Training

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how many staff currently working at the Government Equalities Office have not received diversity training. [185376]

Mrs Grant: GEO employees have not completed the Equality and Diversity Essentials training provided by Civil Service Learning since they joined DCMS payroll on 1 June 2013. We do not hold information of training undertaken prior to that date.

Defence

Afghanistan

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future use of the Afghanistan Operational Equipment Fleet; and if he will make a statement. [182353]

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Mr Francois [holding answer 13 January 2014]: The future of equipment bought through the Urgent Operational Requirement process for operations in Afghanistan is currently being considered, with a departmental provision of £1.5 billion over 10 years.

I can confirm that we have already decided to bring some two thousand Protected Mobility Vehicles into the core programme, including 71 Coyotes, 325 Huskies, 441 Jackals, 439 Mastiffs, 169 Ridgbacks, and 60 Warthogs. This represents a significant increase in the Army's protected mobility capability.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) name and (b) regiment was of the Royal Engineer whose repatriation parade was scheduled for 31 December 2013 but which was cancelled soon after; and for what reason the repatriation was not carried out in public. [185447]

Anna Soubry: Captain Richard Holloway, Royal Engineers, 24 Commando Engineer Regiment was repatriated on 31 December 2013. The repatriation was carried out in private at the request of his family.

Armed Forces: Domestic Violence

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures are in place to support service families affected by domestic violence. [186005]

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence does not tolerate domestic violence; neither do we consider it to be a purely private matter. The Department's policy is set out in a Joint Service Publication, which raises awareness about our policy and the sources of help available to everyone in the service community. This helps service personnel who are experiencing domestic violence, or who are aware of someone else who is experiencing violence, know what to do to seek help and have the confidence to do so.

There is a comprehensive range of sources and help in place to support service families who are victims of domestic violence. This includes single-service welfare providers; welfare and personnel staff, and help lines. Practical help available includes alternative service accommodation and referral to specialist services such as refuge.

Asia

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2014, Official Report, column 664W, on Asia, what projects are currently being carried out to help his Department assess the implications of sharing military assets, including unmanned systems, with the US in Asia. [R] [185420]

Mr Francois: There are no projects being undertaken by the Ministry of Defence to assess the implications of sharing military assets with the US specifically in Asia. However, the UK and US armed forces have a very close relationship and we continue to examine and pursue opportunities for burden sharing and for improving interoperability.

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Colombia

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which (a) defence contractors and (b) other companies have been hosted by the Government at events connected with the visit of HMS Richmond to Cartagena; and if he will make a statement. [186063]

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what discussions were held between the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and representatives of the Colombian Government on the International Security Strategy and related matters; and if he will make a statement; [186123]

(2) what the outcome has been of the recent UK-Colombian discussions on proposed collaboration between the Royal Navy and the Colombian armed forces; [186131]

(3) what role Arfan Chaudhry has in the bilateral discussions between his Department and the (a) Colombian Government and (b) Colombian armed forces; and if he will make a statement; [186136]

(4) if he will place in the Library a copy of the draft memorandum of understanding between the Government and the Government and armed forces of Colombia arising from their discussion held aboard HMS Richmond in Cartagena; and if he will make a statement. [186137]

Dr Murrison: The bilateral discussion covered a number of areas for defence co-operation, focusing upon current counter-narcotics activity and regional security, opportunities for us to further our relationship through transformation of the Colombian Defence organisation, Colombia's initiative to co-operate more with other nations and their interest in NATO, and opportunities to co-operate in maritime security. The memorandum of understanding that was signed during the meeting will facilitate greater co-operation and joint training between the Colombian Navy and the Royal Navy, with co-operation in counter-narcotics as a primary intent. I will place a copy in the Library of the House shortly.

Following the bilateral discussions, UK Trade & Industry (UKTI) Defence & Security Organisation arranged a small Defence & Security Industry Day (DSID) onboard HMS Richmond, comprising six UK companies: BAE Systems, Selex ES, Surrey Satellites (SSTL), Agusta Westland, Cobham and MBDA. Representatives from the Colombian Navy, including cadets from the Naval College, attended the DSID. Arfan Chaudhry is a representative of the UKTI Defence & Security Organisation.

Curzon Institute

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent contact his Department had with (a) Curzon Education and (b) the Curzon Institute; what contracts his Department holds with those bodies; and what the value of those contracts is. [184995]

Mr Dunne: Details of meetings between Ministry of Defence Ministers and external organisations have been published since May 2010 and are available on Gov.uk:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings

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Details of meetings between senior Ministry of Defence staff and external organisations have been published since October 2010 and are available on the Gov.uk website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/senior-staff-meetings

Information on any other meetings with external organisations is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Defence has no record of contracts being held with either Curzon Education or the Curzon Institute and has routinely published information on contracts awarded by the Department since January 2011 on the Government's contracts finder website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Defence: Procurement

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which equipment programmes procured using a single source currently have a cost overrun risk ratio of over 50 per cent. [185817]

Mr Dunne: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Djibouti

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2014, Official Report, column 695W, on Djibouti, how many UK personnel are based at Camp Lemonnier; what the purpose is of their deployment; and under whose line of command those personnel fall. [R] [185455]

Mr Francois [holding answer 3 February 2014]:At present, there are three UK armed forces personnel embedded with US forces at Camp Lemonnier. They work within the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) and are responsible for planning and supporting US military operations in the region. As embedded military personnel within a US headquarters, they come under the command and control of the US armed forces but remain subject to UK law, policy and military jurisdiction.

Firearms

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Sig Sauer pistols his Department bought as an urgent operational requirement; and what the cost to the public purse was of that purchase. [184197]

Mr Dunne: The cost to purchase a Sig Sauer was less than that estimated for repairing unserviceable Brownings. To meet operational demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, between 2003 and 2013 6,600 Sig Sauer pistols and associated drop holsters were purchased to a total cost of around £2.5 million.

Purchases of the Sig Sauer pistol was an urgent operational order that was extant to the need to permanently replace the Browning. A full competition was carried out in 2012, and although seven different pistols, including the Sig Sauer, were considered and evaluated, the contract

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was awarded to replace the Browning with the Glock 17 pistol which performed overall best in both performance and cost.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the progress of the F-35 Lightning II programme. [185768]

Mr Dunne: Delivery of the F-35 programme in terms of performance, time and cost remains under continuous assessment as part of the Ministry of Defence's ongoing process of assurance. Overall, the F-35 programme continues to make steady progress. The development Flight Test programme is on target and in August 2013, the F-35B underwent a successful second set of carrier trials aboard the USS Wasp.

The UK F-35 programme has taken delivery of its first three aircraft on schedule, which are currently based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. An order was placed for a fourth UK aircraft in September 2013. The UK programme remains on track to deliver Initial Operating Capability in December 2018.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the annual maintenance costs of the F-35. [185769]

Mr Dunne: The Ministry of Defence does not issue details of its cost estimates ahead of contractual negotiations, as this disclosure would prejudice its commercial interests. The UK has full access to US data on maintenance as well as conducting its own independent reviews and estimates in support of financial planning. At this relatively early stage of the programme, the support solution for the F-35 programme is still maturing and support costs during the current Low Rate Initial Production phase remain in line with forecast approvals.

Land

Mr Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had on the possible disposal of surplus Ministry of Defence land and property for housing development in London and the South East. [185469]

Dr Murrison: Ministry of Defence (MOD) Ministers hold regular discussions with officials and Cabinet colleagues on a range of land and property matters, including the possible disposal of surplus MOD property.

Marines

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the future of the Royal Marines; and if he will make a statement. [185767]

Mr Francois: The Royal Marines will remain a fully integrated part of the Royal Navy. In particular, the Royal Marines' 3 Commando Brigade will continue to deliver the Lead Commando Group, as part of a maritime task force, forming a key component of our high readiness response force.

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Military Aircraft

Sir Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many systems (a) have been delivered and (b) are operational under the Aircrew Moving Map Wire Alerting System contract since that contract was awarded in October 2013. [185475]

Mr Dunne: The Aircrew Moving Map Wire Alerting System contract was awarded to Inspire in October 2013. To date 66 aircrew systems have been delivered and each delivery has been supported by a training package for air and ground crews.

User communities have completed flight and ground trials and we expect to secure release to service, which will enable the system to be used operationally, very shortly.

NATO

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what personnel and assets from his Department will take part in the Iceland Air Meet 2014. [185822]

Mr Francois: No personnel or assets from the Ministry of Defence are participating in this NATO exercise.

Procurement

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of his Department's overall procurement spend for each of the last three financial years was spent (a) in joint procurement exercises with other Departments and (b) shared between different organisations within the same Department group. [185396]

Dr Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) uses a number of centrally negotiated framework agreements managed by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), formerly the Government Procurement Service. The proportion of spend for each financial year is provided in the following table:

Information on other pan-Governmental frameworks in use by the MOD and details of expenditure on shared procurement between different organisations within the departmental group is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of his Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was. [185402]

Mr Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to exploiting e-procurement fully to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its purchasing process. Around 50% of contracts placed and around 60% by

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value of invoices paid so far in financial year (FY) 2013-14 have used Purchase 2 Payment (P2P), the Department's primary e-purchasing tool.

The number of contracts placed by the MOD using P2P for the last three FYs is shown in the following table.

Information prior to FY 2011-12 is not available.

The value of current live contracts paid through P2P is £89.1 billion which represents 58% of all live contracts. Historical information covering the value of contracts on P2P for each previous FY is not held.

Publications

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the DE&S Inventory Strategic Plan. [184213]

Mr Dunne: The DE&S Inventory Management Strategy (IMS) was finalised in February 2013 and has not required updating since then. It reflects how the Department set the headmark to adopt a strategic approach to address the observations made by the National Audit Office report ‘Managing the Defence Inventory’, published in June 2012.

The document will be placed in the Library of the House.

Russia

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Military Technical Co-operation Agreement with Russia to be signed. [185815]

Dr Murrison: The UK and Russian Governments are working closely to finalise a military technical co-operation agreement for signature as soon as is practicable.

Space Technology

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on publication of a National Space Security Policy; and if he will make a statement. [185584]

Mr Dunne: The National Space Security Policy is in the process of approval by the National Security Council. It will be published in due course.

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the potential contribution of the space and satellite industries to UK defence and security. [185643]

Mr Dunne: The UK is an innovator in delivering defence and security services from space. The UK space and satellite industry already makes a significant contribution to UK defence and security through the

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provision of secure satellite communications via Paradigm Secure Communications (now part of the Airbus Defence and Space Division of the Airbus Group).

The Government continue to assess whether and how the UK industry could contribute more. The context in which this is considered will be set out in the forthcoming National Space Security Policy.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the recently declassified study on stress suffered by UK RPAS pilots carried out by Dr Wayne Cappelle. [R] [185372]

Mr Francois: UK remotely piloted air system pilots were not part of Dr Wayne Chappelle’s study.

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2014, Official Report, columns 578-79W, on unmanned aerial vehicles, what the role of the UK is in each of the three activities of the Unmanned Aerial Systems Programme identified in the answer. [R] [185412]

Mr Dunne: The UK role in the Coalition Attack Guidance Experiment (CAGE) is to deliver a simulation of the UK command and control (C2) and unmanned air systems (UAS) in a representative scenario to explore interoperability and C2 issues with our coalition partners.

The UK role in MC-MACE is as collaborative partner participating in a series of joint experiments to evaluate multi-UAS control research concepts by providing software representations of ground control stations in a representative, simulation environment.

The UK role in Bristow is to design and execute a flight trial to assess the ability of ground systems to track small UAS and to evaluate the performance of the UAS without the aid of GPS. The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) nations were invited to observe the trial.

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 709W, on unmanned Air Vehicles, whether the RAF officer responsible for liaison with US visiting forces at RAF Croughton has authority to stop a command by the USAF commander for release of a lethal weapon. [R] [185430]

Mr Francois: RAF Croughton is a communications facility and no combat operations are undertaken from the base. The use of UK bases for combat operations by the United States would in any case be a matter for joint decision by the UK and US Governments.

Communities and Local Government

Care Homes

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what requirements there are for (a) frequency and (b) certification of fire inspections of residential and nursing care homes. [185354]

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Brandon Lewis [holding answer 3 February 2014]: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, introduced in October 2006, abolished the 1971 Fire Precautions Act which required certain businesses to apply for a fire certificate. Under the Fire Safety Order, all those responsible for non-domestic premises, including residential care and nursing homes, must now assess the risk from fire in their premises and put in place, and maintain, adequate and appropriate fire prevention and safety measures to mitigate the risk to life in the event that one occurs.

Fire and rescue authorities have powers to enforce the provisions of the fire safety order in the majority of premises to which it applies in their area. Under the National Framework for Fire and Rescue, each authority is required to determine its own risk-based audit—or inspection—programme for enforcing compliance with its provisions.

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Mr Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what evidential basis he used for each of the myths, numbered 1 to 10, documented in guidance on weekly rubbish collections produced by his Department in January 2014. [184932]

Brandon Lewis: The document contains endnotes providing primary or third-party sources where applicable. It was also drawn up based on the on-the-ground experience learnt from my Department's weekly collection support scheme.

This is the first ever substantive document produced by a Government supporting weekly collections and championing evidence-based best practice. It seeks to challenge the misconceptions and lazy thinking commonly peddled by certain narrow vested interests.

EU Grants and Loans

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the policy objectives are of the European Regional Development Fund funding programme for 2014 to 2020. [184787]

Brandon Lewis: The objective of the 2014 to 2020 European Regional Development Funds Programme for England is to support smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Government are bringing together the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development in a single Growth Programme for England. This funding will be decentralised and delivered through local enterprise partnership areas rather than rigid and arbitrary Government office regions.

Fire Services

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 4 November 2014, Official Report, column 19W, on Fire Service, when the response to the Efficiency and Operational review will be published. [184837]

Brandon Lewis: Ministers are currently considering the wide range of issues raised by Sir Ken Knight and the responses from many in the fire and rescue sector to the review. The Government will publish a response in due course.

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Homelessness: Sexuality

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what statistics the Government keeps on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender homelessness. [185916]

Kris Hopkins: The Government do not collect any statistics on the numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people who are homeless.

The Housing Act 1996 provides that a person has a priority need for accommodation if he or she is vulnerable for any "other special reason". The legislation envisages that vulnerability can arise because of factors that are not expressly provided for in statute. This will include any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people who are vulnerable as a result of losing their home.

Local Government Finance

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much council tax support grant has been allocated to town and parish councils in England in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; [184791]

(2) what estimate he has made of the proportion of council tax support grant allocated by the Government to town and parish councils that has been passed on to town and parish councils by billing authorities in the latest period for which figures are available; [184792]

(3) if he will place in the Library any recent correspondence from his Department to billing authorities which make reference to their passing council tax support grant on to town and parish councils. [184793]

Brandon Lewis: In 2013-14, the funding provided to local authorities in respect of local council tax support was £3.3 billion. For 2013-14 only, the Government set out an indicative amount of £40,450,000 attributable to parish and town councils in England. Statistics recently published show that 98% of this indicative amount was passed down.

http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1314/CTS_models.xls

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 December 2013, Official Report, column 101-104WS, which sets out clearly the Government's intention that the element of localised council tax support funding provided to local authorities which reflects reductions in town and parish tax bases should be passed down to those councils. The Government expect billing authorities to engage in dialogue with their parish and town councils to agree the amount of funding to pass down.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/December%202013/16%20December/8.%20DCLG%20LG%20Finance.pdf

I wrote to leaders of all billing authorities on 6 January 2014 on this issue. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.

Non-domestic Rates

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire will qualify for the full £1,000 business rates discount announced in the Autumn Statement of 5 December 2013. [179812]

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Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Dudley and (c) Stourbridge constituency will be affected by the proposed £1,000 business rate rebate for any retail premise with a rateable value of under £50,000. [181113]

Brandon Lewis: As announced in the autumn statement, the Government are helping local small shops, restaurants and pubs with their business rates, by introducing a £1,000 discount off their bills for the next two years from April 2014. This is part of a package of measures, including the further extension of small business rate relief, a new relief to get empty shops back into use, the ability for firms to pay bills over 12-month instalments to help them with their cash flow, and capping the yearly indexation at 2% this year.

The discount will apply to eligible businesses with a rateable value of £50,000 or less, and will be delivered by local billing authorities using their Localism Act powers to levy new local discounts. The cost will be met by central Government. Local authorities will locally determine eligibility, given the practical diversity of different types of hereditaments. However, my Department has published guidance to assist local authorities in ensuring that eligible local firms receive the support they deserve. I am placing a copy in the Library of the House.

While we have made some initial estimates, local authorities will be reporting back to my Department in due course on their estimate of the total amount of discount they expect to give businesses in their areas, and I am happy to commit to placing in the Library of the House a local authority breakdown once that information is available. I hope this will illustrate to hon. Members how this Government are standing up for the local retail and hospitality trade.

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much revenue was raised from commercial rates in 2013. [184223]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 3 February 2014]: Details of the amount of council tax and national non-domestic rates collected in 2012-13 are to be found in tables 5 and 6 of the statistical release ‘Collection rates and receipts of council tax and non-domestic rates in England 2012-13’. This is available on the DCLG website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collection-rates-for-council-tax-and-non-domestic-rates-in-england-2012-to-2013

The tables show the amounts collected both in respect of the current year and previous years but also pre-payments in respect of future years.

In that year, £22.759 billion was collected in council tax and £21.632 billion collected in business rates.

Private Rented Housing: Construction

Mr Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of development schemes in England of over 100 units in the private rented sector which are either (a) seeking or (b) have secured planning permission. [186087]

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Nick Boles: Information on the number of development schemes in the private rented sector which are seeking or have secured planning permission is not held centrally.

Role of Local Authorities in Housing Supply Independent Review

Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who will be on the panel of the review into local authorities' role in housing supply in addition to Natalie Elphicke and Councillor Keith House. [186000]

Kris Hopkins: Natalie Elphicke and Keith House will consult widely to ensure that the review of local authorities' role in housing supply draws on a broad range of experiences and ideas. However, it is too soon to determine attendance of any panel that may be set up to support the review.

Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the total cost of the review into local authorities' role in housing supply. [186001]

Kris Hopkins: The cost of the review into local authorities' role in housing supply will be kept to a minimum. Natalie Elphicke and Keith House will not be paid to lead the review, and will be supported by a small group of departmental officials.

Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Natalie Elphicke and Councillor Keith House will be paid to lead the review of local authorities' role in housing supply. [186007]

Kris Hopkins: Natalie Elphicke and Keith House will not be paid to lead the review of local authorities' role in housing supply, but they will be reimbursed for travel and expenses.

To place this in context, under the last Administration, Sir Michael Lyons received almost £400,000 for his review into local government finance.

Travellers: Equality

Mr Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the Government’s equality policies of information from the 2011 census relating to the employment, education and health prospects of Gypsies and Travellers. [185206]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 30 January 2014]: The analysis by the Office for National Statistics ‘What Does the 2011 Census tell us about the characteristics of Gypsy or Irish Travellers in England and Wales?’, which was published on 21 January 2014, provides further evidence of inequalities experienced by Gypsies and Travellers. In 2010 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), established a Ministerial Working Group to look at ways to reduce these inequalities. The Working Group published a progress report in April 2012 which includes

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28 commitments from across Government, including commitments relating to employment, education and health. The report also said that the Government intend to produce another report once we have had the opportunity to assess progress in delivering against those commitments.

The census report also noted that 61% of this section of the population live in a whole house or bungalow, while 24% live in caravans or other mobile or temporary structures. As I indicated in my written statement of 17 January 2014, Official Report, columns 34-5WS, we are currently considering whether the planning definition of “travellers” should more specifically refer to those who actually travel and have a mobile or transitory lifestyle.

Education

Academies

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what processes he has put in place to enable the Education Funding Agency to scrutinise the finances of academies and free schools. [186144]

Mr Timpson: Academies and free schools are subject to higher levels of transparency and scrutiny than local authority maintained schools.

The Department for Education has put in place a system to scrutinise the finances of academy trusts, including those operating free schools, which reflects their status as companies, charities and public bodies. Because trusts are constituted as companies limited by guarantee, they are subject to the full rigour of the Companies Act. This includes a requirement for the statutory audit of their annual accounts by a registered auditor. They must also comply with the requirements of their funding agreement and the academies financial handbook published by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

Trusts are required to provide a number of financial returns to the EFA for scrutiny. They must submit their audited annual accounts, an audited report on regularity of expenditure, statements from the trust’s accounting officer on regularity, propriety and value for money and a budget forecast return. New trusts must also submit a financial management and governance self-assessment shortly after opening.

The EFA adopts a risk-based approach to reviewing these returns to provide assurance over regularity and to monitor financial health. Action is taken in response to issues or concerns raised by the returns.

In the event of financial mismanagement at a trust, the EFA may require it to produce a recovery plan. The EFA may also intervene and commission investigations. Trusts that fail can face sanctions under arrangements set out in the financial handbook in the form of a financial notice to improve issued by the EFA. This describes what an academy trust must do to address its failings, and provides a trigger for the suspension of freedoms.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff at the Education Funding Agency (EFA) have been responsible for the oversight of finances of academies and free schools in each year since the EFA was established. [186147]

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Mr Timpson: The division responsible for the oversight of the finances of academies within the Education Funding Agency (EFA) is the External Assurance division.

The headcount for the division is as follows:

1 April 2012 (creation of the EFA)—39

1 April 2013—76

Academies: Fraud

Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when his officials have met (a) Action Fraud and (b) the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to review and refine the processes for reporting fraud in the last year. [185719]

Mr Timpson: The Head of the Department for Education's Internal Audit Investigation Team met an official of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, the body that receives data input by Action Fraud, on 4 December 2013.

Children’s Centres: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many Sure Start centres closed in London in each of the last five years. [184655]

Elizabeth Truss: As of 30 November 2013, 423 children’s centres that local authorities have designated as statutory children's centres in London were open.

There were a further 117 sites which were designated as children’s centres in April 2010 that remained open and offering services to families and children as part of a network of children’s centres.

Since April 2010, information from local authorities shows that 37 have closed. Two new centres have opened.

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Defibrillators: Eastleigh

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) further education colleges in Eastleigh constituency have defibrillators installed. [185913]

Mr Laws: The information requested is not held centrally. It is a matter for individual schools to decide whether to have an automatic external defibrillator.

Edapt

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times Edapt UK Ltd has been referred to in his Department's emails and written correspondence in each of the last 12 months; and how many items of email and written correspondence there have been between his Department and Edapt UK Ltd over the same period. [185448]

Mr Laws: Information regarding the number of references to Edapt UK Ltd in departmental emails and written correspondence, and the number of emails and written correspondence that have been exchanged between the Department for Education and Edapt UK Ltd in the form requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Education: Finance

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, column 122W, on pupils: per capita costs, what funding was allocated to each local authority in each year since 2007-08. [185805]

Mr Laws: The school revenue funding allocations for each local authority in England in each year between financial year 2007-08 and financial year 2012-13 are shown in the following table:

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4 Feb 2014 : Column 183W

4 Feb 2014 : Column 184W

4 Feb 2014 : Column 185W

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These allocations include funding provided for pupils in reception classes, but the allocations are not apportioned to specific year groups within the totals. Up to 2010-11 the allocations in the table include the Dedicated Schools Grant, Standards Fund Grants and School Standards Grants. In 2011-12 funding previously allocated through Standards Fund and Schools Standards Grants was added to the Dedicated Schools Grant. From 2011-12 the allocations include the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Pupil Premium. Allocations for the Dedicated Schools Grant include allocations for pupils in schools that have converted to academy status since 2008. The Pupil Premium allocations include pupils in all academies.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for how many institutions the Education Funding Agency has exercised its responsibility for financial oversight in each year of its operation. [186145]

Mr Timpson: The following table shows how many institutions the Education Funding Agency has exercised financial oversight in each year of its operation: