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  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether transitional protection where entitlement is lower will begin as soon as tax credit recipients start migrating to universal credit.

    Priti Patel

    No-one already on existing benefits or Tax Credits whose circumstances remain the same will lose out in cash terms as a direct result of being moved on to Universal Credit. These claimants will be given transitional protection to avoid cash loss at the point of change.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which of the Directors in his Department has responsibility for the Armed Forces Covenant.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The department takes its ongoing responsibilities under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously. Pete Searle, the Strategy Director for Working Age Benefits, is DWP’s Armed Forces Advocate responsible for ensuring that the needs of service personnel, their families and veterans are properly catered for by the Department. This means ensuring that these groups are not disadvantaged as a result of military service, and providing special treatment where appropriate.

    Every Jobcentre district has an “Armed Forces Champion” to provide a level of expertise for Jobcentres on Armed Forces matters. This is backed up by guidance covering the special rules that are in place, such as ex-service personnel having early access to the Work Programme, and information on any particular challenges they may face, such as the impact on employment prospects of frequent changes in locations.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 to Question 30330, if he will publish examples of the feedback received on the placing of work coaches in foodbanks.

    Priti Patel

    The Department has shared findings from the food bank initiative with Jobcentre District Managers. There are no plans to publish the Lalley Community Centre findings externally.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Attorney General, if he will place in the Library data gathered by Crown Prosecution Service Business Area of prosecutions and convictions for (a) rape-flagged offences, (b) domestic violence, (c) child abuse and (d) human trafficking for each year since 2013.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of prosecutions and convictions in each CPS business area flagged as rape, domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking.

    The attached tables show the volume of defendants prosecuted and convicted in flagged cases for each CPS business area over the last three financial years for which data is available. These also include a number of caveats and explanatory notes which should be observed when reviewing the data. Data for 2015/16 will be published later this year and will be placed in the House of Commons library.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Attorney General, if he will place in the Library the number of cases of (a) rape, (b) domestic violence, (c) child abuse and (d) human trafficking referred by each police force in England and Wales to each regional division of the Crown Prosecution Service in (i) 2014 and (ii) 2015.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of suspects referred by the police to each CPS business area of cases flagged as involving allegations of rape, domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking. The attached tables show the volumes of referrals for 2013/14 and 2014/15. The tables are accompanied by a number of caveats and explanatory notes which should be observed when reviewing the data. Data for 2015/16 will be published later this year and will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many directors of companies were disqualified as a result of a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Jeremy Wright

    In 2014-15, seven individuals were disqualified from acting as company directors following investigations by the Serious Fraud Office; and one was disqualified in 2013-14.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of all defendants charged with (a) rape, (b) sexual offences other than rape and (c) domestic violence were aged (i) 14 to 17, (ii) 18 to 24, (iii) 25 to 34, (iv) 35 to 44, (v) 45 to 54, (vi) 55 to 64 and (vii) over 65 in the last 12 months.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains both a central record of defendants in cases flagged as rape or domestic abuse and, additionally, the number whose principal offence at finalisation was categorised as a sexual offence other than rape.

    These data can be disaggregated with reference to a series of ‘age bands’ based on the defendant’s date of birth at the time their proceeding was registered onto the CPS’ digital case management system (CMS). It is not possible to separately report the individual ages within each band.

    The attached tables show the latest published data available (2014-15) on the number and proportion of defendants prosecuted, by age band, for (a) rape, (b) sexual offences other than rape and (c) domestic abuse.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many tip-offs were made to the Serious Fraud Office tip-off line in each year since 2010.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched its dedicated reporting channel on 1 November 2011. The service was intended to encourage reports of serious or complex fraud by whistleblowers and accepted referrals by post, email and telephone. The SFO decided to close the telephone element of the service on 12 June 2012 because a disproportionate amount of staff time was being spent dealing with telephone calls that did not contribute to this aim.

    The total number of calls, emails and other referrals through the channel in each year since it was established is shown in the table below. These figures may include multiple reports from single individuals, or multiple referrals about the same matter received from different individuals. Referrals made through the dedicated reporting channel in November and December 2011 were not counted separately from other referrals to the SFO in those months.

    Year

    Total number of reports

    2012

    2,731

    2013

    2,996

    2014

    3,001

    2015

    3,163

    The SFO now offers guidance on its website as to how the public may best report any information it may have about fraud to the most appropriate law enforcement authority, including Action Fraud, which is the UK’s central reporting mechanism for fraud and cyber crime.

    The SFO continues to receive and assess reports from the public sent directly to it via the online reporting tool, by email or post, or referred to it by other law enforcement and regulatory bodies.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the quality of information and data used to inform his Department’s investment prioritisation process; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is committed to ensuring that all of its key policies and programmes are based on high quality evidence and subject to robust monitoring and evaluation. The foundation for this vision was set out in the Department’s Evaluation Strategy published in December 2014 and the first update – BIS Evaluation Plan 2016.

    A substantial amount of work is undertaken across the Department to better understand, and develop, the evidence underpinning investment options. For example, in preparation for Spending Review 2015, the Department thoroughly reviewed its evidence base, through Evidence Challenge Panels (ECP) and an Investment Gateway (IG) process. The ECP membership consisted of Directors of spend areas and provided senior peer review of work underway to address the key evidence gaps and to support longer term planning to develop BIS’ evidence base. The IG was set up to support prioritisation of spend and ensure investment decisions are based on robust business cases consisting of strategic, economic, financial, management and commercial assessments. The IG panel includes the chief analyst and DG finance. The ECP and IG in turn fed into the Department’s submissions to HM Treasury for the Spending Review.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will conduct an assessment of UK science infrastructure to inform departmental decision-making on spending priorities.

    Joseph Johnson

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32088.

    “