The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations he has received from environmental groups regarding beef consumption and the countries from which the UK imports beef.
George Eustice
As of 19 June, no such representations have been received from environmental groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hywel Williams on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the level of need in rural communities for discretionary housing payments beyond 2014-15.
Steve Webb
An assessment has not yet been made about the level of need in rural communities for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) beyond 2014/15. DHP funding after 2014/15 will be agreed in due course and will be informed by evidence on the use and demand for DHPs, including in rural communities. The Department is currently collecting data on the use of Discretionary Housing Payments in the 2013/14 financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2014, Official Report, column 293W, on sugar, what discussions he has had and what representations he has received on including sugar in the list of ingredients that companies should work with caterers to reformulate in meals as part of the H4 pledge on Healthier Staff Restaurants; and what response his Department gave in each such case.
Jane Ellison
There have not been any discussions or representations made to the Secretary of State for Health or any Departmental officials, on including sugar in the list of ingredients that companies should work with caterers to reformulate in meals as part of the H4 Responsibility Deal pledge on Healthier Staff Restaurants.
There are 169 organisations currently signed up to the H4 pledge which includes a requirement for employers to work with caterers to reformulate recipes to ensure staff meals are lower in fat, salt and energy.
In addition, 11 catering companies have signed up to take a range of actions to help people consume fewer calories, including through reformulation to reduce sugar content.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to widen the terms of reference of the independent review of the operation and extent of the administrative scheme for dealing with so-called on the runs” to cover the question of what understandings or guarantees of immunity from prosecution may have been given to facilitate the talks leading to a ceasefire by IRA/Sinn Fein and to the Belfast Agreement.”
Lord Bates
The Prime Minister set out the terms of reference for Lady Justice Hallett’s review on 27 February. How those terms of reference are delivered is a question for Lady Justice Hallett, who has full access to government officials and documentation in order to fulfil her remit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding under which categories of expenditure her Department has allocated to domestic and sexual violence support services in each of the last five years.
Norman Baker
Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
within our society. The Coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling
such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
Action Plan, updated in March 2014.
Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
helpline.
Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
for:
144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
£900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
victims of domestic violence and stalking.
In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In
response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s
recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.
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 call made by Ban Ki-Moon for funds to enable the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers to the Central African Republic.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
On 10 April the UK co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2149 establishing a UN Peacekeeping Operation – MINUSCA – in the Central African Republic (CAR). We welcome this development which will support an end to the violence and help build long-term stability in CAR. The UK is the fifth largest contributor to the UN’s peacekeeping budget, which will be used to support the UN Mission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) arrests and (b) convictions for domestic violence offences in Dartford constituency in each of the last five years.
Norman Baker
The information requested is not available.
Data on arrests are reported to the Home Office on the basis of aggregated
offence categories only, for example violence against the person, sexual
offences and robbery. From these centrally reported categories it is not
possible to separately identify arrests that involve domestic violence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effects of the National Renewable Energy Centre on its local economy.
Michael Fallon
BIS has not made an assessment of the impact of the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) on its local economy. Narec has created a world leading suite of testing facilities for the offshore renewable energy sector. The recently announced merger with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will accelerate the design, deployment and commercialisation of offshore renewable energy technology and help the UK capture the economic opportunity presented by this sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation trust employees who left their jobs received higher than contractual payments since 1 January 2014.
Jeremy Wright
Prior to 1 June, probation staff in England & Wales were employed by the 35 probation trusts. Employment data of the kind requested were held by the individual probations trusts. They were not collected centrally and it would not be possible to obtain the information without incurring disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of student loans issued under the (a) pre-2012 and (b) new funding system that will be fully written off.
Mr David Willetts
Our model is designed to estimate aggregate repayments across the full range of borrowers. It does not estimate outcomes at the individual level, such as the probability of an individual’s loan balance being fully written off.
However, Student Loans Company data for early pre-2012 cohorts show that that around 10% of the cohorts up to 2005 have made no repayments since taking out their loans.