Air Travel

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education on what occasions each Minister within his Department has taken domestic flights on official business since May 2010. [204292]

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education does not hold a list of domestic flights taken by each Minister on official business. A list could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

Business: Education

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent steps he has taken to encourage businesses to engage with schools so that students develop a more practical understanding of business. [204193]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education wants to give employers a much greater role in inspiring and motivating young people about the world of work. We published statutory guidance in April to improve links between schools and employers so that pupils can receive careers advice from people with experience of business. More employers are getting involved by interacting with young people in the classroom and giving them an insight into the workplace. This can also include coaching, mentoring, work tasters and work experience. From October we are reshaping the role of the National Careers Service (NCS) to expand its offer to schools and colleges. It will be easier for employers and educators to participate in the NCS.

We are taking steps to connect the education system to the world of work to ensure that young people have the skills, experience and qualifications that employers want. Last month we announced the introduction of Technical Awards for students aged between 14 and 16.

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These qualifications, which are equivalent to GCSEs, are developed in partnership with employers and will give students the opportunity to develop practical skills.

The Department has introduced Tech Levels for students aged between 16 and 19 who want to learn technical skills as an alternative to, or alongside, A levels. The 227 Tech Levels taught from September 2014 are all endorsed by employers, trades or professional bodies and cover most practical careers. From September 2016, all Tech Level courses will also involve employers in the delivery or assessment of the qualification.

Care to Learn Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) men and (b) women received support from the Care to Learn scheme in each of the last two academic years; what the total cost of the Care to Learn scheme was in each such year; and what the projected cost of the scheme will be in 2014-15. [204006]

Elizabeth Truss: The number of (a) men and (b) women who received support from the Care to Learn scheme in the last two academic years; and the total costs of the scheme in those years are shown as follows:

2012 to 2013 academic year

Men: 47

Women: 6,454

Cost: £32.76 million.

2013 to 2014 academic year¹

Men: 39

Women: 5,389

Cost: £ 23.69 million.

The estimated cost for the scheme in the 2014 to 2015 academic year is £30.79 million.

The scheme is demand-led. The fall in cost between 2012-13 and 2013-14 is due to falling demand caused by significant decline in the 16 to 19 cohort.

¹Take up figures and costs to the end of May 2014.

Children: Cerebral Palsy

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department provides for early years professionals on support for children with cerebral palsy; and if he will make a statement. [204515]

Mr Timpson: The Early Years Foundation Stage sets standards for learning, development and care. It is

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designed to be fully inclusive for all children and respond appropriately to the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which can include cerebral palsy.

The Department for Education provides funding to Early Support and has provided guidance on practice for children with SEND for parents and others on cerebral palsy.

This guidance, published in 2012, can be found online at:

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

The reforms in part 3 of Children and Families Act 2014 are designed to improve support for all children and young people with SEND. The 0-25 SEND Code of Practice which is currently being considered by Parliament has a specific section for early years providers which detail their statutory responsibilities and how they are expected to work together with partners in health and social care.

Classroom Assistants: Pay

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on a national pay grading structure for teaching assistants. [204429]

Mr Laws: The Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath is not responsible for the pay and conditions of teaching assistants. These matters are determined by school employers.

Education: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much (a) revenue and (b) capital funding was provided to each pupil in state (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in (A) York local authority and (B) Yorkshire and the Humber in (1) cash terms and (2) at 2014 prices in 1995-96 and in each year since. [202875]

Mr Laws: As York only became a local authority in 1996-97 as a result of local government reorganisation, comparable funding data are only available from this date.

Average per pupil revenue funding figures, from the Department for Education to local authorities, for pupils aged three to 10 (primary) and 11 to 15 (secondary) for York specifically, and the Yorkshire and Humber region on average, for years 1997-98 to 2005-06 are as follows. These figures are in cash terms:

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These figures are in real terms using March 2014 GDP deflators in 2012-13 prices:

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Per pupil are figures using standard spending assessment (SSA)/education formula share (EFS) allocations and pupils aged three to 15.

With the introduction of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) in 2006-07, the changes to the funding mechanism meant figures were no longer comparable with previous years.

The 1997-98 to 2005-06 figures are based on EFS which formed the education part of the local government finance settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. The DSG is based largely on a local authority’s previous spending. In addition, the DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS comprised a schools block and a local education authority (LEA) block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the EFS school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG’s local government finance settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department’s time series as the two sets of data are not comparable.

To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, the Department has isolated the EFS school block equivalent funding in 2005-06; as described above this does not represent the totality of ‘education’ funding in that year.

Figures for financial years 2005 to 2013 are shown as follows. These are in cash terms:

These are in real terms using June 2014 GDP deflators in 2013-14 prices:

Per pupil figures are using DSG allocations plus other schools related grants, e.g. school standards grant, school standards grant (personalisation), standards fund etc. and pupils aged three to 15 rounded to the nearest £10. Most of the additional grants were mainstreamed into DSG in 2011-12.

These figures do not include pupil premium funding given to schools.

With the changes to DSG funding in financial year 2013 to 2014, i.e. funding allocated through three blocks, namely schools, early years and high needs, there is no longer a comparable overall figure with previous years. The following table shows the DSG schools block unit funding figures in cash and real terms for York LA.

These figures do not include pupil premium funding given to schools.

Since 2011-12 schools have received the Pupil Premium which targets funding at pupils from the most deprived backgrounds to help them achieve their full potential. In 2011-12, the premium was allocated for each pupil known to be eligible for Free School Meals, looked after children and children of parents in the armed services. In 2012-13 coverage was expanded to include pupils known to have been eligible for Free School Meals at any point in the last six years. The amounts per pupil amounts for each type of pupil are shown in following table in cash terms:

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Total Pupil Premium allocations for York local authority and the Yorkshire and Humberside region for each year are shown in the following table in cash terms:

These figures are in real terms:

Capital funding:

The following table shows capital funding for the financial years that are available. The data are in cash terms as allocations are phased across more than one year making real terms calculations meaningless. Complete information on the split of capital between phases of education is not held centrally.

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Yorkshire and the Humber also received £3.7 million in 2004-05, £5.2 million in 2005-06, £8.2 million in 2006-07, £69.3 million in 2007-08, £68.5 million in 2008-09, £90.7 million in 2009-10, £294.7 million in 2010-11, £190.9 million in 2011-12, £107.6 million in 2012-13 and £39.8 million in 2013-14 under the Building Schools for the Future Programme. Of this, York received £6.4 million in 2007-08, £13.9 million in 2008-09 and £8.3 million in 2009-10.

In addition to this, there are 30 schools being built under this Government’s Priority Schools Building Programme in the Yorkshire and Humber region, attracting approximately £290 million investment over the life of the programme.

Faith Schools

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department has issued in relation to restrictions on types of food that may be served and consumed in publicly-funded faith schools. [204358]

Mr Laws: The school food standards regulations apply for all schools, regardless of their religious status. We recently published new school food standards that will come into effect in January 2015. Alongside the standards, we have written a short guidance document for school cooks and caterers. This is published online at:

www.schoolfoodplan.com/standards

Family Courts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what funding his Department has provided to the Family Drug and Alcohol Court to date; and what his future funding plans are for the Family Drug and Alcohol Court. [204870]

Mr Timpson: The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) received cross-government funding from the Department for Education, the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice over four years (2008-10) to support its early pilot development. The Department for Education's contribution to this contract was £450,000.

The Department also gave additional funding (2010-12) of £150,000 each year to develop both a financial sustainability model for the future and a blueprint for the roll-out of other FDAC pilots in other areas.

The Department is currently funding The Tavistock and Portman £150,000 in 2013-14 and 2014-15 to continue the development and roll-out of the FDAC model. This money will be to enable FDAC to be developed further to be consistent with the revised Public Law Outline (PLO) 26-week time limit which came into force through the Children and Families Act 2014.

No decisions have been taken about future funding beyond 2015.

Freedom of Information

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years. [204274]

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Elizabeth Truss: Legal fees on cases relating to the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are not held centrally by the Department for Education and the cost of determining these over the past five years would exceed the disproportionate limit.

Languages: Education

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to increase the uptake of foreign languages in schools. [204492]

Elizabeth Truss: The new national curriculum in England introduces the teaching of a foreign language to key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) from September 2014. This will increase the take-up of foreign languages in both primary and secondary schools. By starting languages earlier, pupils will have longer to develop their skills to a high level before continuing with language learning in secondary school.

The English Baccalaureate is also already encouraging more young people to study a language at GCSE level. Take-up by key stage 4 pupils in England of a modern foreign language increased by over 20% between 2012 and 2013.

To support the introduction of languages at key stage 2, the Department for Education has allocated £350,000 this year to fund training on the new national curriculum for teachers of modern foreign languages in primary and secondary schools. The Department has also allocated £1.9 million to teaching schools to lead curriculum change across and within their teaching school alliances.

Approximately 46 of the projects being supported involve languages.

Pupils: Bullying

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to prevent bullying in infant and junior schools. [204382]

Elizabeth Truss: The Government have made preventing and tackling bullying in primary and secondary schools one of its top priorities by striking a balance between schools’ legal requirements, freedom and accountability.

All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils, including that which occurs online. Schools have the freedom to shape these measures in the context of their pupils’ needs. They are held to account by Ofsted for their effectiveness in preventing bullying, harassment and discrimination.

Through the Education Act 2011, we strengthened teachers’ powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour, including bullying. They can now issue same day detentions, confiscate banned items and search for, and if necessary delete, inappropriate images on mobile phones which might be linked to cyberbullying. This advice was updated in February 2014 to make clear that tough but proportionate sanctions can be deployed to deal with misbehaviour, which includes bullying. It is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools

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In 2011, the Government published streamlined advice for schools, reducing it from 481 pages to just 11 pages to make absolutely clear schools’ legal obligations to prevent and tackle bullying, and clarify teachers’ powers to discipline pupils for unacceptable behaviour. This advice is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying

In February 2014, we issued an online leaflet about schools’ responsibilities to support children who are bullied. This contains advice that makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child’s social, emotional and mental health needs. This advice is also published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying

To further support schools, in February 2014, the Department produced case studies showing good practice in how schools manage behaviour and bullying. The case studies give real life examples of what schools do to identify and respond to bullying. This is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/managing-behaviour-and-bullying-in-schools-case-studies

From September 2014, pupils in all four key stages will be taught about e-safety as part of the new curriculum. For the first time, schools will be legally required to teach e-safety to pupils in infant and junior schools. This will empower all young people to tackle cyberbullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology.

We are also providing £4 million of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau, to develop effective initiatives to prevent and tackle bullying.

School Meals

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to ensure that parents are made aware of the use of halal meat in school dinners where non-halal meat is not an option. [204383]

Mr Laws: The Government set out the minimum standards for school food, which make sure children are served healthy, nutritious meals at school. Head teachers, governors and their caterers are best placed to make decisions about their school food policies, and how to communicate those to parents.

Schools: Defibrillators

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to his Department's press release, Deal to provide life-saving defibrillators to schools, published in April 2014, what progress has been made on securing a supplier who will offer defibrillators to all schools at a reduced price in time for autumn term. [204673]

Mr Laws: Officials from the Department for Education are currently working in partnership with Department of Health colleagues and stakeholders to explore a range of options.

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Schools: Drugs

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of teaching assistants that administer medicine to children in local authority schools in England. [204509]

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

It is for schools to decide how they deploy their staff. We would expect that where schools in England employ support staff, many will have responsibilities to support pupils with medical conditions, including the administration of medicines.

Schools: Lead

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in how many schools in England is lead paint present. [204968]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of schools in England where lead paint is present.

Schools: Standards

Sir Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has to reform school performance measures to include destination data and include the number of school students who enter employment or work-based training. [204197]

Mr Laws: The Department for Education aims is to publish both the key stage 4 (KS4) and key stage 5 (KS5) destination measures in performance tables once we are content that the data are robust enough. KS4 education destinations are already included in performance tables, and have been since 2013, but before we publish full destinations data we have to test and evaluate it fully to ensure reliability.

We published the KS5 destination measure as experimental statistics in the 2014 destinations statistical first release¹ because of the inclusion of new institutions, such as independent schools and special schools, for the first time. The employment, training and characteristics data need to be fully tested and evaluated before they can be published on the performance tables website. Tables, including employment data and breakdowns of the data based on student characteristics for former KS4 students, have also been published in the destination measures’ statistical first release (experimental statistics) alongside the KS5 data.

¹ Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

Schools: Transport

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when data on children's travel behaviour stopped being collected as part of the School Census. [204703]

Elizabeth Truss: Due to the unreliability of the data collected, the pupil's mode of travel was removed from the school census data collection from January 2012.

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Senior Civil Servants

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many senior civil servants appointed to positions in his Department since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within that Department and (b) employed by a political party. [204322]

Elizabeth Truss: No senior civil servants appointed to positions in the Department for Education since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within the Department and (b) employed by a political party.

Teachers

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of qualified teachers who completed their studies in the last three years have a permanent teaching position. [204490]

Mr Laws: The information that the Department for Education holds will be published on 23 July as additional tables to the Statistical First Release “School Workforce in England, November 2013”. The information will be available in table C3. The Statistical First Release is published at the following web link:

https://www.Gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013

Teachers: Industrial Disputes

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure that pupils prevented from attending school as a result of strike action are given an opportunity to catch up on school work missed owing to the absence of teaching staff. [204398]

Elizabeth Truss: It is disappointing that pupils will be prevented from attending school as a result of strike action by the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Industrial action damages education, causes unnecessary disruption and undermines the public respect which teachers deserve.

If school work is missed owing to the absence of teaching staff, it will be the responsibility of the school to ensure that pupils are given an opportunity to catch up.

Training

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what professional development courses are made available to staff of his Department; and what the cost to the public purse is of each such course. [204341]

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education's staff use the Civil Service Learning Portal to access development courses. The Portal currently offers 298 face-to-face courses, 217 e-learning programmes and 6,000 learning resources.

E-learning courses and learning resources are free to access. Costs for face-to-face courses are dependent on where the course takes place and the number of delegates.

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Work and Pensions

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time between claim and a decision on disability living allowance for parents, guardians or representatives of disabled children under 16 years of age was in each of the last five years. [204918]

Mike Penning: The data provided are the Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT) which is the average time taken between an application being made and the date the customer was notified of the decision on their claim. This is displayed in Working Days.

Please see data in the following table.

Domestic Visits

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 721W, on official visits, what domestic visits each of the Ministers in his Department has made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was. [204366]

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what occasions each Minister within his Department has taken domestic flights on official business since May 2010. [204305]

Mike Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Details of all ministerial overseas travel is published on a quarterly basis.

Employment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which claimants will be exempt from participating in the supervised jobsearch pilot scheme. [204988]

Esther McVey: Guidance for Jobcentre Plus staff will say that the following claimants will not be suitable for the supervised jobsearch pilots.

Universal Credit claimants

New style JSA claimants

JSA Credits only claimants

Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) claimants

Postal claimants

Claimants with Special Customer Records (these are held clerically so would present problems in contract management/ tracking for the purposes of the evaluation)

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Pregnant claimants, who have already produced a MATB1 to the Jobcentre (these will be within 11 weeks of their due date, so will not have time to complete the provision)

Anyone currently not required to meet Actively Seeking Employment requirements

Those attending Work Choice/ Residential Training Centres

18 year olds Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs, eligible for Work Programme at 3 months, would need to be identified for Supervised Jobsearch at day one-work coaches would not have sufficient information)

Ex-offenders (eligible for Work Programme from day one)

Claimants who are participating in voluntary work and part-time workers (as there are resource implications too large for the pilot, given small number)

Claimants for whom travelling to the Supervised Jobsearch provider premises would be outside their daily travel to work time (90 minutes each way unless restrictions have been agreed)

Employment Schemes: Young People

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of wage incentives claimed by employers who have recruited employees aged 16-24 through the Work Programme or Jobcentre Plus in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014. [204633]

Esther McVey: Wage Incentives are available for 18 to 24-year-olds only. The latest available information for Youth Contract Wage Incentives was published in February 2014 and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283873/youth-contract-feb14.pdf

Freedom of Information

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years. [204287]

Mike Penning: It has not been possible to verify and disaggregate the legal fee spend into each individual year. To do so would require an analysis of each individual file and electronic records and analysing the work undertaken during each year and the costs raised against this work. Verifying and disaggregating the data in this manner would take the costs of responding to the question over the disproportionate cost threshold.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in receipt of housing benefit have moved to smaller properties since the introduction of the under-occupancy penalty in (a) 2014 to date and (b) 2013. [204813]

Esther McVey: The information requested as to how many people have moved to smaller properties is not available.

However this week the Department will be publishing a statistical analysis of changes in numbers subject to a reduction in housing benefit award as a result of the removal of the spare room subsidy.

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ICT

Mr Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops were lost by his Department in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date. [204806]

Mike Penning: The information that is available is provided in the following table, which includes details of items that were reported as lost or stolen:

The Department takes its statutory responsibilities to protect data and assets extremely seriously; however the above figures need to be viewed in the context of the number of users given that as at 31 March 2014, the Department employed over 88,000 staff.

The Department requires all portable devices to be encrypted, so as to protect the data contained on that media.

Where items have been stolen, necessary investigations are conducted, involving the police as appropriate.

Independent Living Fund

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 640W, on Independent Living Fund, what plans he has to publish his Department’s assessment of the effect on former users of the closure of the Independent Living Fund. [204113]

Mike Penning: The equality analysis setting out the implications of closing the Independent Living Fund was published on 6 March 2014. It will be updated if new information on the effect on former users is available.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 640W, on Independent Living Fund, when he expects his Department’s plans for evaluating the effect on former users of the closure of the Independent Living Fund will be completed; and when those plans will be published. [204114]

Mike Penning: The timing of the evaluation will reflect the need to allow local authorities sufficient time to complete detailed assessments of former users’ support needs, following the closure of the Independent Living Fund.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 640W, on independent living fund, what support his Department plans to provide users of the independent living fund affected by the closure of the fund. [204187]

Mike Penning: The Department continues to support the extensive work being undertaken by the independent living fund (ILF) to ensure an effective transfer for its users. This includes the code of practice agreed between the ILF and local authorities in England, backed by the

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Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA).

Industrial Accidents

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) minor, (b) serious and (c) fatal accidents at work have been reported in each region and constituent part of the UK in each of the last five years. [204539]

Mike Penning: These statistics are published on the Health and Safety Executive website at:

www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/regions/regtab.xls

for the latest year, and

www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/regions/reghist.xls

for the previous five years.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the independent review of jobseeker's allowance sanctions being conducted by Matthew Oakley to be laid before Parliament. [204479]

Esther McVey: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 106W.

Morecambe

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate how much money his Department has spent in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency since May 2010. [204782]

Mike Penning: The available information is shown in the following table.

Further benefit expenditure data can be found at the following URL:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables

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Personal Independence Payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2014, Official Report, column 126W, on personal independence payment, and with reference to the National Audit Office report, Personal Independence Payment: early progress, how his Department plans to recoup the £140 million shortfall in benefit savings estimated in that report while delivering the PIP reassessment programme within its original timescales and budget. [204224]

Mike Penning: We still plan to complete the process of having invited all eligible disability living allowance claimants to claim personal independence payment (PIP) by late 2017. Therefore, our overall assessment of the impacts of the introduction of PIP has not changed. We are still on course to make savings against earlier forecasts of £2.8 billion by 2017-18.

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 110W, on personal independence payment, what the average clearance times were for claims from terminally ill people at (a) 31 January 2014 and (b) 30 June 2014. [204989]

Mike Penning: Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication and the Department's analysts are currently considering what information will be included in the release.

Personal Independence Payment: Halton

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are currently waiting for an assessment for personal independence payment in the Halton local authority area; and what the average waiting time for an assessment is in that area. [204960]

Mike Penning: There are several reasons why a registered claim may not yet have a decision, for example the claimant has not yet returned their additional information form or is awaiting their assessment date, DWP have not yet made a decision on their claim, or the claimant has advised that they wish to withdraw their claim. At the end of March 2014, around 1,300 people in the Halton local authority had registered a new claim for PIP and around 400 decisions had been made.

Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication and the Department's analysts are currently considering what information will be included in the release.

Public Expenditure

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on (a) accommodation, (b) taxis or private cars and (c) alcoholic beverages in the last year. [204861]

Mike Penning: The Department for Work and Pensions incurred expenditure in the following categories in the financial year 2013-14:

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Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on (a) mobile telephones, (b) tablet computers and (c) office furniture in the last year. [204974]

Mike Penning: The information is as follows:

(a) The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has spent £121,699 on mobile phones during 2013-14.

(b) DWP has spent £21,378 on tablet computers during 2013-14.

(c) DWP occupies the majority of its estate under a private finance initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract.

Under this PFI, the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. The Department pays an inclusive unitary price for the space occupied, which includes the provision of office furniture.

However, for those buildings and furniture requirements outside of the scope of the PFI contract, the Department's spend (in the financial year (2013-14) was £608,000.

Senior Civil Servants

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many senior civil servants appointed to positions in his Department since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within that Department and (b) employed by a political party. [204335]

Mike Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Sick Leave: Stress

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of days lost owing to stress in (a) manual and (b) non-manual jobs in each year since 2010. [204965]

Mike Penning: The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on the cost to the economy of days lost owing to stress.

Social Security Benefits

Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff by grade and full-time equivalence are currently employed by his Department in dealing with policy on benefit sanctioning. [R] [204233]

Mike Penning: The information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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Social Security Benefits: Motor Neurone Disease

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will classify motor neurone disease as a terminal illness which qualifies for a fast-track assessment for welfare claims. [204826]

Mike Penning: Claims to attendance allowance, disability living allowance, employment and support allowance, incapacity benefit and personal independence payment from people who are terminally ill, as defined in law, are fast tracked. Claimants are considered to be terminally ill if they have a progressive disease as a result of which they are not expected to live longer than six months. Motor neurone disease is considered to be a progressive disease.

Suicide

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have disclosed an intention to commit suicide while (a) on the telephone to employees of his Department and (b) in person in his Department's premises or offices in each year since 2010. [204964]

Esther McVey: DWP does not collate information about the number of such incidents that may occur.

DWP provides guidance to its staff handling vulnerable customers.

14 July 2014 : Column 590W

Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what training employees of his Department receive about how to engage with people who (a) have mental health problems and (b) exhibit suicidal behaviour. [204966]

Esther McVey: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) trains staff in the skills required to support all customers and claimants.

Work Experience: Young People

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of 18 to 24 year olds who have started a work experience placement whilst claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) were not claiming JSA within six months of starting the placement. [204628]

Esther McVey: The Department’s early assessment of Work Experience’s impact tracked over 3,000 19 to 24-year-olds in terms of benefit receipt following a Work Experience placement between January and May 2011. After 21 weeks (5 months) 46% of these were not claiming an out of work benefit.

The published research can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/222943/early_impacts_of_work_experience.pdf