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Commonwealth

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to develop the UK's trading relationship with other Commonwealth countries. [187667]

Mr Swire: The UK is committed to strengthening trade across the Commonwealth. UK Trade & Investment is helping strengthen trade links with markets across the world that are key to the UK's future prosperity and is now represented in 22 Commonwealth countries. These include high growth markets such as India, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia and others such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where we already have significant and well established trading relations. We are also working hard to ensure the EU signs ambitious Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Commonwealth countries to improve the access of UK companies to these markets. The EU has a Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement with South Africa, while negotiations on FTAs with Canada and Singapore reached a political conclusion last year. The EU/Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement will benefit the UK economy and businesses by over £1.3 billion a year. EU negotiations are also ongoing with India and Malaysia.

Ahead of this year's Commonwealth games in Glasgow, UKTI, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the Commonwealth Business Council are working together to deliver a business conference for 200 Commonwealth business leaders. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) are also organising a British Business House, which will showcase UK plc to Commonwealth businesses.

As the Minister of State for the Commonwealth, I spoke at the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) in Colombo, which took place ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, to highlight the Commonwealth's potential for increased trade and investment. UKTI sent a representative to the CBF to support British businesses.

We welcome the appointment of Lord Marland of Odstock as Chair of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC). We expect his appointment will help the CBC work towards increased trade and investment across the Commonwealth.

Equal Pay

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will investigate the reasons for the gender pay gap at senior management structures 2, 3 and 4 of his Department. [186982]

Hugh Robertson: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidelines state that difference greater than 5% should be investigated and that patterns of difference of 3% or more should be looked into. We recently conducted an equal pay analysis which shows the pay gap by gender for staff at Senior Management Structure (SMS) levels 2 and 3/4 as:

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The pay gap between men and women at Senior Management Structure 3/4 is attributable to the relatively small number of women holding SMS3 posts and no women currently holding either of the two SMS4 posts.

Libya

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department is providing in the process of installing democratic systems in Libya. [187561]

Hugh Robertson: The UK remains firmly committed to supporting Libyan efforts to build a secure, prosperous and democratic country. In partnership with the UN Support Mission in Libya, and other international partners, we are providing a comprehensive package of support over the next three years to assist the Libyan Government in establishing accountable and human rights compliant security, justice and defence institutions. This includes training 2,000 Libyan armed forces personnel to support the Libyan Government's efforts to increase the effectiveness and capacity of its security and justice sector institutions. The establishment of such structures in Libya is essential to the democratic transition and will contribute to regional stability and security.

The UK has 19 long-term military and civilian advisers, in addition to a number of short-term experts, working with the Libyan authorities across the fields of security, justice and defence. This includes building civil service capacity; strengthening civilian oversight of their armed forces; disposal of arms and ammunition; improving access to justice; and helping to build the professionalism and capacity of the police force. All of these advisers are paid for by the British Government from the tri-departmental conflict prevention pool.

Linda Carty

Stephen Metcalfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to his US counterpart on Linda Carty; and if he will make a statement. [187490]

Hugh Robertson: The British Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we will make representations on behalf of British nationals facing death sentences, according to the individual circumstances of each case.

The decision on Ms Carty's case is a matter for the Texan authorities. I raised Ms Carty's case with Governor Rick Perry of Texas during his visit to the UK last October. Her Majesty's Consul General Houston had two meetings with Governor Perry's General Counsel in 2013 to raise our concerns about Ms Carty's case.

We will continue to raise Ms Carty's case, and the UK's wider opposition to the death penalty, with the Texan authorities and the US Federal Government.

North Korea

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the government of North Korea on the treatment of Christians in that country. [187054]

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Mr Swire: Officials regularly raise our concerns about human rights violations in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including with regard to the treatment of Christians. In January 2014 our ambassador in Pyongyang raised human rights with a Vice-Minister from the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials raised it with the DPRK ambassador in London.

Supporting human rights remains one of the priorities for our policy towards the DPRK. We aim to do this in three ways: by ensuring the issue remains high on the international community's agenda; by using our policy of critical engagement to raise our concerns directly with the DPRK authorities; and by supporting small scale projects aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable groups in the DPRK.

The annual FCO Human rights report includes the DPRK as a country of concern. The full report can be found at:

www.hrdreport.fco.gov.uk

Pay

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many civil servants are on each pay grade in (a) his Department and (b) agencies and public bodies accountable to him. [187246]

Hugh Robertson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) at 31 January 2014 employed 4,715 UK based staff at the following paybands.

FCO Services employed 947 UK based staff at the following paybands.

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Property

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the (a) name, (b) location, (c) floor space, (d) tenure status and (e) value is of properties (i) owned and (ii) occupied by (A) his Department and (B) agencies and public bodies accountable to him. [187287]

Mr Lidington: The details requested for the United Kingdom Estate held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are as follows:

We have not provided individual valuations for each of these properties as this information is commercially sensitive.

Overseas, the FCO runs an estate comprising more than 5,000 properties in 250 locations worldwide, and the British Council have over 220 commercial properties in 110 countries. It would not be possible to provide the information requested on these properties without incurring disproportionate cost.

Public Appointments

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which paid public appointment contracts he has (a) renewed and (b) not renewed since May 2010; and how many posts were held by (i) women and (ii) men. [187019]

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Hugh Robertson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 11 February 2014, Official Report, column 607W, by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude).

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the titles are of the individual public appointments that have been made by his Department since May 2010; and which of those appointees were women. [187080]

Hugh Robertson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude) on 11 February 2014, Official Report, column 607W.

Re-employment

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2014, Official Report, column 196W, on re-employment, what the total cost was of those retirements. [187586]

Hugh Robertson: Of the 14 retirements, six of these retired on age grounds at no cost to the Department.

The remaining eight retirements were at a total cost to the FCO of £647,840.06

Individual payments are calculated in accordance with the civil service pension scheme rules in place at the time of retirement and are based on salary, years of service and age.

Religious Freedom

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Ministers in his Department last met representatives of the All Party Parliamentary Group in International Religious Freedom. [187538]

Mr Lidington: My noble Friend, the right hon. Baroness Warsi last met representatives of the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom on 22 October 2013.

Sri Lanka

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of reports of discriminatory practices towards the Tamil people in Sri Lanka relating to (a) political rights, (b) education and (c) appropriation of land. [197620]

Mr Swire: We continue to monitor closely civil and political rights as well as land issues in Sri Lanka. We welcomed the Northern Provincial Council elections in Sri Lanka, which took place in September 2013. This was the first provincial council election held in the predominantly Tamil north since the 1987 establishment of provincial councils. The opposition Tamil National Alliance, won over 80% of the vote. Local election observers noted that elections were

“relatively free from violence, though not from intimidation”.

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We have expressed concerns at military involvement in civilian activities in the north and are aware of reports that the military are involved in education.

The Prime Minister raised land rights and militarisation in the north of Sri Lanka during his November meeting with the Sri Lankan President Rajapaska. He called for a meaningful political settlement with the north, including demilitarisation and full implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations.

We continue to underline to the Sri Lankan authorities the need for a long-term political settlement to address these underlying grievances and will continue to monitor these issues.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking in Sri Lanka to create lasting peace and reconciliation. [197621]

Mr Swire: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I have given to question 186379 on 6 February 2013, Official Report, column 358W.

Staff

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of staff of (a) his Department and (b) agencies and public bodies accountable to him work outside of London; and in which local authorities such staff are located. [187268]

Hugh Robertson: Working outside London, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have staff in the following local authority areas: London borough of Croydon (less than 1%) and Milton Keynes (9%).

FCO Services have staff in Milton Keynes (68%).

Wilton Park has staff in Horsham district council (100%).

British Council have staff in Belfast city council (0.35%), Cardiff city council (0.37%), City of Edinburgh council (0.56%) and Manchester city council (2.99%).

Westminster Foundation for Democracy have no staff working outside London.

Great Britain-China Centre have no staff working outside London.

Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission do not employ staff.

Tanzania

Sir Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise the failure of the Tanzanian Government to take action in relation to the seizure of Silverdale farm by Mr Benjamin Mengi in his upcoming meeting with the President of Tanzania. [187581]

Mark Simmonds: The British Government have raised the case of Silverdale farm at the highest levels on a number of occasions. I raised the issue with the Tanzanian Agricultural Minister on 24 October last year and have done so with the Tanzanian Foreign Minister on numerous occasions. We will continue to discuss the investment climate in our conversations with the Tanzanian Government.

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Ukraine

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Ukranian counterpart aimed at bringing to an end the recent restrictions on human rights following protests in that country. [187668]

Mr Lidington: On 10 February, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), joined other EU Foreign Ministers in endorsing EU Council Conclusions which expressed deep concern at the continuing political crisis in Ukraine and the human rights situation, including violence, cases of missing persons, torture and intimidation. The EU deplored the deaths and injuries sustained on all sides. They urged restraint and called for the authorities to take all necessary measures to respect and protect the Ukrainian citizens' fundamental rights and to investigate duly all acts of violence in a transparent and impartial manner and bring the perpetrators to justice.

On 24 January the Foreign Secretary spoke to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Leonid Kozhara, to express the British Government's deep concern at the violence in Ukraine. He said that all sides had a responsibility to refrain from violence, but particular responsibility rested with the Government. He also outlined his concern about legislation passed on 16 January that appeared to impinge on democratic norms. I was pleased to see that on 28 January the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal those laws. The UK Government will continue to call on Ukraine to adhere to its obligations as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Council of Europe.

Justice

Blue Bay Support Services

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what contracts his Department has with Blue Bay Support Services; when each contract was signed; and what the value and purpose is of each such contract. [177198]

Jeremy Wright: In 2013 the Ministry of Justice had two contracts with Blue Bay Support Services Limited. One was let on 18 October 2013 to the value of £40,000.00; and the other was let on 13 November 2013 to the value of £9,600.00. These contracts provided short term support to four prisons in offender management and they came to an end in December 2013.

Blue Bay Support Services Limited provides professionally trained and qualified staff in the criminal justice field. Similar service providers have been used on occasions over a number of years (including under a different Government) to provide short term support to probation trusts and prisons.

Probation trusts are non-departmental public bodies and information on individual trust contracts is not held centrally.

Mrs Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what payments his Department has made to Blue Bay Support Services Ltd in each of the last three years; and what services that company provides to (a) his Department and (b) the National Offender Management Service. [178757]

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Jeremy Wright: Blue Bay Support Services Ltd have received the following payments from the Ministry of Justice to provide short term support to four prisons in offender management:

(i) 2011-12—No payments

(ii) 2012-13—No payments.

(iii) 2013-14—11 payments totalling £24,360 for work which was brought to a conclusion in December 2013.

Blue Bay Support Services Limited provides professionally trained and qualified staff in the criminal justice field. Similar service providers have been used on occasions over a number of years (including under a different Government) to provide short-term support to probation trusts and prisons.

Probation trusts are non-departmental public bodies and information on individual trust contracts is not held centrally.

Conditions of Employment

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to balance the legal rights and responsibilities of employees and employers; and if he will make a statement. [187546]

Mr Vara: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) aims to make working within the Department a positive experience, with employees and employer upholding their rights and responsibilities.

Our standards and procedures are built upon what is expected through Legislation, Terms and Conditions of Employment, the Civil Service Code which sets out the value and standards expected of all civil servants, and other rules governing areas including confidentiality, propriety and ethics.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills leads on the regulation of the employer and employee relationship.

Domestic Violence: Sentencing

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will list the outcomes of sentences for convictions of domestic violence offences in 2009 by local criminal justice boards. [186661]

Jeremy Wright: Domestic violence covers a very wide range of behaviour and there are many offences in England and Wales that could be relevant to cases of domestic abuse or domestic violence. These include, but are not limited to, offences against the person (such as common assault, actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm—which are both capable of including psychiatric injury—or wounding), sexual offences, threats to kill, blackmail, false imprisonment, harassment, stalking, putting someone in fear of violence and breach of non-molestation orders.

Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the court proceedings database does not include the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute. It is not possible to separately identify from this centrally held information convictions and sentences for domestic violence from other offences of assault. Information is not collated centrally on victims of alleged offences proceeded against, aside from the information provided by the statute under

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which proceedings are brought. This detailed information may be held on the court record, but due to the size and complexity, is not reported centrally to the MOJ. As such, the information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Driving Offences: Sentencing

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the Sentencing Council keeps under review the offence of causing death by disqualified or uninsured drivers. [187107]

Jeremy Wright: Guidance to the judiciary is produced independently of Government, by the Sentencing Council. This is in line with the principle that, while the Government decides what maximum penalties should be, the courts are responsible for deciding what sentence to impose within those limits.

The sentencing guideline on causing death by driving was published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2008. It covers the offences of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving as well as causing death by dangerous driving while under the influence of drink or drugs and causing death by driving unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured. Last year, the Justice Secretary wrote to the Sentencing Council (as it now is) to ask them to review the death by driving guideline and they have agreed to include this in their programme of work.

Severe maximum penalties, of 14 years imprisonment, 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. The maximum penalty for causing death by disqualified or uninsured driving is two years’ imprisonment. We are keeping the law in this area under review. If any changes are needed, we will bring forward proposals.

Driving: Licensing

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many notifications of endorsement from a court or fixed penalty office of a driver who meets the criteria of the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995 were sent to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency following the accumulation of six penalty points by a new driver within the two year probationary period in each of the last five years; [187575]

(2) how many notifications were sent by a court or fixed penalty office to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency following the accumulation of six penalty points by a new driver within the two year probationary period in each of the last five years. [187576]

Mr Vara: The data are not held by HM Courts and Tribunals Service as although HM Courts and Tribunals Service is obliged to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency where the court endorses a licence the notification mechanism is the same for all drivers. The notification to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not therefore expressly state that a driver is, or is not, within their probationary period.

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Drugs: Sentencing

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have received the (a) maximum fine and (b) maximum prison sentence for (i) possession and (ii) trafficking of (A) Class A drugs (B) Class B drugs and (C) Class C drugs in each of the last five years. [180267]

Jeremy Wright: There are tough penalties available for drug offences, with the maximum penalties set by Parliament to deal with the worst possible cases. Trafficking Class A drugs carries a maximum prison sentence of life imprisonment and seven years minimum sentence on a third conviction. Within those limits it is for the courts to determine sentences in individual cases taking into account all the circumstances of the offence and the offender.

The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences relating to possession and trafficking of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, including those sentenced to the maximum penalty, at magistrates courts, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012, can be viewed in Table 1.

The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for offences relating to possession and trafficking of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, including those sentenced to the maximum penalty, at the Crown court, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012, can be viewed in Table 2.

The number of offenders sentenced to a fine for offences relating to possession and trafficking of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, including those sentenced to the maximum penalty available within magistrates' powers (or above), at magistrates courts, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012, can be viewed in Table 3. The custody rate remains constant (at 98%-99%) for the number of offenders sentenced in the Crown court for the most serious and high volume offence of importing Class A drugs. Drug traffickers are almost always given long custodial sentences if found guilty in the Crown court of the most serious offences.

The Crown court has unlimited powers to fine, therefore there is no maximum fine in the higher court. However, the number of offenders sentenced to a fine for offences relating to possession and trafficking of Class A, Class B and Class C drugs, at the Crown court, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012, can be viewed in Table 4. Those convicted of drug offences may also be subject to confiscation proceedings.

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

Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate his Department has made of the average waiting time for employment and support allowance appeals. [187112]

Mr Vara: The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions' decisions on a range of benefits, including employment and support allowance (ESA).

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In the period 1 April to 30 September 2013 (the latest period for which data have been published) the average waiting time from receipt of an ESA appeal at the tribunal to disposal was 18.9 weeks. The average waiting time has fallen since 2010.

Employment Tribunals Service

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2013, Official Report, column 324W, on employment tribunal services, if he will publish the analysis sought in that question. [197617]

Mr Vara: Data concerning outcomes of fee remission applications made in employment tribunal cases and in other court and tribunal jurisdictions are not routinely published.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service is working with partners to develop appropriate system reporting tools that will enable extraction, interrogation and subsequent quality assurance of data, including the data requested. Until those system reporting tools are developed, later this year, we will not be able to provide the data requested.

The Government have previously said that it plans to publish a Post Implementation Review, assessing and reporting on the impacts of fee-charging on the employment tribunals system. The reporting tools we are developing will help us to undertake that work.

As in my previous answer, my officials are currently undertaking this work, and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as I am able.

Fines: Surcharges

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much of the victim surcharge has gone uncollected since the surcharge was introduced. [180079]

Mr Vara: The value of uncollected victim surcharge as at 31 March 2013 is £12.1 million. This amount is net of administrative cancellations.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) takes the issue of financial penalty enforcement very seriously and is working to ensure that clamping down on defaulters is a continued priority nationwide. HMCTS actively pursues all outstanding impositions until certain they cannot be collected. Collection reached an all time high at the end of 2012-13 and has continued to rise in this financial year. At the end of September 2013 total collection (all imposition types excluding confiscation orders) was higher than the same point in the previous year and the outstanding balance had reduced since the start of the financial year. On average over the last 12 month 69% of accounts have been either closed or are compliant with payment terms by 12 months after imposition.

HMCTS is actively seeking an external provider for the future delivery of compliance and enforcement services. This will bring the necessary investment and innovation to significantly improve the collection of criminal financial penalties and reduce the cost of the service to the taxpayer.

Under this Government, more money is being used to fund victims’ services than ever before. Despite a law being introduced in 1996, which allowed money to be

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deducted from prisoner’s earnings to help fund support for victims, the previous Government failed to act on this, depriving victims of potentially millions of pounds of support.

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much of the victim surcharge has been (a) collected and (b) uncollected in each year since 2010. [180080]

Mr Vara: Information for the financial year 2011-12, including receipts received up to 18 months after the imposition date, and financial year 2012-13 to date, is provided in the table.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) takes the issue of financial penalty enforcement very seriously and is working to ensure that clamping down on defaulters is a continued priority nationwide. HMCTS actively pursues all outstanding impositions until certain they cannot be collected. Collection reached an all time high at the end of 2012-13 and has continued to rise in this financial year. At the end of September 2013 total collection (all imposition types excluding confiscation orders) was higher than the same point in the previous year and the outstanding balance had reduced since the start of the financial year. On average over the last 12 month 69% of accounts have been either closed or are compliant with payment terms by 12 months after imposition.

HMCTS is actively seeking an external provider for the future delivery of compliance and enforcement services. This will bring the necessary investment and innovation to significantly improve the collection of criminal financial penalties and reduce the cost of the service to the taxpayer.

Under this Government, more money is being used to fund victims’ services than ever before. Despite a law being introduced in 1996, which allowed money to be deducted from prisoner’s earnings to help fund support for victims, the previous Government failed to act on this, depriving victims of potentially millions of pounds of support.

Due to limitations in accounting systems, information is not available for earlier years without disproportionate cost.

Cancellations relate mainly to remissions and statutory declarations.

Ministers

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on ministerial salaries in the last year for which figures are available. [180104]

Mr Vara: Salaries paid to Ministers in the MOJ for the financial year 2012-13 are set out in the following table. In respect of Ministers in the House of Commons, Departments bear only the cost of the additional ministerial

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remuneration, the salary for their services as an MP (£65,738 from 1 April 2010) and various allowances to which they are entitled are borne centrally. Ministers in the House of Lords do not receive a salary but rather an additional remuneration which cannot be quantified separately from their ministerial salaries.

Offenders: Risk Assessment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offender assessments using the Offender Assessment System were outstanding on the first day of every month since May 2010. [181791]

Jeremy Wright: Information is not held centrally to allow a comparison of the number of applicable offenders in prison with those for whom a risk assessment on the Offender Assessment System (OASys) has been outstanding on the first day of every month since May 2010. Such information could be provided only at very significant and disproportionate cost.

Given the importance of the OASys tool in assessing and managing risk, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is putting in place processes to monitor and manage outstanding OASys assessments on an ongoing basis. Such processes were absent up to May 2010.

Pay

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) contract staff in his Department are paid the Living Wage or above. [186673]

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Mr Vara: Information on the numbers of directly employed (a) permanent and, (b) fixed-term temporary staff being paid the Living Wage* or above within the Ministry of Justice HQ, HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is detailed in the following table.

Living wage rates were increased in November 2013 after the implementation of the 2013 pay award. As a result 0.6% of MOJ and NOMS staff are paid marginally below the increased rates. The department is committed to ensuring that all staff are paid in line with or above the living wage and will assess this position again in 2014 as part of any pay round decisions.

Information on contractors paid less than the rate defined by the ‘Living Wage Foundation’ as a living wage is not recorded centrally. We would need to approach all of our contractors and or their agencies to get them to provide the information. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

* Living Wage data cannot be split between Permanent and Temporary as per the ONS definition and so the proportion overall is all that can be provided.

(a) ONS Definition-Permanent employees are those that have a contract with no agreed expiry date or a fixed term contract of more than 12 months (regardless of the amount of time remaining on the contract).

(b) ONS Definition-Temporary/casual employees are those that have a fixed term contract of 12 months or less or are employed on a casual basis.

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many employees of his Department or any of its agencies received bonus payments in each year between 2010 and 2013; [187040]

(2) how much was paid in bonuses to employees of his Department and its agencies in each year between 2010 and 2013. [187066]

Mr Vara: Details of the number of employees within the Department and its agencies receiving performance related payments together with the overall cost for each of the financial years since 2010-11 can be found in the following table.

Details provided relate to staff employed within the Ministry of Justice HQ (MOJ), HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

The total amount paid in non-consolidated performance awards to staff has fallen from £7.89 million in the final year of the previous administration.

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Probation

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to ensure that there will be sufficient experienced probation officers allocated to the 21 community rehabilitation companies to assess risk escalation of offenders who are supervised by those companies. [187389]

Jeremy Wright: The 30 bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to win the regional rehabilitation contracts were announced in mid December and all have experience in working with offenders or across the wider Criminal Justice System. Providers bidding to run Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will need to demonstrate in their bids how they will deliver high quality services and how they will maintain a workforce with appropriate levels of competence and training to deliver these services. CRCs will be free to use the Probation Qualifications Framework (PQF) to ensure this. Existing probation staff have been assigned to posts in the new structures according to their experience and case load.

Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) if he will publish the three probation level input indicators due to be published in autumn 2012; [187569]

(2) what the average full apportioned cost to probation of delivering a community order or suspended sentence order to the service definition in the National Offender Management Service specification was for the last period for which figures are available. [187570]

Jeremy Wright: The three probation unit cost input indicators, including the fully apportioned cost to NOMS of delivering a community order or suspended sentence order, are published on an annual basis by the Ministry of Justice. These were first published on 25 October 2012 in respect of 2011-12. Costs for 2012-13, the latest available, were published on 31 October 2013.

These are published as part of the prison and probation trusts performance statistics through the following page of the Gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics

Procurement

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials at each grade in his Department have the authority to execute a purchase; what proportion of those officials have professional procurement qualifications; and what the key indicators used in his Department to assess procurement officer's performance are. [183361]

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Mr Vara: Authority to execute a purchase is delegated to heads of business units across the Department and subject to strict controls and budgetary limits. Unit heads are then able to sub delegate to individuals within business units, again subject to strict controls. Details of numbers of individuals and grades with delegated authority to purchase are not held centrally. To determine the exact number would incur disproportionate cost as an approach to over 1,000 individual business units would be required.

Authority to execute contracts for goods services and works is restricted to personnel within the Department’s procurement directorate and Legal Aid Agency for contracts pertaining to legal aid. In the procurement directorate, 142 officials have delegated authority to execute contracts of which 71 have the graduate diploma from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply with a further 50 in the process of completing the diploma. A breakdown by grade is shown as follows.

In the case of Band B officials more are qualified than have delegated authority.

Performance is assessed annually based on commercial objectives derived from the Civil Service Competency Framework.

Public Appointments

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) which paid public appointment contracts he has (a) renewed and (b) not renewed since May 2010; and how many posts were held by (i) women and (ii) men; [187024]

(2) what the titles are of the individual public appointments that have been made by his Department since May 2010; and which of those appointees were women. [187085]

Mr Vara: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer provided by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 11 February 2014, Official Report, column 607W.

Railways: Trespass

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions have been secured for trespassing on the railway in each of the last 10 years. [187529]

Jeremy Wright: Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the Court Proceedings Database does not include the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute. Offences relating to trespassing on the railway system are reported

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as part of a miscellaneous group of offences, and it is not possible, therefore, to separately identify prosecutions for these specific offences from other offences.

Rape: Victim Support Schemes

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans his Department has to expand the number of rape support centres across the country. [187111]

Damian Green: In response to the Ministry of Justice's consultation and response paper “Getting it right for victims and witnesses” which outlined the Government's intention on the future commissioning of victim's services, the MOJ launched the Rape Support Fund (2011 to 2014). The Rape Support Fund has provided around £4.4 million per year, which currently supports 77 rape support centres, including 13 new and emerging centres in areas of need.

The current Rape Support Fund will end on 31 March 2014 and to ensure there is no gap in service provision, a new two-year £4.1 million Rape Support Fund (with the option to extend for a further year) will commence from April 2014, the commissioning process for which has already concluded with announcements due later in February.

The Ministry of Justice is also working with experts from the sector and are due to engage Police and Crime Commissioners, to establish potential locations for two new centres during 2014 and £300,000 has been set aside to establish these new centres.

Witnesses

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) active and (b) inactive registered intermediaries there were in each year since 2010. [184186]

Damian Green: Registered intermediaries help to make the justice process accessible to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. In some cases they will be the difference between a witness being able to testify or not.

The use of registered intermediaries has increased in recent years (from 1,206 requests in 2010 to 1,796 in 2013). Numbers of active and inactive registered intermediaries vary on a daily basis because of other demands on their time, and they fluctuate over time due to natural wastage and the 2012 review of long-term inactive intermediaries which removed a large number from the register. Statistics at 31 December of each respective year indicate:

2010—Separate figures were not available until 31 March 2011. At this date, there were 112 active and 36 inactive, total 148;

2011—active 102, inactive 42, total 144 ;

2012—active 88, inactive 19, total 107; and

2013—active 74, inactive 20, total 94.

During the winter of 2013, the Ministry of Justice ran a recruitment campaign for new registered intermediaries. From this, 30 candidates were selected for initial accreditation training courses scheduled during January, February and March 2014.

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Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) matched and (b) unmatched registered intermediaries there were for each age group of vulnerable witnesses in each year since 2010. [184189]

Damian Green: Registered intermediaries help to make the justice process accessible to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. In some cases they will be the difference between a witness being able to testify or not. The data in the following table provide the requested information.

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sexual offences were prosecuted which involved a person aged under 18 years old where that person was (a) matched and (b) unmatched with a registered intermediary since 2010. [184190]

Damian Green: Registered intermediaries help to make the justice process accessible to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. In some cases they will be the difference between a witness being able to testify or not.

Data are not collated for reporting purposes on whether the request for a registered intermediary by a user group is for an initial assessment, an achieving best evidence interview, for a trial or any other purpose. However, the data in the following table provide information on requests for cases involving sexual offences and involving all other types of offences.

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Written Questions: Government Responses

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2013, Official Report, column 61W, on procurement, when the information sought by the original question will be provided. [187523]

Jeremy Wright: The answer to the question tabled by the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) will be answered as soon as possible.

Young Offenders

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to equip young offenders with the skills, qualifications and self-discipline they need to lead law-abiding lives in the community. [187110]

Jeremy Wright: We have recently set out our plans to transform youth custody and put education at the heart of youth detention. All young people should have access to a high quality education which will allow them to fulfil their potential. This is all the more important if a young person has set out on the wrong path in life, and needs help to get back onto the straight and narrow.

We will be introducing a pathfinder Secure College, a new form of secure educational establishment for young offenders, in the East Midlands in 2017. Secure Colleges will deliver an innovative and integrated regime focused on educating and rehabilitating young offenders, m addition, we are enhancing education provision within Young Offender Institutions by seeking to more than double the number of hours young people spend in education each week, and by bringing the head teacher overseeing education delivery into the senior management team of the establishment.

Home Department

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has made of a link between the consumption of highly alcoholic beverages and anti-social and criminal behaviour; and if she will make a statement. [187178]

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Norman Baker: While no formal assessment has been made, we know that there are certain high strength products that are overly associated with alcohol harms. Evidence from Suffolk Police stated there had been a 49% reduction in anti-social “incidents of concern” in Ipswich during the first six months of the Reducing the Strength campaign, where retailers voluntarily stopped selling high-strength alcohol. That is why we are challenging industry to raise its game to help tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder including taking action to reduce the size and strength of products associated with problem drinking.

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to enable minimum pricing for alcohol. [187693]

Norman Baker: Minimum Unit Pricing remains a policy under consideration but is not being taken forward

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at the moment, while we assess the response of industry to our Alcohol Strategy. In the meantime we are introducing a ban on alcohol sales below the cost of duty plus VAT from April 2014. This fulfils the Coalition Government's commitment and will stop the worst cases of very cheap and harmful alcohol sales.

Confiscation Orders

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many confiscation orders have been recorded by each force on (a) the Joint Asset Recovery Database and (b) other databases for (i) below £100, (ii) between £100 and £50,000 and (iii) above £50,000 in each year for which figures are available. [186898]

Karen Bradley [holding answer 10 February 2014]: Under this Government more assets have been recovered from criminals than ever before. The figures of confiscation orders obtained by police forces in England and Wales from the Joint Asset Recovery Database are provided in the following table:

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