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Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) redundancy and (b) voluntary exit schemes for civil servants are currently in operation in his Department.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Central department has two voluntary exit schemes. These are both small, targeted schemes aimed at specific groups of people who we have not been able to redeploy or who do not have the skills and capabilities we need.

There are also 2 schemes in DVLA which have received Cabinet Office approval and are underway. There are
1. A voluntary redundancy scheme – this is required to deal with a number of people who have TUPE transferred into DVLA from Fujitsu following the insourcing of our IT function, who are based in locations which are not within travelling distance of Swansea and are not able to move home
2. A voluntary exit scheme – this is required to deal with surplus numbers of people based in Swansea following the TUPE transfer into DVLA from Fujitsu, Concentrix and IBM as result of the insourcing of the DVLA IT function
The Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency has no redundancy and one voluntary exit scheme currently in place. The voluntary exit scheme is to enable staff who have been identified as surplus to be released if needed as a result of the agency restructuring. It is not open for general applications.
01/01/2023

Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants were employed in his Department in each year from 2010 to 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The number of people employed in the Department for Transport in each financial year is shown for each year in the table below. As at March 15 there were 17,142 employees.

Headcount	Mar ’10	Mar ’11	Mar ’12	Mar ’13	Mar ’14	Mar ’15
DFT central Dept	2,009	1,822	1,669	1,744	1,854	1,841
Driver Standards Agency	2,697	2,607	2,584	2,441	2,264	**
Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency	6,445	6,360	6,326	6,457	5,568	5,794
Driver Vehicle Standards Agency						4,520
Government Car Despatch Agency	329	235	178	91	*	*
Highways Agency	3,834	3,633	3,488	3,331	3,471	3,757
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	1,230	1,142	1,118	1,086	1,073	1,064
Vehicle Certification Agency	149	147	156	156	163	166
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	2,527	2,305	2,206	2,265	2,268	**
Total DfT	19,220	18,251	17,725	17,571	16,661	17,142

Notes to Data

* GCDA ceased to be an Agency and joined the central Department as the Government Car Service (GCS) in July 2012, but continued to report their staff separately until March 2013 due to using a different shared services system. After this date, the GCS was reported as part of the central Department

** In April 2014 DSA and VOSA merged to form a new Agency called the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)

01/01/2023

Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the provision of lorry parking facilities on the strategic road network; and what steps he is taking to improve the provision of such facilities.

Andrew Jones

We have received three letters on this subject from MPs, plus several from hauliers and lorry drivers. We have also received representations in meetings with the Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association and Unite the Union.

We are concerned by suggestions that a lack of suitable, affordable facilities is one of the factors leading to the current shortage of lorry drivers. Therefore we are having discussions with the haulage industry and Highways England to see what improvements are possible.

01/01/2023
Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether staff working in his Department that were employed through an agency earned the London Living Wage or more in each of the last two years.

David Mundell

All London based staff employed by the Scotland Office through an agency earned more than the London Living Wage in each of the last two years.

01/01/2023
Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department spent on educational materials for prisons in 2014-15.

Nick Boles

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funds the Skills Funding Agency to administer and deliver education in the majority of adult prisons in England via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS).

The OLASS budget for 2014-15 was £145.6m. This figure includes funding for the National Careers Service in custody. It excludes a number of private prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service.

The OLASS budget includes funding to cover the provision of educational materials. The costs of those materials are not collected separately.

01/01/2023
Bill Esterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17450, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Mike Penning

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has improved its performance in recent years from closing 947 cases in 2010/11 to closing 1,632 cases in 2014/15. The CCRC has also recently undertaken a review of working practices that is expected to lead to further improvements.

01/01/2023
Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults were recorded on prison staff on duty in 2014-15.

Andrew Selous

We do not tolerate violence of any kind in prison and any assault is treated extremely seriously. Any prisoner who commits an act of violence can expect to have action taken against them.

Statistics for assaults on staff are published in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin.

The information requested may be found in the ‘Summary tables April 2004 to March 2015’ at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-march-2015

“

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislation to encourage the greater use of non-custodial sentencing options for driving offences where danger was caused but with no evidence of intent or wilful risk-taking on the part of the driver.

Andrew Selous

Parliament sets the maximum penalties for driving offences and it is for the courts to decide what sentence to impose, taking into account aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence and the offender, and in line with the sentencing guidelines. The previous Secretary of State established a review into these issues. We are considering how to take this forward. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is meeting colleagues to discuss this issue in the new year.

01/01/2023

Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the average amount the Youth Justice Board will pay for each place for a child in (a) Medway secure training centre, (b)Oakhill secure training centre, (c) Rainsbrook secure training centre, (d) Cookham Wood young offender institution, (e) Feltham young offender institution, (f) Parc young offender institution, (g) Werrington young offender institution and (h) Wetherby young offender institution; and what the average amount the Youth Justice Board paid on average for each place for a child in each of those institutions was in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.

Andrew Selous

Secure Training Centres (STCs) typically cater for younger offenders with multiple or complex needs and therefore have smaller units and higher staff ratios than Young Offender Institutions (YOIs).

The Youth Justice Board calculates the average cost of custody per place per year based on assumed full occupancy of all youth secure establishments. Table 1 shows the average costs for a place per year at each of the specified STCs and YOIs for each year since 2013/14.

Table 1: Average costs per place per year by youth secure establishment

Establishment	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
(a) Medway STC	£214,606	£157,110	£138,051
(b) Oakhill STC	£204,301	£210,926	£217,485
(c) Rainsbrook STC	£175,479	£181,194	£134,955
(d) Cookham Wood YOI	£76,051	£53,915	£81,089
(e) Feltham YOI	£53,690	£55,120	£68,548
(f) Parc YOI	£67,995	£68,611	£69,331
(g) Werrington YOI	£55,638	£57,090	£91,306
(h) Wetherby YOI	£46,688	£59,579	£70,505

Notes:

Prices not adjusted for inflation
Business rates are included for STCs (business rates are charged on non-domestic property).
Costs do not include VAT where this is applicable (STCs and Parc).
Advocacy service prices are included for STCs and YOIs. The advocacy service is an independent service that supports young people within the secure estate.
These costs do not include costs associated with escorting of young people between courts and secure accommodation.

In 2015/16 the YJB became responsible for commissioning education in public sector YOIs, which was previously funded through the Education Funding Agency. New YOI education contracts have also increased the number of education hours available to young people.

Costs at Medway and Rainsbrook STCs reduced between 2014/15 and 2015/16, following contract renegotiations and the removal of healthcare costs from these contracts. The Oakhill contract includes costs associated with healthcare, unlike the other two STCs.

01/01/2023

Jeremy Lefroy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to provide humanitarian funding to (a) refugees from and (b) internally displaced persons in Burundi.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK Government is extremely concerned by the ongoing political unrest in Burundi and its humanitarian consequences, including internally displaced persons and the flow of Burundian refugees to neighbouring countries.

The UK is the second largest bilateral donor to the regional appeal, after the US. DFID offices across the region, including in Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, are working closely to monitor the situation, review preparedness activities and provide humanitarian support. £18.15 million has been committed by DFID for refugee response in the region through UN agencies, such as UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, and international NGOs. This funding includes £14.25 million to support refugees in Tanzania and £3.9 million to support refugees in Rwanda. We are staying in close contact with these agencies about future funding needs. DFID has deployed a Humanitarian Advisor to the region in support of the response and to monitor funding provided so far.

01/01/2023