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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the average cost to the public purse of a parliamentary by-election since 2010.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The average (mean) cost to the public purse of a Parliamentary by-election since 2010 is £228,964. This comprises two main elements: the costs incurred by Returning Officers in running the poll; and the cost of delivering election mailings produced by candidates. The costs of running the three most recent by-elections, for which the Returning Officer’s expenses have not yet been settled, have not been factored into this average figure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) arrests, and (2) convictions, for diesel laundering there were in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not break down statistics for oils convictions to separate out those arising from diesel laundering. Total arrests and convictions for oils offences in Northern Ireland for the last complete three years for which figures are available were as follows:

The figures for arrests and convictions in any particular year do not correspond as investigations and prosecutions do not always reach conclusion in the year that they commence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the average change in annual household energy consumption after the installation of a smart meter.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Our central estimate of energy savings to domestic consumers as a result of smart metering is 2.8% for electricity (prepayment and credit) and 2% for gas (credit) and 0.5% for gas (prepayment).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken over the past five years to disrupt and intercept the supply of illicit drugs into UK prisons.

Lord Faulks

Prisons in England and Wales take a zero tolerance approach to illicit drugs. We have a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons. We are about to pilot the use of body scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body, we have introduced specific dog training to allow dogs to detect new psychoactive substances (NPS) and will introduce widespread drug testing of prisoners for NPS as part of the national mandatory drug testing programme in April 2016. We have also made it illegal to smuggle NPS into prisons. We are working with the Department of Health and others to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison. Anyone caught with any drugs in prison will be severely dealt with. Punishments available include closed visits, loss of privileges and up to 42 days added to their time in custody. Where prisoners are caught with controlled drugs, we will work with the police to consider prosecution and a further sentence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had about the work of UK Trade and Investment in promoting inward investment in Northern Ireland.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The established relationship between UKTI and Invest Northern Ireland (INI) enables both to support each other’s efforts to achieve the shared ambition to increase trade and investment and in turn jobs and growth, this includes regular engagement at Ministerial, Chief Executive, and operational levels.

For example, over the last month Lord Maude visited Northern Ireland on 28^th and 29^th January, including both a meeting with the Chief Executive of INI and a number of company meetings. He has also conducted one overseas visit alongside Northern Ireland Assembly Minister Bell to Canada in February.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that young people gain key transferable skills in order to increase their future employment opportunities.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

This Government is taking a series of important steps to help young people gain a good broad education with transferable skills such as literacy and numeracy, as well as employability skills from work experience.

This includes our reforms to GCSEs to ensure that they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy and numeracy than the old GCSEs. We are also reforming Functional Skills to improve the rigour and relevance of these qualifications as well as improving their recognition among employers. The new Functional Skills qualifications will be ready to teach in 2018.

As of August 2015, the condition of funding has been revised, so all 16-18 year old full-time students starting their study programme who have a grade D GCSE or equivalent in maths or English must be enrolled on a GCSE or approved IGCSE qualification in maths or English to work towards attaining a good pass.

We have also built English and maths into the heart of traineeships and apprenticeships to ensure that young people have the literacy and numeracy skills needed by employers. Our traineeship programme is supporting 16-24 year olds to gain the skills and work experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs. In addition, all of the new employer-led apprenticeship standards must demonstrate acquisition of transferable skills and offer more than just training for a single job or employer. Standards must ensure that an apprentice can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, developing the ability to progress in their careers.