The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what legal fees have been paid by his Department in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14; and for what purpose payment was made in each case.
Mr Francis Maude
My department publishes details of spend over £25,000 on gov.uk
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-03-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of families who will benefit from (a) £2,000, (b) £1,800, (c) £1,600, (d) £1,400, (e) £1,200, (f) £1,000, (g) £800, (h) £600, (i) £400 and (j) £200 per year of tax-free childcare support.
Nicky Morgan
Information on the number of families eligible for Tax-Free Childcare and the number of families who will benefit from the increase of the £6,000 cap on costs per child to £10,000 can be found in Annex B of Delivering Tax-Free Childcare: the Government’s response to the consultation on design and operation:
Further breakdowns of the number of families benefitting from the levels of support requested are not available.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to ensure the continuing affordability of liquid petroleum gas and oil for those households which are not on mains gas supply.
Baroness Verma
Her Majesty’s Government is acutely aware of the difficulties people have experienced with the price of liquid petroleum gas and heating oil. The price of LPG and oil is influenced by a range of factors, including crude oil prices (the major factor), refinery capacity, stock levels, distribution costs and retail margins.
We believe that the consumer is best served by open competition between companies. The Office of Fair Trading studied the heating oil market in 2011 and found few competition concerns. Most areas of the UK are supplied by a variety of heating oil suppliers and there are low barriers to entry for new businesses who may want to compete. The OFT study also commented on the generally positive initial impact of the Competition Commission Orders from 2009 to make it easier for domestic bulk LPG consumers to switch supplier, and there is a statutory duty to keep under review the effectiveness of and compliance with these Orders.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy will chair a third Ministerial Roundtable meeting on heating oil and LPG supply on 21 May. The Roundtable brings together a wide range of interests including Government, regulators, advisory and charitable bodies, the fuel supply industry and others to work together to improve the security and affordability of off-grid fuel supply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2014-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many of his Department’s (a) officials and (b) senior officials working on the development of the Energy Act 2013 left the Department in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) since 18 December 2013.
Gregory Barker
The number of Civil Servants who were leading on the development of the Energy Act 2013 for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and who have subsequently left the department permanently are shown in the table below.
|
Year |
Number |
|
1 January – 31 December 2012 |
Nil |
|
1 January – 17 December 2013 |
7 |
|
18 December 2013 – 28 February 2014 |
3 |
There were other Civil Servants who contributed to various aspects of the development but were not part of the core team. We do not hold central records of these people and to contact line managers for this information would incur disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2014-05-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in view of the terms of Botswana’s independence agreed by the United Kingdom in 1966, they will discuss with the government of Botswana its long-term plans for those Basarwa or Bushmen who wish to remain permanently in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Baroness Warsi
The Government regularly discusses with the Government of Botswana the situation of the San (also known as the Basarwa or Bushmen). We have consistently encouraged the Government of Botswana to seek an inclusive, sustainable and negotiated solution. We will continue to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many breaches of security have been reported at (a) HM Courts Service, (b) the Land Registry, (c) the National Offender Management Service, (d) the National Archives, (e) the Office of the Public Guardian and (f) the Tribunals Service in each year since May 2010; and what procedures each agency follows when a breach of security involves the disclosure of personal data.
Shailesh Vara
The table below provides the number of centrally recorded security incidents (breaches of security resulting in actual or potential harm) that have occurred during each financial year since 1 April 2010.
|
01/04/2010-31/03/2011 |
01/04/2011-31/03/2012 |
01/04/2012-31/03/2013 |
01/04/2013-31/12/2013 |
|
|
HM Courts Service* |
2,845 |
– |
– |
– |
|
Tribunals Service* |
577 |
– |
– |
– |
|
HM Courts and Tribunals Service* |
– |
5,077 |
3,101 |
2,421 |
|
Office of the Public Guardian |
679 |
446 |
485 |
389 |
|
The National Archives |
3 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
|
The National Offender Management Service ** |
8,287 |
9,298 |
10,052 |
8,492 |
*HM Courts Service and the Tribunals Service merged in April 2011 and became HM Courts and Tribunals Service and therefore these details are not recorded separately.
** Includes the number of incidents involving physical security in prisons.
Responsibility for HM Land Registry was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in July 2011 and therefore the Ministry of Justice does not hold this information.
The figures include a wide range of types of incident, including loss of IT equipment (which would usually be password protected or encrypted to protect the information); verbal abuse and threats to court staff, judiciary and members of the public; and a wide variety of incidents in prisons.
The Department and its agencies apply robust incident management processes, including a requirement for staff to report breaches resulting in potential harm/loss to assets (information, people, buildings and equipment).
When a security incident involving the disclosure of personal data is identified prompt action is taken locally to limit harm and residual action is then taken to seek to alleviate further recurrence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the inclusion of a bill on modernisation of the regulation of nurses and midwives in the Queen’s Speech.
Dr Daniel Poulter
We have not received representations on the inclusion of a bill on modernisation of the regulation of nurses and midwives. However, the Department has received representations on taking forward the Law Commission’s work from a number of organisations, including:
– professional regulatory bodies;
– patient safety groups;
– the Professional Standards Authority; and
– medical professional associations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of work capability assessments appeals that were found in favour of the claimant heard by January 2014, were awarded zero points at the initial decision; and what proportion of such decisions were awarded to (a) the WRAG and (b) the Support Group.
Mike Penning
The information requested for all Work Capability Assessments is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
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 discussions his Ministers had with the Iranian government on the imprisonment of (a) Rasoul Abdollahi, (b) Saeed Abedini, (c) Ebrahim Firozi, (d) Behmain Iranal, (e) Alireza Seyedin, (f) Maryam Naghash-Zargaran, (g) Farshid Fathi and (h) others imprisoned for their religious beliefs in Iran.
Hugh Robertson
We remain deeply concerned about the detention and treatment of all prisoners of conscience in Iran and the ongoing discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups. We have called publicly for the Iranian government to end all persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith. The UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires raised the issue of freedom of religion with the Iranian authorities during his last visit to Iran on 12 March.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Andrew Smith on 2014-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission a study of the case for a new cycle and pedestrian crossing of the Thames east of Tower Bridge.
Stephen Hammond
Transport in London is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) as per the terms of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Any decision to commission a study into a new cycle and pedestrian Thames crossing would therefore be a matter for the Mayor of London.