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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown on Communities and Local Government.

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Brandon Lewis

I have regular meetings with the Fire Brigades Union. The most recent request for a meeting has come from Matt Wrack, the General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, and is dated 20 June. I am content to agree to this request as long as the Union is not in a period of strike action.

Earlier this year I agreed that the Government Actuary’s Department could cost alternative pension scheme designs that the Union had proposed. After constructive discussions, I wrote to the General Secretary on 23 April 2014 stating that their proposals were under consideration. The following day, the Union prematurely called a halt to those discussions by announcing strike action. I have since published draft regulations for consultation to implement the Proposed Final Agreement which was published in May 2012. I would encourage the Union to engage in that formal statutory consultation process which can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-regulations-to-introduce-a-new-firefighters-pension-scheme-from-april-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for David Simpson on Northern Ireland.

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Mrs Theresa Villiers

I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon Member for North Down on 23 June 2014, Official Report, Columns 52W & 53W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Maria Eagle on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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Dan Rogerson

I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), on 17 June 2014, Official Report, column 516W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Dominic Raab on Home Office.

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Damian Green

The figures provided show the number of police officers per 100,000 population
in England and in Wales as at 31 March 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Barry Sheerman on Work and Pensions.

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Mike Penning

The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on reassessment claims to PIP in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Jason McCartney on Culture, Media and Sport.

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Mr Edward Vaizey

Further legislation is not necessary, as both the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) can issue substantive monetary penalties of up to £500,000 and £2 million respectively to any organisation that deliberately continues to contravene the regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Paul Flynn on Defence.

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Mr Philip Dunne

The UK has made it clear that the circumstances in which any employment of nuclear weapons might be contemplated are very remote. We would employ nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self defence and in accordance with our obligations under international law. The UK uses nuclear weapons as a deterrent every single day as demonstrated by the Continuous At Sea Deterrence. The most recent major Government reports that explore these issues are the 2006 White Paper “The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent”; the 2010 SDSR and the 2013 Trident Alternatives Review, all of which are in the public domain.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Gregory Campbell on Defence.

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Anna Soubry

The Ministry of Defence-sponsored cadet forces offer challenging and enjoyable activities for young people, and prepare them to play an active part in the community while developing valuable life skills.

Information held centrally by the Ministry of Defence on the numbers of sea and army cadets in Northern Ireland is provided in the following tables. For sea cadets, reliable data is available from January 2005. For army cadets, estimated information on the Army Cadet Force is available from March 2012 although comparable data about the Army Combined Cadet Force is not available in the format requested. Information prior to these dates could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

	Sea Cadets	Royal Marine (RM) Cadets	Adult Volunteers (Sea and RM)
January 2005	225	13	146
January 2014	235	22	157
Change +/-	+10	+9	+11

	Army Cadet Force	Army Combined Cadet Force	Adult Volunteers
March 2012	1,925 (estimated)	Not held	350 (estimated)
January 2014	1,422	598	397
Change +/-	-503	Not known	+47

Since 2012 the Army has worked to improve the accuracy of their record keeping with a concerted effort to identify those cadets not actively participating and to either encourage them back into cadet activities or to remove them from the management information system. This has accounted for a significant drop in Army Cadet Force figures over the past few years. However, we are actively recruiting Army cadets in Northern Ireland and numbers are beginning to increase.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Thomas Docherty on Defence.

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Mr Philip Dunne

The UK remains committed to the Joint Strike Fighter programme, and the next Main Gate investment decision will be made in due course. The UK has already taken delivery of three F-35B aircraft and has one aircraft currently in production. It remains on track to enter service in 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Alison Seabeck on Work and Pensions.

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Esther McVey

The Department provided substantive answers to all parliamentary questions in the 2013-14 parliamentary Session.