Category: Speeches

Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what economic links there are with Burma; and what the value of (a) exports to and (b) imports from Burma was in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Hugo Swire

Building a sustainable economy in Burma, including increased responsible international investment, is key to economic growth, alleviating poverty, improving livelihoods and improving stability. As set out in the ‘UK Activities in Burma’ document published on 8 April alongside a Written Ministerial Statement, the Government is working to encourage and support Burma to remove barriers to becoming a stable, prosperous and democratic country with a sustainable economy that benefits all its people and created a positive climate for domestic, international and UK trade and investment.

We are active in several areas including:
– establishing a UK Trade and Investment office in Burma to provide practical support to British companies;
– establishing a UK Financial Services Task Force to support the development of sound financial structures and products;
– funding two specialist economists from the International Growth Centre to support the Myanmar Development Resource Institute in providing high quality advice to government;
– providing £1.1m to support Burma’s application to the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative which will help improve the transparency and accountability of the revenues from Burma’s natural resources.
– supporting work to strengthen Burma’s accountancy profession, to tackle financial crime and to increase local community involvement in investment decisions.

UK exports of goods to Burma in 2013 were worth £44m (a 243% year on year increase) and imports from Burma were worth £65m (a 44% year on year increase). The top UK exports were transport equipment and road vehicles whilst the top imports were clothing.

In 2012, the last year for which total goods and services figures are available, UK exports of goods and services to Burma were worth £20.8m and imports from Burma were worth £46m.

01/11/2022
Angela Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the outcome of the recent Illegal Wildlife Trade conference and the resulting London Declaration; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that animal welfare is a key element of her Department’s response to that declaration.

Norman Baker

The Home Office recognises that the illegal wildlife trade is not only a serious threat to our environment, but is also a transnational criminal industry worth billions of pounds every year, and one which drives corruption and insecurity and undermines efforts to cut poverty and develop sustainable economic opportunities.

I was therefore pleased that world leaders from over forty nations, including key states such as Botswana, Chad, China, Gabon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Vietnam, alongside the United States and Russia, gathered in London on 13 February 2014 and made a political commitment to take actions to eradicate the demand for illegal wildlife products, strengthen law enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks, and to reduce the incentive for communities in source countries to get involved in the trade by supporting the development of alternative, sustainable livelihoods. I co-chaired part of the proceedings to underline the Home Office’s commitment to this issue.

The Home Office will continue to work with other departments to ensure that the Government delivers on the UK Commitment to Action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.

01/11/2022
Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will carry out a public consultation on proposed changes to disabled students’ allowances.

Mr David Willetts

We are currently consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to help inform both the Equality Analysis and Disabled Students’ Allowances Guidance for 2015/16.

I will have due regard to an updated Equality Analysis before a final decision is made and regulations are laid before the House.

01/11/2022

Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the agencies that report to it; which of them have been reported to the management board in the last 12 months; and which were commissioned by the management board.

Baroness Verma

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has conducted 15 quantitative customer, user and satisfaction surveys in the last 12 months, the details of which are appended below. The results of all these surveys have been, or will be, published on gov.uk/decc.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have any agencies which report to it.

No surveys were commissioned by the DECC Executive Committee: surveys are managed within individual policy areas, programmes and projects, with results reported to relevant internal boards.

1. DECC Public Attitudes Tracker survey	Quarterly waves
2. Quantitative research into public awareness, attitudes, and experience of Smart Meters	Two waves
3. Smart Meters Early Learning Project Consumer Survey*	One-off survey
4. DECC Community Energy Survey	One-off survey
5. Green Deal Supply Chain research	One-off survey
6. Non-Participants in GD Supply Chain	One-off survey
7. Green Deal Household Tracker	Three waves
8. Green Deal assessments research	Three waves
9. Green Deal assessments research: Wave 1 follow up	One-off survey
10. Green Deal customer journey research	One-off survey
11. Research to explore consumer response to the potential use of winter fuel payments to invest in energy efficiency home improvements	One-off survey
12. Questions on GfK Omnibus survey exploring ways to paying for energy saving home improvements*	One-off survey
13. Questions on GfK Omnibus survey on Energy Performance Certificates and cash back incentives*	One-off survey
14. Survey of applicants to the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive*	One-off survey
15. Renewable Heat Premium Payment 2 evaluation*	Two surveys of participating households.

*Publication date to be confirmed.

01/11/2022

Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 809W, on Army: length of service, on how many soldiers in each regiment or corps the figures are based.

Anna Soubry

The average strength by Regiment or Corps is shown in the following table.



Regiment/Corps Regiment/Corps Average Strength

Household Cavalry & Royal Armoured Corps 1,860

Royal Artillery 2,210

Royal Engineers 2,830

Royal Signals 1,830

Infantry 8,700

Army Air Corps 370

Royal Logistic Corps 4,560

Royal Army Medical Corps 560

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 2,670

Adjutant General’s Corps (Provost) 400

Adjutant General’s Corps (Staff and Personnel Support) 870

Royal Army Veterinary Corps 80

Small Arms School Corps 20

Royal Army Dental Corps 60

Intelligence Corps 240

Royal Army Physical Training Corps 110

Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps 140

Corps of Army Music 180

Senior Soldier Continuity Posts (Long Service) 140

Source: Defence Statistics (Army)

Notes/Caveats:

The figures are based on the outflow of Army personnel between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2013.

Underlying outflow figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

01/11/2022
Mr Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Simon Burns on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex continued into (i) further education, (ii) higher education (iii) apprenticeships in each the last five years for which figures are available.

Matthew Hancock

Destination Measures data, following key stage 4 and key stage 5, are published at local authority level for the years 2009/10 and 2010/11. Parliamentary constituency level data are published for 2010/11 only.

The requested data, for the available years, are shown in the attached tables.

The information is taken from Statistical First Release data, which is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

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01/11/2022
Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Payments System Regulator on its market study into the ownership of payments systems by the largest banks.

Andrea Leadsom

At Budget 2014, the Chancellor announced that the competition powers of the Payment Systems Regulator would be switched on with immediate effect. This enables the Regulator to conduct a market study on ownership of the payment systems and, depending on the outcome, to refer the question of ownership to the Competition and Markets Authority. The decision about whether to commence a market study is one for the Regulator.

01/11/2022

Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what sentence was received by each employee of the Prison Service found guilty in 2013 of criminal activity in the workplace.

Jeremy Wright

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold records of employees found guilty of all types of criminal activity.

Whilst the vast majority of its staff are honest and hard working, NOMS is committed to detecting, deterring and disrupting all corrupt behaviour by individuals working in prisons. A dedicated NOMS Corruption Prevention Unit was set up to ensure staff corruption is identified and tackled. As part of this work NOMS has compiled a central record of staff convicted of criminal offences which meet the NOMS definition of corruption.

This definition is that corruption occurs when a person in a position of authority or trust abuses their position for their or another person’s benefit or gain. This would include the misuse of their role in order to plan or commit a criminal act, or a deliberate failure to act to prevent criminal behaviour.

There were 23 convictions for corruption-related offences during 2013. A breakdown of the different sentences is provided below.

Sentences

4 years 6 months imprisonment

4 years imprisonment

3 years imprisonment

1 year 9 months imprisonment

1 year 4 months imprisonment

1 year 1 month imprisonment

1 year imprisonment

9 months imprisonment

8 months imprisonment

6 months imprisonment

4 months imprisonment

10 months imprisonment

12 month custodial sentence suspended for 2 years.

11 months custodial sentence suspended for a year

9 months custodial sentence suspended for 12 months. 200 hours community service

8 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years and a 6 month residency order

4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 years

4 months custodial sentence suspended for 2 yrs. 100 hrs unpaid work

12mths Community Order. 150 hours unpaid work

100 hours community service and 12 months probation

Community Order. Ordered to pay £85 costs and £60 to complainants

The total number of convictions by year for corruption-related offences is shown in the table below. The number of convictions has remained broadly constant over the last five years.

2013	23
2012	25
2011	21
2010	18
2009	21

The information provided has been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

01/11/2022

Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target waiting time is for work capability assessment for both (a) employment and support allowance and (b) incapacity benefit reassessment; and what proportion of such assessments have been carried out within the target timescale in the last four quarters for which figures are available.

Mike Penning

We are working closely with our supplier to deliver the best possible service for claimants, driving up performance and quality to help reduce waiting times and process claims as quickly as possible. We are continuing to monitor and robustly manage this contract.

We do not have a target timescale for waiting time for an Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Reassessment Work Capability Assessment.

01/11/2022
Gavin Williamson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Williamson on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in South Staffordshire constituency under the age of 25 years old were in receipt of housing benefit in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb

The number of people in South Staffordshire constituency under the age of 25 in receipt of housing benefit, as at November 2013 is 258.

This information is published and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

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01/11/2022