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Tag: 2014

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to improve job security for people employed indefinitely on temporary or fixed-term contracts.

    Jenny Willott

    The Government is committed to achieving a labour market that is both fair and flexible, which gives employers the confidence to create jobs, and individuals the choice to find work that suits them and their circumstances.

    Temporary, agency and fixed term contracts are an important, but relatively small part of our labour market, as they give companies flexibility in how staff are hired and workers flexibility in how they work. In February to April 2014 there were 1.673 million temporary employees – 6.5% of all employees. Of these, ONS estimate that 35.9% were working temporarily because they could not find a permanent job – down from 39.7% a year ago.

    Under this Government employment growth continues to be exceptionally strong, with levels up by 345,000 in the past quarter, and 780,000 in the past year – a record. Overall, in the 12 months to April 2014:

    · Employment increased by 780,000.

    · The number of employees working full time increased by 441,000 and the number of people working part time increased by 17,000.

    · The amount of people in self-employment rose by 337,000

    · The amount of temporary employees was 1.67 million in the three months to April 2014, up 79,000 on the same period last year. The amount of employees working temporary jobs because they could not find permanent jobs fell by 33,000 over the past year.

  • David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ruffley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many persistent young offenders were registered in (a) Bury St Edmunds, (b) Suffolk and (c) England and Wales in each of the last five years; and how many and what proportion of total offences were attributable to such offenders in that period.

    Jeremy Wright

    The prevention of reoffending by young people is a key priority for this Government. Overall crime and proven offending by young people is down, and fewer young people are entering the criminal justice system. But for those young people that are committing crimes it’s right that the most serious or persistent are sentenced to custody, and those that commit violent offences face tough sentences.

    It is unacceptable however that nearly three-quarters of young offenders who leave custody go on to reoffend – this needs to change. That’s why we are doubling the amount of education we give those in Young Offenders Institutions and why we are reforming the youth estate with the introduction of Secure Colleges. These new establishments will tackle the root cause of offending by giving people the skills and self-discipline to gain employment and training upon release and turn their lives around. We announced on 8 June the name of the company selected to design and build the pathfinder.

    Table 1 (attached) shows the number of young offenders by their previous criminal history for young offenders cautioned or sentenced (a) by Suffolk Police Force Area; and (b) across England and Wales. There is no national definition of a persistent offender, with Local Criminal Justice Boards setting criteria locally to identify persistent offenders based on their volume of crime and impact on their local community. The table below therefore shows offenders with one or more previous cautions or sentencing occasions. The Police National Computer (PNC) does not break down information below police force area; it is not therefore possible to provide data specific only to Bury St Edmunds. Due to variations in local definitions of “persistent”, it is not possible to determine the proportion of overall offences committed by “persistent” offenders in any of the geographical areas specified.

    These figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were cautioned or sentenced in each year and some offenders will therefore be represented several times in the figures. They are based only on those offences recorded on the PNC by an English or Welsh police force, including the British Transport Police. The figures therefore exclude a range of low-level (non-recordable) summary offences committed by these offenders e.g. TV licence evasion and speeding as these are not recorded on the PNC. As with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes information provided via the UK manufacturers’ sales by product (Prodcom) form is used.

    Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the advice provided by Jemima Stratford QC to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drones, if he will agree a new Memorandum of Understanding or other bilateral agreement with the US on data transfer and use.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK intelligence agencies work in accordance with UK law, as described by the Foreign Secretary in his statement to the House on 10 June 2013 (Official Report of 10 June 2013, column 31). In addition, Section 6 of the recently published Annual Report for 2013 by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, Sir Anthony May, addresses the legal basis for intelligence sharing between the UK and its partners.

    The UK Intelligence Agencies adhere to the law at all times. We have one of the world’s strongest legal and regulatory frameworks governing the use of secret intelligence. All of GCHQ’s activities are legal, necessary and proportionate. GCHQ does not disclose or share information other than is appropriate under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

  • Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent research has been commissioned into truancy in schools; and if he will make a statement.

    Elizabeth Truss

    From the 2011/12 absence data, we know that pupils who have regular attendance at school are four times more likely to achieve five or more A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, than those pupils who are persistently absent. Persistent absence has fallen by 15 per cent under this Government, from 392,305 pupils missing 15 per cent of school time in 2010/11 to 333,850 in 2011/12. The former Government Adviser on behaviour, Charlie Taylor, published his report on improving school attendance in April 2012. It can be found at http://tinyurl.com/crt8nok

    “

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles built by Nissan are in the Government car pool.

    Stephen Hammond

    There are 84 vehicles operated by the Government Car Service for ministerial use. None of these are currently built by Nissan. The Government Car Service trialled the use of a Nissan Leaf in 2012 and it operated the Nissan Primera within the ministerial fleet until 2005. The ministerial fleet is scheduled for review later this year.

  • Christopher Pincher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Christopher Pincher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many of his Department’s officials left the Department in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013; and how many have left since 1 January 2014.

    Gregory Barker

    The number of Civil Servants and Senior Civil Servants, who have permanently left the Department of Energy and Climate Change in each of the years specified, are shown in the table below.

    Year

    Number of leavers

    1 January – 31 December 2012

    173

    1 January – 31 December 2013

    201

    1 January – 28 February 2014

    41
  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of MINURSO in implementing its role in Western Sahara.

    Hugh Robertson

    MINURSO is effective in implementing its role in Western Sahara. MINURSO is mandated to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the POLISARIO: the situation in Western Sahara is generally calm and the ceasefire continues to hold.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many breaches of security have been reported at (a) HM Courts Service, (b) the Land Registry, (c) the National Offender Management Service, (d) the National Archives, (e) the Office of the Public Guardian and (f) the Tribunals Service in each year since May 2010; and what procedures each agency follows when a breach of security involves the disclosure of personal data.

    Shailesh Vara

    The table below provides the number of centrally recorded security incidents (breaches of security resulting in actual or potential harm) that have occurred during each financial year since 1 April 2010.

    01/04/2010-31/03/2011

    01/04/2011-31/03/2012

    01/04/2012-31/03/2013

    01/04/2013-31/12/2013

    HM Courts Service*

    2,845

    –

    –

    –

    Tribunals Service*

    577

    –

    –

    –

    HM Courts and Tribunals Service*

    –

    5,077

    3,101

    2,421

    Office of the Public Guardian

    679

    446

    485

    389

    The National Archives

    3

    1

    5

    0

    The National Offender Management Service **

    8,287

    9,298

    10,052

    8,492

    *HM Courts Service and the Tribunals Service merged in April 2011 and became HM Courts and Tribunals Service and therefore these details are not recorded separately.

    ** Includes the number of incidents involving physical security in prisons.

    Responsibility for HM Land Registry was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in July 2011 and therefore the Ministry of Justice does not hold this information.

    The figures include a wide range of types of incident, including loss of IT equipment (which would usually be password protected or encrypted to protect the information); verbal abuse and threats to court staff, judiciary and members of the public; and a wide variety of incidents in prisons.

    The Department and its agencies apply robust incident management processes, including a requirement for staff to report breaches resulting in potential harm/loss to assets (information, people, buildings and equipment).

    When a security incident involving the disclosure of personal data is identified prompt action is taken locally to limit harm and residual action is then taken to seek to alleviate further recurrence.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the introduction of individual electoral registration in Northern Ireland.

    Greg Clark

    The experience of Northern Ireland has helped inform the plans for the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in Great Britain. As a result the approach in Great Britain differs from Northern Ireland in several key respects. Unlike the transition to IER in Northern Ireland in 2002, in Great Britain data matching is being used to ‘confirm’ the majority of current electors on the existing register without them having to make a new application. The transition is being phased over two years, which means no one who registered to vote at the last canvass will lose their right to vote at the General Election in 2015. The annual canvass is also being retained and on-line registration is being introduced to make electoral registration more accessible.