The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teaching assistant training posts have been (a) commissioned and (b) filled in in (i) Copeland and (ii) Cumbria in the latest period for which figures are available.
Mr David Laws
The information requested is not collected centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a note of the meeting with Dmitry Firtash at his Department on 24 February 2014.
Mr David Lidington
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials met Dmitry Firtash on 24 February to discuss developments in Ukraine and support for Ukraine from the international community. They did not discuss matters of national security. The meeting was part of a wider approach by the FCO to understand better the situation in Ukraine, by seeking information and views from a wide range of contacts, including senior business figures. The Government does not have plans to publish a note of the meeting at this time. According to our records, Dmitry Firtash has not attended any other meetings with the FCO in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential for greater use of Thames to move freight.
Baroness Kramer
Transport for London has assessed the potential use of the Thames and other waterways in their London Freight Plan. The Port of London Authority (PLA), the Mayor of London / Greater London Authority (GLA), Transport for London (TfL) and their partners in the public and private sectors have been working to encourage greater use of the Thames for the movement of freight, including that associatedwith infrastructure products in central Londonsuch as Crossrail, the Tideway Tunnel and Blackfriars Station.
The Department for Transport’s Mode Shift Revenue Support Scheme provides grants to assist companies with the costs associated with running inland water freight transport instead of road, where inland waterway is more expensive. Grant support is being provided for a freight service on the Thames between Denton and Silvertown.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Dobson on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if, in the light of the High Court decision of 11 February 2014, she will now set up a public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko.
James Brokenshire
The Home Secretary has decided not to seek permission to appeal the judgment and is giving fresh consideration to the exercise of her discretion to establish an inquiry. The Government continues to co-operate fully with the Inquest into Mr Litvinenko’s death.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the target timescale is for resolving complaints regarding non-payment of the National Minimum Wage.
Jenny Willott
The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) enforces the National Minimum Wage (NMW) on behalf of BIS.
HMRC investigates every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights helpline and deals with each NMW complaint on a case-by-case basis. The timescale for each case is dependent on a number of factors:
In 2013/14, HMRC investigated 1631 cases. Of these, 1084 cases were closed; 565 cases were closed within 120 days; 519 cases were closed outside of 120 days and 547 cases are still open and yet to be concluded.
Please note that investigations may not commence and be completed in the same financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame M. Morris on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of changes to the number of fast delivery reports to magistrates’ courts in England and Wales after the introduction of the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda.
Jeremy Wright
Pre-Sentence Reports currently fall into three categories; Standard Delivery (SDR), Fast Delivery (FDR), and Same Day (or Oral) reports. This process allows Courts the flexibility to deliver sentencing decisions in the appropriate timeframe, depending on each individual case, reducing the number of adjournments and expediting the criminal justice process.
The Transforming Rehabilitation reforms will introduce a new Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR) tool which will be used to inform the allocation of cases to new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) or the National Probation Service (NPS) and complements the pre-sentence report process. Our testing with operational staff in Trusts of the RSR tool indicates that it is straightforward to use, in line with our commitment to minimising bureaucracy for frontline staff.
The new National Probation Service (NPS) will be responsible for advice to courts and, prior to sentence, the NPS will advise courts on sentencing options for cases as part of a pre-sentence report (in accordance with the reserved function of advice to court under section 4 of the Offender Management Act 2007).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Duncan Hames on 2014-06-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what revenues have been received under the bank levy in each year since its introduction.
Andrea Leadsom
The bank levy, a permanent tax on banks’ balance sheet equity and liabilities, was introduced by this Government from 1 January 2011.
It raised £1.6bn in both 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Following a number of increases to the headline rate, the OBR now forecast it to raise £2.3bn in 2013-14, £2.7bn in 2014-15 and £2.9bn a year from 2015-16.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) asylum and (b) non-asylum New Matter Starts were awarded to the firm that had its award of a contract withdrawn in August 2010.
Mr Shailesh Vara
These questions relate to ongoing litigation against the Lord Chancellor and in the circumstances it would be inappropriate to respond at the current time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons his Department no longer publishes statistics for non-fire incidents with casualties attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain.
Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of today, Official Report, PQs 200566, 200567 & 200568.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take to ensure the effectiveness of the Sorting Out Separation Web app in providing constructive support to assist collaboration for longer-term separated parents in response to the evaluation commissioned by his Department which indicated that the Web app had little relevance or use for this group.
Steve Webb
DWP research report 863: Sorting Out Separation Web App: evaluation of effectiveness highlighted that the longer-term separated found the Sorting out Separation Web app less relevant because they were more likely to know most of the information provided.
The evaluation confirmed that we need better to understand the needs of this group. Several projects funded in the second round of the Innovation Fund are specifically focussing on what type of support works to help longer-term separated couples to collaborate. When these projects have been completed and evaluated, we will be able to consider how further to improve support for longer-term separated parents.