The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people eligible to be on the most recent (a) census and (b) electoral register who were not recorded.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rooker on 2014-04-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to implement the changes set out in sections 45 and 46 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Lord Faulks
Implementation is already well underway. The point at which historic central government records are transferred to The National Archives is being reduced from 30 years to 20 years. This change is being implemented in a phased way over a ten period starting from 1 January 2013, with two years worth of records being transferred every year until transition is complete. This was implemented by The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (Commencement No 7) Order 2012 (SI 2012 No. 3001) and The Public Records (Transfer to the Public Record Office) (Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2012 (SI 2012 No. 3028).
The Government intends to begin, from 2015, a similar ten-year transitional period for records transferred to 116 local places of deposit, subject to the outcome of further detailed work on costs and the impact to the local authority archive sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what (a) number and (b) proportion of voters voted (i) at a polling station and (ii) by postal ballot in each police authority area in the 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission has placed the answer to the hon. member’s question in the library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take to monitor whether alternative learning providers are meeting the standards he recently set out on (a) quality assurance, (b) financial sustainability and (c) management and governance; and how he plans to facilitate the meeting of those standards.
Mr David Willetts
Under the new specific course designation arrangements alternative learning providers are required immediately to notify the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) of any material changes which may affect their financial sustainability or quality of provision. HEFCE will also run an annual monitoring exercise to collect information about the ongoing financial sustainability, quality of provision, and changes to management and governance arrangements at alternative learning providers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Byles on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy on the need for additional gas storage capacity in the UK of recent events involving Russia and Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.
Michael Fallon
We have no plans to reassess the need for additional gas storage capacity in the UK in the light of events between Russia and Ukraine. The Department commissioned from Redpoint Energy analysis on the case for Government support for additional gas storage in the UK, which was published in September 2013. This cost-benefit analysis did not support intervention to deliver additional gas storage capacity due to a combination of low risk, poor rates of return for the taxpayer, and the risk of unintended consequences within the market.
Disputes between Russia and Ukraine affecting gas supply to Europe do not change this stance. Previous analysis has demonstrated that the UK gas market is resilient to all but the most unlikely combination of high-demand conditions and supply disruption. The UK has a diverse range of gas suppliers and routes to market and receives less than 1% of its gas from Russia.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities affected by flooding can claim under the Bellwin scheme for the cost of disposing of sandbags that have been contaminated with sewage.
Brandon Lewis
[Holding Reply: Thursday 3 April 2014]
Local authorities can claim the costs of removing sandbags used during the flooding emergency, under the Bellwin scheme. This includes sandbags that have been contaminated with sewage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations he has received on support for moorland farmers; and if he will make a statement.
George Eustice
We consulted on proposals for changes to the regional direct payment rates in October 2013, and announced our decision in December to align the payment rates in relation to the lowland and severely disadvantaged areas (SDAs). We also said that we would undertake further analysis and consultation on the appropriate payment rate for the moorland region. We received several contributions to the analysis from stakeholders, and consulted further through the Direct Payments Consultative Group and other forums. Our decision in April confirmed that the payment rate in the moorland will be increased by approximately the same cash amount as the uplift previously announced for the rate in the rest of the SDA. The decision has been welcomed by a number of organisations representing hill and moorland farmers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which water companies operating in the UK use alternatives to chlorine as a disinfectant in drinking water.
Dan Rogerson
By law, water companies are required to supply safe drinking water at the tap. Companies are free to choose the technology they use to treat water and in doing so are required to ensure it is correctly designed, operated and maintained. Increasingly a combination of filtration and ultra violet light is used by companies in England and Wales as an alternative to chlorine.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what direct steps the Government has taken to ensure the safety of Christians in countries where they are being persecuted for their faith.
Mr David Lidington
Freedom of religion or belief is a priority for this Government internationally. On 15 November 2014, the Senior Minister of State, my noble Friend, the right hon. Baroness Warsi gave a speech in Washington stressing the need for an international response to the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. The full text of her speech is available on our website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/an-international-response-to-a-global-crisis. We are concerned about the rising tide of persecution of individuals on the basis of their religion and belief. We regularly raise individual cases and discriminatory legislation with other governments and we support overseas programmes designed to overcome prejudice, discrimination and sectarianism. We also work in multilateral fora to ensure that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief is afforded the international legal protection that it deserves. Furthermore the Senior Minister of State has convened meetings of international leaders to generate practical steps to promote freedom of religion or belief and to fight religious intolerance within our societies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been given more than one life sentence on separate sentencing occasions in the last 10 years; and what the offences were for which they received those life sentences.
Jeremy Wright
A life sentence is mandatory for murder and discretionary life sentences are available to Judges for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.
Under a life sentence, the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Once that period has been served it is for the Parole Board to determine if and when the offender may be released from prison on life licence and subject to recall for the rest of their life.
Table 1 shows the number of offenders who have been sentenced to life in the 12 months ending September 2013 who previously had one or more previous life sentence on a separate sentencing occasion within the last 10 years, in England and Wales. The table also shows details of their latest and previous offences for which they received a life sentence.
The number of offenders who receive a second life sentence is small. A number of life sentence prisoners commit offences in prison which result in a second life sentence. Some life sentence prisoners can also receive a second life sentence on conviction for offences committed prior to being imprisoned (e.g. a previous murder or rape). Only one of the offenders shown in Table 1 had been released from prison on life licence when he committed a further offence which resulted in a second life sentence.
The figures provided have been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.