Category: Speeches

Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what maximum number of staff of each grade could be provided by each prison supplying staff for detached duty in each month since December 2013.

Jeremy Wright

The deployment of staff between prisons on detached duty is a regular and normal part of prison resourcing. It allows staff to be allocated from prisons with the capacity to provide them, to those where additional staffing is required. A nationally co-ordinated detached duty scheme has been operating since 21 October 2013.

The number of staff available /maximum number of staff available for detached duty at any one time is a matter for operational judgement and takes account of overall staff numbers, levels of sickness, prisoner numbers and the regime and security requirements.

The average headcount of Band 3 staff who worked on detached duty during December 2013 was 190, this represents 1.3% of all Band 3 officers. The table below contains a list of prisons broken down by the full-time-equivalent staff allocated and grade, during December 2013.

Some allocations outside of the national scheme continued after October 2013 but are not included in the information provided. London region particularly allocated staff within their own region. Information is collected on the staffing allocated. On occasions the resource is not actually deployed due to changes in local circumstances.

Table: List of prison receiving staff on detached duty by average headcount for December 2013

Headcount	Band 3	Band 4
5 or fewer	Aylesbury	Brixton
	Bedford	Coldingley
	Brixton	Guys Marsh
	Bullingdon	Leyhill
	Coldingley
	Cookham Wood
	Erlestoke
	Isis
	Isle of Wight
	Leeds
	Leicester
	Onley
	Send
	Sheppey Cluster
	Wandsworth
	Winchester
10	Wormwood Scrubs	High Down
	Norwich
	Glen Parva
	Bristol
	Werrington
	Pentonville
	Rochester
	Wayland
	Littlehey
	The Mount
	Nottingham
	Guys Marsh
	High Down
	Moorland/ Lindholme
20	Feltham
	Portland

Staffing figures are provided as at the end of each quarter and the last available figures are for 31 December 2013. Information from after that date is therefore not provided.

All staffing figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing data.

01/11/2022

Baroness Gale – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gale on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with police forces in England and Wales and with the Football Association of England in order to counter any rise in domestic violence while England are playing in the World Cup 2014; and what steps they are taking to ensure that police forces and supporting agencies are fully resourced to deal with the matter.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime and the Coalition Government is committed to ending it whenever it occurs.

Together with the police, we are supporting the Football United Against Domestic Abuse campaign by Women’s Aid, the launch of which was attended by the Crime Prevention Minister and supported by the Home Secretary. This campaign is working with the football community to unite players, clubs and fans at all levels against behaviour and attitudes that underpin domestic abuse.

The Crime Prevention Minister intends to meet with footballing interests in the near future to build on this campaign.

As part of its commitment to tackle domestic abuse, the Government is re-running a campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of domestic abuse for perpetrators of domestic abuse. The campaign was launched on 9 June and activity will run throughout the World Cup until 14 July 2014. Through posters and digital adverts, this campaign will target potential perpetrators and remind them of the terrible impact of violence on relationships.

Additional support to victims of domestic abuse is available through specialist local domestic abuse services and the national domestic violence helplines. The CoalitionGovernment has ring-fenced nearly £28 million of funding up to 2015 to support these services, which includes part-funding 144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinator posts.

01/11/2022
Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance were sanctioned for failing to complete their job search evidence form for the week of 25 December 2013 to 1 January 2014.

Esther McVey

Published data on sanctions is currently available up to 30th September 2013, with the next scheduled release in May 2014.

Claimants are expected to do all that is reasonable within full time working hours in any week to look for work and this is not restricted to specific days.

01/11/2022
Lord Laird – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 25 January 2011 (WA 132), what were the final overall installation costs of the Divis transmitter which enables the broadcasting into Northern Ireland of TG4, and of the new low-power television multiplex; what were their annual running costs in the last three years; which government paid what costs; and in which departmental budget they are accounted for.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The capital costs for the installation of the analogue transmitter at the Divis site to carry Telefis na Gaeilge (TG4) services are as set out in the reply by Baroness Rawlings on 25 January 2011 (Column WA132). The operational costs of broadcasting TG4 services in analogue from the Divis site were met by Foras na Gaelige. These arrangements ended with digital switchover on 23 October 2012.

Since 23 October 2012, TG4 services in Northern Ireland have been carried on the new Northern Ireland Multiplex. These arrangements were made under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of UK and Ireland in February 2010 which sets out a framework for co-operation on broadcasting issues in Northern Ireland. Under this arrangement, the Northern Ireland Multiplex carries RTE 1 and RTE 2 services as well as TG4. DCMS meets one third costs of the multiplex (including transmission services) with RTE meeting the remaining two thirds of costs. The costs since October 2012 are shown in the table.

2012-13 £149,984.84

2013-14 £264,211.45

01/11/2022
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as the major shareholder in National Air Traffic Services, they intend to meet the costs of the employee share scheme if the Civil Aviation Authority confirm their proposal that those costs will no longer be provided for in the next regulatory settlement.

Baroness Kramer

The regulatory settlement is a matter for the CAA. We would expect the NATS Board, in the first instance, to continue to consider the benefits of the employee share scheme and the terms on which it operates.

01/11/2022
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice has been issued to local authorities to make the required changes to their information technology services to remain connected to the gov.uk secure network.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a new and trusted single network for government. Ninety-eight per cent of local authorities have already transitioned to PSN, with the remainder due to transfer before the end of summer.

The Cabinet Office is supporting local authorities as they transition to PSN by providing guidance, project managers and information assurance specialists.

01/11/2022

Baroness Byford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much energy was produced from beet grown in each of the last three years in the United Kingdom.

Lord De Mauley

Official statistics on the area of sugar beet used to produce biogas, or energy produced from UK sugar beet are not currently available. The data below shows the production of bioethanol from sugar beet and the land used.

Year	Bioethanol (million litres)1	Land used (thousand hectares)2
15 April 2010 – 14 April 2011	68.5	13.4
15 April 2011 – 14 April 2012	21.8	3
15 April 2012 -14 April 2013 (provisional) 3	59.9	10.4

1 All sugar beet volumes above were grown on previously cropped land

2 Source: Defra June Survey of Agriculture. UK area at year n-1.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry

3 (e) Figures for 2012-13 (Year 5) are as of 15 September 2013 and are not final.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OfGEM) records have identified two operational anaerobic digestion plants which only use sugar beet to produce biogas for electricity generation.

Defra published an experimental statistics release on the use of crops for bioenergy in December 2013.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/289168/nonfood-statsnotice2012-12mar14.pdf

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01/11/2022

Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses in Warrington North constituency received funding from the Regional Growth Fund in each year since 2011-12; and how much each such business received.

Michael Fallon

No businesses in Warrington North have received project funding directly from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) but they can apply to regional and national RGF programmes for support.

01/11/2022
Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Attorney General, what recent assessment he has made of the cyber security crime skills of staff of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Dominic Grieve

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has mandatory training for all prosecutors on cybercrime and specific training for prosecutors on offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. This supports guidance for prosecutors on the range of offences which can be committed through the use of cyber technology.

In addition, the CPS will soon be introducing new consolidated guidance for prosecutors on cyber-offending and a new package of e-learning for prosecutors in relation to cybercrime which will cover: digital evidence gathering; online grooming; online fraud; and, social media.

01/11/2022
Paul Blomfield – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of potential savings to the public purse from the Shared Services Connected Ltd venture.

Mr Francis Maude

There has been cross-party agreement on the need for Shared Services for a decade but until recently all too little was achieved.

Independent Shared Service Centres will deliver a lower cost better quality of service, helping us to deliver a faster, smaller and more unified Civil Service.

Shared Service Connected Limited will contribute to the savings deliveredto the taxpayer by the transformation of back office functions, which will total over £400m by 2015/16.

01/11/2022