Universal Credit

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure the long-term viability of the system for paying benefits into Post Office card accounts under the universal credit programme. [195972]

Steve Webb: No decision has been made on the future of the POca but discussions are currently taking place between DWP, Post Office Ltd and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider the future needs of customers beyond 2015.

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will provide a simple route for people to donate their universal benefits back to the state; and if he will make a statement. [196078]

Steve Webb: The majority of winter fuel payments are sent out automatically. However, people can simply return their winter fuel payment to the office that issues it. They can also write to the Department requesting not to receive a winter fuel payment for future years, either in advance of first getting a payment, or after they have received one or more payments.

Anyone aged 75 or over is entitled to a free TV licence for their main address. The free licence is not issued automatically and needs to be applied for. Once issued, licences are renewed automatically every year unless the customer does not have a national insurance number in which case TV Licensing will contact them to confirm their circumstances have not changed each year. An over-75 licence can be cancelled at any time and a paid-for licence requested.

The concessionary travel benefit is optional. An eligible person can choose not to take up the entitlement. The National Travel Survey 2011 shows that in GB, 79% of people eligible for an older persons’ bus pass held one.

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Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how the universal credit local support services framework supports claimants who may require extra support in accessing universal credit. [196139]

Esther McVey: We recognise that some people will need help with the new demands of UC. This could include understanding the new system, help with getting online, and help with managing on a monthly budget and paying rent.

Central to the Local Support Service Framework is the “Delivery Partnerships Approach” under which DWP and local authority managers and service providers (such as Social Landlords and Charities) will work together to agree upon delivery of services at the local level. This will enable the provision of a joined-up, holistic service for claimants with complex needs and a “coherent claimant journey” for helping the claimant move from welfare dependency. Wherever appropriate, this may also result in work readiness for each claimant.

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to publish on the Government website an up-to-date impact assessment for universal credit. [196194]

Esther McVey: The Government published a detailed impact assessment in December 2012 to accompany the laying of the universal credit regulations that came into force in April 2013. There are no current plans to publish an update.

Vacancies: Greater London

Mary Macleod: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job vacancies there are in (a) London, (b) the London Borough of Hounslow and (c) Brentford and Isleworth constituency. [196412]

Esther McVey: Headline figures on the number of unfilled vacancies at a point in time are published by the Office for National Statistics, based on a regular survey of employers. Latest figures, covering January-March 2014, show over 600,000 vacancies available in the UK economy at any one time. The sample size of the survey is, however, too small to allow information to be published below national level.

Work Experience

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure that paid employees are not being replaced by unpaid staff under the Work Experience scheme; and if he will make a statement. [195720]

Esther McVey: All potential host businesses must sign an agreement with Jobcentre Plus, confirming that the work experience opportunity they wish to offer is on top of (not instead of) current and future vacancies.

If there is any suspicion that a host is not complying with this agreement, the matter will be fully investigated.

If doubts remain about the host employer's integrity, Jobcentre Plus will immediately terminate the agreement.

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Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2014, Official Report, column 66W, on the Work programme, how many of the organisations listed with sub-contracts as at 30 September 2013 had received no referrals in the previous years. [195697]

Esther McVey: The Department does not hold the information requested.

Attorney-General

Crown Prosecution Service

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what the performance of each Crown Prosecution Service business area was on (a) pre-charge decisions, (b) decisions to take to further action, (c) discontinuances after charge, (d) prosecutions, (e) convictions and (f) convictions after a not-guilty plea for each of the flagged offence groups in 2013-14 and each of the five previous years. [194784]

The Solicitor-General: Tables have been deposited in the Library of the House containing the following information for each of the last five years for which complete and validated data is available.

Number of pre-charge decisions and the proportion that resulted in a decision to take no further action.

Number of finalised prosecutions

Number of convictions and the conviction rate

Number of prosecutions discontinued after charge

Number of convictions in contested cases

The figures are broken down for the 13 regional Crown Prosecution Service areas and by principal offence category of the cases concerned. The principal offence category indicates the most serious offence with which the defendant is charged at the time of finalisation.

Domestic Violence

Mr Buckland: To ask the Attorney-General (1) how many domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for non-injurious behaviours; [195667]

(2) whether any domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for coercive control since the inclusion of coercive control in the Government’s definition of domestic violence in March 2013; [195663]

(3) how many cases of domestic violence have led to prosecutions for psychological abuse in each of the last five years. [195668]

The Solicitor-General: The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However, the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such

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information could be obtained only through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Mr Buckland: To ask the Attorney-General whether any cases of domestic violence have led to prosecutions for stalking when the stalking behaviours occurred before the victim and perpetrator had separated. [195669]

The Solicitor-General: The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service do not identify the number of people prosecuted for domestic violence that have led to prosecutions for stalking where the stalking behaviour occurred before the victim and perpetrator had separated. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.

Pornography: Internet

Helen Goodman: To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions have taken place under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 for the offence of providing unrestricted access to hardcore pornography online, as set out in the 2005 Crown Prosecution Service guidelines, disaggregated by year. [196000]

The Solicitor-General: The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicate the number of offences charged, in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates courts under Section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 (publishing or having an obscene article for publication for gain), rather than identifying the number of people prosecuted.

Section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 creates the offence of publishing or having an obscene article for publication for gain.

The following table shows, in each of the last eight years, for which figures are available, the number of offences, charged by way of Section 2 of the OPA 1959, and which reached a first hearing at magistrates courts, in England and Wales.

Private Sector

Lucy Powell: To ask the Attorney-General how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by the Law Officers’ Departments since May 2010. [195504]

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The Solicitor-General: The Law Officers’ Departments have not transferred any permanent jobs from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing since May 2010.

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for pre-charge decision in 2013-14 and each of the five preceding years; how many of those cases were (a) subject to a decision to take no further action, (b) disposed of by way of a simple caution, (c) disposed of by way of a conditional caution, (d) disposed of by another type of out-of-court disposal, (e) prosecuted, (f) prosecuted successfully and (g) prosecuted successfully where the defendant contested the charge. [194680]

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The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of suspects (not cases) referred to prosecutors for a pre-charge decision and the number of defendants prosecuted, following a decision to charge.

The table below shows, in each of the last five years for which figures are available, the total number of charging decisions made against suspects and the outcome of decisions where the decision was to (a) take no further action, (b) caution, (c) conditionally caution or (d) recommend another out of court disposal. In addition, the table shows the number of defendants prosecuted at magistrates courts and at the Crown court, by the CPS following a decision to charge (e), the number convicted (f) and the number convicted after a contested hearing (g). The table does not include other outcomes related to pre-charge decisions.

The data reported in the above table are inclusive of suspects referred to the CPS for a charging decision and defendants prosecuted by the specialised national divisions of the CPS including, from April 2011, proceedings formerly dealt with by the prosecution functions of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health.

Since 2011, the police have been able to charge some offences without referral to the CPS, as outlined in the DPP’s Guidance on Charging which can be found on the CPS website at:

https://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/directors_guidance/dpp_guidance_5.html

Data for the annual year 2013-14 are not currently available.

Treasury

Annuities

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely change in annuities in 12 months' time for the average 65-year-old (a) man and (b) woman. [196040]

Mr Gauke: At Budget, the Government announced significant reforms to the pensions market, giving people greater choice about how to access their defined contribution pension savings. For many people, purchasing an annuity will remain the best way to secure an income in retirement.

These reforms will help consumers choosing to buy an annuity to get a better deal in a much more competitive market place. The Government expect the change to the pensions market to stimulate innovation and new competition in the retirement income market. The shape of the market will now be driven by the choices consumers make, placing power back into the hands of savers.

In December 2012 Government passed legislation to amend the Equality Act and ban gender-sensitive pricing. This means that annuity providers can no longer use gender as a factor when calculating annuity offers.

Child Benefit

Jake Berry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of child benefit fraud his Department is investigating. [193521]

Nicky Morgan: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) approach to child benefit error and fraud is to verify all new claims and, on a risk basis, to check existing claims for incorrect information against data from other systems. Where HMRC consider that a claim may not be correct, they open an enquiry. Where the enquiry determines that the claim is incorrect, the claim or part of the claim is terminated.

Child benefit compliance enquires are carried out continually throughout the year and as at 31 March 2014, HMRC had 3,565 ongoing cases.

Coinage: Forgery

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department made of the annual level of fraud involving the existing £1 coin in order to inform the decision to introduce a new style coin. [196039]

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Nicky Morgan: At Budget the Government announced that it will introduce a new and highly secure £1 coin.

According to Royal Mint estimates of counterfeiting of the £1 coin have been on an upwards trend for the past decade. The latest data show an increase in the counterfeiting rate to 3.04%. The data are based on a survey undertaken in November 2013. Further information can be found at:

www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/counterfeit-one-pound-coins

Enterprise Zones: Coleraine

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that discussions are held with any relevant third parties regarding the boundaries of the proposed enterprise zone near Coleraine in relation to proposed private sector developments on adjacent land. [195865]

Danny Alexander: Designating the boundaries of the pilot Enterprise Zone in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Floods: Northern Ireland

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what funds were provided in Barnett consequentials to the Northern Ireland Executive as a result of the flood relief funds granted in England and Wales. [195791]

Danny Alexander: The table below sets out the extra funding allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive through the Barnett formula to reflect new funding provided to UK Government Departments for flood defence measures at Budget 2014.

Gift Aid

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what change there has been in the total amount of gift aid claimed by charities between 2008 and 2013. [196042]

Nicky Morgan: HMRC publishes data on repayments of Gift Aid to charities in Table 10.1 of its National Statistics at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/256802/table10-1.pdf

Housing: Sales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many property purchase transactions were made in each UK nation and region by non-UK residents in each of the last five years. [195714]

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Mr Gauke: Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is payable by purchasers of UK land or property, whether or not the purchaser is resident in the UK. The rates apply equally to UK and foreign nationals or companies.

The information requested is not held in the format required and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Income Tax

Mr Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the effect was on revenue from top rate income tax of the reduction of the top rate from 60 per cent to 40 per cent in 1988 in the (a) first year and (b) second year following that reduction. [195687]

Mr Gauke: Observed changes in tax receipts following rate changes will reflect a combination of effects of the rate changes and underlying economic and distributional changes.

One study that analyses these effects is set out in the Institute Fiscal Studies (IFS) Mirrlees Review, “Dimensions of Tax Design”. This studied the revenue impacts of tax changes during the 1970s and 1980s, including the rate changes in 1988. It is available at:

http://www.ifs.org.uk/mirrleesreview/dimensions/ch2.pdf

(see chapter 2).

This study was part of the evidence considered by HMRC in the report “The Exchequer effect of the 50 per cent additional rate of income tax” published at Budget 2012. The behavioural response estimated in the HMRC report is consistent with a range of academic studies including the results from the IFS.

The HMRC report is available at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2012/excheq-income-tax-2042.pdf

Individual Savings Accounts

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the increase in ISA limits announced in the 2014 Budget allow those with current ISAs to take advantage of the new limit between the present time and March 2015. [196043]

Mr Gauke: The 2014 Budget announced that the annual ISA subscription limit for 2014-15 will stand at £15,000. The new £15,000 limit will take effect on 1 July 2014. From that date, for the first time ever, ISA savers will be permitted to deposit their full ISA allowance into either a cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA, or split in any combination between the two.

Between now and 1 July 2014, savers are permitted to deposit up to £11,880 into a stocks and shares ISA and up to half of this amount into a cash ISA. From 1 July, subject to the terms and conditions of their accounts, they will be permitted to add additional funds up to the new £15,000 limit.

Landfill Communities Fund

Ian Austin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the performance of projects funded by the Landfill Communities Fund; what plans he has for the future of the fund; and if he will make a statement; [196348]

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(2) what recent discussions he has had on the future of the Landfill Communities Fund. [196355]

Nicky Morgan: The Government regularly meet a range of stakeholders on the Landfill Communities Fund.

The LCF makes a valuable contribution to local communities. All projects have to be approved by ENTRUST as meeting specific criteria, to ensure the project benefits the wider community. The value of the Landfill Communities Fund for 2014-15 will be reduced to £71 million. This reduction takes account of progress that environmental bodies have made to address the Government’s challenge to reduce unspent funds. The saving will be used to fund an equivalent one-off increase in DEFRA’s budget to address waste crime. The Government intend that environmental bodies’ performance against the challenge is published once the final information is available later this year.

National Savings Bonds: Pensioners

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what impact assessment he has made of the effect of pensioners savings bonds on the private sector investment market. [195031]

Nicky Morgan: The Budget set an upper limit of £10 billion for the level of inflows that National Savings and Investments (NS&I) should attract into the fixed-rate savings bonds for people aged 65 or over. This is less than 1% of the total UK retail savings market.

The NS&I savings bonds announced at Budget should therefore not stop other institutions from attracting deposits or increasing lending. Furthermore, the introduction of New ISAs with an annual subscription limit of £15,000 will provide additional opportunities for banks and building societies to attract retail deposits.

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the proposed role for National Savings and Investment (NS&I) offering pensioner savings bonds with NS&I's objective of reducing the cost to the taxpayer of Government borrowing. [195033]

Nicky Morgan: NS&I’s purpose is to provide cost effective financing for the Government that balances the interest of savers, taxpayers and the wider markets.

Given that the NS&I fixed-rate savings bond for people aged 65 or over are a Budget measure designed to offer targeted support to a particular group of savers, the costs of raising funding through these bonds, rather than gilts, was represented in Table 2.1 of the Budget 2014 document.

Non-domestic Rates: Appeals

Mr Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many business rates appeals to the Valuation Office Agency are currently classified as (a) outstanding, (b) received and (c) cleared, by region; and what the current median time taken in days is to clear business rates challenges in each region. [195251]

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Mr Gauke: Table 1 shows the latest available statistics on proposals (appeals), by region, to amend the 2010 rating lists. The numbers provided cover England and Wales for the duration of the 2010 rating list as of 30 September 2013.

Office of Tax Simplification

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings he held with the Office of Tax Simplification in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13. [195455]

Mr Gauke: Treasury Ministers regularly meet with the Office of Tax Simplification and other parts of Treasury group as part of normal departmental and Government business. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Personal Income

Mr Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average net change in household income, taking account of consequential changes to benefits and tax credits, for (a) single earner households (i) without children, (ii) with one child and (iii) with two or more children and (b) two-earner couple households (i) without children, (ii) with one child and (iii) with two or more children in receipt of universal credit or other tax credits or in-work benefits

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as a result of the increase in the personal allowance in (1) 2014-15, (2) 2015-16 and (3) 2016-17. [195598]

Nicky Morgan: This information is not available, as the requested breakdowns have not been collated in this way.

The Government routinely publish distributional analysis of the cumulative impact of all their measures, which includes any offsetting reductions to benefits as a result of changes to tax-in the “Impact on Households” document, the most recent of which accompanied Budget 2014.

Policy

Mr O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what circumstances he uses a calculation of the (a) value of preventing a fatality, (b) willingness to pay and (c) cost-per-quality adjusted life year approach to quantify the value of a policy intervention; what other tools he uses to quantify the benefit of a policy intervention; and if he will make a statement. [196467]

Danny Alexander: The Green Book and associated supplementary guidance is publicly available on the Treasury website. It sets out a range of approaches and methods that may be appropriate in a number of different appraisal circumstances. The valuation of preventing fatalities makes a contribution to the calculation of risk reduction in many situations and is used extensively by the Department for Transport among others. Department of Health policies are likely to impact on health and longevity. For the majority of these policies, the impacts will be quantified in terms of quality adjusted life years. The cost of producing a quality adjusted life year is used as part of the appraisal and evaluation of alternative health investments.

Public Expenditure

Margaret Curran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when the last Finance Ministers Quadrilateral met; and if he will place in the Library the minutes of that meeting; [195135]

(2) when the next meeting of the Finance Ministers Quadrilateral will take place; and what will be discussed at this meeting. [195134]

Danny Alexander: The last Finance Quadrilateral was held on 18 November 2013.

No formal minutes of the meeting were taken, but Ministers present discussed the general economic outlook for the UK and for each of the devolved Administrations, as well as looking forward to the forthcoming autumn statement. Agreement was reached at the meeting regarding the framework under which the devolved Administrations could carry forward financial transactions capital into future years.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Finance Ministers from the devolved Administrations aim to meet regularly in Quadrilateral format, complimenting bilateral meetings and conversations throughout the year. It is anticipated the next Quadrilateral will take place over the coming months. No date or agenda have yet been set.

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Revenue and Customs

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what land is owned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC); and what land HMRC plans to sell in the next year. [194789]

Mr Gauke: HMRC does not own any land, and does not have any unencumbered freehold buildings within its estate. The only exceptions to this are that freehold interests in five Grade 1 Listed buildings are owned by HMRC. However, each of these is subject to encumbrances impacting value and market demand. These five are comprised of the following;

Three historic Custom Houses (London, Greenock & Belfast) each of which is subject to a 175 year lease from 2001 with nil rent receivable. HMRC sold the virtual freehold interest in these properties in 2001

Darwin House in Shrewsbury is subject to a 175 year lease from 2001 with nil rent receivable. HMRC also sold the virtual freehold interest in these properties in 2001

100 Parliament Street / 1 Horse Guards Road in London is subject to occupational rights to 2037 for the PFI provider, with nil rent receivable.

The 100PS Exchequer Partnership (EP 2) PFI agreement commenced on 19/11/2004 and runs for 33 years. HMT have a separate EP1 agreement for 1HGR.

HMRC does not plan to sell land or buildings in 2014-15.

This position was previously stated and accepted in a response to an enquiry made by the Homes and Community Agency in November 2013 on behalf of Cabinet Office (Government Property Unit) in relation to the Strategic Land and Property Review.

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations HM Revenue and Customs has received from interested parties on the sale of the Customs House landholding near Dover Priory railway station. [195409]

Mr Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs does not own the freehold interest and has not received any representations on the sale of the Custom House (also known as Priory Court) landholding near Dover Priory railway station.

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidelines exist for the sale of assets and land belonging to HM Revenue and Customs. [195490]

Mr Gauke: The guidelines for the sales of assets and land belonging to HM Revenue and Customs are contained in ‘Managing Public Money’ published by HM Treasury.

Revenue and Customs: Northern Ireland

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the future of HM Revenue and Customs' centres in Northern Ireland. [195975]

Mr Gauke: HMRC has recently announced its intention to consult on the proposed closure of 12 of its general offices across the United Kingdom. This process will start in June 2014 and will include one office in Northern Ireland; Custom House, Newry.

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HMRC officials and I met with you and three parliamentary colleagues representing Northern Ireland interests on 15 January 2014. At this meeting HMRC officials advised that none of its general offices will close until at least 2015.

As already announced on 12 February, HMRC will be closing its 10 Northern Ireland enquiry centres later this year. This is as a result of HMRC introducing a new service, supporting customers who need extra help getting their tax and benefits right. This service will offer customers who need extra help more in-depth support on the phone and a mobile advisory service if they need a face-to-face appointment. HMRC will roll out the new service across the UK from 31 May 2014, followed by the closure of Enquiry Centre network by 30 June 2014.

HMRC has widely consulted with third parties on the Enquiry Centre closures and piloted the new service in the north-east of England.

Revenue and Customs: Preston

Mr Winnick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will put arrangements in place to enable telephone callers to the Tax Credit office in Preston to raise queries with an official rather than through the automatic telephone system. [195176]

Mr Gauke: The introduction of HMRC’s Intelligent Telephony Automation (ITA) system has enabled HMRC to significantly reduce call handling and call waiting times and increase satisfaction.

The speech recognition technology system reacts to what the caller says instead of selecting an option by pushing a button on their phone. ITA allows customers to say what they want to discuss when they telephone HMRC. For the majority of customers, this means their queries are answered by tailored informational messages, without the need to speak to an adviser. If a customer still wants to speak to someone, ITA ensures the adviser is already aware of the customer’s reason for calling, offering a more effective customer service.

This enables HMRC to offer a more efficient and tailored customer service and where necessary, give the customer extra support.

Smuggling: Tobacco

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the (a) number of cigarettes, (b) volume of roll-your own tobacco and (c) value of the (i) cigarettes and (ii) tobacco smuggled into the UK in each of the last five years; [196390]

(2) what estimate he has made of the loss to the public purse as a result of illicit, illegal and smuggled tobacco in each of the last five years. [196391]

Nicky Morgan: Estimates of the volume and total revenue losses associated with the tobacco illicit market are published in ‘Tobacco Tax Gap estimates: 2012-13’. The figures are available in tables 4.1 and 4.5.

These estimates cannot be disaggregated by the type of illicit activity, e.g. through smuggling, counterfeiting or other fraud.

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The methodology for producing the estimates are provided in the ‘Methodological Annex for Measuring Tax Gaps 2013’.

Both documents can be accessed via the following page on the HMRC website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/measuring-tax-gaps

Tax Avoidance

Mr O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) with reference to HM Revenue and Customs' consultation document, Tackling marketed tax avoidance, published on 24 January 2014, whether consideration was given to (a) running the consultation for longer than one calendar month and (b) initiating it earlier, to allow more time for the decision-taking process in advance of the March 2014 Budget Statement; [196163]

(2) with reference to the statement by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in his foreword to HM Revenue and Customs' consultation document, Tackling marketed tax avoidance, that there is evidence that in the vast majority of cases of challenges in court to tax avoidance schemes, when the dispute is resolved, tax is due, what that evidence is and what the range and frequency of amounts so due has been, on a graduated scale from £1 owing and upwards. [196161]

Mr Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been successful in challenging tax avoidance and, in relation to avoidance cases that go to litigation, around 80% of cases litigated resulting in the tax being due. This led to around £1.7 billion of tax being protected in 2013. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the range and frequency of amounts of tax due without causing undue cost on the Department to provide the information.

The Government considered different options for the consultation period for the proposals but concluded that the time period made available was reasonable. There were a very large number of responses, which suggests that the timescale did not cause any undue impediment to those who wished to give their views in response to the consultation. ‘Tackling marketed tax avoidance’ followed on from the earlier consultation over the summer of 2013 ‘Raising the stakes on tax avoidance’, which consulted in detail on the initial proposal for the Follower Notice measure.

Taxation: Financial Services

Mr Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has held with financial institutions based in the UK in respect of improving tax transparency in other jurisdictions in which they or their subsidiaries operate. [195444]

Mr Gauke: The Government carried out a formal consultation, starting in September 2013, on the capital requirements directive’s tax transparency proposals for financial institutions which require country-by-country reporting. The records of the consultation are publicly available.

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VAT: Publishing

Mr Burley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with their EU counterparts on (a) VAT rates on e-books, digital magazines and newspapers and (b) application of reduced rates; and if he will make a statement. [196173]

Mr Gauke: Officials discuss a variety of VAT issues with the European Commission and the officials of other member states.

Education

Academies

Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether academies are permitted to (a) sell and (b) otherwise financially profit from their holding of school title deeds which were formally held by local authorities. [195447]

Mr Timpson: When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust.

There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice

A copy of the guidance has been placed in the House Library.

Mr Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what criteria Ofsted uses when inspecting academies that do not follow the National Curriculum in Key Stage 3 and do not use National Curriculum levels; and how Ofsted judges pupil progress in these circumstances. [195802]

Mr Laws: This question is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.

Academies: Admissions

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which academy schools have been granted a relaxation or variation of the school admissions code; and what the nature of each such relaxation or variation is. [195798]

Mr Timpson: All academy schools’ funding agreements require them to comply with admissions legislation and the school admissions code. The Secretary of State for Education can agree different arrangements (‘derogations’) for individual academies and free schools but would only do so in limited circumstances where it would benefit local children.

Derogations are contained within the admission annex of the relevant funding agreements published at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

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All free schools are able to allocate places outside of local authority co-ordination in their first year; while all academy schools opened since 2012 can prioritise admissions for pupils eligible for the pupil and service premiums. We would also permit those opening before 2012 to change their funding agreements in order to give priority to such pupils.

Specific derogations have also been agreed for individual schools. As stated on the Department’s website, where parents have worked hard to create a free school, we will consider requests to allow a limited number of founder’s children in that school to get priority in admissions. We have permitted a small number of free schools to give priority to founder’s children. These are detailed in the schools’ funding agreements. Specific derogations are also in place for three academy schools set up under the previous Administration, in Belvedere Academy (Liverpool) for a transitional period until 2015 to allow pupils on the roll of an independent school that used to be part of Belvedere to be admitted to the academy; in Priory LSST (Lincoln), to permit it to select 10% of its students by technology and in Ormiston Academy (Birmingham) to allow it—as a regional centre for the arts—to select the majority of its pupils by aptitude for the performing arts.

Autism

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment his Department has made of the DSM-5 diagnosis method for autism. [195762]

Mr Timpson: The Department for Education has made no assessment of the Diagnostic and Statistical 5 (DSM-5) diagnosis for autism. Diagnostic methods are matters for appropriately qualified professionals. Schools and local authorities have duties to identify, assess and make suitable provision for children with special educational needs whether they have a medical diagnosis or not.

Children in Care

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 556W, on children in care, if he will publish the list of local authorities which provided information on virtual school head teachers. [195781]

Mr Timpson: All 152 local authorities in England have provided information about officers in the authority who are carrying out the virtual school head role.

Children: Cerebral Palsy

Mr Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure parents are aware of the early years educational support available to children with cerebral palsy under two years of age. [195484]

Elizabeth Truss: The Early Years Foundation Stage framework makes clear that providers must have and implement a policy and procedures to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care, including support for children with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities.

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The Government are introducing wide-ranging reforms through the Children and Families Act 2014 to improve provision and support for children and young people with SEN and disabilities from birth up to the age of 25.

The Act requires local authorities to publish a local offer of services for children with SEN or a disability which will include children with cerebral palsy. The local offer will set out in one place information about provision families can expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people who have SEN or are disabled, including those who do not have Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

The local offer will also provide parents with clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the services and support available and how to access it, including that from early years services. This should include relevant services from agencies such as Portage and Early Support, arrangements for identifying and assessing children’s needs in the early years and support available to parents to aid their child’s development at home.

The offer will make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving families and service providers in its development and review, enabling them to have a greater say in how services and support develop over time.

The new birth to 25 SEN Code of Practice, due to come into force from September 2014, will set out clear expectations for practitioners on how they work together with families of children with SEN or disability to understand their child’s needs and help them to access support quickly.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what assessment he has made of the quality of early years education support for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy; [195705]

(2) what discussions he has had with the Department of Health on joint working to produce best practice guidance for education and health professionals to ensure that children with cerebral palsy have their needs identified and supported. [195704]

Mr Timpson: Under the Children and Families Act 2014, health bodies identifying a 0 to five-year-old child with special educational needs (SEN) or a disability must discuss this with the parent and bring the child to the attention of the local authority so they can consider whether an education, health and care plan is needed. The Department for Education is working with the Department of Health and NHS England to support health commissioners and clinicians to play their part in the SEN reforms.

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 a disability requiring specialist support. 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.

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

http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral_palsy_final.pdf

Children: Mental Health

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to deal with emotional neglect of children. [196374]

Mr Timpson: Our revised statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013’, includes a definition of emotional abuse which social workers already act on when deciding on what action to take to keep a child safe.

We want social workers and other professionals who work with children and families to recognise the early signs of all forms of abuse and neglect and take appropriate action. To support this, the Department is working on a number of initiatives. We have brought together a panel of experts to review the evidence concerning indicators of neglect that are associated with a likelihood of future harm to babies, pre-school children and school-age children.

We are reviewing the recommendations in the Action for Children report ‘Child Neglect: The scandal that never breaks’ and the Ofsted report ‘In the child's time: professional responses to neglect’ and will consider how to support professionals in recognising early signs of all forms of neglect. We are also working with the Department of Health on their proposals for the development of a new criminal offence of ill-treatment or wilful neglect. Following the Narey review, we are improving social work training and developing further the skills of social workers in critical areas including neglect and how to undertake a good quality assessment.

We have also published training materials commissioned from Action for Children and the University of Stirling. These materials, ‘Childhood neglect: Improving outcomes for children’, contain guidance and training resources to help staff identify and respond early to all signs of neglect and to know what types of interventions are the most effective.

Children: Social Services

Mr Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what resource is available to parents who believe that Social Services departments are behaving unreasonably in pursuing their children's safeguarding activities. [196247]

Mr Timpson: Parents should, in the first instance, complain to the service provider or the local authority’s complaints officer if they are unhappy about the way a local authority has handled a specific case. They may find it helpful to contact the local authority to obtain details of the authority’s own complaints procedure. Details of how to complain about a local authority service can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/make-a-complaint

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Parents may wish to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) if they feel dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint under the local authority procedure. More information on making a complaint to the LGO is available at www.lgo.org.uk or by calling the LGO advice line on 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983.

Consultants

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by his Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid. [195572]

Elizabeth Truss: Under this Government’s transparency programme, details of spend is published on gov.uk which is available at:

http://data.gov.uk/data/openspending-report/index

Creationism

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what mechanisms his Department has put in place to ensure that (a) schools, (b) nurseries and (c) learning establishments receiving any funds or endorsement from his Department teach evolution and do not teach that creationism is scientifically valid. [196449]

Elizabeth Truss: The Government’s policy is that evolution should be taught in schools as an essential element of a rigorous scientific education; teaching creationism as science is incompatible with the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum.

The national curriculum requires all maintained schools to teach evolution as an established scientific theory. All academies and free schools are required to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum. The model funding agreements for all kinds of academies and free schools are being revised. The latest published version includes a specific requirement to teach evolution, and prohibits the teaching of creationism as an evidence-based theory.

As in all areas of education, we look to Ofsted as the best and most effective lever to ensure expected standards are being achieved. All state-funded schools are subject to Ofsted inspections which are required to report on the quality of education provided in the school including the quality of teaching.

Providers in receipt of early years funding must follow clear standards to make sure children are taught the key skills they need to get a good start in life. Where an Ofsted inspector identifies any concerns, they must notify Ofsted’s compliance, investigation and enforcement team, which will consider notifying the appropriate agencies.

We expect the Government’s position on creationism and evolution to be supported by any learning establishment in receipt of funding from the Department for Education to support science education.

Employment Agencies

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them. [195550]

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Elizabeth Truss: Under this Government's transparency programme, details of spend for the Department for Education are published on gov.uk which are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-education

To provide the level of detail requested in relation to agency fees would incur disproportionate cost.

Free School Meals

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support he plans to give schools which have no kitchen facilities and are unable to build such facilities because of financial constraints, and which cannot have meals delivered from other local schools, to enable them to provide free school meals for infant children; and if he will make a statement. [196056]

Mr Laws: The Government are providing £150 million capital funding in 2014-15 to support the introduction of universal infant free school meals, in addition to over £1 billion additional revenue funding over the two years 2014 to 2016. Local authorities are also free to use some of the capital they receive for general maintenance and improvement purposes to upgrade kitchen and dining facilities in schools, if that is a priority locally.

The pilots of universal free school meal provision which ran in Newham and Durham between 2009 and 2011 showed, however, that building new facilities is not the only way to increase school meal uptake.

To help schools to find solutions which meet their local circumstances, on 6 March we launched a national support service which consists of a telephone and online advice service for schools, local authorities and caterers, and a direct-support service for schools which need additional support. The service is being provided by school food experts, the Children’s Food Trust and the Lead Association for Catering in Education, in conjunction with a number of delivery partners. More information is available at:

http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/Root/schools/schoolfoodplan

Park View Educational Trust

Mr Khalid Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will direct the Park View Educational Trust to disclose the sources of other income, donations or fundraisers as identified in its accounts. [195786]

Mr Timpson: Under the terms of their funding agreements with my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, all academy trusts are required to prepare annual financial statements in accordance with company, charity and public accountability requirements. Academy trusts are required to have their financial statements audited by a registered auditor, including the regularity of income and expenditure. Disclosure requirements are set out in the Academies Accounts Direction, which is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-accounts-direction-2013

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Policy

Mr O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in what circumstances he uses a calculation of the (a) value of preventing a fatality, (b) willingness to pay and (c) cost-per-quality adjusted life year approach to quantify the value of a policy intervention; what other tools he uses to quantify the benefit of a policy intervention; and if he will make a statement. [196461]

Elizabeth Truss: Department for Education economists employ a range of valuation tools as appropriate to specific policy interventions in order to advise Ministers, following the principles and techniques prescribed in HM Treasury guidance. Such techniques are also used as appropriate in research commissioned by the Department, for instance in policy evaluations.

Primary Education: Admissions

Mr Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 205W, on primary education: admissions, and of 6 March 2014, Official Report, column 904W, on academies, regarding primary school admissions from nursery schools, if he will make it his policy to reject the Chief Schools Adjudicator's recommendation to issue further guidance for admission authorities and instead amend the admissions code to enable primary schools to create all-through primary schools that include the years prior to reception. [R] [196101]

Mr Laws: The school admissions code does not prevent a school from becoming an all-through primary school for children aged two or three to age 11. It does, however, prevent schools from giving priority for reception places to children who have been admitted to the nursery class unless they can do so fairly and without disadvantaging children whose parents choose other forms of early education.

Ministers are considering the Chief Schools Adjudicator’s recommendation that they issue further guidance for admission authorities so that there is fair access to schools for all children.

We take fair access very seriously but also want to explore the incentives for schools to use their expertise to enhance early years education.

Private Sector

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by his Department since May 2010. [195508]

Elizabeth Truss: The number of jobs transferred from the Department for Education to the private sector since May 2010 is set out in the following table:

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Pupil Exclusions

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2014, Official Report, columns 787-8W, on pupil exclusions: autism, how much funding is allocated specifically to exclusion advisers. [195809]

Elizabeth Truss: Funding is given to the National Autistic Society under the Department’s National Prospectus Grants Programme covering April 2013 to March 2015. Of the £440,000 under this grant, the Society estimates that some £80,000 over the two years will have been spent on the exclusions work. This will cover the salary of the exclusion adviser, related costs such as pension and national insurance contributions, recruitment costs, overheads, the production of resources, along with a report and its dissemination.

Pupil Exclusions: Bullying

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools suspended pupils for (a) bullying and (b) cyber-bullying between 2004 and the latest date for which information is available. [196060]

Elizabeth Truss: Figures on the number of schools that excluded one or more of their pupils for bullying since the 2004/05 academic year have been provided in the following table. Information on cyber bullying is not collected by the Department for Education.

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Pupils: Disadvantaged

Mr Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether Ofsted's interpretation of closing the attainment gap between pupils eligible and not eligible for free school meals relates to the gap in attainment nationally or in the school being inspected. [R] [195857]

Mr Laws: This question is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.

Schools: Disadvantaged

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have visited schools in the areas of highest deprivation since May 2010; and if he will make a statement. [195371]

Elizabeth Truss: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has made a priority of visiting schools and colleges located in deprived areas. Almost two thirds of the schools and colleges the Secretary of State has visited since 2010 are located in the 50% most deprived areas of England according to the 2010 Index of Multiple Deprivation. This does not include political or constituency visits.

It is not possible to say on how many occasions officials from the Department have visited schools in this group, as this information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Flags

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the merits of requiring all schools in the UK to fly the Union flag. [196305]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education has made no such assessment.

Schools: Inspections

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reasons local authorities are inspected by Ofsted separately from schools maintained by local authorities. [196164]

Mr Laws: The Chief Inspector has powers to carry out an inspection of the performance of a particular local authority function as set out in Section 136(1)(b) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Specifically, he can use this power to inspect how well the local authority is fulfilling its general duty to promote high standards and fulfilment by every child of their educational potential as set out in Section 13A of the Education Act 1996.

These powers are separate from his powers and duties in relation to the inspection of individual schools which are set out in Section 5 and Section 8 of the Education Act 2005. Section 5 requires Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector

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to inspect individual schools at prescribed intervals, and Section 8 Education Act 2005, contains a general power which enables the Chief Inspector to call for the inspection of a school in circumstances where he is not required to inspect.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 81W, on academies, for what reason bodies which run academy chains are not inspected by Ofsted separately from the individual schools run by the academy chains. [196165]

Mr Timpson: Ofsted already inspects academy chains through batched inspections of schools within chains. It has recently undertaken focused inspections of academies within E-ACT multi-academy trust, and has previously inspected a group of academies within the AET chain. This has shown to be an effective approach and there are no plans to widen Ofsted’s legal powers to include the inspection of head offices.

Sixth Form Colleges

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he plans to provide capital funding for sixth form colleges to enable them to provide free school meals to disadvantaged pupils. [195955]

Matthew Hancock: We are making available approximately £75 million revenue funding over the course of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 financial years to enable sixth-form and further education colleges to provide free meals to disadvantaged 16 to 18-year-old students.

We will publish advice on the funding and implementation of this policy shortly.

Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what criteria were used to calculate the levels of area cost adjustment used for sixth form colleges in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) Oxfordshire; and how frequently those criteria are reviewed. [195956]

Matthew Hancock: Area cost adjustments for 16-19 education and training are based on the differing wage costs across England, as indicated by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The same area cost index is used for sixth form colleges as for all other post-16 institutions in England that are funded by the Department for Education. It is also used for education and training for adults funded by the Skills Funding Agency.

The current area cost index was developed in 2002 by the Learning and Skills Council and has been reviewed on several occasions since then. Initially Cambridgeshire did not have an area cost adjustment, but in 2008 there was a specific review of the area cost adjustment for the county, which considered a range of factors and gave Cambridgeshire an uplift of 2% for the academic year 2009/10 and all years subsequently. The uplift for Oxfordshire is 7%.

The whole post-16 funding formula was reviewed in 2012, and we decided at that stage not to make any changes to area cost adjustments.

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Social Services: Somerset

Mr Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures are in place to check whether the decision made by Somerset County Council on safeguarding children are fair in their treatment of parents. [196246]

Mr Timpson: In ‘Working Together 2013’, the Department for Education set out the expectations and requirements of all local authorities in relation to their statutory duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. A copy of ‘Working Together 2013’ can be found in the Library of the House, or online at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/281368/Working_together_to_safeguard_children.pdf

This includes how children and families should be treated during any investigations. Should any parent be dissatisfied about the way a local authority has handled a specific case, they may find it helpful to obtain details of the authority’s own complaints procedure.

Parents may wish to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if they feel dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint under the local authority procedures. It is the Ombudsman’s role to investigate complaints in a fair and independent manner.

Assessment of overall children’s services provision and safeguarding is undertaken independently by Ofsted under the new Single Inspection Framework.

Mr Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the performance of the children and families department in Somerset County Council. [196248]

Mr Timpson: Ofsted inspected Somerset county council’s arrangements for the protection of children between 24 June 2013 and 3 July 2013 and published its findings on 5 August 2013. Ofsted judged the authority’s performance as ‘inadequate’.

My officials met with representatives of Somerset county council on 20 August 2013 to discuss the Ofsted judgment, the Department's proposed course of action and the council's immediate plans for improvement.

I wrote to the leader of Somerset county council, John Osman, on 13 September 2013 to underline my concern at the Ofsted judgment of performance and set out my intention to issue the council with an Improvement Notice.

I issued a 12-month Improvement Notice to Somerset county council on 22 November 2013, requiring the council to institute an improvement board headed by an independent chair to drive improvement and hold partners to account. The improvement board has sat monthly since October 2013 and I am represented at each board by my officials.

I plan to visit Somerset county council to assess improvements for myself. My officials will also undertake a review of progress in June 2014 and report findings to me. I will then assess progress against the Improvement Notice and Ofsted recommendations and decide whether to intervene further.

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Special Educational Needs

Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the additional financial contributions made by parents to top up care for children with statements of special educational need. [195754]

Mr Timpson: The Department for Education has not made such an estimate. Where a child has a statement of special educational needs (SEN), it should detail the provision that the child requires to meet their SEN. The local authority has a duty to ensure that the provision set out in the statement is made.

Where a parent feels that the provision specified in a statement is no longer sufficient, they can request a reassessment. They can appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability against any decision not to re-assess, or if they do not agree with the provision set out in the resulting statement.

The Children Act 2014 makes provision for education, health and care plans (EHC plans) to replace statements. EHC plans will cover the full range of the child’s needs. They will be subject to the same protections and rights of appeal as statements. In addition there will be a new duty on health commissioners to arrange health provision set out in the EHC plan.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2014, Official Report, column 191W, on special educational needs, which local authorities will trial the First-Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) pilots. [196028]

Mr Timpson: We have not yet selected the local authorities for the pilot.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2014, Official Report, columns 789-90, on special educational needs, when he expects the special educational needs (SEN) gateway will be available for all parents of SEN children; [196031]

(2) what support his Department is providing to Nasen. [196029]

Mr Timpson: The Department for Education is providing funding of £918,000 to Nasen over two years to develop a special educational needs (SEN) gateway. This will provide professionals with access to free high-quality SEN resources and training materials to support children with SEN and disabilities.

The gateway will be designed primarily for educational professionals in schools, colleges and other educational settings rather than for parents, although they will be able to access the gateway. It is due to be launched in May 2014.

Stationery

Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what levels of stock his Department holds of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables. [196203]

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Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

University Technical Colleges

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2014, Official Report, column 633W, on university technical colleges, if he will publish the information he plans to publish in June 2014 immediately. [195815]

Mr Timpson: The information previously requested will be published in the statistical first release ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2014’, in June 2014.

This is in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Vocational Guidance

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish statutory guidance on careers advice. [196107]

Matthew Hancock: The revised statutory guidance “Careers guidance and inspiration in schools” was published on 10 April.

Effective from September 2014, the guidance sets a clear framework for schools with a focus on preparation for work and high ambitions for every student. This important guidance will encourage schools to build links with employers to inspire and mentor pupils, helping them to develop high aspirations and realise their potential.

Non-statutory departmental advice has also been published containing examples of schools that already offer innovative careers guidance.

Copies of both documents have been placed in the House Library and can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-for-young-people-in-schools

International Development

Afghanistan

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of levels of violence against women in Afghanistan. [196071]

Justine Greening: The UK Government share the widespread concern about attacks and intimidation faced by Afghan women, including those who work to defend the rights and fundamental freedoms of others.

Eliminating violence against women and girls is a strategic priority for DFID’s work in Afghanistan and a range of programmes are being implemented to directly tackle women’s violence and support women’s empowerment.

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Bananas: Diseases

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what assessment the Government have made of the spread of Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race Four; [195325]

(2) what steps her Department is taking internationally to stem the spread of Fusarium Wilt Tropical Race Four. [195326]

Lynne Featherstone: DFID support international partners monitoring the disease’s spread. The UK is one of the largest funders of the international agriculture research consortium, the CGIAR (Group on International Agricultural Research). The CGIAR, FAO and national partners have established a task force to track the disease spread and to develop an effective response.

In Mozambique, where a new outbreak of TR4 was reported November 2013, all sites where the disease was found have now been isolated, the affected plants destroyed, and appropriate phytosanitary measures have been put in place to prevent the disease from spreading. A consortium of partners, including the Mozambique Department of Agriculture, the CGIAR, Stellenbosch University, FAO and National Agricultural Research and Regulatory Organisations throughout Africa is being mobilised to address the outbreak, monitor plantations and raise awareness.

CDC

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman into the complaint raised by a constituent of the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion regarding her Department’s oversight of CDC Group Investments published in February 2014 and her letter of 19 November 2013 to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion stating that she would reply in full after the publication of the Ombudsman’s report, when she plans to make that full reply. [196113]

Justine Greening: I have replied to the hon. Member’s latest correspondence on this issue.

Consultants

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by her Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid. [195579]

Mr Duncan: The 10 consultancy firms paid the most by the Department for International Development in the last financial year, and how much each was paid; is detailed in the following table.

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Developing Countries: Agriculture

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support her Department gives to the World Economic Forum's New Vision for Agriculture. [196356]

Justine Greening: DFID does not provide financial support to the World Economic Forum's New Vision for Agriculture initiative.

Developing Countries: Females

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the Agreed Conclusions of the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, if she will support the inclusion of a specific target on women's full, equal and effective participation in all fields and leadership at all levels of decision-making within the post-2015 development framework. [196376]

Lynne Featherstone: I am pleased that the Agreed Conclusions reached by member states at the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) included a call for a dedicated goal on gender equality, women’s and girls’ empowerment and the human rights of girls and women. It also called for ending all forms of violence against women and girls; economic empowerment; leadership and participation in decision- making; and ending harmful practice, including child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation.

The UK statement at the CSW highlighted the need for a dedicated goal on gender equality, and the empowerment of girls and women in the post-2015 framework. We are working with others across the international community, including civil society, to ensure that this is achieved.

Developing Countries: Food

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much support her Department is giving to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. [196345]

Justine Greening: The UK has committed a total of £600 million to the New Alliance for Food, Security and Nutrition. This includes £480 million in funding commitments made through Country Cooperation Frameworks; a £76 million contribution to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme and a further £44 million for enabling actions. The New Alliance was launched in May 2012 and the full £600 million will be spent by the end of 2018.

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Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how her Department measures the effect of support for the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. [196346]

Justine Greening: Every DFID programme which is contributing to the New Alliance initiative is subject to DFID's annual review processes. In addition, this year, partner Governments will conduct their first annual reviews of the effects of the New Alliance at country level.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support her Department gives to small-scale food producers in areas supported by the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. [196347]

Justine Greening: DFID funding to New Alliance programmes is not disaggregated in the form requested, though much of the expenditure committed by DFID under the New Alliance includes programmes which specifically targets smallholder farmers.

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what conditions are placed on recipients of support from the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. [196357]

Justine Greening: The New Alliance Co-operation Frameworks in each country outline mutual commitments of Governments, the private sector and development partners and create an enabling environment for responsible investment.

Developing Countries: HIV Infection

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much of the overseas aid budget is being used to help combat the spread and treatment of HIV and Aids; and in which countries. [196112]

Lynne Featherstone: The UK Government’s expenditure on HIV is provided through: UK Government contributions to multilateral and global initiatives that work on HIV prevention and treatment; HIV-specific bilateral projects and programmes; bilateral support to health systems and service delivery; and by supporting HIV related research.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is the principal mechanism the UK uses to finance our contribution to combat HIV. The UK has pledged up to £1 billion to the Global Fund over the next three years, of which around 50% will be spent on HIV. In 2012-13 the UK provided £90.4 million to HIV-specific bilateral projects and programmes, supporting HIV prevention and treatment in 17 countries and across a number of regional programmes. Further details of these projects and programmes are available in the 2013 review of the HIV Position Paper “Towards Zero Infections"

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/261341/Towards_Zero_Infections_-_Two_Years_On_22_November_FINAL_word_version.pdf

Details of the total expenditure on health are published in Statistics on International Development (SID) which is available in the House Library or online at

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development

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Developing Countries: Nutrition

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how much of the £32 million for the creation of a new catalytic fund, announced at the Nutrition for Growth summit, has been disbursed; [R] [195788]

(2) what progress she has made on the creation of the catalytic fund announced at the Nutrition for Growth summit; [R] [195789]

(3) pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2013, Official Report, column 568W, on catalytic fund, whether it has been agreed how the catalytic fund will function and who will be able to access funding; and if she will make a statement. [R] [195792]

Lynne Featherstone: The new catalytic financing mechanism will aim to provide incentives to attract new private funds alongside increased domestic budgets for high impact nutrition interventions. The scope and governance of the fund is being developed with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. No funds have been disbursed. DFID will consider its own contribution once the mechanism and governance have been agreed.

Developing Countries: Satellites

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she has taken to ensure developing countries can access UK satellite technology to monitor local agricultural land and environmental risks; and if she will make a statement. [196128]

Lynne Featherstone: DFID is supporting projects that use satellite data. DFID supports the World Agroforestry Centre to use data to help monitor and assess agriculture land use and environmental risks including land degradation. DFID contributes to the UK Environment Observations Framework Coordinating Climate Observations Group which co-ordinates Her Majesty's Government activities supporting the development and use of climate data, including from satellites.

Employment Agencies

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for her Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them. [195557]

Mr Duncan: The following list details the five companies used most often to provide temporary workers for DFID in financial year 2013-14:

1. Hays Specialist Recruitment Ltd

2. Hudson Global Resources Ltd

3. Anderson Knight Ltd

4. Allegis Group Ltd

5. Michael Page International

It is not possible to disaggregate agency fees from the total payments made to these companies for the services of temporary staff.

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Falkland Islands

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many UK construction companies are involved in development projects in the Falkland Islands. [195966]

Mr Duncan: The Falkland Islands are not eligible for official development assistance and the UK Government do not fund any development projects on the Falklands.

Lesotho

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects her Department has in Lesotho. [196073]

Lynne Featherstone: Lesotho does not receive any direct development funding from the UK, but does benefit through DFID’s Southern Africa regional programmes. UK support to Lesotho is mainly delivered through civil society organisations such as Gender Links, Commonwealth Business Council and Common Ground Initiative, a joint fund with Comic Relief.

Middle East

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many visits she made to the Jordan Valley in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012. [196106]

Justine Greening: The former Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), visited the Jordan Valley in 2011.

Pacific Islands

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to her answer of 5 March 2014, Official Report, column 871, on Pacific Islands, how much support, and under what categories her Department gave indirectly to Pacific Island countries in 2013-14. [196375]

Mr Duncan: DFID may give aid indirectly to countries in the Pacific region if multilateral organisations in receipt of DFID core contributions give aid to countries there. It is not possible to directly track this funding to individual countries. To provide an indication of the destination of aid, the overall proportions of aid reported by the relevant multilateral agencies are used to impute a DFID contribution. The DFID imputed multilateral shares for the Pacific region in 2011-12 are set out in the following table. Figures for 2013-14 will not be available until autumn 2015.

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Private Sector

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 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. [195514]

Mr Duncan: No DFID jobs have been transferred to the private sector as a result of privatisation or outsourcing since May 2010.

Stationery

Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what levels of stock her Department holds of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables. [196211]

Mr Duncan: DFID does not hold information on stock levels. Stationery and other items, including printer cartridges, are ordered and distributed as and when required.

Tanzania

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how her Department plans to support the Tanzanian Government to ensure the effective implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy for All Children, pre and primary education age, in and out of school programme; [R] [195790]

(2) what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of out-of-school street children in Tanzania. [R] [195787]

Lynne Featherstone: DFID is the largest financier of the Global Partnership for Education and in Tanzania has supported the award of a £57 million grant to implement the “Literacy and Numeracy Education Support (LANES)” programme. LANES targets the acquisition of reading, writing and numeracy skills among children in and out of school, targeting especially the marginalised.

DFID's programme in Tanzania provides major support to basic education. In 2013-14 £24 million of education sector budget support was provided directly to the Tanzanian Government. In addition a £49 million

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programme of support commenced, to improve the overall quality of primary education in seven disadvantaged regions.