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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 9 April 2014

Transport

Cycling: Greater London

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) fatal and (b) serious injuries were suffered by cyclists in London in each of the last 10 years. [195151]

Mr Goodwill: The number of reported (a) killed and (b) seriously injured cyclists in London in each of the last 10 years is given in the table below:

Data for the year 2013 will be available in June 2014.

Fuels: Prices

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of whether there is a correlation between the price of (a) petrol and (b) diesel and the levels of traffic accidents and car journeys in the UK. [195182]

Mr Goodwill: The Department’s modelling and appraisal guidance contains values to be used by transport modellers for realism testing for models (WebTAG unit M2:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/275597/webtag-tag-unit-m2-variable-demand-modelling.pdf

see paragraph 6.4.14). The guidance on fuel cost elasticity is set at a decrease of 0.3% in traffic for a 1% increase in fuel cost. This value is based on a number of independent studies of transport demand. This is the value used in the national transport model and published in Road Transport Forecasts 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-transport-forecasts-2013

(see paragraphs 1.34 and 1.35 on page 14). This refers to fuel cost generally. The Department does not have estimates for petrol and diesel separately.

The Department does not have quantified estimates of the relationship between fuel cost and accidents.

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High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which High Speed 2 station designs will include international arrivals and departures. [195332]

Mr Goodwill: The proposals in the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill currently enable the provision of international facilities at the Curzon Street, Birmingham Interchange and West London (Old Oak Common) stations.

Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what anticipated construction costs of building High Speed 2 are for each year of its construction. [195333]

Mr Goodwill: The annual breakdown of the costs of HS2 up to the financial year 2020-21 is published in ‘Investing in Britain’s Future’, published in June 2013 at the time of spending round 2013. The precise details of future profiles for the period beyond 2020-21 will be set at future spending reviews.

Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date all properties in each local authority area affected by Phase 1 and Phase 2 of High Speed 2 or situated above the proposed tunnelled sections of High Speed 2 were purchased (a) under the HS2 exceptional hardship scheme and (b) by compulsory purchase; and what was paid for each such property. [195389]

Mr Goodwill: No properties have been acquired through compulsory purchase. Properties acquired under the exceptional hardship schemes for Phase 1 and Phase 2 are listed in the tables, which have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Nurseries

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 4W on nurseries, whether his Department's workplace nurseries access the Government's tax relief scheme for workplace nurseries. [195241]

Stephen Hammond: The Department’s childcare vouchers schemes are fully compliant with the Government’s tax relief schemes as set out under section 318 ITEPA 2003. Of the two nursery provision areas in Hastings and Swansea, the latter is run by a “third party” organisation, therefore, it is not for the Department to comment if has access to the Government’s tax it relief scheme.

Parking: Pedestrian Areas

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if his Department will take steps to prevent unnecessary pavement parking; [195401]

(2) if his Department will commission an assessment of the dangers and problems of vehicles parked on pavements. [195400]

Mr Goodwill: The Department has no plans to commission a report into pavement parking.

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In London there is a general ban on parking on the footway. In the rest of England there is no such prohibition, but local authorities outside London have wide-ranging powers to make traffic regulation orders to prohibit pavement parking on designated lengths of highway or over a wide area.

Railways: Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to improve rail services in the Brighton travel to work area; and if he will make a statement. [195368]

Stephen Hammond: The new TSGN franchise, as well as using the new rolling stock which will be phased into service from 2016, will require the franchisee to meet ambitious targets to improve punctuality and reliability performance, service quality and passenger satisfaction. We have also made clear to bidders that they can receive extra evaluation credit for submitting proposals that exceed our specified train service and quality requirements.

Road Traffic: Greater London

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of trends in the levels of (a) congestion and (b) traffic accidents in London in each of the last 10 years. [195180]

Mr Goodwill: Road congestion is measured in the Department by average morning peak speeds. Estimates of average weekday morning peak speeds, on locally managed ‘A’ roads in London between 2007 and 2013 are presented in the table below. The first calendar year in this series is 2007 and earlier years are not available. Over the last six years, average morning peak speeds in London rose by 3.8% between 2007 and 2009, remained relatively stable until 2011, before falling by 2.7% between 2011 and 2013.

Equivalent estimates for individual London boroughs can be found on the Department for Transport’s website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279125/cgn0206.xls

The number of reported personal injury road accidents of all severities in London in the last 10 years can be found in the table below:

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Data for year 2013 will be available in June 2014.

Roads: Accidents

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what change there has been in the level of accidents attributable to congestion in each of the last 10 years. [195246]

Mr Goodwill: The information requested is not collected by the Department.

Rolling Stock: North East

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average age of rolling stock serving the (a) Tees Valley Line and (b) Esk Valley Line is. [194914]

Stephen Hammond: The rolling stock operated on these two lines is a mixture of Class 142 and Class 156 units which were constructed between 1985 and 1989.

However, the age of rolling stock is a crude measure of quality—as a properly planned refurbishment of an older train can result in a very pleasant travelling environment and a “new train feel” but at a fraction of the cost of a new unit.

Information on the average age of rolling stock is available from the Office of Rail Regulation’s website, by following this link:

http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/53dcc4e1-3223-48f9-9e9c-10d51359cdd7

Defence

Afghanistan

Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has had any discussions with the Government of Afghanistan concerning future basing of UK unmanned aircraft systems in that country after 2014. [R] [194985]

Mr Francois: To date, there have been no discussions with the Government of Afghanistan about the future basing of UK unmanned aircraft systems in Afghanistan after 2014.

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Aircraft Carriers

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which companies have been awarded sub-contracts for construction of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales since June 2013; at which sites he expects work under each such contracts to be carried out; and what the monetary value is of each such contract. [195136]

Mr Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 June 2013 (Official Report, column 1279W).

Armed Forces: Complaints

Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2014, Official Report, column 315W, on armed forces: complaints, how many mid-year annual reports were not completed in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [194669]

Anna Soubry: Information on the completion of mid-year reviews for regular service personnel is not collected directly and is therefore not held.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on the payment of armed forces pensions in the event of Scottish independence; [194964]

(2) what inflation adjustment measures are applied to the pensions paid to armed forces pensioners resident outside the UK. [194963]

Anna Soubry: Armed forces pensions are currently uprated annually in April using the consumer price index (CPI) figure from the previous September. These are occupational pensions and are therefore paid, including any CPI increase, to scheme members wherever they reside in the world.

The UK Government are confident that the people of Scotland will continue to support remaining within the UK. There have, therefore, been no discussions with the Scottish Government about this matter.

DSG Ashchurch

Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) a bat, (b) a dormouse, (c) a crested newt and (d) an owl survey has been carried out at defence infrastructure organisation site Ashchurch; what the result of each such survey was; and if he will make a statement. [195131]

Dr Murrison: A baseline ecological survey was undertaken at Ashchurch in 2008 and updated in 2012. Following this survey no detailed assessments were undertaken for owls, as there have been no sightings or evidence of protected birds, or dormice, due to no suitable habitat being identified.

Further detailed studies have been carried out for both crested newts and bats. Results of these surveys showed there was no evidence of crested newts, and

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little evidence of bat activity across Ashchurch. However, one building had a small bat roost and there was a possibility of a bat roost in a second building.

War Graves: Padstow

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to ensure that anonymous military graves at Padstow Cemetery are updated in situations where the identity of the former soldier has been discovered. [195217]

Anna Soubry: A claim as to the identity of an individual buried in Padstow Cemetery in a grave bearing a headstone with the inscription “A Royal Marine of the Great War”, is currently awaiting review by officials in the Joint Casualty & Compassionate Centre. If the claim is supported by clear and convincing evidence they will task the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to replace the headstone with a new memorial bearing the individual’s name.

Communities and Local Government

Council Tax: Floods

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities affected by the recent floods are offering council tax discounts to flooded-out householders under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. [194492]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 3 April 2014]:The Prime Minister announced on 19 February 2014 that the Government will reimburse local authorities for providing council tax discounts for flooded homes. Some 48 local authorities have reported that they had already offered discounts by 17 March, with a further 63 planning to do so by using their discretionary powers under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. It is for local authorities to determine whether they wish to take up the Government's offer of funding, depending on the precise scale and extent of local flooding.

Council Tax: Lancaster

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what reports he has received of levels of council tax set by Lancaster district council for 2014-15. [194560]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 3 April 2014]:I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 66W.

Families: Disadvantaged

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how self-reported data from local authorities on the Troubled Families programme are audited. [194861]

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Kris Hopkins: All results are approved within each local authority's internal audit arrangements and under the statutory authority of the chief executive. My Department then undertakes a verification process on a sample of claims made.

Local Government Finance

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how the £320 million Transformation Challenge Award for 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be funded; and whether it will be top-sliced from existing grants. [195339]

Brandon Lewis: The £320 million Transformation Challenge Award for 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be funded from the £100 million collaboration and efficiency fund announced at the spending round 2013, the £200 million capital receipt flexibility allowed to local authorities following the sate of assets, and £20 million from the Department's own resources. No funding will be top-sliced from any existing grants.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans for the Service Transformation Panel to (a) form, (b) invite bids, (c) announce bid deadlines and (d) consider bids. [195340]

Brandon Lewis: On 2 April 2014, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), announced the Service Transformation Panel. A full list of panel members will be published shortly.

The panel will gather evidence of the opportunities and barriers of integrating local public services in order to make recommendations advising what needs to happen locally and nationally to increase the pace and scale of integration between local public services. There is no bid process as part of the panel's work.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to his written statement of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 81WS on improving public services, how much each local authority will receive from the £90 million funding made available to all councils so they can start investing to save; and how the allocation of such funding will be calculated. [195393]

Brandon Lewis: The £90 million funding which has been made available immediately for local authorities to start investing to save is made up of three different elements:

£1 million for nine local authorities working with the public service transformation network to speed up and scale up their transformation plans; and £6 million for 13 local authorities that narrowly missed out on funding in the 2013-14 Transformation Challenge Award bidding process. The allocations for these funds were published on 3 April.

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£83 million of unused capitalisation provision has been returned to all councils in England. This can be used as councils see fit. In line with the published capitalisation policy and procedures for 2013-14, the unused capitalisation provision has been distributed to all authorities in accordance with their share of the 2013-14 start-up funding assessment.

Full lists of local authorities' allocations for each of these elements are set out in tables that have been deposited in the Library of the House.

Local Government: Publicity

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to which local authorities he has written about their compliance with the publicity code asking them to take steps to ensure complete compliance with that code; and whether each of these letters was copied to the leader of the opposition of the local authority. [194880]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 7 April 2014]:On 25 March, departmental officials wrote to the chief executives of every principal local authority in England, advising how the Secretary of State is minded to exercise his powers to direct compliance with the code of recommended practice on local authority publicity. On the same day, I wrote individually to the leaders of the royal borough of Greenwich, London borough of Hackney, Newham council, Nottingham city council, Tower Hamlets council and the London borough of Waltham Forest. Without prejudicing any formal consideration by the Secretary of State, I observed that there were suggestions that those councils in particular might not be complying with the code of recommended practice on local authority publicity. I suggested that prior to the Secretary of State's new powers for directing compliance with the code on publicity coming on-stream at the end of March, they take steps to ensure that their council is in complete compliance with the provisions of the code. Those letters were copied where applicable to the leaders of the opposition in those authorities.

New Towns: Ebbsfleet

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of the development announced in Budget 2014 at Ebbsfleet will consist of affordable homes. [193427]

Nick Boles: The Government do not impose a particular level of affordable housing for housing schemes. The percentage of affordable units will be a matter for local decision making, taking account of the local authorities local plans and site viability. Unrealistic section 106 agreements result in no development, no regeneration and no community benefits.

Official Hospitality

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his Department's (a) catering and (b) hospitality budget was in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013. [194474]

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Brandon Lewis: My Department has no separate budget for catering and hospitality in 2012 and 2013.

To assist the right hon. Member, I would note that this Government have dramatically cut spending compared with the last Labour Government and put in place far tighter rules and restrictions on spending:

The Department spent £553,230 on catering and hospitality in 2008-09, and £456,142 in 2009-10.

By 2012-13, spending had been reduced to £58,882 (plus £16,727 of delayed billing from the year before).

We anticipate spending in the region of £36,000 in the year 2013-14 (the precise figure will be audited at financial year end).

The expenditure undertaken is essentially for light refreshments for a large number of small official events such as:

European Regional Development Fund events (meetings with external visitors and Local Management Committee meetings);

Conferences and workshops with representatives of local government, housing, planning and local communities;

Public roadshows and Portas Pilot events;

All-day recruitment assessment centres, training and induction courses.

We do not routinely incur any expenditure on refreshments for Ministers other than “de minimis” expenditure on tea and coffee for Ministers’ meetings with external visitors, or on the rare occasion when Ministers undertake overnight stays on official business outside London.

Our departmental savings have also been assisted by terminating ministerial group spending on Government procurement cards, as practiced by the Labour Government at taxpayers' expense at the likes of Sky City Casino, the Cinnamon Club, the Wolseley, Brasserie 44, Boisdales, Inn the Park, Mango Tree, Shepherds, Incognico, Buffalo Bar, Mr Chu's China Palace, Tantric Jazz and Fat Tuesdays.

We have showed that there is considerable scope for the public sector to generate significant savings in this area, as evident from the ongoing saving of up to half a million pounds a year.

To place our savings in context, as noted in the answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, House of Lords, column 270WA, when the right hon. Member was Secretary of State, he spent £444,891 on catering, hospitality and refreshments in 2008-09 and £552,367 in 2009-10.

I know that the right hon. Member has a particular interest in biscuits, so to help quantify this amount, his spending in his last year in office is equivalent today to buying 720,479 packets of Jammie Dodgers from Waitrose (albeit, with a free cup of coffee thrown in).

Redundancy

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff have (a) taken voluntary redundancy or (b) been made compulsorily redundant from his Department since May 2010; and how many of these (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements. [194883]

Brandon Lewis [holding answer 7 April 2014]:The number of staff that left the Department on (a) voluntary redundancy and (b) compulsory redundancy terms from May 2010 to March 2014 is set out as follows.

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None of these staff (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.

Exit figures through 2010-12 reflect the completion of the Department's major restructuring programme. Our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that total staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a saving of £117 million a year. The number of staff has been reduced from 3,781 full-time equivalent in 2009-10 to 1,681 in 2012-13, a reduction of 56%.

Rents

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library the model and detailed methodology used for the forecast of the effects of affordable rent on housing benefit expenditure published by his Department in the document, Impact Assessment for Affordable Rent, in June 2011. [195300]

Kris Hopkins: The affordable rent impact assessment, published in June 2011, sets out the methodology and assumptions used at the time to model the expected impact of affordable rent on housing benefit expenditure. The impact assessment is published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6021/1918816.pdf

Wind Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 31 March, Official Report, column 439W, on wind power, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the use of recoveries in the planning system with regards to onshore wind developments on (a) investment in onshore wind, (b) energy bills, (c) competition in the market, (d) community benefit and (e) onshore wind supply chain and jobs. [195388]

Kris Hopkins: This type of assessment has not been carried out by this Department. Planning is a quasi-judicial process and decisions on planning proposals should be made in accordance with planning law. This requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. I refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 10 October 2013, Official Report, columns 30-31WS, which explains why we are giving particular scrutiny to planning appeals involving renewable energy developments.

Energy and Climate Change

Coal: Imports

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of UK coal-generating capacity was provided by imports from

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each country in the most recent period for which figures are available. [195259]

Michael Fallon: Figures on coal imports used for generation are not available by country.

However, in 2012, 39,619 thousand tonnes of steam coal (mainly used by coal-fired stations) were imported into the UK, representing 72% of coal used for electricity generation (54,906 thousand tonnes).

Imports of steam coal in 2012 were:

UK Coal

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West of 3 April 2014, on what dates and with which representative of the European Commission he spoke about the future of UK Coal. [195243]

Michael Fallon: Ministers and officials in the Department regularly meet officials from the European Commission.

Wind Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Prime Minister, (b) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (c) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the imposition of a cap on the construction and capacity of onshore wind developments. [195221]

Michael Fallon: DECC Ministers meet regularly other Ministers to discuss a range of issues.

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on (a) delays and (b) the use of recoveries in the planning system for onshore wind developments. [195222]

Michael Fallon: DECC Ministers meet regularly other Ministers to discuss a range of issues.

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Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make an assessment of the effects of a cap on the construction and capacity of onshore wind developments on (a) consumer bills, (b) investment in onshore wind, (c) competition in the market, (d) community benefit and (e) onshore wind supply chain and jobs. [195381]

Gregory Barker: There is no cap on current deployment of onshore wind (or any other renewable energy technology). It is the role of the planning system to ensure that wind farms are only built where the impacts are, or can be made, acceptable.

Onshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of large-scale renewable energy—supporting onshore wind in 2013 added around £9 per year to the average UK energy bill. Since 2010 DECC has recorded announced investments by developers in onshore wind totalling around £4.6 billion, with the potential to support over 7,700 jobs; and, around the UK, onshore wind developments are providing community funds and other benefits to local people, such as money off electricity bills.

Northern Ireland

Cross Border Co-operation: Republic of Ireland

Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment she has made of the level of co-operation between the security forces in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. [194857]

Mrs Villiers: There continues to be very close contact between the PSNI and An Garda Siochana to tackle the threat faced from dissident republican activity on both sides of the border. Every opportunity will be taken to consider ways to improve cross-border working relationships and deepen the collective understanding of the threat, building on the excellent co-operation that exists.

Justice

Aspire to Change

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what (a) advice and (b) written guidance (i) he, (ii) Ministers and (iii) officials in his Department have given to Aspire to Change (A2C) since December 2013; and if he will make a statement; [194432]

(2) how much has been paid by his Department to Aspire to Change (A2C) since its formation; for what purpose each payment was made; what assessment he has made of the value for money of such expenditure; and if he will make a statement; [194433]

(3) what (a) discussions with and (b) representations from Aspire to Change (A2C) (i) he, (ii) Ministers and (iii) officials in his Department have had since December 2013; and if he will make a statement. [194440]

Jeremy Wright: Under transforming rehabilitation, we are opening up the market to a diverse range of new rehabilitation providers, so that we get the best out of the public, voluntary and private sectors, at the local as

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well as national level. Managers in a number of probation trusts, including Essex, have set up mutuals so that they can bid to become owners of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). In line with wider Government policy, we have encouraged those trusts that have been interested to consider the mutual option. All those developing mutuals have had the opportunity to bid for further advice, guidance and assistance through the Cabinet Office mutual support programme (MSP). The MSP has allocated a total of £1.5 million to support prospective mutuals with the greatest potential. Support to organisations has been provided in two phases. Phase 1 supported organisations to prepare them for the competition. Phase 2 is providing further support to those that passed the first stage of the competition throughout the negotiation phase and, if they are successful in the competition, support their transition to a mutual.

We launched the competition to establish the owners of the 21 CRCs on 19 September 2013. Competition rules preclude this Department from contacting potential bidders other than through the competition process so that is, and will remain the only avenue for Aspire 2 Change Ltd. To communicate with the Department until the competition is completed.

Crime: Farms

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what prosecutions there have been for (a) sheep rustling and (b) other crimes on farms in each of the last three years. [194596]

Damian Green: The Ministry of Justice court proceedings database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to separately identify from this centrally held information offences of sheep rustling from other offences of theft. Nor is it possible to separately identify which offences occurred on a farm. This information may be held on the individual court files, which can be checked only at disproportionate cost.

Crimes of Violence

Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what consultation his Department undertook before excluding damage sustained in utero as a result of illegal drug taking from the definition of a crime of violence under Annex B paragraph 4(e) of the criminal compensation scheme; and if he will make a statement. [194338]

Damian Green: I sympathise deeply with anyone who suffers from an injury or debilitating condition sustained in utero. As part of the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ consultation, which was published in January 2012, we looked in detail at the definition of a “crime of violence” for the purposes of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS). After the consultation, a decision was taken to exclude injuries sustained by an unborn child if the mother willingly consumes harmful substances during pregnancy. We implemented a new scheme in November 2012.

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Below is a link to the ‘Getting it right for victims and witnesses’ consultation paper and the Government's response.

https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/victims-witnesses

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Mr Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many new cases were allocated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to be dealt with by each of it’s regional teams in each of the last three years. [194426]

Damian Green: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (OCA) divides its case work between six teams, each of which handles applications from a particular region of Great Britain. All of these teams work from a single office. Northern Ireland has a separate Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, which CICA does not administer. CICA publishes the total number of cases it receives each year in its annual reports but these are not broken down by team.

The six regional teams are numbered as follows:

1. Scotland and Wales

2. North-West England

3. North-East England

4. Midlands

5. South England

6. London

The following table sets out how many cases each region received in each of the last three reporting years. The sum of cases allocated to each region will differ from the total received by CICA each year because some clearly ineligible cases are refused before they are sent to a regional team to investigate.

Fraud: Social Security Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received a prison sentence; and what the average prison sentence was for those of each gender so convicted; [191465]

(2) how many (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received (i) a conditional discharge, (ii) a fine, (iii) a community order and (iv) a suspended prison sentence. [191466]

Jeremy Wright: The Department for Work and Pensions operates a tough series of specific penalties for benefit fraud that run alongside the criminal justice system. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 toughened penalties for those who commit, or attempt to commit benefit fraud. We have introduced a financial administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution which, for the first time, can be applied to attempted fraud.

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The Government have also introduced a tougher loss of benefit penalty to restrict benefits to people convicted of benefit fraud or who have accepted an administrative penalty. Benefits can be reduced for periods of 13 weeks, 26 weeks or three years, dependent on the number of benefit fraud offences committed within a specified period, where the latest offence results in a conviction.

Judges make their decisions independently of Government, based on the facts of each case. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years in prison.

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The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud, with sentencing outcomes and the average custodial sentence length by gender, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available), can be viewed in the table.

Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.

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Homicide

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many individuals convicted of (a) murder or (b) attempted murder in each of the last 10 years have been released with exclusion zones forming a part of their licence arrangements; [191826]

(2) on how many occasions an individual on licence for an attempted murder conviction has been granted permission to enter an exclusion zone which has been formed as part of their licence arrangement in each of the last 10 years; [191781]

(3) how many times a convicted attempted murderer released on licence has been allowed to enter an exclusion zone formed as part of their licence arrangement within one week of their release in each of the last 10 years. [191795]

Jeremy Wright: Unfortunately, it is not possible to answer these questions without carrying out a manual search through all relevant individual offender files, at disproportionate cost.

Conditions such as an exclusion zone may be applied to an offender's licence where it is necessary to manage the risk that the individual offender poses following release into the community—and where it is proportionate to that risk. Where qualifying victims have exercised their statutory right to make representations about the offender's licence conditions, the exclusion zone set will take into account those representations. In each case, the supervising officer proposes conditions as appropriate and requests these from the appropriate authority, which applies it to the licence on behalf of the Secretary of State. In the case of determinate sentence prisoners, the authority is the prison governor; in the case of indeterminate sentence prisoners, or others whose release is on the direction of the Parole Board, the authority is the Parole Board.

These conditions must be kept under review, and are intended to be flexible to the possible resettlement needs of an offender in the community and any new risks that arise.

An exclusion zone will rarely be absolute, as it is recognised that there may be exceptional reasons why the offender needs to enter the exclusion zone. Thus, where an exclusion zone is included in the offender's licence, it will usually be open to the supervising officer to grant the offender permission to enter the exclusion zone, for a temporary period and for a specific purpose.

As this is a purely localised decision, there is no national record of the number of occasions such permission has been given. It is, therefore, not possible to answer the questions regarding how many times an offender has been granted permission to enter the exclusion zone applied to his licence.

Data from the last 10 years are not available in the required electronic format to answer the question relating to numbers of offenders with exclusion zones included in their licence. To provide such information would again require a manual interrogation of offenders' records and this would incur disproportionate cost.

Legal Aid Scheme

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much in legal aid claims has been paid to Leigh Day and Public Interest Lawyers in each of the last three years. [194326]

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Mr Vara: The net payments to these firms over the past three years are shown in the following table.

These payments cover all work undertaken by the firms under legal aid. The payments made will be offset by recoupment on successful cases where the opponent has paid the costs.

Magistrates Courts

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of a magistrates court proceeding was in (a) all cases and (b) cases relating to the non-payment of the television licence fee. [194436]

Damian Green: The majority of criminal cases in the magistrates court are dealt with in a single day. Around two thirds of all cases are dealt with in a single hearing with 90% of television licence evasion cases requiring only one hearing. The Government have said that they will examine whether television licence evasion should be decriminalised.

Oakwood Prison

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans are in place to increase the operational capacity at HMP Oakwood. [194349]

Jeremy Wright: There are no plans to increase the operational capacity of HMP Oakwood.

Prison Accommodation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how much has been spent purchasing additional prison places from existing privately run prisons in each month since May 2010; [194110]

(2) from which companies additional spaces have been purchased in which prisons in each month since May 2010; [194109]

(3) how many spaces were agreed under each contract with a private provider for additional spaces in existing prisons signed since May 2010; how long each contract was for; and what the value was of the contract (a) in total and (b) per space agreed. [194310]

Jeremy Wright: A significant amount of this information is not held centrally, and we would need to interrogate a very large volume of separate files to obtain the information required and then review and collate that information. By doing so we would incur disproportionate costs.

Prisoners

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in each prison establishment are not being held in relation to criminal proceedings; and what the reason is for their being so held in each case. [194405]

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Jeremy Wright: As of the 31 December 2013, 1,230 people were being held in prisons in England and Wales not in relation to criminal proceedings.

Of these, 1,214 were being held as immigration detainees and 16 were being held for civil offences (for example non-payment of a debt, contempt of court, or breach of an injunction).

The agreement to hold time-served foreign national offenders (immigration detainees) in prisons is set out in a service level agreement between NOMS and the Home Office and is designed to support the Home Office in achieving its objectives for removal.

Reducing the FNO population is a top priority for this Government. We are working hard to reduce the flow of FNOs into our prison system and increase the number of FNOs removed from the UK through Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS).

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of the population who are not held in relation to criminal proceedings by prison establishment.

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Prisoners: Repatriation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what length of custodial sentence was given to each foreign national returned to their home country as part of the EU prisoner transfer agreement in each year since that agreement came into force; and how long each had left to serve at the time of the repatriation; [191086]

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(2) how many UK citizens have been returned to the UK from abroad to serve their custodial sentences under the EU prisoner transfer agreement in each year since that agreement came into force; of what offences they were convicted; what length of custodial sentence they received; and how long they had left to serve in custody at the time of their repatriation; [191087]

(3) what crimes were committed by those foreign nationals who have been returned from the UK to their home countries under the EU prisoner transfer agreement in each year since that agreement came into force; [191092]

(4) how many offenders have been returned from the UK to each country under the EU prisoner transfer agreement in each year since that agreement came into force. [191093]

Jeremy Wright: The council framework decision 2008/909/JHA (The EU PTA) entered into force on 5 December 2011.

To date 18 member states (including the United Kingdom) have implemented the agreement. The European Court of Justice will have jurisdiction over the measure from 1 December 2014 and member states may face infraction proceedings if they have not implemented the agreement by then.

Use of the EU PTA is an early stage and the number of prisoners transferred remains low. However, we expect to see a significant increase in the number of prisoner transferred once the agreement has been implemented by all member states.

To date 17 prisoners have been transferred to other jurisdictions.

The following table sets out the number of prisoners transferred from England and Wales to other EU member states since the implementation of the EU PTA in December 2011.

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The following table sets out the number of British nationals transferred from other EU member states to England and Wales since the EU PTA entered into force in December 2011. Some 10 prisoners have been transferred.

All foreign national offenders (FNOs) sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.

The prisoner transfer process is just one mechanism for removing foreign national offenders. The number of FNOs deported under the early removal scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under the tariff expired removal scheme (TERS), which was introduced in May 2012, we have removed 231 FNOs to date.

Whereas this Government have begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.

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Prisons

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many activity spaces per prisoner there were in (a) adult male prisons, (b) adult female prisons, (c) youth male prisons and (d) youth female prisons on 1 March (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013 in (A) the prison estate and (B) each prison. [191287]

Jeremy Wright: The information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

However, the number of activity spaces agreed within each public sector prison establishment's service level agreement for 2013-14 is published at the following location:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/transparency-data/prison-service-level-agreement-and-probation-trust-contracts

These documents are a historical record of the public sector prison service level agreements at the point at which they took effect. These agreements remain subject to change, through formal procedures, throughout the year.

Work in prisons is a key priority to ensure prisoners are engaged purposefully while they are in custody. It also gives them the opportunity to learn skills, and a work ethic which can increase their chances of finding employment on release, a key element to reducing reoffending.

Our reforms to the incentives and earned privileges national policy framework came into effect in adult prisons on 1 November 2013. Prisoners will be expected to engage in purposeful activity, as well as demonstrate a commitment towards their rehabilitation, reduce their risk of reoffending, behave well and help others if they are to earn privileges.

The number of prisoners working in industrial activity in public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 to around 9,700 in 2012-13. This delivered an increase in the total hours worked in industrial activities from 10.6 million hours to 13.1 million hours. In addition there are substantial numbers of prisoners who work to keep prisons running on tasks such as cooking, serving meals, maintenance and cleaning.

Public Expenditure

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what programmes which receive funding from his Department are available solely to (a) men and (b) women. [194407]

Simon Hughes: The information required to provide a full response to the question could not be collated within the timeframe available. I will write to the hon. Member providing a full reply in due course.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to (a) assistance with civil and criminal legal aid, (b) remission for court fees and (c) access to the assisted prison visits programme to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out. [193245]

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Mr Vara: I will write to the right hon. Member for East Ham regarding the issues he has raised on legal aid and remission of court fees. On the assisted prison visits, we are liaising further with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Treasury

National Institute for Medical Research

Dr Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what cost-benefit analysis he has made of the relocation of the National Institute for Medical Research to King's Cross. [194716]

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

The future location of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) was part of the careful consideration and approval of the outline and final business cases for the Francis Crick Institute (at the time known as the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) according to standard protocols.

National Insurance Contributions

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the number of women with (a) two, (b) three, (c) four and (d) five or more jobs; and how many such people do not earn a total income above the lower earnings threshold through all their employments; [195289]

(2) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) people and (b) women who work in more than one job but do not pay national insurance even though their total earnings are above the lower earnings threshold; [195268]

(3) what estimate he has made of the number of people with (a) two, (b) three, (c) four and (d) five or more jobs; and how many of such people's total earnings do not meet the lower earnings threshold; [195269]

(4) how many people who do not meet the income threshold required to pay national insurance contributions opt to pay national insurance contributions voluntarily. [195270]

Mr Gauke: Estimates of the number of (a) people and (b) women who work in more than one job but do not pay national insurance, even though their total earnings are above the lower earnings threshold; and, of those, how many are women, are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-coverage-lower-earnings-limit-and-multiple-jobs

The rest of the information requested is not available.

Revenue and Customs

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment HM Revenue and Customs has made of the economic viability of its Customs House landholding adjacent to Dover Priory railway station. [195081]

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Mr Gauke: HMRC has made no assessment of the economic viability of the Priory Court Dover landholding adjacent to Dover Priory railway station,

Taxation: Self-employed

Mr Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the additional revenue secured since 2010 as a result of changes to the IR35 tax regulations affecting the self-employed. [187119]

Mr Gauke: The intermediaries' legislation, known as IR35, does not apply to the self-employed. Rather it applies to those providing their services through an intermediary (normally a limited company) who if it were not for the intermediary would otherwise be considered an employee of the client.

IR35 ensures that under such circumstances broadly the same tax and national insurance contributions are paid as if the individual were directly employed.

A very minor change to the IR35 legislation was made in 2010 in consequence of the Corporation Taxes Act 2010.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has currently four specialist compliance teams which undertake investigations of intermediaries (commonly called personal service companies) operating across all sectors where potential non-compliance with IR35 is suspected. These teams form part of a restructuring of HMRC's administration of IR35 following recommendations in March 2011 by the Office of Tax Simplification. Revenue secured under IR35 from this direct compliance activity between 6 April 2010 and 5 April 2013 is £2.519 million. Figures for 2013/14 are not currently available.

Unpaid Taxes

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have been issued demand notices for unpaid tax in each of the last five years. [194790]

Mr Gauke: HMRC does not hold data on the total number of letters issued demanding payment of an established and overdue tax debt over the last five years.

Women and Equalities

Females: New Businesses

Robert Halfon: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what steps she is taking to encourage women to start their own businesses. [195023]

Jenny Willott: We are creating the right conditions for companies to thrive and making it easier for people to start successful new businesses. The Government offer a wide range of support to new businesses, for example, providing advice and support through the Growth Accelerator and improving access to finance through the British Business Bank and the Start Up Loan scheme. Over 37% of Start Up Loans have gone to female entrepreneurs.

In addition, Government Equalities Office has committed £1.6 million to support rural women's enterprise; £2 million in small grants to help people to set up their own child

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care business; and contributed £600,000 to the Get Mentoring project which has recruited and trained over 15,000 volunteer business mentors, more than 6,000 of whom are women. We also recently partnered with Young Enterprise and announced the 'Women's Start Up Project'—a scheme to encourage young women studying at undergraduate level to set up and run real start-up businesses.

These measures are making a difference. In 2010 only 14% of small and medium sized enterprises were either run by women or by a team that was over 50% female; in 2012, this had risen to 19%.

Culture, Media and Sport

BBC

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the BBC Trust regarding the level of income to the BBC from BBC Enterprises; and if she will make a statement. [195248]

Mr Vaizey: BBC Enterprises has been known as BBC Worldwide since 1995—this is the profit-making arm of the BBC. My Department and I are in regular contact with the BBC. No discussions have recently taken place concerning the dividend paid by BBC Worldwide to the BBC.

BBC: USA

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the BBC Trust on the sale of BBC content in the US; and if she will make a statement. [195373]

Mr Vaizey: The Secretary of State has had no discussions with the BBC Trust on the sale of BBC content in the US. Under the terms of its charter and agreement the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of Government.

Local Broadcasting: Television

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the level of funding from the public purse for local television in each year to 2020. [195457]

Mr Vaizey: As part of the licence fee settlement in October 2010, the BBC agreed to commit up to £25 million to establish the local TV broadcast network up to March 2017. The BBC also agreed to provide up to £5 million per year for the last three years of the licence fee settlement to March 2017 to acquire content from local TV stations, subject to this being suitable for inclusion in a UK public service. There is no commitment for further public funding after the end of this licence fee period.

Private Sector

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by her Department since May 2010. [195506]

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Mrs Grant: CMS has not outsourced or privatised any parts of its Department.

Rugby: World Cup

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to promote (a) the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and (b) the Amex Stadium at Falmer as one of the venues for that event; and if she will make a statement. [194876]

Mrs Grant: In May we reach 500 days to go until the Rugby World Cup and I am working with England 2015, Visit England and Foreign and Commonwealth Office to support the Webb Ellis Trophy Tour to promote the event internationally. I will also be seeking opportunities to support the volunteer programme. I support the regional spread of venues for the Rugby World Cup and I know that England 2015 is working closely with Brighton and Hove council to put on a fantastic celebration of rugby in the area.

Tate Modern

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment she has made of whether the Tate Modern extension project will be completed within budget; and when that project is scheduled for completion. [195247]

Mr Vaizey: The Tate Modern project is reviewed periodically by the Major Projects Authority within the Cabinet Office's efficiency and reform group, and the DCMS investment committee, as is usual for a major project of this nature. The building will open in 2016 and the project is on course to meet that target.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the funding sources are for the Tate Modern extension project. [195250]

Mr Vaizey: The majority of fundraising for the Tate Modern extension project is from private sources, with a contribution of £50 million from Government and £7 million from the Greater London Authority. Recently announced donors include the Wolfson Foundation and the Eyal Ofer Family Foundation.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many complaints have been made to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission about the Work programme on the grounds of equality since June 2011; [195344]

(2) how many complaints have been made to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission on the treatment of employment and support allowance recipients on the Work programme on the grounds of disability discrimination since June 2011. [195343]

Mrs Grant: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and I have asked the commission to provide the information. The commission's records of complaints received do not identify specific policy initiatives, such as the Work programme, raised by complainants. Providing a

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comprehensive and accurate response would require a manual search of files and therefore could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Health

Abortion

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue updated guidance on the two doctor rule for abortions. [194878]

Jane Ellison: Guidance on compliance with the Abortion Act 1967 is currently in development and will be published shortly. This will clarify for medical practitioners what is required of them when making a decision under the Act.

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions have been performed in the UK in the last 30 years. [195327]

Jane Ellison: Annual totals since 1968 can be found in table la of ‘Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2012 Summary information from the abortion notification forms returned to the chief medical officers of England and Wales’. A copy has been placed in the Library.