyvote.co.uk website to measure campaign effectiveness.

The cost and response to the Commission's campaigns since the 2005 UK general election are as follows:

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The Commission also ran a public awareness campaign to support the Northern Ireland autumn canvass in 2013 at a cost of £835,000. The campaign encouraged people to return the canvass form that they received, rather than download one from the Commission's website. 30% of people surveyed in Northern Ireland said they returned the canvass form because of the Commission's public awareness campaign, which met the target set for the campaign based on the nearest equivalent campaign in 2006.

A similar campaign was conducted to the support the 2006 autumn canvass in Northern Ireland at a cost of £628,000. 29% of those surveyed said they returned the canvass form because of the Commission's public awareness campaign.

Women and Equalities

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of any pay gaps in respect of (a) gender, (b) race and (c) disability amongst employees of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [178716]

Mrs Grant: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management including monitoring its own employee pay gaps. I have therefore asked the chief executive of the Commission to write to my hon. Friend with the information requested. I am placing a copy of the letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Women: Northern Ireland

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities if the Inspiring Women Campaign will be extended to Northern Ireland. [183741]

Mrs Grant: The Inspiring Women campaign is run by the charity the Education and Employers Taskforce, and forms part of their broader Inspiring the Future initiative, a free scheme which connects schools and volunteers. It is independent of Government but has strong cross-party support. Any decisions about its extension beyond England are for the charity but we do understand that they plan to extend the scheme to Scotland shortly and thereafter to Wales and Northern Ireland. I would encourage the hon. Member to get in touch with the charity directly.

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Culture, Media and Sport

Digital Broadcasting: Radio

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many current local radio stations will continue to operate after the digital radio switchover. [178828]

Mr Vaizey: The Government recognise the importance of local commercial radio stations to the communities they serve and is committed to reserving part of the FM spectrum as a platform for local and community radio stations, for as long as it is needed.

Internet: Children

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what discussions her Department has had with leading social media sites on protecting children online; [179824]

(2) what discussions her Department has had with social media sites on protecting children online. [179823]

Mr Vaizey: DCMS Ministers and officials regularly discuss the issue of protecting children online with representatives from social media companies, including through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS).

It is the intention that Minsters will host a round table, early in the new year, with social media companies to examine whether more can be done to protect children using social media.

Members: Correspondence

Sir Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Hazel Grove of 23 July 2013 regarding funding for junior potential paralympians. [183896]

Mrs Grant: A response was sent on 16 September 2013. Officials have re-sent the letter to the right hon. Gentleman's constituency office.

Communities and Local Government

Council Tax Benefits

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has made an assessment of the effects on the number of (a) households and (b) children living in poverty of reductions in council tax benefit. [182979]

Brandon Lewis: These are local schemes, and it is for local authorities to ensure that the effect on specific groups of council tax payers is proportionate and fair. We made a £100 million transition grant available in 2013-14 to help councils develop well-designed schemes and maintain incentives to work.

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An independent review of the policy will be carried out within three years. We are working with local authorities to identify the right data sources for that review.

Spending on council tax benefit doubled under the last Government, costing taxpayers £4 billion a year-equivalent to almost £180 a year per household. Welfare reform is vital to tackle the budget deficit left by the last Administration.

Our reforms to localise council tax support now give councils stronger incentives to support local firms, cut fraud, promote local enterprise and get people into work. We are ending the last Administration's 'something for nothing' culture and making work pay.

Disadvantaged Families

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what financial contribution each Government Department has made to the Troubled Families Programme in each year since 2010; and what those contributions are expected to be for each year to 2015. [183398]

Kris Hopkins: The financial contributions made to the Troubled Families programme by Government Departments and those planned until 2015 are as follows:

The financial contributions outlined above are subject to regular review. As a demand led programme, these contributions and their timings may change over the lifetime of the programme.

Social Rented Housing

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether it is his policy to encourage social housing tenants to use HomeSwapper; [183975]

(2) whether it is his policy to encourage social housing landlords to pay for access to HomeSwapper; [183976]

(3) if he will encourage social housing landlords to inform tenants of the company HomeSwapper. [183977]

Kris Hopkins: HomeSwap Direct was launched in October 2011 to allow social tenants who wish to move through a mutual exchange to see details of all possible properties nationwide. Tenants have carried out over 18 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct.

Four providers currently participate in HomeSwap Direct: HomeSwapper, House Exchange, Abritas and LHS (Locata).

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We supported HomeSwap Direct through a new Tenancy Standard which came into force on 1 April 2012 and placed a requirement on landlords to subscribe to an internet-based mutual exchange service, in order to allow a tenant free access to register an interest in arranging a mutual exchange and search for other mutual exchange properties. The provider of the service must be a signatory to an agreement such as HomeSwap Direct, which allows tenants to see matches across all internet-based mutual exchange services.

The Tenancy Standard includes a requirement for landlords to take reasonable steps to publicise the availability of any mutual exchange service(s) to which it subscribes to its tenants.

The success of this Government's Homeswap Direct initiative is in stark contrast to the Labour Government's failed Move UK mobility scheme. That centrally prescribed service, funded by the taxpayer, collapsed and failed, leaving taxpayers with a £1 million bill and nothing to show for it.

Transport

Cycling

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the most recent meeting of his Department's Cycle Safety Stakeholder Forum was held; and when the next such meeting is scheduled. [183925]

Mr Goodwill: The most recent meeting of the safety sub-group of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum was on 16 July 2013. On 30 September 2013 a meeting of the full Cycling Stakeholder Forum was held where the Minister received an update on cycle safety from the sub-group. We are currently working on a forward plan for future meetings.

Galileo System

Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the UK contribution to the EU Galileo project. [183087]

Mr Willetts: I have been asked to reply of behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 July 2013, Official Report, column 163W regarding the cost of the Galileo and EGNOS satellite navigation programmes.

The deployment and operational phases of the Galileo programme and all future costs are the responsibility of the EU. EU member states, including the UK, contribute to the EU Budget as a whole and not to individual spending programmes within it. As a reference point, the UK's post-abatement financing share of the EU Budget was estimated to be around 12.5% in 2013.

The financial envelope for the Galileo programme is set at €7.072 billion in current prices for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020. This is 10% lower than the amount requested by the European Commission and was negotiated as part of an overall package which delivered the first cut in the long-term EU budget in history.

In order to improve transparency of costs for the programme, this budget is broken down into four parts for the different phases of the programmes and the

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regulation requires that the European Commission provides information to the member states on how the budget is applied, overall costs and operating costs of significant Galileo infrastructure items.

The Government consider that the new Galileo Regulation (EU 1285/2013) which came into force on 1 January 2014 has the potential to bring about significant improvements in how the Galileo programme is managed and governed.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether repair work from storm damage to High Speed 2 railways during its construction has been factored in to the budget for the project. [183563]

Mr Goodwill: The current estimate for Phase 1 includes a contingency allowance which recognises the level of risk and uncertainty on the project at this early stage of its development. This contingency includes provision for severe weather related risks during construction.

As the project progresses HS2 Ltd will review and update the risks which inform the contingency allowance, including the extent to which the severe weather provision is sufficient, recognising the difficulty in mitigating against naturally occurring events which are beyond the control of HS2 Ltd to prevent.

Tyres

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has recently commissioned on the safety and legality of the sale of part-worn tyres; and if he will make a statement. [183944]

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport has not recently commissioned analysis or research in relation to part-worn tyres. The sale of part-worn tyres are regulated by the Motor Vehicle Tyre (Safety) Regulations 1994 (SI No. 3117) and enforced by local authority trading standards officers. There are currently no plans to review these provisions although the Department for Transport will be consulting during 2014 on revisions to the tyre safety regulations in response to the red tape challenge.

Justice

Legal Aid Agency

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) average and (b) range of time it has taken the Legal Aid Agency to make a decision following an application for exceptional case funding has been since April 2013. [182224]

Mr Vara: To date, the average time it has taken the Legal Aid Agency to make a decision following a complete application for exceptional case funding since l April 2013 is just under six days. The range of time it has taken to make a decision is between 1 and 20 days depending upon the complexity of the case.

All new applications for exceptional case funding have a target rate of 20 days. Applications for a review of an exceptional case determination have a target of 10 days. These targets have been met to date.

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Exceptional funding is available where a case is excluded from the scope of civil legal aid as defined in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

The above figures exclude multi-party action cases where the average time taken is just over 17 days and the range is also between two and 37 days. These actions as a group of claimants with potentially exceptionally high costs need considering together and often require extensive dialogues with applicant's lawyers on the basis of these claims. It is proper that such actions receive a higher level of scrutiny given the exceptional costs potentially involved.

Procurement

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance. [182643]

Mr Vara: The Department does not have a pre-defined evaluation model, however the MOJ develops tailored evaluation methodologies for all its procurements with the aim of achieving the best possible value for money for the taxpayer. The Public Procurement Regulations provide that contracts can be awarded to the bidder submitting either the ‘lowest priced’ or the ‘most economically advantageous’ tender. The latter methodology would include a range of non-price criteria whose selection would vary depending on the objective of the procurement. To determine what procedures are used would involve manually scrutinising all procurements, as this information in not centrally collated; therefore to provide this information, would be a disproportionate cost.

Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last three years. [183666]

Mr Vara: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ HQ), Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not hold information centrally on work experience placements for school age participants. Such placements are managed locally.

The Ministry of Justice does participate in the cross-government Whitehall Internship programme for sixth form students. Four students took part in this scheme in the MOJ in 2012 and seven students participated in the scheme in the MOJ in 2013.

The Department provides guidance to managers on a range of resourcing options, including guidance on work experience placements.

Energy and Climate Change

Boilers: Rural Areas

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he plans

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to take to increase the number of Energy Company Obligation installations in rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [183824]

Gregory Barker: It is important that rural and non-gas fuelled households are able to benefit from support under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and we will be considering this carefully as part of the consultation on ECO changes this spring.

The consultation will explore how best to incentivise delivery of Affordable Warmth measures to non-gas fuelled households, and will include proposals to broaden the Carbon Saving Community Obligation (CSCO) eligibility criteria. The latter will mean that more households will be eligible for CSCO and it will be easier for obligated companies to identify and support eligible rural households.

In addition we will be considering how best to support non-gas fuelled households as part of our forthcoming draft Fuel Poverty Strategy, on which we will also consult in the spring.

Buildings

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which buildings occupied by his Department are owned or part-owned privately; what the total value is of the rent paid to private landlords for the use of such buildings for official duties; and to whom such rent is paid. [183637]

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change occupies all or part of four buildings which are privately owned. However, the Department leases the buildings from other Government Departments and all payments by us are made to them. Those Departments hold the information on payments made to the ultimate owners. The details are as follows:

Carbon Emissions

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the carbon emissions for his Department were in relation to (a) energy use, (b) departmental travel and (c) other matters in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013. [183305]

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Gregory Barker: DECC reports on its carbon emissions by financial year. As the current financial year has not ended, here we provide figures commencing 2009-10.

DECC does not report emissions from “other matters” (e.g. water, fugitive etc) because energy use and travel are our only significant emissions sources. For core DECC (ie not including arm’s length bodies) emissions were as follows:

Eggborough Power Station

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the contribution of Eggborough Power Station to UK energy generation. [183618]

Michael Fallon [holding answer 20 January 2014]: The energy generating capacity of Eggborough Power Station is 1960MW¹ which represents around 2% of total operational generating capacity.

While DECC does not publish a breakdown of generation by individual power stations owing to commercial sensitivities, published statistics show that in 2012, the latest full year available, total electricity generation from major power producers, which includes Eggborough, was 325.139 TWh, with generation from coal accounting for 34.33% or 143.18 TWh.

¹ DUKES Chapter 5.7 Plant Capacity in the United Kingdom

² DUKES Chapter 5.11 Power stations in the United Kingdom (figure end 2012)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

dukes (figure for capacity end 2012)

³ DECC Energy Trends section 5 published in December 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-section-5-energy-trends

Electricity: ICT

Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2014, Official Report, column 337W, on electricity: ICT, what discussions he has had with other Departments on working with data centres to reduce energy usage. [183885]

Michael Fallon: I discuss a wide range of energy efficiency matters across different sectors with my colleagues across Government including in relation to the ICT sector. My officials are also in detailed discussion with their colleagues in HM Treasury, HMRC, and BIS on the inclusion of data centres in the Climate Change Agreements scheme.

Energy: Conservation

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his Department's policy is on promoting longer life and recycled consumer

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electrical products as a means of reducing national energy consumption. [183044]

Gregory Barker: In December 2013, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published the Government's waste prevention programme for England. This sets out the key roles and actions which should be taken to move towards a more resource efficient economy. Using resources more efficiently, designing and manufacturing products for optimum life, and repairing and reusing more items could save us all money, reduce demand for raw materials and increase resource efficiency. It also contributes to efforts to improve the environment, including through the development of a more sustainable approach to waste disposal.

In 2012, the Department of Energy and Climate Change published the Government's Energy Efficiency Strategy, which highlights the continuing role that energy efficiency improvements in products will have in ensuring the UK can manage its future demand for electricity. EU-wide performance standards for products are already proving successful in driving cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions and securing energy savings. The UK Government recently called on the European Commission to explore options for increasing the level of ambition in this area.

Fracking

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions on fracking he has had with his European counterparts. [183833]

Michael Fallon: The European Commission has been assessing the existing framework for the extraction of unconventional hydrocarbons across member states. During this process the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has been engaged with his European counterparts.

The UK has over 50 years of experience regulating onshore oil and gas activity, and is in a prime position to provide guidance and examples of best practice when it comes to regulating the unconventional sector. It is important to engage with European counterparts to ensure that the development of a European shale industry is regulated in a responsible and environmentally safe manner.

Plutonium

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much plutonium arising from civil commercial reactors has been exported, to which countries and for which end-use since May 2010. [183739]

Michael Fallon: Since May 2010, 200 grammes of plutonium dioxide have been exported to Norway for fuel research purposes.

Renewable Energy

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have been employed in the (a) onshore wind, (b) offshore wind, (c) solar, (d) wave, (e) tidal and (f) biomass industries in each year since 2009. [183434]

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Gregory Barker: The Department does not measure employment levels in specific sectors.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) commissioned and published a report in July 2013 that measured employment in the Low Carbon Environmental Goods and Services Sector (LCEGS), which is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/224068/bis-13-p143-low-carbon-and-environmental-goods-and-services-report-2011-12.pdf

The following table sets out how many people have been employed in each sector for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 (please note: employment for onshore and offshore wind has bee n included in one category (wind), and employment levels for wave and tidal have also been combined into a single category (wind and tidal)). The estimates include both those directly employed and those employed in the wider supply chain.

The employment data for 2012-13 (the 2014 update) is not yet available. The Department is working closely with BIS in reviewing the approach for this year's update. An invitation to tender on the 'collection and analysis of data on the size and economic performance of key sectors of the "green economy" in the UK' was published on 18 December 2013.

Telephone Services

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the Cabinet Office Guidance for Customer Service Helplines, published on 26 December 2013, when his Department expects to comply with the instruction set out in that guidance that non-geographic 084 numbers should by default use the 03 prefix. [183207]

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change already complies with this Cabinet Office Guidance.

There does however remain one 084 number within one of our arm’s length bodies (ALBs) at the 'Coal Authority' but there is already an 012 number set up to replace it. This is also now the only number publicised as the 084 number will be disconnected soon.

Defence

Accountancy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much his Department has spent on redundancy payouts for those made redundant within his Department's accountancy department since 2010; [183597]

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(2) how many people were working in his Department's accountancy department in each year since 2010; [183598]

(3) how many officials in his Department working within the accountancy department have been made redundant since 2010. [183599]

Anna Soubry: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on external accountancy support in each year since 2010; and what the value has been of each of his Department's external accountancy contracts in that time. [183600]

Mr Dunne: I will write to the hon. Member shortly.

Andrew Manley

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will publish a breakdown of the expenses claims filed by Andrew Manley, Chief Executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation; [183610]

(2) if he will publish details of the full remuneration package of Andrew Manley, Chief Executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation; [183611]

(3) when the issues relating to the conduct of Andrew Manley, Chief Executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, were first brought to the attention of Ministers in his Department; and which Minister this was; [183612]

(4) for what reason he rejected the resignation offer of Andrew Manley, Chief Executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation in 2013; [183613]

(5) when his Department's internal investigation into the conduct of Andrew Manley, Chief Executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation will be concluded; and whether the findings will be published. [183614]

Anna Soubry: There is an ongoing departmental investigation into matters concerning Mr Andrew Manley, and it would therefore be inappropriate to make any comment at this time. In general, any offer of resignation by a civil servant would properly be made to his or her line management, rather than to Ministers. The salary of the chief executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation is published through the Cabinet Office returns as part the transparency agenda and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/230884/dio_senior_March_13.csv/preview

Armed Forces

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to support the three services in addressing shortages in pinch point trades. [183608]

Anna Soubry: The armed forces are going through significant restructuring and throughout this period there will be shortages in some roles. However, mitigations are in place to ensure frontline operational capability is not affected. These include the use of recruitment and retention financial incentives for those in operational

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pinch point (OPP) trades. All personnel, including those due to be made redundant in the Armed Forces Redundancy programme, may apply for transfers into OPP trades providing they have the appropriate competencies. Furthermore, personnel in OPP trades are protected from redundancy.

All three Services continue to recruit and the Army recently launched a major recruiting drive for both regulars and reservists. Taken together with the measures already mentioned, we are confident that we have, and will continue to have, the right personnel and skill set to satisfy all of Defence's strategic and operational requirements.

Armed Forces: Resignations

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish figures of voluntary outflow for each rank of the armed forces for each of the last 10 years. [183609]

Anna Soubry: The requested breakdown of voluntary outflow by rank is not available for the years 2004 to 2007. For information relating to the years 2008 to 2011, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr Dunne), on 14 February 2013, Official Report, columns 830-2W, to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson), Information covering the period 1 January 2012 to 30 November 2013 can be found at:

www.dasa.mod.uk

Army Reserve

Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many army reserve recruits (a) left the service and (b) were enlisted from 2011 to the most recent year for which figures are available. [183589]

Anna Soubry: The estimated number of army reserve recruits that have left the service or enlisted between 1 April 2012 and 30 November 2013, the latest date for which information is available can be found at:

http://www.dasa.mod.uk/publications/personnel/military/quarterly-personnel-report/2013-10-01/1-october-2013.pdf

Information prior to April 2012 is not held in the format requested.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has published, 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 124WS, the trajectory of recruiting targets for the reserves that we will have to meet to deliver our commitment of 30,000 trained army reservists by 2018. This trajectory takes account of outflow. These out-turn figures will be published on a quarterly basis.

Army: Recruitment

Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence from which part of his Department's budget the cost of the army recruitment drive recently announced by his Department will be met. [183593]

Anna Soubry: The current Army recruitment drive is being funded from within the Army's Top Level Budget.