The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Skynet 5 satellites can use facilities at West Freugh for data transmission.
Mr Philip Dunne
Skynet 5 does not currently use the facilities at West Freugh for data transmission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-29.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been spent by HM Revenue and Customs on preparatory work for the outsourcing of Tax Credit Error and Fraud Adding Capacity to date.
Nicky Morgan
From April to July 2013, HMRC carried out a trial to test whether it would be feasible to increase the number of compliance checks on tax credits claims, through the use of private sector resource. HMRC will publish the evaluation of the trial and the customer research report in due course.
It is not appropriate to place the business case in the public domain given the commercial sensitivities and the risk of prejudice to HMRC’s ability to tackle tax credits error and fraud.
In terms of the external costs of the trial, I refer the Hon Member to the Thirty-Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts [2013/14] into HMRC Tax Collection: Annual Report & Accounts 2012–13, which may be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/666/66602.htm. All internal HMRC operating costs are published annually in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2014, Official Report, column 548W, on female prisoners, which domestic violence programmes and interventions will be delivered in which prisons in 2014-15.
Simon Hughes
The table below shows the recorded domestic violence programmes and interventions due to be delivered across the women’s prison estate during 2014-15.
|
Programme |
Establishment |
|
Sexual and domestic abuse in childhood counselling |
HMP/YOI Styal |
|
Domestic violence-women’s abuse counselling |
HMP/YOI Askham Grange |
|
Women Ahead Programme |
HMP/YOI Holloway |
|
Power to Change Programme |
HMP/YOI Drake Hall HMP/YOI Bronzefield |
|
FOR Project |
HMP/YOI Drake Hall |
|
Freedom Programme |
HMP/YOI Low Newton HMP/YOI Peterborough HMP/YOI East Sutton Park HMP/YOI Styal |
|
Athena Project |
HMP/YOI New Hall |
|
Safe Choices |
HMP/YOI Holloway |
|
Thyme Project |
HMP/YOI Holloway |
|
Women’s Rape & Sexual & Domestic Abuse Counselling |
HMP/YOI Peterborough |
|
Bradford Rape Crisis counselling service |
HMP/YOI New Hall |
|
The Trauma Service |
HMP/YOI Low Newton |
|
Reducing Re-offending Intervention Fairs (All Pathways covered) supporting women who have been affected by violence |
HMP/YOI Eastwood Park |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sexual assaults on prison staff there were in each prison in each of the last four years.
Jeremy Wright
Due to the low numbers of sexual assaults on prison staff, the information requested cannot be provided in order to protect the confidentiality of those staff involved.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the nationality was of (a) all people in prison and (b) people in prison who self-identified as Muslim on 1 January 2014.
Jeremy Wright
Data are held centrally on the prison population in England and Wales on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided for 31st December 2013 (with the exception of PQ 197068 which has been answered as at 30 June 2013 – the latest available data for criminal history information).
For PQ 197067, Table 1 below provides the number for the sentenced prison population by sentence length for self-declared Muslim prisoners and the total for all religions.
For PQ 197068, Table 2 provides the number of offenders in prison on 30th June 2013 who identified themselves as Muslim and all other religions by the number of previous custodial sentences received.
For PQ 197069, Table 3 provides the prison population by nationality for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.
For PQ 197090, Table 4 provides the prison population by age group for self-declared Muslims and the total for all other religions.
Please note that the religion of prisoners is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare their religion.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many prisoners reached (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 3 qualifications in (i) English and (ii) mathematics whilst in prison in each of the last five years.
Matthew Hancock
We do not centrally hold information on prior attainment.
Work is under way to introduce, this summer, mandatory education assessment by the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) provider for all newly-received prisoners. This will ensure that all offenders, not just those that go on to learning, receive a learning assessment (focused around English and maths, but also covering learning difficulties and disabilities).
Table 1 shows Offender Learner English and Maths Achievements for the 2012/13 academic year. The data are broken down by Level rather than Key Stage as this is the appropriate measure for further education qualifications.
Table 1: Offender Learners – English and Maths Achievements by level, 2012/13
|
Level |
English |
Maths |
|
Entry level |
5,100 |
5,250 |
|
Level 1 |
3,550 |
4,020 |
|
Level 2 |
1,280 |
1,930 |
|
Total |
9,300 |
10,100 |
Notes
1) The data source is the Individualised Learner Record.
2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest ten except for the Grand Totals which are rounded to the nearest hundred.
3) Learners undertaking courses at more than one level will be counted once for each applicable level, but once only in the Total.
4) Offender learners are defined as offenders aged 18 or over that participated in Skills Funding Agency funded learning while in the prison system. These offenders were funded via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) budget.
Information on Offender Learner English and maths achievements by level for 2010/11 and 2011/12 is published as a Supplementary Table to a Statistical First Release. Data for earlier years are not available on a comparable basis.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-further-education-and-skills
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support business start-ups in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Matthew Hancock
We continue to work hard to provide the right support to make life easier for people looking to start a business and those looking to grow their business.
www.gov.uk is the home for Government services and information online. One of the tools available is the ‘Finance and Support Finder;’ a searchable database of publicly-backed sources of finance and Business Support. The website www.greatbusiness.gov.uk also provides support and advice for entrepreneurs starting out as well as for anyone trying to grow a business
In addition to on-line support, the Business Support Helpline is available to provide a quick response on queries about starting a business, or a personalised and in-depth advice service for more complex needs Start-Up Loans provide start up funding and intensive support to entrepreneurs to enable them to start a business. The Start-Up Loans Scheme has so far helped 26 companies in Coventry North East with a value of £108,400, and 75 companies in Coventry with a value of £359,617.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 993, on energy efficiency, how many households in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority area have received energy efficiency improvements under the Energy Company Obligation.
Gregory Barker
The Department breaks down the provisional number of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) measures installed by local authority area and parliamentary constituency in its quarterly Official Statistics series:
I will be placing copies of the tables showing the number of households in each local authority area (Table 1) and parliamentary constituency (Table 1a) that had ECO measures installed up to the end of December 2013 in the Libraries of the House.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on anti-democratic violence in Venezuela.
Mr Hugo Swire
I am deeply concerned about the reports of violence associated with protests in various cities in Venezuela since early February and call on all sides to refrain from violence. I receive regular reports on the situation from our Embassy in Caracas.
The majority of the demonstrations, including large-scale gatherings organised by the government or by the opposition, have been peaceful, but some disturbances have been marred by violence. The number and frequency of the incidents have decreased over the last few weeks, but there are still violent incidents. To date, at least 41 people have died and more than 650 have been injured since the start of protests. About half the victims are anti-government protestors and the rest pro-government supporters, security forces or bystanders. Around 2,500 people have been detained and around 200 people remain in custody, including police officers and students. The authorities are investigating around 100 cases of reported human rights abuses.
It is important that the Venezuelan government respects the right to protest peacefully, ensures public security and due process is afforded in investigations. I welcome the meetings held between the government and opposition which are an important step towards genuine dialogue. We continue to monitor the situation closely and keep travel advice for British nationals under constant review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2014-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products on the work of Trading Standards’ officers in combating the trade in illicit tobacco.
Jane Ellison
In the Department’s 2012 Consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products, consultation questions were asked about illicit tobacco. A consultation-stage impact assessment was also published with the consultation.
Sir Cyril Chantler included a chapter on illicit tobacco in his report on standardised packaging of tobacco and concluded that, ‘I am not convinced by the tobacco industry’s argument that standardised packaging would increase the illicit market, especially in counterfeit cigarettes.’
The Government will be holding a final, short consultation in which Ministers will ask, in particular, for views on anything new since the last full public consultation that is relevant to the development of this policy, including in relation to illicit tobacco. A further consultation stage impact assessment will be published alongside this.