The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS-funded cosmetic surgeries have been performed in each of the last four years; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of those surgeries which were not based on a mental health need.
Dr Daniel Poulter
This information is not available in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administration costs are, per claimant, of (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments.
Mike Penning
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are different benefits with different delivery models. PIP includes a more objective assessment process, with a face-to-face consultation for most people. That is different to DLA, which is a self-assessed paper based process that purely looks at the type of health condition or impairment they have. It was always expected that PIP would produce an overall increased administration cost compared to DLA for these reasons. The current administration cost for DLA per claimant is £56.06. A comparable administration cost is currently unavailable for PIP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many calls the Metropolitan Police human trafficking hotline received from victims of human trafficking in each of the last three years; and what the annual cost of running the hotline is.
Karen Bradley
The table below shows the number of calls received by the Metropolitan Police
human trafficking hotline since it was set up in June 2011.
Year Number of calls
2014 29 (to 19 June)
2013 41
2012 52
2011 34 (June to December)
The freephone hotline number (0800 783 2589) is funded by Stop The Traffik and
therefore has no cost to the Metropolitan Police Service other than the £15 per
month line rental.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they expect in alcohol consumption from on-trade and off-trade purchases respectively over the next five financial years, following the changes in alcohol duty announced in the Budget.
Lord Deighton
Changes to beer, cider and wine duty at Budget 2014 help support British pubs. The Government also supports the Scotch whisky industry for the unique role it plays in the UK economy. Freezing the duty on spirits supports the domestic market for the Scotch whisky industry and jobs in Scotland.
The Government expects that there will be a small increase in alcohol consumption as a result of these changes to alcohol duty at Budget 2014 in both the on-trade – where alcohol is sold to be consumed on the premises (e.g. pubs, bars, restaurants) – and for the off-trade – where alcohol is sold to be consumed off the premises (e.g. supermarkets, off-licences). The tables below provide estimates of changes in consumption in both percentage and volume terms relative to the previous alcohol duty rates policy.
Estimated change in consumption (%):
|
|
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
|
On-trade |
+0.7% |
+0.8% |
+0.8% |
+0.8% |
+0.9% |
|
Off-trade |
+0.9% |
+0.9% |
+0.9% |
+0.9% |
+1.0% |
Estimated change in consumption (thousand hectolitres of alcohol):
|
|
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
|
On-trade |
+13 |
+13 |
+14 |
+15 |
+15 |
|
Off-trade |
+28 |
+29 |
+30 |
+32 |
+33 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the average time period between application and issuing of passports for residents of (a) Airdrie and Shotts constituency, (b) Lanarkshire, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK in each year since 2009.
James Brokenshire
Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not store information at constituency level
and the cost of extracting the information requested would be disproportionate.
Information on passport processing performance can be found in HMPO’s annual
report and accounts, which can be accessed via the links below.
2009-2010:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118758
/annual-report-accounts-200910.pdf
2010-2011:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/identity-and-passport-service-annual-
report-and-accounts-2010-to-2011
2011-2012:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118751
/ips-annual-report-2012.pdf
2012-2013:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210619
/IPS_annual_report_and_accounts_2012-13.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 2 April (WA 195), whether either they, or the European Union, employ a formal definition of the word Europe”.”
Baroness Warsi
The UK does not employ a formal definition of the word “Europe” and we are not aware of the EU Institutions employing a formal definition of the word “Europe” either.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Williamson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that the perpetrators of assaults against prison staff are appropriately punished.
Jeremy Wright
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes assaults on prison staff very seriously. There are systems in place to deal with perpetrators quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution.
Prisoners engaging in violent behaviour will be subject to an immediate review of their Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) level. There is a strong presumption that such incidents will lead to an immediate downgrade to Basic level unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Assaults on staff in prison are a particularly serious matter given the need for staff to be able to maintain control and order in what can be a volatile environment. NOMS is working closely with the police and CPS to develop a new joint protocol for the management, reporting and prosecution of crime in prisons. Part of this work will involve the development of more effective measures to enable successful prosecution of prisoners who assault NOMS staff.
NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is managed in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.
Prison Service Instructions set-out the range of options available to Governors to investigate serious assaults. The Governor must ensure that an appropriate level of investigation is commissioned. They must also ensure that any lessons are learned from the incident and disseminated appropriately, those harmed are supported and perpetrators of harm are sanctioned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the cases made by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme in respect of the establishment of a humanitarian operation in the Central African Republic.
Lord Bates
It estimated that 1.3 million people (30% of the population) are food insecure. 60% of farmers have indicated that their crop production in 2013 was significantly reduced and around 50% of livestock was either looted or lost. 94% of farmers reported insufficient access to seeds for the upcoming planting season.
DFID is supporting short and medium term solutions to assist people through the lean season and plant staple crops to harvest in August. We have committed £4 million to FAO for the distribution of seeds and tools and to support livelihood activities such as home gardening. FAO will assist 150,000 farming households through the provision of seeds and tools. We will continue to closely monitor the humanitarian situation.
The UK has been closely monitoring the situation and has pledged a total of £23m to the response in 2013 and 2014 and is one of the largest humanitarian donors to CAR. The UK’s assistance is helping hundreds of thousands of people and will go towards the protection of civilians (in particular violence against women and girls); to urgent medical assistance; and to food security and livelihoods assistance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential benefits of the inclusion of the actual number and proportion of UK citizens registered to vote as a measure of the Electoral Commission’s effectiveness.
Mr Gary Streeter
The inclusion of the actual number and proportion of UK citizens registered to vote is not currently included as a key success measure of the Electoral Commission’s effectiveness. The Commission’s key success measures are reviewed each year and included in its Corporate Plan which is updated and presented to the Speaker’s Committee for approval on an annual basis.
The Commission works with Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and other stakeholders to increase the number and proportion of UK citizens registered to vote and therefore the change in registrations cannot be attributed solely to the Commission. Changes in registration rates are also likely to be the result of some factors which do not relate directly to registration practices, including levels of political engagement and changes in population mobility.
However, the Commission sets targets for the number of registration forms downloaded from its AboutMyVote website. This measure provides a proxy for the number of registrations attributable to each Commission campaign. The targets for the number of registration forms downloaded vary for each poll taking account of, for example, the size of the electorate.
It is currently not possible to directly map the number of forms downloaded from the Commission’s site to actual registrations as the registers are managed by 363 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) across Great Britain and EROs do not measure the number of registration forms downloaded from aboutmyvote.co.uk for the specific period of Commission campaigns. Following the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration, the Commission will examine the opportunities presented by online registration to review its registration measurements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been disbursed in compensation for the carbon price floor in each month since April 2013.
Michael Fallon
The Government is waiting for state aid approval from the European Commission for the carbon price floor compensation scheme. We expect to get a final decision later this month and we are hopeful that we will be able to commence the scheme shortly thereafter.