Higher Education: Admissions

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to widen access to higher education. [905330]

Greg Clark: In April this Government published a new national strategy for access and student success. It will help to ensure that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education have equal opportunity to participate and succeed. Data from UCAS show the number of applicants who had been accepted for entry to higher education this year was up by 4%, the highest ever at that point. The application and entry rate for disadvantaged students are at record levels.

Minimum Wage

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employers have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment since 1 October 2013; and of those how many have been identified under the Department's national minimum wage naming scheme. [208599]

Jo Swinson: The Government are committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and the effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.

Notices of Underpayment (NOU) have been issued in 571 cases where investigations were completed between 1 October 2013 and 31 July 2014. 118 of these were for investigations that commenced on or after 1 October 2013 and were therefore issued under the new scheme.

Of these, the Government have so far named 30 employers under the revised scheme. Between them they owed workers a total of over £50,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £24,000. Some employers may also not be named if they make representations that fall under the very exceptional circumstances of the scheme or if they have arrears of £100 or less. However, the vast majority of employers issued with a notice of underpayment will be named and shamed once the time limits for appeals have expired.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of named day written questions were answered by his Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 Session, (b) 2013-14 Session and (c) 2014-15 Session to date. [208416]

Jo Swinson: Departmental performance information, for ordinary and named day Parliamentary Questions, is collated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and submitted to the Procedure Committee. This is published on a sessional basis by the committee, and includes evidence regarding departmental performance. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 Session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report covering statistics relating to performance during the 2013-14 Session will be published very shortly by the Procedure Committee and will show that, for this Department, 938 of the 982 named day Parliamentary Questions (96%) received a substantive reply on the date stipulated by the Member.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills received 172 named day questions of which 151 (88%) were answered within the prescribed period during June-July 2014.

Justice

Apprentices

Dan Jarvis To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the proposed reform of apprenticeships; what effect those discussions will have on his Department's projects and the work of their supply chain; and whether officials in his Department sit on programme boards managing the reform. [208213]

Mike Penning: Ministers from the Ministry of Justice have not met directly with Ministers from Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to discuss the proposed reform of the apprenticeship scheme.

We currently only offer apprenticeships to existing members of staff, and so any proposed reforms to apprenticeship schemes will not have any impact on our current policies and processes.

Courts: Video Conferencing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 256W, on courts: video conferencing, if he will publish a list of the remote sites for giving evidence in England and Wales that are located away from court buildings. [208616]

Mr Vara: MOJ provides video conferencing capability in 84 Crown courts and 165 magistrates courts. Remote

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links to these courts are possible in any part of the country through the police and local arrangements with charitable organisations. For example Kent police supports three suites where evidence can be given away from court buildings.

MOJ also installed video conferencing equipment on the premises of the local authority in Barry, Glamorgan, in recognition that provision in South Wales needed to be improved. We are currently working with police and crime commissioners to establish new remote sites. There may be further sites, located outside court buildings, which are in use, but they would be driven by other agencies such as the police and the third sector. We do not hold the information about these other remote links as they are not managed by MOJ.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [208345]

Mr Vara: In 2013-14, the Ministry of Justice reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2012-13 against the 2009-10 baseline.

The MOJ is reducing its energy costs (defined as pence per kWh) by migrating energy and utilities contracts onto the Crown Commercial Service Framework.

MOJ also has a programme of projects to reduce carbon emissions and to improve energy efficiency across its estate.

Reducing the amount we generate in carbon emissions forms an important part of our strategy to deliver savings within the MOJ estate.

Pay

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement. [208288]

Mr Vara: It has not been possible to answer this question in the timeframe. I will write to the hon. Member in due course.

Prisoner Escapes

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many days each of the offenders who absconded from open conditions in 2014 had served there before they absconded; [207931]

(2) how many years left to serve has each determinate sentence prisoner who absconded from open conditions in the last year. [207932]

Andrew Selous: Progression to open prison is never automatic and only those prisoners who are assessed as a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of abscond will be held in open conditions. Prisoners serving longer sentences may be allocated to open prison towards the end of their sentence but only where they have successfully completed relevant offending behaviour work that is judged to have reduced any risks. In the

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case of ISPs this generally involves a recommendation from the Parole Board. The following table shows how many days each offender had been in open conditions prior to the date of abscond.

Figures from April 2014 onwards are not yet available. Over 97% of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody.

Absconds have reached record lows under this Government. Abscond levels are down 80% over the last 10 years.

The sentence length at the time of the abscond is not readily available for all absconds in 2013-14. As sentences can change due to further criminal or prison offences it would be necessary to write out to each establishment and analyse each prisoner's records to determine the remaining sentence length at the time of the abscond. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Figures for the number of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314

Prisoners’ Release

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners re-categorised as suitable for Category D who were over two years from their earliest release date were sent to open conditions in the last year. [207933]

Andrew Selous: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave in June. We do not centrally hold data on the number of prisoners transferred from closed to open prisons for the time period requested or the time left to serve at the point of recategorisation and allocation to the open estate. Consequently, the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, as it would involve a manual trawl through the records of every prisoner transferred to an open prison in the last year to identify if they were over two years from their earliest release date at the point of recategorisation and then allocation to an open prison.

Two years is considered to be the maximum time a prisoner should spend in open conditions. However, assessment of a prisoner’s individual risks and needs may support earlier categorisation to open conditions. Such cases must have the reasons for their categorisation fully documented and confirmed in writing by the governing governor.

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Categorisation and allocation to open prison is never an automatic progression. Public protection is foremost in the decision making process. Only prisoners who have successfully completed offending behaviour work essential to their risk reduction and whose risks are manageable in conditions of low security will be allocated to an open prison.

The earliest date on which an indeterminate sentence prisoner may be released from custody is on completion of his “tariff”—that is, the minimum period to be served in custody, as determined by the Court, for the purposes of retribution and deterrence. These prisoners do not have fixed release dates, so even if the data on transfers was readily available, it would not be possible to identify a length of time left to be served in these cases. The vast majority of indeterminate sentence prisoners will be transferred to open conditions only on a positive recommendation from the independent Parole Board. Where they can show that they have made exceptional progress and where there are no known or documented concerns about their risk of harm or risk of abscond, they may be transferred without a positive recommendation from the Parole Board.

Probation

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the assessment of the Major Projects Authority on his plans for the Probation Service. [208483]

Andrew Selous: It is standard practice for the Major Projects Authority (MPA) to undertake assessments of major projects and programmes, such as the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms to the Probation Service. The MPA has had full access to the TR programme documentation, and the MPA’s assessments, which are focused on assuring delivery of the reforms, are provided in confidence to the programme leadership. In order not to prejudice commercial interests, there are no plans to publish the MPA assessment in the House of Commons Library.

The programme of reforms is on track. We are currently managing the competition which will appoint the owners of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). We have a healthy competition across all areas with over 80 bidders and an average of four bidders per contract package area. Bids are currently being rigorously assessed, and we are on track to announce the contract winners for each CRC by the end of 2014.

Probation: North West

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases are still unallocated to either the National Probation Service or to a community rehabilitation company in (a) the North West, (b) Cheshire and (c) Warrington. [208484]

Andrew Selous: All cases live on 1 June 2014 have been allocated to either the NPS or CRCs. Cases were transferred during the process of transitioning to new probation structures. The National Probation Service (NPS) is responsible for the assessment and allocation of all probation cases. The NPS either retains ownership

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of the case itself or allocates appropriate medium and low risk cases to a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC).

Property Searches: Fees and Charges

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to make further financial payments to local authorities in respect of claims made against them by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 EC directive on freedom of information and the 2004 environmental information regulations; [208157]

(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities to date of claims made by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 European Directive on public access to environmental information and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. [208276]

Mr Vara: The Ministry of Justice, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government are considering a submission prepared by the Local Government Association that the new burden assessment earned out in 2010 in respect of the revocation of the fee payable for a personal search of the local land charges register should be re-opened.

Any costs property incurred by local authorities in England in dealing with claims for refunds of local land charge search fees will be taken into account by the departments should it be decided to re-open the assessment. No decision has yet been taken.

Written Questions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of named day written questions were answered by his Department within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 Session, (b) 2013-14 Session and (c) 2014-15 Session to date. [208429]

Mr Vara: The information requested for the proportion of named day answers which have been answered within the prescribed period is set out in the following table.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and the ministerial team take our obligations to Parliament seriously and want to ensure that hon. Members receive answers of a high standard which set out the relevant context. More complex questions can involve compiling and analysing large volumes of information, and we respond to such questions as promptly as we can.

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The Department has implemented a number of measures to ensure it provides high quality and timely parliamentary question answers. Following these changes there has been a significant improvement in timeliness.

Departmental performance information is published on a sessional basis by the Procedure Committee. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 Session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report for the 2013-14 Session is due to be published shortly.

Energy and Climate Change

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to reduce energy costs in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [208340]

Amber Rudd: Since it was established, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has reduced its energy consumption by 42%.

DECC has, and continues, to take effective steps to reduce its energy costs by cutting energy use on its estate. The Department’s Carbon Management Plan details our plans to achieve reductions in energy and carbon through to 31 March 2015. The Carbon Management Plan is published on the Government website, and copies will be made available in the Libraries of the House:

https://intranet.decc.gsi.gov.uk/services/estates/Documents/CMP%20rev%202.pdf

Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) what proportion of (a) owner-occupied, (b) private rented, (c) local authority and (d) housing association households have an energy performance certificate rating of (i) A, (ii) B, (iii) C, (iv) D, (v) E, (vi) F and (vii) G; [207540]

(2) what proportion of households with an energy performance certificate of (a) A, (b) B, (c) C, (d) D, (e) E, (f) F and (g) G are (i) owner-occupied, (ii) private rented, (iii) local authority and (iv) housing association households. [207539]

Amber Rudd: Data on Energy Performance Certificates are produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

International Development

Developing Countries: Females

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will take steps to prioritise measures to improve the position of women and girls as part of her Department’s development programmes. [208148]

Justine Greening: DFID has put girls and women at the heart of international development. We prioritise work to improve the position of girls and women in everything we do.

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On 13 May 2014, the International Development Gender Equality Act 2014, championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), came into law. This means that before development or humanitarian assistance is provided, the impact on gender equality must be considered.

Energy

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement. [208344]

Mr Swayne: The Department for International Development is reducing expenditure on gas through various measures including the installation of a green roof and biomass boiler at our office in Scotland; we have also improved the external fabric of the building, reducing heat loss. We have reduced electricity use through reducing the number of IT servers, printers and by upgrading all laptops and PCs to models which use at least 50% less electricity. A reduction in plant operation times and wider temperature control at both UK sites has resulted in significant savings in both gas and electricity. In London, we have recently moved to a new smaller office which will save 25% in energy usage; we also incorporated energy saving mechanisms as part of the refurbishment.

Humanitarian Aid

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK’s priorities are for humanitarian policy at the September 2014 session of the UN General Assembly. [208143]

Justine Greening: The priority for humanitarian policy during this month’s session of the UN General Assembly is the creation of a more accountable, transparent and demand driven humanitarian system. This involves ensuring access to those in insecure environments, addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) in emergencies, making actors accountable for protecting women and girls, and making use of innovative approaches and technologies to provide relief and build resilience.

Our priorities will also be aligned with our broader aims for the post-2015 development agenda.

Mass Media

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has spent on media monitoring in each of the last five years. [208568]

Mr Swayne: Since financial year 2008-09, media monitoring costs have been reduced by more than half to £63,960.40 in 2012-13.

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Pay

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) her Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if she will make a statement. [208287]

Mr Swayne: The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary (in £5,000 banding) paid by DFID in each of the last five years is provided in the table below.

The highest and lowest full-time equivalent salary (in £5,000 banding) paid by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) in each of the years since it came into force in May 2011 is provided in the table below.

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West Africa

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government are taking to help tackle the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa. [208479]

Lynne Featherstone: The current outbreak of Ebola poses a serious public health risk to West Africa and is deeply concerning. The UK is taking a leading role in working with the countries affected and with the international community to ensure that the current Ebola outbreak is contained and help reaches those in need. In total, over £25 million of British funding is supporting the global effort to contain this disease. This includes £5 million of new direct funding to help partners working on the ground like the WHO, Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières to treat victims and prevent the spread of Ebola. As announced by the Secretary of State for International Development on 8 September, British military and humanitarian experts will set up a medical treatment centre for victims of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, to provide vital treatment to victims of the disease including health workers and medical volunteers.