The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there has been in median gross weekly earnings for (a) men and (b) women in Vale of Clwyd constituency since 2010.
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 Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she made of the humanitarian situation in Syria; and if she will make a statement.
Justine Greening
The humanitarian crisis in Syria has reached catastrophic proportions. The UN estimates that 9.3 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid within Syria. At least 6.5 million people in Syria have been forced to flee their homes to other areas of the country and there are now over 2.8 million refugees in the region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Jamie Reed on 2014-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training schemes his Department has in place to enable teachers to support children who have type one diabetes.
Edward Timpson
The training of school staff to support pupils with medical conditions is a matter for schools. However, the Department for Education fully expects them to be aware of and understand the needs of pupils with medical conditions such as diabetes, and to put arrangements in place to provide effective support. This should include ensuring that school staff receive suitable training.
From September 2014, there will be a new duty, (introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014), on governing bodies of maintained schools (and proprietors of academies) to make arrangements to support pupils at school with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance. The guidance (upon which we have consulted publicly) will set out the requirements on schools to support children with medical conditions, which we would expect them to apply to conditions like diabetes. The guidance will set out expectations in respect of staff training.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants from elsewhere in the UK have taken advantage of Home Swap Direct to arrange exchanges to Scotland in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Kris Hopkins
Details of the number of moves that have taken placeunder the HomeSwap Direct Scheme from elsewhere in the United Kingdom to Scotland in each of the last three years are not held centrally.
HomeSwap Direct increases opportunities for social tenants who wish to find a new home by allowing tenants looking for a swap to see details of every possible property nationwide, no matter which mutual exchange website their landlord has chosen to subscribe to. The scheme has operated very successfully since its launch in October 2011 with tenants carrying out over 18 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, columns 20-1W, on electoral registration, which electoral registration officers and local authorities had the biggest improvement in registering attainers between 2008 and 2013.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not collect data on the number of attainers registered as part of its monitoring of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Through its performance standards framework the Commission monitors whether EROs are encouraging participation in the registration process by having in place an effective and appropriate public awareness strategy and working with partners where appropriate to promote registration.
The Commission informs me that there has been a significant improvement made by EROs in this area.
Between 2008 and 2012 the number of EROs meeting or exceeding the standards relating to public awareness and working with partners increased from 34% to 99% and from 67% to 100% respectively.
The Commission’s report on EROs’ performance in 2013 will be published at the end of March 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many reports on equality information and objectives each category of public authority has published under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 in each year since the regulations came into force; and what the cost of producing those reports was for each category of public authority in each such year.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The specific information requested is not collected or held centrally.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent statutory body, is responsible for the enforcement, monitoring and assessment of how public bodies comply with the public sector Equality Duty (PSED) and specific duties. The EHRC has published two reports to date which look at the performance of public bodies in England under the PSED and specific duties:
• ‘Publishing equality information: Commitment, engagement and transparency’ was published in December 2012. This report looked at how public authorities had performed with regard to the first specific duty (publication of equality information). Data for this assessment was collected between February and April 2012 and covered 1,159 public authorities in England. The report indicated that about half of the public authorities reviewed were publishing equality information on their workforce and service users by April 2012. Many more (78%) were publishing information on either their staff or their service users.
• ‘Assessment of the publication of equality objectives by English public authorities’ was published in Autumn 2013. This report sets out the findings of an assessment of how public authorities in England are publishing equality objectives. Data for the assessment was collected between September and December 2012 and covered 2,010 public authorities.
These reports do not estimate the associated costs of producing and publishing equalities information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, column 510W, on the electoral register: young people, what estimate he has made of the number of young people who have been added to the electoral register as a result of Rock Enrol!
Greg Clark
The government has made available £4.2 million funding to all 363 local authorities (LAs) and valuation joint boards (VJBs) in Great Britain. The Government has written to Electoral Registration Officers and encouraged them to use this funding to support the delivery of Rock Enrol! in their area. Officials will continue to work closely with LA/VJBs in order to monitor and measure the outcomes.
The Government is supportive of organisations that promote democratic engagement such as Bite the Ballot and welcomes lessons from their experiences.The Rock Enrol! learning resource is freely available on the gov.uk and Times Education Supplement websites amongst others. The Government is also working with a range of organisations, including the Association of Citizenship Teachers, to promote the use of Rock Enrol!
For details of the Electoral Commission’s registration activities I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by the Hon. Member for South West Devon on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 209W [183573].
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects Atos to appoint new agency staff to administer appeals on reassessment of eligibility for disability benefits.
Mike Penning
Appeals on the disability benefits are administered and heard by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. Atos has no role to play.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 20W on the electoral register, whether measurements of the effectiveness of electoral registration officers’ implementation of Electoral Commission advice on increasing the number of attainers registered includes changes in the number of attainers registered.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that its monitoring of EROs does not include measuring changes in the number of attainers registered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to transfer (a) the first and (b) the last Community Rehabilitation Company to an external provider.
Jeremy Wright
The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme is opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers, so that we can harness the best that the private and voluntary sectors has to offer to reduce reoffending. In mid December 2013, the bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced. The list includes a mix of private and voluntary sector partnerships with more than 50 organisations represented. We expect to announce the winners of these contracts by the end of 2014 and are committed to the roll out of payment by results by 2015.
The Government has been clear that we want to see a diverse market delivering probation services, rather than being dominated by just a few providers. We have set a market share restriction whereby bidders can win a maximum of 25% of market share based on the indicative contract values set out in the competition documentation. Bidders will be allowed to win multiple contracts up to the point at which their market share cap would be breached subject to meeting any other requirements set out by the Authority.