The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what revenue accrued through deductions and levies on the earnings of prisoners in each year since 2011.
Andrew Selous
The information requested can be found in the NOMS Annual report 2014/15: Management Information Addendum (p. 51, Table 19) and is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-performance-statistics-2014-to-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what basis Action Fraud determines which reported frauds to pursue for investigation; and whether the amount defrauded influences such decisions.
Mike Penning
Action Fraud is the national reporting point for fraud and also cyber crime. Crime reports received by Action Fraud are considered by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), both of which are operated by the City of London Police. Neither Action Fraud nor the NFIB are investigatory agencies. Crime reports are evaluated to assess the information available which could assist an investigation, and to identify links between seemingly unconnected incidents. Where there is enough evidence available and a viable lead, actionable intelligence packages are created by the NFIB and are sent to the appropriate police force to consider whether enforcement activity should take place. All crime reports are assessed against a number of variables, which may alter according to demand. It would be improper to comment on the procedure on which these decisions are made in the public domain.
Action Fraud was rolled out to all police forces in April 2013; the data below includes crime reports and disseminations in England and Wales only. For the 12 months to 31 March 2015, Action Fraud received 230,399 reports of crime. Of these, 14,509 were cyber dependent crimes, namely, crimes which can only be committed using computers, computer networks or other forms of information communication technology – for example, hacking or malware offences. These crimes fall under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. For this period, the NFIB disseminated a total of 61,682 crimes to Forces and partner agencies to consider investigation. For the period April 2013 – March 2014 Action Fraud received 211,221 crime reports and of these, 21,686 were cyber dependent. For this period, the NFIB disseminated a total of 39,138 crimes to Forces and partner agencies to consider investigation.
Historically the Action Fraud capability came into life in 2009 and was funded by the National Fraud Authority (NFA), which has since been closed, a proportion of the NFA’s total budget was used to fund the Action Fraud Capability and is as follows:
• 2009/10 £5.7 million including a £1.4 million uplift to set up the service
• 2010/11 £4.9 million
• 2011/12 £6.68 million
• 2012/13 £9.4 million
Since the closure of the NFA in March 2014 Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau have been funded by Home Office funding, Cabinet Office funding for Cyber Security and funding from the City of London Police core grant, and is as follows:
• 2013/14 £11.11 million
• 2014/15 £10.62 million
• 2015/16 £11.03 million
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total cost to date of Operation Midland into allegations of historic child sex abuse.
Lord Bates
The resourcing, and cost, of police investigations into non recent child sexual abuse allegations is a matter for the relevant Chief Officer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers wear body-worn cameras in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.
Mike Penning
We know that the majority of forces in England and Wales use Body Worn Video (BWV) to some extent.
However the deployment of BWV is an operational decision for chief officers and the Home Office does not hold information on how many officers are equipped with BWV
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) visas have been granted by each licensed sponsor in each of the last five years.
James Brokenshire
I will arrange for the list of current Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) licensed sponsors and the number of certificates of sponsorship they have assigned to migrants for each of the last five years to be placed in the House Library. This includes certificates assigned to migrants who are within the UK as well as overseas.
Each of the sponsors listed have had to provide mandatory documentation to demonstrate that they are bona fide religious organisations, trading lawfully within the UK. This information is assessed and used to validate an application prior to the issuance of a sponsor licence. Visits may also be conducted at the premises of prospective sponsors, to ensure that an organisation is eligible, suitable and genuine. Those who fail to meet UKVI’s requirements will have their application refused.
In cases where an application has already been granted, UKVI continues to monitor their compliance against the published guidance. Those sponsors who fail to adhere to their duties will have action taken again them; this includes but is not limited to the revocation of their licence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on (a) the National Adaptation Programme and (b) businesses and organisations’ climate change resilience of the withdrawal of the Climate Ready Support Service.
Rory Stewart
The first National Adaptation Programme sets out more than 370 actions to help the UK better prepare for climate change – we continue to deliver on these actions and make sure adaptation is integrated across government policy making. We will carefully review how we work with business and industry as part of the preparations for the next National Adaptation Programme report which is due around 2018.
The Environment Agency continues to play an important role in helping businesses adapt to climate change, in particular as part of its core role on flooding, coastal risks, water management, freshwater habitats, and as a statutory adviser in the land-use planning system. In addition, the Environment Agency will continue to provide advice to businesses and other organisations on using the UK climate projections and it will continue to contribute to a range of stakeholder groups. Over 70 online tools developed by the Climate Ready Support Service are still available for use by businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) average amount in tax relief paid per higher rate tax relief payer and (b) total amount of tax relief for personal pension payments was in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.
Mr David Gauke
Information on the cost of pensions tax relief is published in HM Revenue and Customs’ National Statistics table PEN6, available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/registered-pension-schemes-cost-of-tax-relief
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to support people who are addicted to the psychoactive substances prohibited by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
Jane Ellison
Local authorities are responsible for assessing the local need for drug treatment and commissioning services to meet that need. This involves developing services that can help people with a range of drug problems; which can also respond to emerging problems, such as new psychoactive substances.
Public Health England works with local authorities to support them in commissioning alcohol and drug services, providing guidance and materials, bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings and advice on good practice. This includes guidance on new psychoactive substances for substance misuse commissioners, including a toolkit which can be found at:
http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/nps-a-toolkit-for-substance-misuse-commissioners.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who suffer from aphasia are given the support needed to communicate effectively.
David Mowat
Rehabilitation services, specifically speech and language therapy, provide much of the National Health Service support for people with aphasia. As clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning these services, they should be taking steps to ensure that support for people with aphasia is available and improve these services where appropriate.
Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia developing in adults. The vast majority of patients are admitted to hospital after a stroke and over 90% are managed on a stroke unit. All stroke units in England have access to speech and language therapy. After discharge from hospital about three quarters of areas in England have access to stroke specific early supported discharge teams of which 91% have a speech and language therapist.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on community cohesion of the withdrawal of ESOL Plus Mandation funding.
Nick Boles
We have not carried out a specific assessment in relation to community cohesion. The decision to withdraw the 2015/16 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Plus (Mandation) funding was taken in the knowledge that providers could use their adult skills budget to continue to provide ESOL training for jobseekers and therefore mitigate any adverse impact. Our data showed that the numbers of claimants being referred to ESOL Plus (Mandation) provision was significantly lower than originally anticipated.