The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many visits (a) by Ministers and (b) officials from his Department were made to Coventry in each of the last five years.
Joseph Johnson
This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate the Student Loans Company has provided to his Department of the costs of the preparation, introduction and administration of the amendments to the fees and student support system in England arising from the (a) replacement of maintenance grants by maintenance loans, (b) introduction of the postgraduate loan scheme, (c) extension of maintenance loans to part-time students, (d) extension of advanced learner loans to those aged 19 years and above and (e) Teaching Excellence Framework.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) fully funds the cost to the Student Loans Company (SLC) of implementing Higher and Further Education student finance policy in England. Funding is allocated on a demand-led basis whereby BIS requests services, SLC estimates the cost of delivery and then BIS pays the costs in full.
As set out in the SLC’s public Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) for financial year 2015-16, BIS made approximately £8.8m available to SLC to meet the estimated costs of implementing all new policies related to student support for Higher and Further Education in England, including (but not exclusively) the implementation of policies a, b and d above.
Overall implementation costs for individual policies are usually spread over a number of financial years reflecting the different stages of the implementation process. The amount of funding to be made available to SLC for financial year 2016-17, including for delivery of policies a-e above, will be confirmed in this year’s APRA and published on SLC’s website shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Serious Fraud Office is taking to address fraud by employees in large companies.
Robert Buckland
The role of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to investigate and prosecute serious or complex frauds.
The SFO is committed to investigating and, where appropriate, prosecuting such serious frauds, as seen in the conviction of Tom Hayes for offences related to manipulating LIBOR.
The Government is consulting and will introduce a new criminal offence to apply to corporations who failed to prevent their agents from criminal facilitating tax evasion.
The Government will also consult on extending the criminal offence of “failure to prevent” from bribery to other economic crimes such as fraud and money laundering so that firms are properly held to account for criminal activity that takes place within them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for each category of hate crime since 2010.
Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of prosecutions flagged as hate crimes. Hate crimes comprise offences motivated by hostility or prejudice to a person’s race or perceived race, religion or perceived religion, sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, disability or perceived disability and transgender identity or perceived transgender identity. These data are accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.
The tables below show the number and proportion of convictions and overall prosecutions, by each category of hate crime, during each of the last five available years:
TOTAL HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
|
Convictions |
Total |
||
|
2010-11 |
12,651 |
82.8% |
15,284 |
|
2011-12 |
11,843 |
83.4% |
14,196 |
|
2012-13 |
10,794 |
82.6% |
13,070 |
|
2013-14 |
11,915 |
84.7% |
14,074 |
|
2014-15 |
12,220 |
82.9% |
14,738 |
RACIAL HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
|
|
Convictions |
|
Total |
|
2010-11 |
10,566 |
83.1% |
12,711 |
|
2011-12 |
9,933 |
84.4% |
11,774 |
|
2012-13 |
9,107 |
83.3% |
10,935 |
|
2013-14 |
10,069 |
85.2% |
11,818 |
|
2014-15 |
10,123 |
83.5% |
12,130 |
RELIGIOUS HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
|
Convictions |
Total |
||
|
2010-11 |
472 |
83.4% |
566 |
|
2011-12 |
479 |
80.8% |
593 |
|
2012-13 |
308 |
77.2% |
399 |
|
2013-14 |
463 |
84.2% |
550 |
|
2014-15 |
557 |
83.8% |
665 |
HOMOPHOBIC & TRANSPHOBIC HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS (1)
|
Convictions |
Total |
||
|
2010-11 |
1,034 |
80.7% |
1,281 |
|
2011-12 |
951 |
78.7% |
1,208 |
|
2012-13 |
885 |
80.7% |
1,096 |
|
2013-14 |
913 |
80.7% |
1,132 |
|
2014-15 |
1,037 |
81.2% |
1,277 |
(1) A separate flag for Transphobic crime was introduced in December 2012 following the amendment to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
DISABILITY HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
|
Convictions |
Total |
||
|
2010-11 |
579 |
79.8% |
726 |
|
2011-12 |
480 |
77.3% |
621 |
|
2012-13 |
494 |
77.2% |
640 |
|
2013-14 |
470 |
81.9% |
574 |
|
2014-15 |
503 |
75.5% |
666 |
Data Source: CPS Management Information System
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 5 April (HL7189), and further to the findings of the United Nations Panel of Experts and paragraph 13 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270, what assessment they have made of the role of personnel from the North Korean Embassy in London in nuclear proliferation activity and sanctions evasion; and whether any representations on this matter have been made to the North Korean Ambassador to the UK.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are concerned by the evidence in the Panel of Experts’ report that officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continue to play key roles in facilitating trade of prohibited items. We regularly raise our concerns about the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme and nuclear proliferation with the North Korean Embassy in London. We remind all foreign diplomatic missions in the UK to operate in accordance with their obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Treasury ascertains that the funds of UK companies that operate in North Korea do not contribute to that country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme or its human rights violations.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for ensuring that financial sanctions, including those relating to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea), are properly understood, implemented and enforced in the United Kingdom.
OFSI is not an investigative or prosecutorial body but reviews suspected breaches of financial sanctions and then passes information to law enforcement bodies who would determine whether an investigation and or prosecution is appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 9 May (HL7870) and further to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea’s February conference on violence against women and girls in North Korea, which found that sexual violence had been perpetrated by the government of North Korea, whether the FCO or the British Embassy in Pyongyang have received representations, or will consider representations, on projects directed at combating sexual violence inside North Korea or the effects of sexual violence in the North Korean diaspora.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not currently run projects directly aimed at preventing sexual violence in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). However we continue to support projects aimed at improving the lives of some of the most vulnerable groups in North Korean society. We will consider any applications for projects aimed at addressing sexual violence in the DPRK or its effects among the North Korean diaspora made through the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any vessels of the Royal Navy fleet have been built or serviced at the Nauta shipyard in Poland; and whether the Government is aware of the use of North Korean labour at that shipyard.
Earl Howe
I can confirm that no Royal Navy vessels have been built or serviced at the Nauta shipyard in Poland. We are aware of reports, however, that North Korean labour has been used at the shipyard.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Poland to discuss the issue of North Korean forced labourers in that country and the latest findings on forced labour in the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on North Korea.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Officials have discussed the UN Special Rapporteur’s findings on North Korean overseas workers with Poland. The Government is clear that it is important that any country hosting North Korean workers, particularly the EU, respects their rights.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of claims that in 2015 North Korean labourers in Poland were employed to construct a ship that was later deployed on a British offshore wind farm.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are aware of reports of North Koreans working in the construction industry in Poland, but do not hold information on specific ships built by North Korean labourers.