The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.
Karen Bradley
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my Right Hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on March 26 2014, Official Report, column 292W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-06-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s capacity to discharge its statutory duties to survey and inspect (a) domestic and (b) international shipping.
Stephen Hammond
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)’s current business plan has an operational priority (OP) entitled: “OP2 – Ensuring our ship survey, inspection and certification capability, and the parallel work in relation to seafarers, meets our domestic and international obligations”. Progress against this operational priority is monitored on a monthly basis by the MCA Executive Board using a balanced score card system. By this method the MCA is able to assess its capacity to discharge its statutory Survey and Inspection duties.
The MCA monitors its capacity to discharge its statutory duties to survey and inspect (a) domestic (Flag State responsibility) and (b) international (Port State responsibility) shipping through a system of activity monitoring. Performance against these Survey and Inspection activities feed into the Balanced Score Card for OP2.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-03-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to relieve congestion on roads.
Mr Robert Goodwill
This Government is committed to investing in infrastructure to reduce traffic congestion. This means spending £24 billion on strategic roads over this and the next Parliament, and accelerating the pace of delivery so that people affected see a difference more quickly.
This includes a £500 million programme of pinch point schemes specifically targeted at tackling congestion on both the strategic and local road network, and a further £800 million being invested in 25 local major road schemes.
We have previously announced £183.5m for road repairs following the severe weather this winter and in the recent Budget, the Chancellor announced a further £200 millionfunding for pothole repairs. Of this, £168m will assist Councils in England, with the remaining £32m allocated to the devolved administrations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2014-06-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Sudan about policies involving the death sentence for women who change their religion.
Baroness Warsi
I am appalled at the death sentence given to Meriam Ibrahim, and her continued imprisonment. Immediately following her trial, the Minister for Africa, my Hon. Friend, the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), issued a statement describing her conviction as barbaric and calling upon the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion and international human rights laws as enshrined in its own constitution. The Chargé d’Affaires of the Sudanese Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 19 May at the request of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague). The Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development, my Hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Ms Featherstone), reiterated our demand with the Sudanese Foreign Minister when she met him on 20 May. Our Embassy in Khartoum attended Meriam Ibrahim’s trial, continues to press the Sudanese authorities for her release and is in close contact with her defence team.
The UK opposes the death sentence in all circumstances. We are calling on the Sudanese government to undertake a comprehensive review of its penal code to ensure its laws reflect both its constitution and international human rights obligations, and the values and compassion of the Sudanese people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-03-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff his Department has employed in data entry roles relating to universal credit in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) Lancashire in each quarter since 2010.
Mike Penning
There are no dedicated data entry roles and accordingly no cost to the department can be reliably estimated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-06-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in securing a deal on the European Union’s 2030 climate change reduction package, in advance of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September.
Baroness Verma
The European Council in March 2014 discussed the 2030 climate and energy framework and agreed to make a final decision on the Framework no later than October this year.
The UK believes that the EU should urgently adopt a domestic emissions reduction target for 2030 of at least 40% on 1990 levels, moving to 50% in the context of an ambitious global climate agreement.
I am determined to continue working closely and intensively with all my colleagues in Europe to ensure that the EU is in a position to play a leading role at the Ban Ki-Moon Climate Summit in September.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-03-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Department for Transport 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 Kramer
The information requested regarding the conduct of customer, user and satisfaction surveys across the Department for Transport and its agencies in the last 12 months is as follows:
| Survey | Comissioned by Board | Reported to Board |
| DVLA | ||
| Customer Satisfaction Survey 2012-13 | Yes | Yes |
| VOSA | ||
| ATF Satisfaction Survey | Yes | Yes |
| PSV operators survey | ||
| MOT modernisation user survey | ||
| User evaluation of communications – operators | ||
| User evaluation of communications – MOT | ||
| MCA | ||
| UK Ship Register | Yes | |
| Survey and Inspection Regime | Yes | |
| Seafarer Certifcate of Competency | Yes | |
| Seafarer Certificate of Equivalent Comeptency | Yes | |
| HA | ||
| National Road User Survey | Yes | |
| Area Road User Survey x7 | ||
| DSA | ||
| Car driving test candidates x2 | Yes | |
| Motorcycle driving test candidates x2 | Yes | |
| LGC/PCV driving test candidates | Yes | |
| Approved driving instructors x2 | Yes | |
| Approved motorcycle training bodies | ||
| Potential driving instructors | ||
| Trainers on the ORDIT register | ||
| Trainers on the voluntary LGV/PCV register |
Glossary
| ATF | Authorised Testing Facility |
| DSA | Driver Standards Agency |
| DVLA | Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency |
| HA | Highways Agency |
| MCA | Maritime and Coastguard Agency |
| PSV | Public service vehicle |
| VCA | Vehicle Certification Agency |
| VOSA | Vehicle and Operator Services Agency |
| LGV | Large goods vehicle |
| PCV | Passenger carrying vehicle |
| ORDIT | Online register of driving instructors |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total annual cost to the European Union institutions of (1) translating documents, speeches and other texts, and (2) simultaneous interpretation in all member languages; and what is their estimate of the saving if that service were limited to the six most used languages.
Baroness Warsi
Each European Union Institution is responsible for its own translation and interpretation systems and costs. The Annual Budget 2014 has €388 million payments allocated to “language services” for the European Commission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2014-03-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will instruct the Crown Prosecution Service to bring prosecutions relating to all cases of female genital mutilation reported in London since 2009.
Lord Wallace of Tankerness
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is committed to tackling cases of female genital mutilation (FGM), however it can only prosecute cases referred to it by the police which meet both of the tests outlined in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
The Code sets out a two stage test which must be applied when deciding whether a case should be prosecuted. The first stage is the evidential test which requires prosecutors to be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. If the evidential stage of the test is met prosecutors must then go on to identify the relevant public interest factors tending for and against the prosecution in order to form an overall assessment of whether a prosecution is in the public interest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-06-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been killed in the United Kingdom since 1984 by persons previously convicted of homicide.
Lord Faulks
A life sentence is mandatory on conviction for murder and a whole life order starting point applies to a murder by an offender previously convicted of murder. Discretionary life sentences or long determinate sentences are available for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) holds information on those persons convicted of homicide offences having previously been convicted of a homicide offence. However, the MOJ does not hold information centrally on the number of homicide victims associated with these crimes.
The table shows the number of offenders with previous convictions for homicide by offenders convicted of homicide in each year from 2001 to 2013. Homicide includes among others, the offences of murder, manslaughter, infanticide, corporate manslaughter and causing death by dangerous and careless driving. See footnote 3 for all types of homicides.
The MoJ’s extract of the Police National Computer only holds the complete criminal records of offenders who have been sentenced or cautioned since the beginning of 2000, Therefore it is not possible to provide criminal history time series information all the way back to 1984.
The figures given in the table have been drawn from the extract of Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Ministry of Justice. As with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.