Cancer: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make representations to the European Commission on changing regulations that exempt pharmaceutical companies from testing cancer drugs

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on children on the grounds that the cancer the drug treats does not occur in children; and if he will make a statement. [188346]

Norman Lamb: The European Union Regulation on Paediatric Medicines 1901/2006 has been successful in achieving its goals to increase the number of medicines that are researched, developed and authorised for use in children. Under the Regulation companies must submit a paediatric investigation plan (PIP) for new medicines explaining how they will conduct studies in children. Companies receive an extension of patent protection or orphan drug exclusivity when a marketing authorisation for the product includes the results of these studies.

The regulation does provide for exemptions to carry out a PIP if, for example, the adult condition does not occur in children. This means that companies cannot be legally compelled to develop paediatric medicines for different conditions than those occurring in adults. However companies may choose to submit a PIP on a voluntary basis and receive the same rewards for doing so. There are examples of this for cancer therapies.

Medicines regulators are aware of the situation and work is ongoing to look at how to widen access to clinical trials for medicines to treat cancer in children. The Government are supportive of this work at European level. The lack of availability of medicines for paediatric cancers has been highlighted and identified as an area for future work in the European Commission's five-year progress report on the impact of the Paediatric Regulation, which was published on 8 July 2012.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmaceutical companies operating in the UK are engaged in developing drugs to treat cancer in children. [188347]

Norman Lamb: Clinical trials carried out in the United Kingdom need to be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Information on its database indicates that currently there are 80 cancer trials open in the UK which include children (0-18) as subjects. These are being carried out by a total of 42 individual sponsors, 20 of which are classed as commercial sponsors (pharmaceutical companies) and 22 as non-commercial (eg academic and charity sponsors).

There may be other drugs in development in the UK that have not yet reached clinical trial stage but data on these are not available.

The European Medicines Agency publishes a list of opinions and decisions adopted on Paediatric Investigation Plans (which are aimed at ensuring the necessary data are obtained through studies in children to support the medicine's authorisation for use in children). The list can be accessed on the following link and it does not include information on where the development is taking place.

www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages%2Fmedicines%2 Flanding%2Fpip_search.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001d129& search kwByEnter=false&alreadyLoaded=true&isNewQuery=true& keyword=Enter+keywords&searchType=Invented+name&tax onomyPath=&treeNumber=&currentCategory=Oncology

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to allow access to Abraxane form of protein-bound paclitaxel through the Cancer Drug Fund. [188960]

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Norman Lamb: NHS England is responsible for administering the Cancer Drugs Fund, and decisions on which treatments are afforded priority funding status are taken by an expert clinical panel. NHS England's Cancer Drugs Fund panel has considered including Abraxane (albumin bound paclitaxel) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas on the national list of Cancer Drugs Fund cohort policies. The panel decided not to include Abraxane for these indications on this list.

For cancer drugs not on the national cohort policy list, local clinical panels can consider individual applications for funding in exceptional cases.

Cerebral Palsy: Children

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for what reason NHS England has decided to stop funding selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery for children with cerebral palsy; [189209]

(2) if the Government will continue to fund selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery for children with cerebral palsy; [189210]

(3) if NHS England will provide funding for selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery to go ahead for children who have already had the surgery arranged. [189236]

Dr Poulter: Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for the direct commissioning of specialised services for children with cerebral palsy. This nationally consistent approach, informed by clinical experts, was drawn up to ensure that all patients could access the best clinical and cost-effective treatment for their care.

Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is one of a range of treatments for children suffering with cerebral palsy. In accordance with guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, clinical experts at NHS England have determined that there is currently insufficient evidence of the relative clinical and cost-effectiveness of SDR for the procedure to be routinely commissioned.

However, NHS England agreed to honour the arrangement for patients who were already listed for the procedure prior to 1 April 2013, if the patient's family decided to continue treatment following a full consideration of the facts.

As further trials take place, NHS England's clinical experts will keep the policy under review. NHS England recognises that both patients and clinicians feel this is a promising area of research and it is committed to exploring this further through the new national Commissioning through Evaluation programme.

In the meantime, in common with any treatment that is not routinely funded by NHS England, clinicians may submit individual funding requests to NHS England for consideration where they believe there are exceptional clinical grounds in an individual case.

Floods: Health Hazards

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of dangers to public health of (a) water-borne infections, (b) trauma and ill-effects to mental health and (c) hypothermia in areas suffering from flooding; and if he will make a statement. [189230]

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Jane Ellison: The lead responsibility for assessment of the health impacts of the recent flooding in England lies with Public Health England (PHE) and its partners including local government and the national health service.

While floodwater from rivers and land is a known risk for the common bacterial gastrointestinal infections there are no high-risk enteric infectious diseases naturally endemic in the human population of the United Kingdom (e.g. cholera, typhoid), and the relative risks to people from bacterial contamination of floodwater is, therefore, low, especially if the public health advice being widely distributed is followed. Where there is any raw sewage entering floodwater, the diluting and dispersing of potential sources of infection further significantly reduces any risk.

Nationally, PHE carries out active surveillance for outbreaks of infectious diseases, and related illnesses (gastrointestinal, skin, and respiratory) and is using this information on a day-to-day basis to monitor the health of the population in the areas affected by flooding. These data include statutory reporting of notifiable infectious diseases by all clinicians to PHE; statutory reporting of all significant infectious organisms detected in laboratories to PHE; and the monitoring undertaken by PHE's Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Team.

Flooding can impact on people's mental health, and distress is a common reaction following a flood. However distress is usually temporary; most people are resilient and cope with being flooded despite being distressed by it. Only a minority of people are at risk of going on to develop further mental health problems. Most people's need for support is met by persons close to them. Good social support can protect against the negative mental health impacts of being flooded. Advice on protecting against the mental health effects of flooding from PHE is available on its website. PHE recommends that if a person's symptoms persist, they should visit their general practitioner (GP) who can help to identify further sources of support.

Hypothermia is an exceedingly rare consequence of flooding and not a major public health concern in the UK. However, local multi-agency response teams are aware of the need to ensure that vulnerable people do receive any necessary additional care or support during events such as these.

Departmental officials and Ministers remain in regular contact with PHE with regard to the public health aspects of the flooding.

Fractures

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking through NHS policy frameworks to ensure that clinical commissioning groups reliably and consistently commission secondary fracture prevention services. [188126]

Norman Lamb: The Department's Mandate to NHS England sets an objective for NHS England to make measurable improvement in helping people to recover from episodes of ill health or following injury. Alongside this, the NHS Outcomes Framework includes a specific indicator whereby the national health service has been set an objective to improve patient recovery from fragility fractures by measuring the proportion of patients recovering

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to their previous levels of mobility/walking ability at 30 and 120 days following injury. In addition to this indicator, the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcome Indicator Set also has a specific indicator, measured at clinical commissioning group (CCG) level, to improve recovery from fragility fractures including hip fracture, through a formal hip fracture programme, timely surgery, and multifactorial risk assessment.

The responsibility for determining the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes from health care services, including fracture liaison services (FLS), now lies with NHS England. FLS aims to reduce risks of further falls and fragility fractures in older patients. This preventative approach is beneficial to patients, reduces future hospital admissions and is cost effective for the NHS. NHS England supports the FLS model recommended by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and the National Osteoporosis society and recognises this model as best practice. However, NHS England advises that it is aware that provision of good FLS is not uniform across the country. NHS England is working with CCGs to support them to develop appropriate local services and services are steadily improving.

NHS England also supports the “Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme” commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and delivered by the Royal College of Physicians. The audit supports the providers of services to improve outcomes and efficiency of care after hip fracture, helps to improve services in acute and primary care to respond to first fracture, and prevent second fracture through early intervention to restore independence.

The latest report from the “National Hip Fracture Database” shows that care for hip fracture patients is improving with more patients receiving surgery within 48 hours of admission than in 2012, and almost all patients (94%) receive a falls assessment before being discharged from hospital. This report shows an improvement in the care for frail, older patients with broken hips.

General Practitioners

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many GPs per head of population were in practice in (a) Warrington, (b) the North West and (c) England in the most recent period for which figures are available. [189223]

Dr Poulter: The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) General and Personal Medical Services Statistics show the number of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 registered patients at 30 September each year. The latest available statistics are as at 30 September 2012. The HSCIC will publish headcount numbers of GPs per 100,000 patients as at 30 September 2013 in the NHS annual workforce census in March 2014 and full-time equivalent figures will be available on request after that date.

The number of headcount GPs per 100,000 registered patients in Warrington, the North West region and England is shown in the following table.

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Health Services: Floods

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on local NHS services of the floods; and if he will make a statement. [189229]

Jane Ellison: There have been no issues and no hospitals have been at risk of flooding. A number of general practitioner (GP) practices were affected by flooding but these all had business continuity plans in place. Throughout, local NHS service providers have worked with partner organisations, taking an active role and where possible to ensure disruption to the access to NHS services has been kept to a minimum.

NHS England Area Teams and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have remained engaged in multi-agency arrangements for recovery, working with recovery co-ordination groups, where these have been established. The national health service has been represented at strategic co-ordination groups across England to ensure they play an active role in the identification of vulnerable people, including the use of NHS resources such as the hazardous area response teams who have worked alongside fire and rescue services.

A key priority for health and social care services has been to make sure that vulnerable people affected by flooding continue to get the support they need and, at local level, there is support in place from the NHS and social services.

Health Services: Veterans

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of educational initiatives to support GPs and allied healthcare professionals with measures to improve the health of veterans. [189228]

Dr Poulter: Lord Ashcroft in his recent review on veterans' transition makes clear that there is no shortage of support for those leaving the armed forces and most do well. That support is provided by Government agencies, national health service organisations, charities and the private sector, as well as the armed forces themselves.

Working with the Royal College of General Practitioner's (RCGPs) the Department has developed an e-learning package for GPs. This provides advice/guidance for GPs on the health needs of members of the armed forces, their families and veterans, focusing on relevant aspects of both physical and mental health. The package has recently been updated and can be accessed by other than those who are registered with the RCGP. To the end of January 2014 there have been 1,248 unique users of the package.

Health Education England (HEE), as the body responsible for education and training across the NHS and public health system, will play an important role in supporting health professionals to better understand the health needs of veterans. The Government expect to publish their mandate for HEE for 2014-15 next month which will outline further training and support for GPs in the care of veterans' health.

Heart Diseases

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) cardiac surgeons and (b) nurses have been appointed in the UK in the last 12 months. [188234]

Dr Poulter: The Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, show the number of medical staff that have joined the cardio-thoracic surgery specialty, and the number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff that have joined the national health service in England, between October 2012 and October 2013, which is the latest month for which data are available. The numbers are shown in the following table. It is not possible to identify nurses that work in the cardio-thoracic specialty. Numbers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved Administrations.

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HIV Infection and Hepatitis

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of positive cases of (a) HIV and (b) hepatitis C reported in 2013 among (i) people who had migrated to the UK within the last two years and (ii) people residing in the UK on visa. [188156]

Jane Ellison: The number of laboratory-confirmed new diagnoses of hepatitis C infection reported in England in 2012 was 10,873 cases. The number of new HIV diagnoses reported in England in 2012 was 6,364 cases. Figures for 2013 will be available later on in the year.

Data on whether an individual with hepatitis C has recently migrated to the United Kingdom or is residing in the UK in possession of a visa is not collected as part of the ongoing surveillance of hepatitis C.

Similarly, information on the residency or migration status of individuals with HIV is not collected as part of ongoing surveillance.

Hospitals

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness with which NHS trusts arrange appointments; and what information it holds on the extent of variation in practice between trusts in arranging appointments; [189207]

(2) what guidelines his Department has given to NHS trusts on (a) the system used to arrange appointments and (b) the length of time between appointments. [189208]

Jane Ellison: It is the responsibility of national health service hospital trusts locally to make effective arrangements for appointments and for progressing patients through care pathways. Most trusts make these clear through their local access policies.

The Department does not issue guidelines or collect information about these arrangements. The length of time between appointments should take into account the health care needs of each patient.

Hospitals: Construction

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals he plans to build by 2015. [188233]

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Dr Poulter: Details of Government-funded construction projects as at December 2013, including hospitals and other health programmes, can be found via the Government Construction Pipeline website:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-construction-pipeline

On the Government construction tab, by filtering columns A and B to Health Sector and NHS Sub-Sector respectively, Column U then shows the ‘Current forecast date in service' including those programmes due to reach final construction phase in 2015.

Lung Diseases

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote research into a cure for lung diseases. [188232]

Dr Poulter: Total expenditure by the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on respiratory disease research has increased from £18.2 million in 2010-11 to £24.7 million in 2012-13.

The NIHR is investing £21.6 million over five years in three respiratory biomedical research units. These units are based in leading national health service organisations and universities enabling some of the nation's best health researchers and clinicians to work together to develop new treatments for the benefit of patients with lung and other respiratory diseases.

The NIHR is also investing £3.4 million over five years in respiratory research at the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. This research aims to develop novel treatment strategies for the major respiratory diseases in the United Kingdom.

The NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre manages the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme. With funding from the Medical Research Council, this programme is currently supporting a £3.3 million trial of repeated application of gene therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of his Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of his Department's Ministers. [188318]

Dr Poulter: The information requested is as follows:

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Mortality Rates

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to lower mortality rates in the Government's dedicated spearhead areas. [189247]

Jane Ellison: Reducing premature mortality is a priority for this Government, and we published “Living well for Longer: A call to action to reduce avoidable premature mortality” in March 2013. In addition, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), asked Public Health England to launch the ‘Longer Lives' website in June 2013, which publishes local authority level mortality data for the five big killers, arranged by deprivation centile.

In the spring we will be publishing “Living Well for Longer: National Support for Local Action to Reduce Premature Avoidable Mortality”, which outlines our ambition to cut premature deaths from the five major causes and to make England among the best in Europe. We recognise that in order to make progress towards becoming the best in Europe we must focus our efforts on reducing inequalities in mortality rates.

Spearhead areas, identified as local authority areas with the worst health and deprivation, were a specific focus for a number of public service agreement targets under the previous Administration. The public service agreement targets were abolished in 2010.

The Government recognise the longstanding inequalities in access to services, in quality of care and in health outcomes for certain patients. Tackling health inequalities is underpinned by new legal duties, measurement and assessment.

NHS England and each clinical commissioning group are under a legal duty to have regards to health inequalities in access to, and outcomes from, health services.

NHS England

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the (a) names of all members of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group and Direct Commissioned Service Committee and (b) declaration of interests of all members of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group and Direct Commissioned Service Committee. [188129]

Jane Ellison: The membership of NHS England's Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) is set out in the following table:

The membership of the Direct Commissioned Service Committee (DCSC) is set out in the following table:

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NHS England has in place principles and procedures for managing and registering potential conflicts of interests, which are set out in the Standards of Business Conduct guidance, and is available on the NHS England's website:

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf

NHS England requires members of all its committees to declare their interests, and any potential conflicts of interests are managed in accordance with the Standards of Business Conduct guidance.

As the membership of the DCSC is formed of NHS England's board members, their interests have already been declared and are available on NHS England's website at:

www.england.nhs.uk/about/reg-interests/

At the beginning of each CPAG meeting all members are asked to declare their interests and any declarations made are recorded within the minutes of the meeting. NHS England will be publishing on its website the minutes from the CPAG meetings.

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to ensure that no people receiving fees from pharmaceutical companies are directly involved in NHS England's specialised commissioning services or sit on any NHS England committees. [188130]

Jane Ellison: Ongoing discussions with the wider health and social care system, patients, the public, industry and their representatives are essential for NHS England to inform its work, learn from best practice elsewhere, identify areas for improvement and encourage innovation.

NHS England has in place principles and procedures for managing and registering potential conflicts of interests, which are set out in the Standards of Business Conduct guidance, and is available on the NHS England website:

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf

Standards of business conduct apply to anyone working on NHS England's behalf as well as its own staff.

NHS England does not require staff to record all meetings with outside bodies. However, any form of hospitality must be recorded in accordance with its published standards of business conduct, and a register of such hospitality is maintained.

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NHS: Fees and Charges

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what fees (a) NHS England and (b) the NHS and NHS London paid to (i) the Specialised Healthcare Alliance and (ii) JMC Partners in the last three years; and for what work such fees were paid. [188131]

Jane Ellison: NHS England advises that is has not made payments to either the Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) or JMC Partners since its establishment as a statutory body in April 2013.

The Department's Legacy Management team has confirmed that from 2010-12 London Strategic Health Authority paid the SHCA £1,162.50 for attendance at SHCA conferences and paid JMC Partners £29,375.00 for work supporting the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention programme.

Obesity

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent meetings his Department has had with Tier 2 providers on lifestyle weight management programmes. [188202]

Jane Ellison: The responsibility for supporting local commissioning of obesity services, including lifestyle weight management programmes, transferred from the Department of Health to Public Health England (PHE) in April 2013.

PHE has met with local authority commissioners and providers of lifestyle weight management programmes. Since April, this has included meetings with Weight Watchers, Slimming World, LighterLife, HENRY (child weight management services), Cambridge Weight Plan, Rotherham Institute for Obesity, More Life and Weight Wins.

The Department of Health's Obesity Review Group which met most recently on 22 January 2014 includes membership representatives from weight management service providers.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what (a) budget and (b) number of staff is assigned to work in the Obesity Project Team at Public Health England. [188207]

Jane Ellison: Public Health England's (PHE) obesity related workforce complements the Department's Obesity Policy team which has three full-time staff and local public health teams. PHE has approximately 12 full-time staff working on obesity from the following teams: obesity and healthy weight, obesity knowledge and intelligence and staff working on childhood obesity in the children, young people and families' team. The staff and programme budget for 2013-14, across these teams, to support the prevention and tackling of obesity, is approximately £1.5 million. In addition, the 2013-14 programme budget for the Change4Life campaign, which contributes to supporting families to make healthier dietary and activity choices is approximately £12.4 million.

PHE delivers its programmes through teams working together across the life course and on specific subject areas. A range of teams make a significant contribution to the work on obesity including: Diet and Obesity;

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Children; Health Equity; Adults and Older People; and its Regional and Centre teams, who also support local public health teams to deliver action to prevent obesity.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will publish its updated guidance on obesity. [188208]

Norman Lamb: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a clinical guideline on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children in December 2006.

NICE is currently conducting a partial update of the clinical guideline. We understand that NICE expects to publish its final updated guidance in November 2014. Updates on progress are regularly published on NICE's website at:

www.nice.org.uk

Plastic Surgery

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure safety of patients and high professional standards in the cosmetic surgery sector. [189265]

Dr Poulter: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement given on 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 77WS.

Specialised Healthcare Alliance

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons stakeholder submissions to NHS England's stakeholder engagement programme for specialised services were not collected directly by NHS England but sent to the Specialised Healthcare Alliance. [188127]

Jane Ellison: As part of NHS England's process of engagement to support the development of its strategy for specialised commissioning, the Specialised Healthcare Alliance (SHCA) and Rare Disease UK were asked to provide administrative support for one of the 17 stakeholder engagements events to support the development of its strategy for specialised commissioning.

This support involved receiving and collating the written responses, and recording the feedback from the event. This factual information was then used by NHS England to draft the “Stakeholder engagement report to inform the developing scope of the five-year strategy for specialised services 2014-15 — 2018-19”, which was agreed in partnership with SHCA.

A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.

This report will feed into a draft strategy, which will be published and widely consulted on with all stakeholders. NHS England is planning to launch the consultation on the strategy in late spring with the aim of a final strategy being produced in July 2014.

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what meetings Ministers in his Department have had with the Specialised Healthcare Alliance in each of the last three years. [188128]

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Jane Ellison: The detail of meetings held by Ministers in the Department is published regularly online, including information about the organisations that attended and the subject of the meeting. This information is updated regularly and can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings

In addition to those published, the Department is aware of two recent ministerial meetings with the Specialised Healthcare Alliance both attended by my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Quality (Earl Howe). These took place on 15 January and 24 February this year, after the last published data.

Women and Equalities

Gender Recognition

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what progress has been made by her Department in implementing the commitments contained in the Government’s action plan for transgender equality; and if she will make a statement. [188090]

Mrs Grant: Good progress has been made in delivering the commitments identified in “Advancing Transgender Equality: A Plan for Action”. A report on progress on the action plan will be published in due course.

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what guidance her Department has issued to other Departments on legal recognition for the purpose of official documents for those who do not associate with a particular gender. [188096]

Mrs Grant: DCMS has not issued any specific guidance to other Departments on this matter.

Cabinet Office

Children: Corby

Andy Sawford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate he has made of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are (a) working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work and (b) employed on a zero-hours contract in Corby and East Northamptonshire. [189426]

Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Caron Walker:

On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate has been made of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are (a) working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work and (b) employed on a zero-hours contract in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency. (189426)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to compile statistics for people working in part-time jobs because they could not find a full time post from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). However, estimates of the number of children living in households where one or both parents are working part-time because they are unable to find full-time work for the requested geographies due to small sample sizes.

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Estimates relating to zero-hour contracts are also available from the LFS; however, full estimates of the total number of people in employment on such contracts are not available from this source. This is, in part, due to reporting error as respondents may fail to identify their type of employment contract correctly. Therefore we have not been able to state how many children are living in families where one or both parents are working on zero hour contracts in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency.

Work and Pensions

Autism Act 2009

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department complies with the Autism Act 2009. [189016]

Mike Penning: Under the Autism Strategy, led by the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions had several commitments in relation to autism and employment. The Department is committed to ensuring that all disabled people, including those with autism, have the opportunities, chances and support that they need to get a job and remain in employment and that there is a range of provision to help them.

The Department published the disability and health employment strategy in December 2013 which outlines a more personalised and tailored approach to employment support for disabled people. A national network of specialist advisors will act as a matchmaker between individuals and employers ensuring that disabled people, including people with autism, make a smooth transition into work and receive adequate in-work support.

In addition, the Disability Confident campaign launched in July 2013 by the Prime Minister is designed to help employers who are unsure about the benefits of employing disabled people.

In Jobcentre Plus, all new staff to the role of disability employment advisers (DEA) are expected to undertake the DEA training, which includes training on Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Employment and Support Allowance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether a person who has successfully appealed a decision to refuse them employment and support allowance (ESA) can only receive their ESA once the jobcentre has received the Statement of Reasons from the Tribunal Service; [188677]

(2) how many people wait more than (a) three and (b) six months to receive employment and support allowance following a successful tribunal appeal as a result of late receipt by a jobcentre of the Statement of Reasons from the tribunal. [188679]

Mike Penning: ESA is payable at the basic rate after a claimant appeals against the decision to terminate his entitlement to ESA. This continues to be paid until the appeal is heard. If the appeal is successful ESA plus the appropriate component will be paid and backdated to the date of the original decision.

A Statement of Reasons is not required from the Tribunal in order for this increased award to be paid. It is paid once the tribunal's decision notice has been received.

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Last year we introduced a system to electronically transfer Decision Notices from the Tribunal to DWP, which increases the security and speed of notifying DWP of the Tribunal outcome. Payment of benefit arrears following the outcome of an appeal is treated as a matter of priority.

Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, column 96W, on employment and support allowance, if he will place in the Library a copy of the operational guidance on the termination of employment and support allowance. [188863]

Esther McVey: We will place a copy of the relevant sections of the operational guidance on the termination of employment and support in the Library.

Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, columns 95-6W, on employment and support allowance, if he will publish the contractual quality targets applied to Atos. [188864]

Mike Penning: Contractual quality targets applied to Atos are published and available to view in Deposited Papers (House of Lords) deposited on 14 September 2010—Deposit Reference—Dep 2010-1704.

Quality targets are specifically referenced in Schedule 5 Appendix 1, Rows 20-26.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Glasgow

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants of Jobseekers Allowance in postcodes G76, G46, G78, G77 and G44 have been sanctioned by his Department in the last five years; and for what reasons. [188977]

Esther McVey: The specific information requested by postcode is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Personal Independence Payment

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 59W, on personal independence payment, how long the claimant journey was expected to take under the Lot 1 Contract with Atos; and if he will make a statement. [188823]

Mike Penning: I refer the hon. Member to the previous reply I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore), on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 59W.

Smoking: Motor Vehicles

Sir Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of prosecutions investigated by the Health and Safety Executive for breaches of the ban on smoking in commercial and working vehicles since the introduction of that ban. [188086]

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Mike Penning: The Health and Safety Executive is not the enforcement authority for smokefree legislation. The enforcement authorities are set out in the Smoke-free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations 2006.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/3368/contents/made

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition of disabled is used for the purposes of jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance sanctions statistics. [188631]

Esther McVey: The Equality Act 2010's definition of disability is that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The information is self-reported by the claimant and recorded on the Labour Market System (LMS) and is used for the JSA and ESA sanctions decisions statistics.

Telephone Services

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when jobseekers will be able to speak to a benefit adviser in his Department without paying for a telephone call; and how this facility will be supported. [188979]

Esther McVey: The Department's current strategy is that calls to claim benefit should be free to a claimant so it uses 0800 free phone numbers for these calls.

The Department will begin to introduce 0345 numbers during 2014 to run alongside its existing 0845 numbers. This will allow a caller to make an informed choice on the number to dial based on the terms of their call package.

Unemployment: Hartlepool

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the number and proportion of people over the age 55 who are unemployed in Hartlepool constituency; what change there has been in such figures in each of the last five years; and what steps he is taking to reduce such figures. [188630]

Esther McVey: The number of people aged 55 and over claiming jobseeker's allowance in Hartlepool has fallen by 8% over the last year. The proportion of claimants aged 55+ has risen slightly over the same period. Part of this rise can be accounted for by the gradual equalisation of state pension age, effective from April 2010, as this means more claimants retaining eligibility for JSA beyond the age of 60. In recent years the proportion of all JSA claimants in Hartlepool who are over 55 has been at or slightly below the national average.

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Every claimant is supported by their local Jobcentre to find work and Jobcentres have the freedom to innovate and develop approaches to help older people. Examples of approaches currently being used in some districts across the country include:

Delivering customer focus groups for older people to ascertain their needs to help develop future provision for this group

Providing dedicated advisers for claimants aged over 50

Work Clubs for claimants aged over 50

IT provision aimed specifically at older claimants

In addition, DWP is developing an internal Good Practice Guide—‘Creating Opportunities and Breaking Down Barriers' and taking steps to ensure advisers are able to meet the needs of older claimants.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the effect on a recipient of universal credit will be if they are also in receipt of widowed parents allowance. [188916]

Esther McVey: In universal credit widowed parent's allowance is taken into account in full.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total costs and benefits of universal credit in each year to 2020. [188993]

Esther McVey: The universal credit programme was allocated a budget totalling £2 billion as part of the Department’s spending review 2010.

Of the £2 billion budget, spend in 2011-12 was 5%, and in 2012-13 16%. Current forecast costs and benefits in 2013-14 is £192 million.

Costs and benefits for future years are subject to ongoing programme planning.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the written statement of 5 December 2013, Official Report, columns 65-6WS, on universal credit, whether the business plan for delivery of universal credit has been reviewed by the (a) Treasury and (b) Major Projects Authority. [188994]

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave her on 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 65W.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) in what month the universal credit roll out will start accepting claims from families; [188995]

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(2) in what month the universal credit roll out will start accepting claims from couples. [188997]

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 65WS.

The statement announced our plans to continue to expand our current live service and functionality so that from this summer we will progressively start to take new claims for universal credit for couples and, in the autumn, from families. Once it is safely tested in the live service areas we will also expand the roll out to cover more of the North West of England.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the timetable is for rollout of universal credit to (a) spring 2014, (b) the end of 2014 and (c) the end of 2015. [188996]

Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 10 July 2013, Official Report, column 22WS.

The statement announced the initial expansion of the universal credit (UC) services. We said we would expand to a further six sites across England, Scotland and Wales by spring 2014. Having already gone live in Hammersmith, Rugby, Inverness, Harrogate and Bath, we are on track to complete that initial expansion when UC goes live in Shotton in April.

Our plans for the next stage of implementation are set out in the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), on 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 65WS. The UC service will be fully available in each part of Great Britain during 2016, having closed down new claims to the legacy benefits it replaced; with a majority of the remaining legacy caseload moving to UC during 2016 and 2017. Final decisions on these elements of the programme will be informed by the development of the enhanced digital solution.

Work Capability Assessment: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are awaiting a work capability assessment in Barrow and Furness constituency; and how many such people have been waiting in excess of three months for an assessment. [189235]

Mike Penning: The information requested is not available.

Work Programme: Barrow in Furness

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have been enrolled on the Work Programme since that Programme's introduction; [189231]

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(2) how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have found permanent employment after being enrolled in the Work Programme since that programme's introduction. [189232]

Esther McVey: The information we have on Work Programme referrals, attachments and job outcomes can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool

Guidance for users is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have sanctioned under the Work Programme since that Programme's introduction. [189233]

Esther McVey: The available information on how many residents of Barrow and Furness constituency, in each age group, have been sanctioned for failure to participate in the Work programme since that programme's introduction is shown in the following table:

27 Feb 2014 : Column 479W

Education

Academies

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what investigation reports have been carried out by his Department or its agencies into irregularities at academies or free schools; to which schools they relate; and whether and on what date each report was published. [188859]

Mr Timpson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 813W.

Since 13 February the Department for Education has also published online a redacted report into its investigation of financial irregularities at Glendene Arts Academy. The report is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279902/Investigation_report_ Glendene_Arts_Academy.pdf

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much correspondence Ministers in his Department have received on admission complaints for academy schools in each year since 2010. [189222]

Mr Timpson: The Department for Education does not record whether general correspondence about admissions relates to academies or other types of school.

Academies: Lincolnshire

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what grounds Tollbar Academy in Grimsby received more funding than other local academies in the north Lincolnshire area; and on what basis the funding for those academies was calculated. [188970]

Mr Timpson: Tollbar Academy's revenue funding for academic year 2013/14 is higher than other academies in the area because they have a higher number of pupils, 2,168 in total, over double that of most of the other academies. Tollbar Academy has the lowest level of per pupil funding of all of the academies in the local authority area. The pre-16 revenue funding for all open academies, free schools and maintained schools is calculated using the local authority funding formula and for those with sixth forms their funding is calculated using the national funding formula.

Children: Cerebral Palsy

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what assessment he has made of the quality of the early years education support available for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy; [188663]

(2) what steps he is taking to encourage early intervention measures for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy; [188664]

(3) what recent discussions his Department has had on a training programme for education professionals working with children diagnosed with cerebral palsy; [188665]

(4) what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the training materials available to assist education professionals supporting children and young people diagnosed with cerebral palsy; [188666]

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(5) what provisions his Department has in place to support the parents of children and young people diagnosed with cerebral palsy. [188667]

Mr Timpson: The Government are seeking to improve early intervention and support services for parents of children with all kinds of special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.

The provisions in the Children and Families Bill place new duties on local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to commission services jointly; this will include services for children and young people with cerebral palsy. Local authorities will also have to produce a local offer of services for children and young people with SEN and disabilities. Together, these will ensure that the support available is planned more effectively and clearly set out, helping families and practitioners to get the interventions they need.

The new SEN Code of Practice will emphasise the importance of early intervention. In early years settings practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care and whether a child may have SEN or disability which requires specialist support. In particular, providers must review children's progress between the ages of two and three. Where SEN or disability is identified practitioners should develop a targeted plan to support the child's future learning and development involving other professionals as appropriate.

Where a statutory assessment of SEN shows an Education, Health and Care plan is needed, our reforms mean that parents will be fully involved in ensuring that all their child's needs are covered by the plan, so that there is a joined up approach to supporting the family.

We provide funding to Early Support to support the implementation of the SEN reforms. As part of this, they worked with Scope to produce guidance to parents and others on cerebral palsy, which was published in 2012. This guidance can be found at

http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral _palsy_final.pdf

Education: Assessments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to require exam boards to take account of (a) representations from the child's school and (b) previous schoolwork when assessing the special circumstances tariff they can apply in each particular situation. [188675]

Michael Gove: This is a matter for Glenys Stacey, the chief regulator of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, who will write to my hon. Friend. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

Equality

Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many publications his Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year. [188878]

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Michael Gove: The Department for Education produced a Diversity Strategy in 2008. It also uses intranet articles and internal documents to monitor and promote equality and diversity. These are produced by civil servants at no additional cost.

Parents: Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on the CANParent voucher scheme in each year since that scheme's introduction; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the scheme in each of the next five years. [188353]

Michael Gove: The CANparent vouchers have been available to parents of children ages 0 to five in the trial areas of Camden, Middlesbrough and High Peak.

From 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013, the total amount spent on the CANparent trial was £1,248,640. From 1 April 2013 to the end of January 2014, the total is £928,447.

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The Department of Health will take responsibility for the CANparent trial from 1 April 2014.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) whole families, (b) mothers and (c) fathers have used CANParent vouchers for each provider in each year since the introduction of the scheme. [188354]

Michael Gove: CANparent vouchers have been available to parents of children ages 0-5 in the three trial areas of Camden, Middlesbrough and High Peak.

The latest data, at 11 February 2014, held by the contractor managing the CANparent trial, show that parenting class providers have confirmed a total of 1,832 women and 168 men have attended CANparent classes since the start of the trial. These totals are broken down by provider in the following table.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Gateshead of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 699W, on education: finance, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the annual funding for early education for (a) two and (b) three and four-year-olds which reaches providers. [188871]

Michael Gove: Funding for early education for two, three and four-year-olds forms part of the dedicated schools grant (DSG). DSG allocations for each local authority are available here:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding

The Department for Education collects funding information from all local authorities through section 251 financial returns, including information on funding for early years. These are collated and published on the DfE website. The 2013-14 local authority budget returns are published here:

http://bit.ly/1fxmOiS

Information on the funding that local authorities allocate to early years providers can be found in table 8 of the main tables.

Schools: Standards

Mr Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether state-funded schools use pupils' postcodes to determine individual pupils' target grades. [188621]

Mr Laws: Schools have the freedom to set their own targets for individual pupils based on their professional judgment. The Department for Education does not collect information about the methodology schools use to develop their pupils' target grades.

Special Educational Needs

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding was transferred from the Education Funding Agency (a) to each local authority and (b) in total to assist the education of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities aged between 16 and 25 in the current financial year. [188638]

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Mr Timpson: The total post-16 high needs funding allocation to local authorities for the 2013-14 financial year was £272 million. The allocations at local authority level are available on the Department for Education's website at:

http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/xls/t/dsg%202013%20 to%202014%20allocations.xls

The total amount allocated to institutions for post-16 high needs students was £379 million. The 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2013/14 academic year show place funding allocations made to institutions. They are available on the Department's website at:

http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/xlsx/1/16-19%20ay2013-14%20published%20allocation%20dataset%201-2.xlsx

Further information is available at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/executiveagencies/efa/funding/b00230545/16-to-19-funding-allocations/allocations-for-2013-to-2014

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much each local authority spent on educating young people with learning difficulties and disabilities aged between 16 and 25 in the current financial year. [188639]

Mr Timpson: Local authorities are required to report actual expenditure on education through the annual Section 251 data collection. Data for financial year 2013-14 have not yet been submitted to the Department for Education. The data will be published in December 2014.

Teachers: Bureaucracy

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish the 2013 Teacher Workload survey. [188731]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education will publish the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey shortly, in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

Teachers: Surveys

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to publish the results of the teacher workload survey dated March 2013. [188914]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education will publish shortly the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects to publish the results of the Teacher Workload Survey for 2014. [188991]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education will publish shortly the findings of the 2013 Teacher Workload Survey in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Government Social Research guidance.

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UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish an action plan to address the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to the UK; and if he will make a statement. [188727]

Mr Timpson: The UK Government are due to submit their five-year periodic review report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) this spring. The submission will set out the progress that has been made in implementing the UNCRC since the UK last reported in 2008.

The UK Government will consider the benefits of producing an action plan in light of the UN Committee's recommendations arising from the periodic review. In the meantime, the Government remain committed to further strengthening implementation of the UNCRC, for example by implementing the significant changes provided for in the Children and Families Bill, currently awaiting Royal Assent.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Bovine Tuberculosis

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many herds in each county are classified as infected with bovine TB; and how many such herds were wrongly classified. [185672]

George Eustice: A copy of a table showing the figures for herds not officially TB free due to a bovine TB incident (non OTF herds) as at the end of September 2013, before and after corrections to the data, has been placed in the Library of the House.

Floods

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had on only declaring land to be of flood risk if it is prone to river as opposed to surface water flooding; and if he will make a statement. [188786]

Dan Rogerson: The Environment Agency has been making information on the risk of flooding available to the public for a number of years.

The first national map of flood risk was published online in 2000 and showed the areas at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea.

The Environment Agency has been working with lead local flood authorities to gather information on the areas at risk of flooding from surface water. This was published as maps on the Environment Agency website in December 2013.

Floods: Insurance

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to monitor the treatment by insurance companies of policy holders whose homes have been flooded; and if he will make a statement. [189244]

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Dan Rogerson: The Government are working closely with the insurance industry to manage the response to this winter's flooding. Ministers held their first monthly meeting with insurance industry executives on 18 February. These meetings aim to ensure everything possible is being done to provide prompt and full payment to customers, and to ensure that Government and the industry are fully co-ordinated in helping flood victims.

Thames Flood Barrier

Dame Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of when the Thames Barrier will need to be (a) upgraded, (b) supplemented and (c) replaced. [188746]

Dan Rogerson: Based on current forecasts it is anticipated that the Thames Barrier will continue to provide protection against flood events in London and the Thames Estuary until 2070.

The Environment Agency constantly assesses and appraises the condition of the Thames Barrier and its operating mechanisms, and upgrades and replaces these when required.

In 2013-14 the Environment Agency invested £8.72 million to ensure the Thames Barrier continued to reduce the risk of flooding to 362,000 properties as well as critical infrastructure.

Work to determine the most suitable approach to managing flood defence beyond 2070 is set to begin in 2050, at which point all possible improvements will be considered, including upgrading the existing Thames Barrier or replacing it completely.

Water Supply

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice he has received on the relative precedence of the provisions (a) enacted in the Government of Wales Act 2006 and (b) proposed in the Water Bill in respect of the right of the Secretary of State for Wales to intervene on issues of water supply to England; and if he will make a statement. [188673]

Dan Rogerson: The Water Bill does not alter the devolution arrangements set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006.

Defence

Burma

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, column 6, what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese army on that body's role in the Burmese Parliament. [188938]

Mr Francois: The Secretary of State for Defence met President Thein Sein on his visit to the UK in July 2013 and discussed a range of issues. Our Chief of Defence Staff also met the Commander in Chief of the Burmese Army during his visit to Burma last year. In addition,

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since the start of 2014, both the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) and Her Majesty's Ambassador to Burma, accompanied by the Defence Attaché, have raised this subject during meetings with the Commander in Chief.

Navy

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current manpower strength is of all naval personnel who are not Royal Marines. [188939]

Mr Francois: The strength of all naval manpower, not including Royal Marines, as at 1 January 2014 (the latest date for which figures are available) was:

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Unmanned Air Vehicles

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the Watchkeeper Programme; when he expects the system to enter full service; and if he will make a statement. [188941]

Mr Francois: Further to the answer I gave on 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 102W, to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson), significant recent progress has been made on the Watchkeeper Programme to satisfy the regulatory authorities that the system will be safe to fly. This first of type Unmanned Air System should commence flying from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire in early March 2014. An initial Release to Service is expected to be authorised by the Chief of the General Staff to allow the first military flights by the Army from Boscombe Down from early April 2014.

Warships

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what surface combat ships are currently (a) in build and (b) on order. [188940]

Mr Francois: The Type 26 Global Combat Ship (T26 GCS) is expected to become the future surface combat vessel for the Royal Navy. The T26 GCS programme is currently in its assessment phase, and orders will be placed after the Ministry of Defence has taken the main investment decision later in 2014.

In terms of the wider warship building, the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers are currently in build, and orders are planned to be placed for three offshore patrol vessels, subject to the successful conclusion of the commercial discussions with BAE Systems.

Energy and Climate Change

Household Energy Bills

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help households with their energy bills. [902740]

Mr Davey: Energy bills are a real concern to households so we are helping them with energy bills in three ways-direct financial help, energy efficiency measures and increased competition.

Direct financial help includes the warm home discount, the winter fuel allowance and cold weather payments.

Energy efficiency measures are delivered in a variety of ways, but especially through the energy company obligation and the green deal.

And our relentless focus on increasing competition ranges from Ofgem's retail market review to our focus on new suppliers and making switching quicker and easier.

Fuel Poverty: North-East England

17. Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the levels of fuel poverty in north-east England. [902741]

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Gregory Barker: In 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available, 142,000 households, around 12% of all households in the north-east, were fuel poor in the north-east under the new low income high costs definition. This is still far too high, but represents a significant reduction on the 2009 figure of 169,000 households, around 15%, inherited by the coalition Government.

Under the previous 10% definition of fuel poverty, the number has fallen from 24% in 2009 to 19% in 2011.

Energy Suppliers: Switching

18. Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of customers switching energy supplier. [902743]

Mr Davey: In the last two months of last year, industry data published by Energy UK suggests 1 million electricity customers switched supplier.

This upturn in the numbers switching energy supplier reverses a decline in switching caused by the end of doorstep selling which-while it had led to more switching-had also resulted in far too many examples of mis-selling.

We think there is more that can be done to promote switching, and the beneficial effect on competition, and our efforts include our support for collective switching, our work with the industry to make switching quicker and easier and our help for more vulnerable customers who have switched less frequently, through initiatives such as the Big Energy Saving Network.

Fuel Poverty

20. Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to protect the fuel poor while seeking to reduce energy bills. [902745]

Michael Fallon: In December 2013 the coalition announced a package of policy changes to save families an average of £50 off their bills.

In 2013 the Energy Company Obligation made 290,000 low income vulnerable homes warmer and cheaper to run through insulation and heating improvements. We are proposing to extend the scheme to 2017 and broaden support available-making more low income areas eligible for support through the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation, and encouraging delivery to a wider range of homes including those off the gas grid.

Additionally, this winter over 2 million households have received help under the Warm Home Discount. Government also make winter fuel payments and cold weather payments.

Energy-intensive Industries

22. Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with representatives of energy-intensive industries. [902747]

Michael Fallon: My ministerial colleagues and I regularly meet with representatives of energy intensive industries to discuss a range of issues. Together BIS and DECC

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continue to examine the issues that affect energy intensive industries and consider, along with Treasury, what can be done to address policy costs that affect the competitiveness of these vital foundation industries.

Climate Change

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with the Minister of State at the Cabinet Office about the effects of climate change on civil contingency provisions. [189217]

Gregory Barker: The Minister for Energy, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon), has engaged closely with the Minister for Government Policy, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr Letwin), on the resilience of the energy supply sector to the impacts of climate change and to other risks.

Climate Change: Northern Ireland

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on the effects of climate change on extreme weather events. [189219]

Gregory Barker: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has not had any recent discussions with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on the effects of climate change on extreme weather events.

Energy Supply

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the annual energy statement, Official Report, column 1095, 31 October 2013, what recent discussions he has had with suppliers about 24-hour switching. [188836]

Michael Fallon: Following the annual energy statement on 31 October, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), held a meeting to discuss faster switching with suppliers, Ofgem, Energy UK and consumer groups on Monday 11 November.

The discussions explored the challenges in moving to 24 hour switching and considered a staged approach.

My officials continue to work with Ofgem and the industry. We expect that switching times will be halved within the lifetime of this Parliament.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the annual energy statement, 31 October 2013, Official Report, column 1095, when he expects 24-hour switching to be in place for all suppliers. [188837]

Michael Fallon: Moving to 24-hour switching will be a staged approach. We expect to see switching times halved within the lifetime of this Parliament. Ofgem is currently working with industry to facilitate a process and timetable to move to switching to 24-hour switching in a way that does not result in significant additional costs to consumers or a less reliable system.