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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what training is given to driving examiners who test students in laden lorries.

Stephen Hammond

Potential large goods vehicle (LGV) examiners are required to hold the relevant driving licence entitlement for the category of vehicle they will be testing. In the case of laden lorries that is either category C or category CE.

Initial training courses last five weeks with a ratio of two trainees to each trainer. Courses emphasise health and safety issues connected with working practices, test centres and vehicles. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) conducts regular progress checks which culminate in a final test and end-of-course evaluation.

Since early 2010 some of the vehicles used to train examiners to conduct category C and CE practical driving tests have been loaded with independent bulk containers to simulate a lorry carrying a commercial load. Consequently during training all potential LGV examinersare trained and examined using loaded vehicles. Before 2010, some category CE training made use of concrete blocks on the trailer to simulate a load.

DVSA also delivers refresher courses for examiners who have not conducted LGV testing for six months or more which readdress the most important elements of the initial training course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Romanian-born prisoners are being held in British prisons.

Jeremy Wright

On 31 March 2014 there were 588 prisoners in England and Wales who declared they were Romanian on reception to prison.

All foreign national offenders sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.

Romania has implemented the EU Prisoner Transfer Arrangement and relevant cases have been referred to the Home Office to obtain deportation orders.

The Prisoner Transfer process is just one mechanism for removing Foreign National Offenders. The number of FNOs deported under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS), which we introduced in May 2012, we have removed over 240 FNOs to date.

Whereas this Government has begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, if he will make it his policy that the Government adopt when designing domestic policy the same gender equality provisions as contained in the International (Gender Equality) Act 2014 for development assistance provision.

Mrs Helen Grant

Public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales are subject to the s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (Public Sector Equality Duty), which requires them to have to due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between different groups, for example between men and women in carrying out their functions including policy development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to commission Ofsted to carry out spot inspections on schools.

Mr David Laws

Ofsted has been carrying out Section 8 inspections at schools with serious behavioural problems since January 2014. No-notice inspections can also be triggered by parental complaints or safeguarding concerns.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, within what time period Ofsted is required to provide feedback to a school after it has reported to his Department.

Mr David Laws

This question is a matter for Ofsted. I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what consultation he has had with local authorities about the extension of fines to letting agents who fail to publish their fees tariff in full.

Kris Hopkins

Requiring letting agents to be transparent about their fees will prevent the small minority of rogue agents from imposing unreasonable, hidden charges. This common sense approach avoids excessive state regulation which would just push up rents for tenants. This and mandatory membership of redress schemes will give local authorities the tools they need to weed out the cowboys that give agents a bad name; and drive up standards.

We have not received particular representations from local authorities on this issue. We will undertake a New Burdens assessment in due course in the usual way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding each tenancy deposit protection scheme has received from the Government in each of the last 10 years.

Kris Hopkins

The tenancy deposit protection schemes are operated by private companies under service concession agreements with my Department. All the schemes are designed to be self-financing.

The service concession agreement that was agreed by the previous administration with the custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme contained a guarantee that the government would meet any shortfall arising if approved fees were not covered by the interest on deposits held.

As a result of the low interest rates that emerged due to the financial turmoil in 2008 and 2009, this agreement left the Government—i.e. taxpayers—liable for a shortfall under that guarantee which was estimated to reach over £30 million by the end of the contract in 2012.

In May 2010, the coalition Government inherited this unacceptable situation and looming liabilities. As outlined by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 19 July 2011, Official Report, Column 828W, following extensive negotiations in summer 2010, the guarantee and all associated liabilities were removed as part of a revised agreement which also incorporated a payment of £12.7 million and a four-year extension of the original agreement.

This is the only payment which has been made by Government to any of the tenancy deposit protection schemes.