Justice
Care Homes: Fees and Charges
Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward legislative proposals to clarify the position under the Human Rights Act 1998 of people paying for their own care in care homes. [184107]
Damian Green: The Government do not believe that legislation is necessary as the position is already clear. Where such care is publicly arranged, its provision is already subject to the Human Rights Act. However, the Human Rights Act is not intended to apply directly to purely private arrangements.
Extending the Human Rights Act to cover people paying for their own care would not make providers treat those they care for with any more dignity and respect than they already should. People with private care have rights and protections under current law.
Crime: Victims
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people were injured during non-National Crime Recording Standard offences other than motoring offences in the last year for which data are available; [185095]
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(2) how many people were injured during non-National Crime Recording Standard motoring offences in the last year for which data are available. [185096]
Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice is responsible for information pertaining to court outcomes and pre-court disposals such as cautions, and as such holds no data on injuries to people during non-National Crime Recording Standard offences, whether a motoring offence or a non-motoring offence as they may or may not have been reported to the relevant authorities.
Domestic Violence
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to amend the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme to include greater use of restorative justice. [185732]
Jeremy Wright: The delivery of the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme (IDAP) is in the process of being phased out and replaced by a newly developed and accredited programme for perpetrators of domestic violence, the Building Better Relationships (BBR) programme. BBR has already been implemented throughout a number of probation trusts, replacing its predecessors, IDAP and the Community Domestic Violence Programme. There are therefore no plans to further develop or adapt the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme.
BBR does not include the use of restorative justice. We do not believe that victims should be automatically precluded from taking part in restorative justice on the basis of the crime committed against them. Restorative justice may be suitable for any offence provided both the victim and offender consent and have been carefully assessed by a trained restorative justice facilitator. However, restorative justice is not often used in cases of domestic violence due to the risk of harm to the victim. If a victim of domestic abuse requests restorative justice then it will require very careful consideration by an experienced facilitator. The safety of the victim is paramount.
European Commission
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will set out his Department's priorities for discussions with the European Commission over their 2014 Work Programme; and if he will make a statement. [185316]
Mr Vara: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 625W, by the Minister for Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington).
G4S
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many contracts have been awarded by his Department to G4S since 1 January 2013; [182595]
(2) how many contracts his Department has awarded to SERCO since 1 January 2013. [182596]
Jeremy Wright:
We have announced plans to ensure a smooth transition from Serco and G4S to new suppliers on our electronic monitoring contracts. Other than
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these transitional arrangements, the Ministry of Justice has not awarded any new contracts to G4S or Serco during the period in question.
National Offender Management Service
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers taking voluntary early departure since May 2010 have been subsequently re-employed by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) since 1 October 2013; how much severance pay those officers received in total; how much severance pay was repaid to NOMS; and what proportion of the severance pay received by such officers has been paid back to his Department for their subsequent rehire. [185020]
Jeremy Wright: There were no prison officers who took voluntary early departure since May 2010, that have been subsequently re-employed by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) between 1 October 2013 and 30 November 2013. No such pay was therefore either paid or repaid.
Figures for December 2013 are compiled a few weeks after the end of the month and are currently not available.
Offenders: Foreign Nationals
Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign nationals were convicted of criminal offences committed in the UK in each of the last five years. [184173]
Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database does not record the nationality of offenders sentenced for criminal offences.
However, we can provide prison statistics for England and Wales which show the number of foreign national receptions over the last five years.
All foreign national offenders sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.
| Foreign national sentenced receptions, January 2009 to September 2013, England and Wales | |
| Total | |
| 1 Due to data quality January to March 2010 is unavailable. | |
Reducing the FNO population is a top priority for this Government. We are working hard to reduce the flow of FNOs into our prison system and increase the number of FNOs removed from the UK through Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). The Home Office is co-ordinating an action plan to increase FNO removals and has introduced an Immigration Bill to tighten up the grounds for appeal against removal.
Prison Sentences
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 9 October 2013, Official Report, column 308W, on prison sentences, if he will provide a gender breakdown of the figures contained in Table 3. [180134]
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Jeremy Wright: Tough sentences are available to the independent judiciary who decide the sentences for individual criminals based on the full facts of the case.
Defendants are now more likely to be convicted for committing crime and sent to prison for longer than they were a decade ago. In addition criminals convicted
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since 2010 are more likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence, both overall and for a first time offence.
Table 1 shows the number of offenders sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence for their first offence in England and Wales, by offence type, year and gender.
| Table 1: Number of first time offenders1 who received immediate custody for their first offence in England and Wales by offence type and gender2, 2008-12 | |||||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |||||||
| Offence type | No. of the first time offenders | No. of the first offenders sentenced to immediate custody | % | No. of the first time offenders | No. of the first offenders sentenced to immediate custody | % | No. of the first time offenders | No. of the first offenders sentenced to immediate custody | % |
| 2011 | 2012 | |||||
| Offence type | No. of the first time offenders | No. of the first offenders sentenced to immediate custody | % | No. of the first time offenders | No. of the first offenders sentenced to immediate custody | % |
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| 1 First time entrants are offenders who received their first reprimand, warning, caution or conviction for a recordable offence committed in England and Wales. Offenders who were resident outside of England and Wales at the time of their first conviction, caution, reprimand or warning are not counted in these statistics. Additionally, non-recordable offences (ie TV licence evasion, driving without insurance) are not recorded on the Police National Computer and therefore not counted. Where an offender was dealt with for multiple offences on the same occasion, the primary offence as recorded on the Police National Computer has been counted in the above table. 2 Offenders whose gender is unknown, have not been included in the above table. Source: Police National Computer, Ministry of Justice | ||||||
Prisoners' Transfers
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Guittard applications were made for transfer to open conditions in each year since the judgment was handed down in 2009; and how many such applications were successful. [184431]
Jeremy Wright: The number of applications made by indeterminate sentence prisoners to the Secretary of State to consider transferring them to open conditions without first seeking the advice of the Parole Board (sometimes referred to as Guittard applications) has been formally recorded only since 2011. Applications will be approved only where the following criteria are met:
the parole dossier must contain evidence that the prisoner has made significant progress in addressing all identified risk factors; and
there must be a consensus amongst report writers that the prisoner is suitable and safe to be transferred to open conditions; and
there had to be a clear benefit in transferring the prisoner to open conditions instead of awaiting a Parole Board review; and
there are no areas of concern identified by report writers which would clearly benefit from further exploration by an oral hearing of the Parole Board.
The number of applications made and approved in each year since then is shown in the table:
| Guittard applications made | Guittard applications approved | |
Applications are not necessarily approved in the same period in which they were made.
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These figures are based on unpublished management information held on the public protection database in the National Offender Management Service. They have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
Mr Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which three countries have the most foreign nationals in UK prisons; and what steps he is taking to return those offenders to secure detention in their own countries. [185849]
Jeremy Wright: The countries with most foreign nationals in UK prisons on 31 December 2013 are:
1. Poland (938 prisoners)
2. Irish Republic (779 prisoners)
3. Jamaica (737 prisoners).
Where appropriate we encourage voluntary transfers to Poland and the Irish Republic. Poland has derogation from accepting compulsory prisoner transfers under the EU Prisoner Transfer Arrangement (PTA) until December 2016. The Irish are yet to implement the EU PTA and given our close historic ties and the Common Travel Area the Home Office do not routinely consider Irish nationals for deportation. Jamaica is currently unwilling to sign a PTA but we seek appropriate opportunities to continue to raise the matter with them.
In January this year we signed a compulsory PTA with Nigeria (7thlargest population of FNOs) and last year we signed a PTA with Albania (11th). We expect to see prisoner transfers to both these countries before the end of this year.
In addition to the UK, 17 countries (including Romania, 4th largest FNO population) have now implemented the EU Prisoner Transfer Arrangement (PTA). We have forwarded 47 applications for transfer from the UK to other member states and completed 16 transfers under this mechanism to date. We expect to make many more this year.
Probation
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect of prisoners' (a) proximity to homes and (b) contact with their families on (i) success of resettlement and (ii) reduction in reoffending. [182881]
Jeremy Wright: According to the results of the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction survey published in 20131, receiving family visits during a prison sentence, and returning to live with family after completion of the sentence were indirectly associated with reoffending. 48% of prisoners who returned to live with their family reoffended within a year, compared to 61% of prisoners who did not. 47% of prisoners who received family visits reoffended within a year, compared to 68% of prisoners who did not.
A stable home is just one factor which contributes to reducing the likelihood of an offender reoffending upon release from prison. Having access to employment upon release is another. Our transforming rehabilitation proposals recognise that giving prisoners continuing support both
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in prison and in the community after their release means they are less likely to reoffend. We are therefore seeking to change the law to extend statutory supervision to all prisoners including those serving less than 12 months' imprisonment. We are also realigning the prison estate to enable most prisoners to be released from a prison in their home area in order to provide continuous 'through the gate' rehabilitative support. This will improve the rehabilitation of prisoners by ensuring they are released closer to home with the right support for their ongoing rehabilitation.
1 Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/261620/re-offending-release-waves-1-3-spcr-findings.pdf
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what local targets each probation trust has. [186107]
Jeremy Wright: The information requested is published in Schedules 2 and 3 of probation trust contracts for 2013-14 at the following location:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/information-access-rights/transparency-data/noms-sla-contracts/probation-contracts-1.zip
It should be noted that the published contracts show the service delivery levels agreed for the start of the financial year 2013-14 and do not reflect any subsequent Notices of Change.
Final targets will be published alongside performance outturns for 2013-14 in July.
Roads: Accidents
Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance his Department has issued to the judiciary relating to road traffic fatality cases; and if he will make a statement. [185121]
Mr Vara: Guidance to the judiciary is produced independently of Government, by the Sentencing Council. This is in line with the principle that, while the Government decide what maximum penalties should be, the courts are responsible for deciding what sentence to impose within those limits.
Severe maximum penalties are available for those who cause death through dangerous driving or under the influence of drink or drugs and statistics show that the overwhelming majority of those convicted for these offences receive lengthy custodial sentences.
Sentencing
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) with reference to the changes announced by the Sentencing Council to the sentencing guidelines of 12 December 2013, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of such changes on the prison population; [184102]
(2) what estimate he has made of the potential effect of changes set out in the new sexual offences sentencing guideline published by the Sentencing Council on 12 December 2013 on the number of prisoners. [184274]
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Jeremy Wright: When the Sentencing Council issued its definitive guideline on Sexual Offences on 12 December 2013 it also published, as it is required to do by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, a resource assessment. That independent assessment of the likely effect of the guidelines on prison places and other resources has informed the Government's prison population planning.
The Sentencing Council's assessment can be found at:
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Final_ Resource_Assessment_Sexual_offences.pdf
Tribunals: Taxation
Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people in HM Courts and Tribunals Service worked on tax tribunals in each year since 2010; [184751]
(2) how many cases investigated by HM Revenue and Customs were awaiting a tax tribunal hearing in the (a) first quarter, (b) second quarter, (c) third quarter and (d) fourth quarter of (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013; [184752]
(3) what the value of unresolved (a) first-tier and (b) upper-tier tax tribunal cases was in each year since 2010; [184756]
(4) what the average length of (a) first-tier and (b) upper-tier tax tribunal cases was in each year since 2010. [184758]
Mr Vara: Appeals against decisions made by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs relating to tax are heard by the First-tier Tribunal (Tax), administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
Staff working within HMCTS regularly work across a number of different jurisdictions and many work in multi-jurisdictional centres. It is therefore not possible to supply the exact number of administrative staff employed to work in the tax jurisdictions of the First-tier and Upper Tribunals without checking the specific duties of each individual member of staff, which would be at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistical information on HMCTS Tribunals on a quarterly basis which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
The statistics include data on the volume of outstanding cases for each of the periods requested. The outstanding cases figure includes all cases that have not yet received a final decision on their appeal and so will incorporate those that have had a hearing but not yet received a final decision.
The outstanding caseload figures show that from 2009-10 to 2012-13 the number of cases in hand has increased by 50%. Almost 71% of the outstanding caseload at the end of September 2013 was made up of stayed cases—cases which are "on hold" pending the outcome of lead cases. It is, therefore, helpful to look at this information together with the data on appeals received and disposed. The number of cases disposed of by the First-tier Tribunal in 2012-13 was 14% higher than the previous year and some of these cases were ones which had been "on hold" pending the decision of a higher court.
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HMCTS does not collect data on the value of individual cases. We cannot therefore provide details on what the value of unresolved (a) First-tier Tribunal tax (b) Upper Tribunal tax cases were in each year since 2010.
HMCTS does not hold data on the average length of first and upper tier cases. Instead, information is collected on the proportion of cases dealt with in specified time frames.
Written Questions
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to his answer of 27 January 2014, Official Report, column 386W, on written questions, (1) whether the additional advice and assistance provided to Ministers by special advisers is restricted to specific policy areas; [185693]
(2) whether the additional advice and assistance provided to Ministers by special advisers is restricted to questions from specific, identified hon. Members. [185727]
Mr Vara: No. They provide advice and assistance to Ministers as required.
Youth Justice Board
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many meetings he has had with the Youth Justice Board; and what the average number of such meetings is per month. [185604]
Jeremy Wright: The Secretary of State for Justice and I meet regularly with officials to discuss youth justice, including with representatives of the Youth Justice Board.
In addition, the chair and chief executive of the YJB and I meet on a quarterly basis to discuss the operation of the youth justice system.
Deputy Prime Minister
High Speed 2 Railway Line
Mrs Gillan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what instructions or guidance his Department has given to local enterprise partnerships about High Speed 2 and the presentation of their strategic economic plans. [186201]
Greg Clark: Guidance issued to local enterprise partnerships in July 2013 set out that strategic economic plans will be assessed on three core criteria: ambition and rationale, value for money, and delivery and risk. Plans should demonstrate how local areas can drive growth, and the priorities and themes should be determined locally. Local enterprise partnerships with a clear link to HS2 (for example those with planned stations) are likely to consider in their economic plans the actions that are relevant to maximising the benefits of their location, to demonstrate the ambition and rationale of their strategic economic plan.
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Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Bovine Tuberculosis
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many TB vaccination trials for cattle his Department has cancelled in the last four years. [185681]
George Eustice: We are unaware of any vaccine trials that have been cancelled in the last four years.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what figures make up the £1 billion figure referred to on 10 October 2013, Official Report, column 281, regarding the cost of bovine TB to the UK over the next 10 years. [185682]
George Eustice: Forecast expenditure on our bovine TB programme for the current financial year is just over £99 million, excluding DEFRA policy development costs. That is after taking account of EU funding of around £12 million, which is as yet not guaranteed. Of this, £66 million is for operational, policy and laboratory work carried out by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, including payments to private vets for TB testing. A further £23.5 million is for cattle compensation costs, net of salvage income. It is reasonable to expect that we will continue to incur similar, possibly greater, costs in future years unless tough new action is taken to combat the disease.
Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2014, Official Report, column 706W, on bovine tuberculosis, how many detailed laboratory post-mortems of culled badgers were carried out; and what use will be made of the results. [185945]
George Eustice: 158 detailed post mortems were conducted on the culled badgers.
The purpose of the post-mortem examination of carcases was to gather the required evidence to support an assessment of humaneness of controlled shooting. It was not to test badgers culled for infection with M.bovis as we already know around one-third of badgers to be infected in areas with a high incidence of the disease. The post-mortem information is being considered by the Independent Expert Panel, which will report in due course.
Databases
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when he was made aware of the AHVLA SAM IT failure; [185666]
(2) when his Department became aware of the AHVLA SAM IT failure; [185665]
(3) whether (a) the AHVLA and (b) his Department was aware of failings with the SAM IT system (i) before the commencement of the Government's pilot badger culls and (ii) before these pilots were subsequently extended. [185671]
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George Eustice: I was made aware of the nature of the problems and the implications for our monthly publication of bovine TB statistics on 14 January 2014, when the impact on the published bovine TB national statistics became clear. AHVLA first became aware in mid-December 2013 that there were possible discrepancies with the records of herds designated as not officially TB Free-well after the badger cull pilots had concluded. Subsequent investigations by AHVLA led to notification of DEFRA officials on 18 December 2013. The extent of the problems and full impact on the published statistics were not fully understood until mid-January 2014.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the implications of the AHVLA SAM IT failure on the Bovine TB eradication strategy. [185668]
George Eustice: The problem identified only affects the reporting of TB statistics. There has been no impact on operational activities. This issue also does not affect the number of cattle slaughtered, which continues to be at an unacceptably high level.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cause of the AHVLA SAM IT failure was. [185669]
George Eustice: The AHVLA is still investigating the issue and a number of root causes are being investigated.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what timeframe was allocated to Operational and User Acceptance Testing for the AHVLA SAM IT system; and whether this timeframe was adhered to. [185675]
George Eustice: Full Acceptance Testing took place. This involved System Acceptance Testing, Regression Testing (manual and automated) and User Acceptance Testing. Additionally, Performance and Operability Testing was undertaken. As the development was iterative the testing took place over an extended period totalling 11 months.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the OAT and UAT phases for the AHVLA SAM IT system were replaced in favour of live testing methods. [185676]
George Eustice: Full testing was undertaken in advance of go-live. This involved System Acceptance Testing, Regression Testing (manual and automated) and User Acceptance Testing. Additionally, Performance and Operability Testing was undertaken.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether all the bovine TB figures transferred since the data migration from the Veterinary e-Business System (VeBus) to the AHVLA SAM IT system on 3 October 2011 will be reviewed. [185677]
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George Eustice: Data were migrated from the Vetnet system (not VeBus) to the Sam IT System during September 2011. All migrated data were fully reconciled after migration. Since September 2011, there has been no further full system reconciliation, although some specific aspects of the TB data have been reviewed. We are undertaking a more comprehensive review as part of the current investigation.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether there was a system integration problem between the VeBus and AHVLA SAM IT systems. [185678]
George Eustice: VeBus and SAM were not integrated. There was a comprehensive data reconciliation between legacy systems and SAM following the migration of data from Vetnet.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many of the bTB new herd infection miscalculations have been caused by (a) human error due to manually inputting data into the system and (b) data duplicates due to the bTB cases being input manually into SAM and via VeBus. [185679]
George Eustice: The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency is still investigating the issue. There was no dual running of the systems, so data duplication did not occur.
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps (a) his Department and (b) the contractor are taking to rectify the error with the AHVLA SAM IT system. [185680]
George Eustice: The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency and our IT supplier have put considerable efforts into resolving the identified problem. Verification of the data and ensuring all reporting is correct has been a priority for all concerned.
National Wildlife Crime Unit
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress he has made on allocating funding to the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2014. [185992]
George Eustice [holding answer 4 February 2014]: The Government takes the matter of wildlife crime very seriously and appreciates the important contribution the National Wildlife Crime Unit makes to tackling wildlife law enforcement both at home and internationally. Further to the Secretary of State for the Home Department announcement to the House last week about the Home Office's commitment to continue funding the Unit, I am delighted to announce that DEFRA and the Home Office will together be providing more than £500,000 of funding until 2016 to help secure the future of the Unit.
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Wildlife: Smuggling
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to tackle the illegal wildlife trade (a) domestically and (b) internationally. [185991]
George Eustice [holding answer 4 February 2014]: The alarming problem of increasing levels of rhino and elephant poaching and the illegal wildlife trade is a priority for this Government. We recognise the need to ensure that we provide a co-ordinated and effective response to tackle it. DEFRA has been working closely with a number of Departments across Whitehall to achieve this and we will, jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, be hosting a high-level, inter-Governmental Conference in London on 13 February to galvanise the international community to take action to reduce poaching and trafficking. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for International Development announced on 23 December 2013 a £10 million package to take concrete action to combat the illegal trade in wildlife.
The UK has set out its commitment to eradicate illegal wildlife trade in a 'Commitment to Action', published today at:
www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/illegal-wildlife-trade-2014
Cabinet Office
Buildings
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the annual rent is for (a) 35 Great Smith Street and (b) Rosebery Court; and who the landlords are in each case. [185743]
Mr Maude: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 242W. We are unable to disclose this information due to commercial sensitivities.
Electronic Government
Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what 25 top priority digital projects the Government Digital Service is currently helping Departments design. [185652]
Mr Hurd: See information at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/transformation
Employment: Females
Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women have (a) entered and (b) left the labour market since 2004. [186199]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
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Letter from Glen Watson, dated February 2014:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women have (a) entered and (b) left the labour market since 2004. (186199)
Estimates of employment are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is able to measure quarterly ‘flows’ of people entering and leaving employment however it is not possible to measure this over a longer period of time.
Experimental statistics of labour market flows estimated from the LFS are published quarterly in Table X02 as part of the Labour Market Statistics release, available here:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl= Labour+Market#tab-sum-pub
Part-time Employment: Females
Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women were classified as working part-time in each of the last five years. [186196]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Glen Watson, dated February 2014:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women were classified as working part-time in each of the last five years. 186196
Estimates of employment are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The table shows estimates of the number of women in part-time employment between 2009 and 2013. An individual's part-time status is self-classified on the LFS.
| Number of women in part-time employment September to November each year, 2009 to 2013 United Kingdom, seasonally adjusted | |
| Thousand | |
| Labour Force Survey (LFS) | |
Estimates of part-time employment by gender are published monthly in Table 3 of the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin, available here:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl= labour+Market#tab-sum-pub
Public Appointments
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many public appointments his Department made in the last 12 months; how many such appointments are remunerated posts; what the level of such remuneration is; and how many people so appointed are (a) women and (b) men. [186391]
Mr Maude: The Government publish details of diversity in public appointments across Departments.
The latest list can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-in-public-appointments
Figures for 1 October 2013 to 31 March 2014 will be published later this year.
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Culture, Media and Sport
Press: Regulation
Richard Drax: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what the salaries are for the members of the Recognition Panel established for the purpose of press regulation; [186056]
(2) what the key performance indicators are of the Recognition Panel for the purpose of press regulation; and what steps she plans to take to monitor the work and expenditure of that body; [186057]
(3) how much the Government (a) have spent and (b) plans to spend on creating the Recognition Panel for the purpose of press regulation; [186055]
(4) what contingency budget exists for the Recognition Panel established for the purpose of press regulation; and if she will make a statement. [186054]
Mr Vaizey: The Recognition Panel is independent of the press industry and politicians. The Recognition Panel will determine its own procedures for conducting its business and discharging its functions under the Charter. It will be for the Board of the Recognition Panel to determine its annual budget for each financial year and, in doing so, ensure it achieves value for money. Further details of the Panel's funding arrangements can be found in Article 11 of the Royal Charter. Initial Public funding does not mean the Government can interfere in the decisions of the Board of the Recognition Panel. I understand the Commissioner for Public Appointments has appointed the Appointments Committee that will make the initial appointments to the Board of the Panel. The Charter provides that it is for the Board of the Recognition Panel to take decisions about the form the new body will take. Further information can be found on the Commissioner's website:
http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/press-self-regulation/
Public Service Broadcasting
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment she has made of the levels of retransmission fees for public service broadcasters paying to have their content carried; what plans she has for a review of retransmission fees; and if she will make a statement. [186188]
Mr Vaizey: As made clear in “Connectivity, Content, Consumers: Britain's Digital Platform for Growth”, the Government wants to see zero net charges-where the fees for access to the main platforms (satellite, cable, DTT) and for public service channels (the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5) cancel each other out. This recognises that Platforms benefit from having must-see content distributed across their services, while broadcasters benefit from having access to mass market audiences.
For cable, this outcome is achieved by section 73 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act (COPA). This provision is presently the subject of litigation, as online services are relying on it to exploit PSB content, with no benefit flowing back to the PSB. We will launch a consultation on this issue once the outcome of the present litigation is known, before bringing forward legislative proposals as required.
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Sports: Scholarships
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether a decision has been made on the future of the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme and its funding after 2013-14. [185827]
Mrs Grant: UK Sport funding provided to Sports Aid for the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) is confirmed until September 2014. UK Sport and Sport England continue to work together on talent development in England, with the future funding of TASS under consideration.
International Development
Afghanistan
Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the funding streams her Department has to the Afghan Government; what the purposes are for the funding in each case; what steps she is taking to ensure that such funds are used by the Afghans for the intended purposes; and if she will make a statement. [185298]
Justine Greening: DFID has two main funding streams to the Afghan Government: multilateral trust funds and our Strengthening Provincial Administration and Delivery (SPAD) programme.
The World Bank-led Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund supports the provision of basic services including health and education, while the Asian Development Bank-led Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund supports major infrastructure projects designed to improve power generation and transport links. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank provide independent oversight and assurance to all donors that money is being used for its intended purpose.
The SPAD programme supports the delivery of basic services in three provinces, including health and
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education. To ensure that funds are used for their intended purposes rigorous monitoring and evaluation arrangements have been put in place and an independent verification has recently been undertaken by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.
Africa
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department has had with the US about the Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge. [185793]
Lynne Featherstone: DFID has held various discussions with counterparts in the US about Power Africa and other projects.
Re-employment
Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff who have been made redundant or retired from her Department have subsequently been re-employed by her Department since May 2010. [185568]
Justine Greening: Three members of staff who have retired from DFID have subsequently been re-employed by DFID since May 2010. No members of staff who have been made redundant, have subsequently been re-employed by DFID since May 2010.
The Government reformed the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) in 2010 to reduce costs and to require the recovery of compensation payments where staff are dismissed and re-employed. This has led to savings of £2.2 billion from work force reduction in 2012-13, compared to 2009-10.
Staff re-employed within 28 days of being made redundant have to repay their entire redundancy package;
Staff re-employed within six months of being made redundant since December 2010 have to repay part of their compensation;
Staff re-employed following retirement have their pension abated so that the total value of their pension and new salary are the same as their salary before retirement.
The civil service does not operate a compulsory age retirement policy and has not done so since March 2010.