Category: Speeches

Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of song birds in the UK.

George Eustice

The UK has designated 615 sites as Special Areas of Conservation under the Habitats Directive, and 270 sites as Special Protection Areas under the Birds Directive to provide protection to our most vulnerable and threatened wild birds.

Agri-environment schemes are the principal means of improving habitat for farmland songbirds, assisting farmers to provide additional habitat and food on their farms for birds and other wildlife. The Government also supports the Campaign for the Farmed Environment to provide better habitats for farmland birds.

The Government has provided £7.5 million to establish twelve Nature Improvement Areas. These are intended to benefit birds by improving existing habitat, creating new habitat and improving connectivity between habitats.

01/11/2022

Dame Anne Begg – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Anne Begg on 2014-03-12.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in (a) Aberdeen City Council and (b) Aberdeenshire County Council.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.

Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls

The ward results for Aberdeen City Council were as follows:

Ward	Green matches	Amber matches	Red matches
Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee	78.4%	2.0%	19.6%
Bridge Of Don	84.4%	1.5%	14.1%
Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone	79.4%	3.4%	17.2%
George St/Harbour	46.2%	8.1%	45.8%
Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross	76.0%	3.0%	21.0%
Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill	77.2%	1.9%	21.0%
Kincorth/Nigg/Cove	82.9%	1.7%	15.4%
Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill	83.0%	1.3%	15.7%
Lower Deeside	77.6%	5.4%	17.0%
Midstocket/Rosemount	62.9%	5.2%	31.9%
Northfield/Mastrick North	85.0%	1.4%	13.7%
Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen	55.1%	3.9%	41.1%
Torry/Ferryhill	67.2%	5.1%	27.7%

The ward results for Aberdeenshire County Council were as follows:

Ward	Green matches	Amber matches	Red matches
Aboyne Upper Deeside And Donside	72.7%	9.4%	17.9%
Banchory And Mid Deeside	79.3%	5.4%	15.4%
Banff And District	78.0%	6.9%	15.1%
Central Buchan	74.5%	9.7%	15.9%
East Garioch	79.0%	4.5%	16.5%
Ellon And District	78.8%	5.1%	16.1%
Fraserburgh And District	82.2%	3.1%	14.7%
Huntly Strathbogie And Howe Of Alford	74.5%	9.4%	16.1%
Inverurie And District	80.3%	3.3%	16.4%
Mearns	73.7%	9.1%	17.1%
Mid Formartine	74.9%	7.9%	17.2%
North Kincardine	78.5%	4.8%	16.7%
Peterhead North And Rattray	78.6%	4.5%	16.9%
Peterhead South And Cruden	81.5%	3.8%	14.7%
Stonehaven And Lower Deeside	80.2%	4.3%	15.4%
Troup	76.8%	8.2%	15.0%
Turriff And District	73.7%	9.4%	16.9%
West Garioch	74.4%	8.7%	16.9%
Westhill And District	79.5%	4.4%	16.1%

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01/11/2022

Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what Government-funded education and support on alcohol consumption during pregnancy is available to pregnant women.

Jane Ellison

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s 2008 guideline includes recommendations for doctors and midwives on the advice they should give to pregnant women about drinking alcohol.

This advice is complemented by Government funded information provided through the Start4Life Information Service for Parents, Start4Life and NHS Choices websites.

The Government funds the Start4Life Information Service for Parents service, which provides pregnant women/new mothers and their partners with comprehensive advice on staying healthy in pregnancy, preparing for birth and looking after their baby, and includes advice on risks of drinking before conception and during pregnancy.

The Information Service for Parents is a digital service which provides National Health Service and other quality assured advice, including on alcohol consumption via regular text and email updates. Since launching on 18 May 2012, 339,277 new parents have signed up to the service (as of 1 June 2014).

The Government is also committed to improving the labelling of alcoholic drinks, including a warning for women who are pregnant or trying to conceive.

As part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, alcohol retailers and producers have a responsibility to help raise this awareness and committed to putting an agreed warning or a pregnancy warning logo on 80% of labels on bottles and cans by the end of 2013. An independent market survey is underway to measure compliance.

01/11/2022
Mr Stewart Jackson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Stewart Jackson on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce long term unemployment in Peterborough constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey

The government are committed to helping people off benefits and into work, so it is encouraging that we have seen record numbers of people in work nationally, with unemployment falling.

The Government’s Work Programme revolutionises the help available to people who were in danger of becoming long-term unemployed. Private providers offer tailored help to people who may have been out of work for many years – moving them closer to getting a job. According to Industry figures released this month (March), half a million people have found work through the Work Programme.

We are determined to do everything we can to support those people who are hardest to help into work, and that is what the Work Programme is designed to do, whilst also being a good deal for the tax payer.

Work Coaches in local Jobcentres now have the flexibility to offer all claimants a comprehensive menu of help which includes skills provision, job search support and the Flexible Support Fund.

01/11/2022
Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of his Department’s partnership funding framework has been spent on property level protection schemes to date.

Dan Rogerson

Property Level Protection describes a suite of measures used in places where other solutions are either not cost effective or not practical. The amount allocated to schemes since the partnership funding approach was launched in 2012 is £2.43M. This consists of £2.08M in Grant in Aid from the Government, and contributions of £0.35M from partners.

01/11/2022
Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) men and (b) women convicted of benefit fraud in each of the last five years received a prison sentence; and what the average prison sentence was for those of each gender so convicted.

Jeremy Wright

The Department for Work and Pensions operates a tough series of specific penalties for benefit fraud that run alongside the criminal justice system. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 toughened penalties for those who commit, or attempt to commit benefit fraud. We have introduced a financial administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution which, for the first time, can be applied to attempted fraud.

The Government has also introduced a tougher loss of benefit penalty to restrict benefits to people convicted of benefit fraud or who have accepted an administrative penalty. Benefits can be reduced for periods of 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 3 years, dependent on the number of benefit fraud offences committed within a specified period, where the latest offence results in a conviction.

Judges make their decisions independently of Government based on the facts of each case. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years in prison.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ court found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to benefit fraud, with sentencing outcomes and the average custodial sentence length by gender, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.

Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.

01/11/2022

Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions a foreign-requested aircraft has provided search and rescue assistance over UK territorial waters in each of the last three years; what role each such aircraft played; what the location of each incident was; and whether each occurrence was in response to obligations under Annex 12 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Mr Mark Francois

I refer the hon. Member to the answers previously given to him on 22 November 2013 (Official Report, column 1046W) and 27 March 2012 (Official Report, column 1054W).

Between 4 November 2013 and 5 June 2014 there have been five occasions where an Irish helicopter was requested by the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre to provide search and rescue assistance over UK territorial waters. Four of these were in Northern Ireland. These were in response to obligations under Annex 12 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
Details of the five incidents are shown below:

Date	Aircraft	Aircraft Role	Location
15 November 2013	Irish Coastguard Helicopter	Ditched Aircraft	Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
12 February 2014	Irish Coastguard Helicopter	Topcover for lifeboat	Mull of Kintyre, Scotland
16 February 2014	Irish Coastguard Helicopter	Individual with knee injury	Binnian, Northern Ireland
21 March 2014	Irish Coastguard Helicopter	Individual with hip injury	Rathlin island, Northern Ireland
16 May 2014	Irish Coastguard Helicopter	Capsized individual	Enniskillin, Northern Ireland

Detailed statistics on UK military SAR activity can be found on the Government website at the following link:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/release-calendar/index.html?newquery=*&uday=0&umonth=0&uyear=0&title=Military+Search+and+Rescue+Monthly+Statistic&pagetype=calendar-entry&lday=&lmonth=&lyear=

01/11/2022

Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people and what proportion of the working population have been in receipt of incapacity benefit or employment and support allowance for over (a) two years, (b) five years and (c) 10 years in each region of England.

Esther McVey

The information requested is shown in the tables below.

Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance (IB/SDA) claimants in each Region in England by duration of claim and as a percentage of the working age population – as at August 2013

Region	All cases	%	Duration of 2 to 5 years	%	Duration of 5 to 10 years	%	Duration of over 10 years	%

North East	29,950	1.9	1,820	0.1	6,380	0.4	21,500	1.4
North West	77,400	1.8	3,250	0.1	17,650	0.4	55,980	1.3
Yorkshire and The Humber	47,770	1.5	1,980	0.1	10,700	0.3	34,760	1.1
East Midlands	39,600	1.4	1,370	–	9,020	0.3	28,820	1.0
West Midlands	55,560	1.6	2,130	0.1	13,770	0.4	39,260	1.2
East of England	45,960	1.3	1,730	–	12,710	0.4	31,030	0.9
London	87,890	1.6	4,420	0.1	26,990	0.5	55,570	1.0
South East	60,710	1.2	2,250	–	15,570	0.3	42,410	0.8
South West	51,240	1.6	1,960	0.1	13,200	0.4	35,620	1.1

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants in each Region in England by duration of claim and as a percentage of the working age population – as at August 2013

Region	All	%	Duration of up to 5 years	%

North East	102,540	6.5	16,010	1.0
North West	284,580	6.6	49,000	1.1
Yorkshire and The Humber	170,050	5.2	29,980	0.9
East Midlands	130,210	4.7	23,430	0.8
West Midlands	166,670	4.9	30,220	0.9
East of England	133,560	3.8	26,410	0.7
London	227,650	4.1	48,070	0.9
South East	185,150	3.5	36,240	0.7
South West	135,980	4.3	26,390	0.8

Source: DWP IGS 100% WPLS and ONS Mid-2012 Population Estimates

Notes:

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages are shown rounded to one decimal place. “ – “ denotes nil or negligible.
Working age population figures are defined as males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59.
Incapacity Benefit was replaced by Employment Support Allowance (ESA) for new claims from October 2008.
Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance figures will include some people receiving National Insurance credits only.
The caseload data provided for IB/SDA and ESA is published and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool

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01/11/2022

Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times aircraft have been intercepted by Quick Reaction Alert flights by (a) intercepted aircraft type and (b) location in each of the last three years.

Mr Mark Francois

The number of days on which Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) aircraft have launched to intercept aircraft in each of the last three years is contained in the following table. Not every launch resulted in an interception as some incidents were resolved prior to interception.

Year No. of days QRA was launched

2011 20

2012 21

2013 17

I am withholding full details of the number of interceptions, aircraft type and locations as deterrence is a principal function of QRA and QRA is in turn an integral part of the air defence of the UK. The disclosure of information that might compromise the QRA deterrent capability would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

01/11/2022
Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help people with mental illnesses find appropriate work.

Mike Penning

Each Jobcentre Plus District is resourced to have a Mental Health and Wellbeing Partnership Manager, they identify the availability of local support that advisers may refer to and provide a support role to advisers who work with customers with mental health conditions.

In January 2014 we launched the Employment and Wellbeing toolkit which offers practical support to Jobcentre advisers to help them work with claimants affected by mental health problems. The toolkit enables advisers to establish a clear employment focus and identify appropriate interventions and actions which enable claimants with mental health issues to progress into employment as quickly as possible.

Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) and Work Psychologists also offer specialist advice in Jobcentres. DEAs can act as an advocate for the customer with prospective employers, aiming to identify work solutions that will overcome or minimise any difficulties related to an individual’s disability in the work place and Work Psychologists, can provide advice and guidance on effective provision and complete an Employment Assessment for claimants.

Many benefit claimants with mental health problems will be referred to, or may have access to, a range of support including the Work Programme or specialist disability employment programmes including Work Choice and Access to Work.

Work Programme advisors have access to the Working for Wellbeing toolkit which was developed by an expert group of Work Programme and specialist providers to improve employment outcomes for claimants who have mental health problems.

Work Choice is a programme for disabled people with more intensive support and can provide specialist support for people with mental health conditions.

Access to Work includes a specific Mental Health Support Service for people who require support while in work to help them to stay in work. 90 per cent of the people who have been on the MHSS programme for six months (though not always needing six months of support) are still in work. Employer engagement is a key element of the service.

01/11/2022

Year	No. of days QRA was launched
2011	20
2012	21
2013	17