Tag: 2014

  • Stephen Mosley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Stephen Mosley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Mosley on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many students sat A-levels in (a) mathematics, (b) further mathematics, (c) physics, (d) chemistry and (e) biology in (i) Flintshire Council area and (ii) Wrexham council area in (A) 2009 and (B) 2013.

    Mr David Jones

    This information relates to a devolved matter and is not held by the UK Government. I have therefore written to the Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Government seeking the information requested.

    I will write to the hon Gentleman when further information is received, and place a copy in the Library of the House.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many agency workers have been employed as cover for clerical staff in each month since January 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m. We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our use of contractors and look for further reductions.

    In responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff. As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.

    Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term. Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.

    Uniform operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors and their vehicles.

    1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on clerical agency staff across –

    January 2014 – £2,983,633.14 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)

    June 2014 – £658,700.28 (1 week period)

    2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational support staff –

    January 2014 – £1,082,247 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £1,420,329 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £1,137,834 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £1,249,908 (4 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,282,468 (5 week period)

    The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible workers from 1st April 2014.

    3) The following number of clerical agency staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 1571 (Average headcount)

    February 2014 – 1634 (Average headcount)

    March 2014 – 1624 (Average headcount)

    April 2014 – 1578 (Average headcount)

    May 2014 – 1644 (Average headcount)

    June 2014 – 1674 (Average headcount)

    4) The following number of uniform operational support staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 697 (Peak worker number)

    February 2014 – 845 (Peak worker number)

    March 2014 – 867 (Peak worker number)

    April 2014 – 853 (Peak worker number)

    May 2014 – 855 (Peak worker number)

    June 2014 – Peak worker number not available yet.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel are taking part in the Seedcorn initiative; what the location is of each such person; and with what equipment such personnel are training.

    Anna Soubry

    As announced in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review the UK retains Seedcorn Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) capability with personnel embeded in MPA capabilities of our closest allies. The number and location of personnel and equipment are as follows:

    Location

    No of Seedcorn Personnel

    Aircraft

    Canada

    Royal Canadian Air Force Greenwood

    6

    CP-140 Aurora

    New Zealand

    Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Whenuapai

    4

    P-3K Orion/P-3K2 Orion

    Australia

    Royal Australian Air Force base Edinburgh

    2

    AP-3C Orion

    United States

    Naval Air Station Patuxent River

    9

    P-8 Poseidon

    1 qualified on RQ-21A Blackjack UAV

    4 are scheduled to train on the MQ-4C Triton during June-August 2014

    United States

    Naval Air Station Jacksonville

    11

    P-8 Poseidon

    “

  • Lord Rowlands – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Rowlands – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rowlands on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what nuclear power stations there are in the United Kingdom; which of those are being decommissioned; what has been the cost to date of each station; and what is the estimated cost of completion of the decommissioning process.

    Baroness Verma

    The current and former nuclear power stations designated to NDA are Berkeley, Bradwell, Calder Hall, Chapelcross, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston A, Oldbury, Sizewell A, Trawsfynydd and Wylfa.

    All are being decommissioned with the exception of Wylfa which continues to generate.

    The costs of each station since their respective generation end dates, and during the period in which they have been in NDA ownership (since 1 April 2005) have been:

    Berkeley £400 million

    Bradwell £590 million

    Calder Hall £265 million

    Chapelcross £490 million

    Dungeness A £285 million

    Hinkley Point A £370 million

    Hunterston A £345 million

    Oldbury £72 million

    Sizewell A £280 million

    Trawsfynydd £540 million

    The estimated cost of completion (the remaining lifetime cost) for all of the sites named is £16.5 billion.

    EDF / British Energy stations are: Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B, Hartlepool, Heysham 1, Dungeness B, Heysham 2, Torness, Sizewell B.

  • John Leech – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John Leech – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Leech on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of the people imprisoned in 2012 for non-payment of fines relating to television licence evasion had other unpaid fines for other offences; and how many outstanding fines on average such people had.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    It is not possible to identify from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals systems the original offences of people sent to prison for non payment of fines or how many other fines they may have had. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost as identifying this would require a manual search of all closed and live fine accounts.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek ways to contain and, if possible, eliminate the influence of al-Qaeda-affiliated and other jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq.

    Baroness Warsi

    The UK is deeply concerned by the growth of terrorism in Syria and Iraq, which threatens the Syrian and Iraqi people, the region, and the UK. We condemn all acts of terrorism committed in both states. Tackling the threat from foreign extremists currently operating as part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a priority. I repeated the Statement on Iraq outlining the Government’s response given to the House on Monday 16 June by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), House of Lords Hansard, Official Report, Columns 703-706.

    The threat from foreign extremists is being tackled through a wide range of interventions from disrupting the flow of foreign-fighters travelling from the UK through to supporting the counter-terrorist efforts of regional partners.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance is issued to Jobcentre Plus on recommending jobs on zero-hours contracts.

    Esther McVey

    Jobcentre Plus guidance stipulates that claimants should not be mandated to apply for a job offering a zero hours contract. It also states that no sanction action will be taken if claimants refuse or fail to apply. A person leaving a zero hours contract job will not be sanctioned if they leave that job voluntarily or lose it through their misconduct.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the reason for, and what action they are taking to address, the deterioration in ambulance 999 response rates.

    Earl Howe

    The following table shows performance against the response time standards for all ambulance trusts in England in the last two financial years.

    Table: Monthly performance of ambulance trusts in England for category A calls, 2012-13 and 2013-14

    Year

    Month

    Of all Category A calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 1 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Red 2 calls, proportion responded to within 8 minutes

    Of all Category A calls resulting in an ambulance arriving, proportion within 19 minutes

    2012-13

    April

    76.2%

    –

    –

    96.7%

    2012-13

    May

    74.8%

    –

    –

    96.3%

    2012-13

    June

    –

    75.6%

    77.5%

    96.6%

    2012-13

    July

    –

    75.3%

    77.4%

    96.4%

    2012-13

    August

    –

    75.1%

    78.1%

    96.5%

    2012-13

    September

    –

    75.1%

    75.9%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    October

    –

    74.9%

    76.5%

    96.2%

    2012-13

    November

    –

    73.2%

    76.0%

    96.1%

    2012-13

    December

    –

    70.4%

    70.8%

    94.6%

    2012-13

    January

    –

    73.5%

    75.8%

    95.8%

    2012-13

    February

    –

    74.1%

    75.3%

    95.9%

    2012-13

    March

    –

    73.4%

    73.8%

    95.4%

    2012-13

    Full year

    75.5%

    74.0%

    75.6%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    April

    –

    75.4%

    76.0%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    May

    –

    77.9%

    77.8%

    96.9%

    2013-14

    June

    –

    77.4%

    77.1%

    96.7%

    2013-14

    July

    –

    75.5%

    74.0%

    95.8%

    2013-14

    August

    –

    77.0%

    75.3%

    96.2%

    2013-14

    September

    –

    75.1%

    73.8%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    October

    –

    74.6%

    73.6%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    November

    –

    74.1%

    73.0%

    95.9%

    2013-14

    December

    –

    72.8%

    71.7%

    95.4%

    2013-14

    January

    –

    76.4%

    76.3%

    96.4%

    2013-14

    February

    –

    75.2%

    74.0%

    96.0%

    2013-14

    March

    –

    76.2%

    74.7%

    96.1%

    2013-14

    Full year

    –

    75.6%

    74.8%

    96.1%

    Source: NHS England, ambulance quality indicators

    Notes:

    1. Ambulance service response times were split in June 2012 in to the most time critical (Red 1) and serious but less time critical (Red 2).

    2. Category A Red 1 calls are the most time critical and cover cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse, and other severe conditions.

    3. Category Red 2 calls are serious but less immediately time critical and cover conditions such as stroke and fits, and a new clock start will allow call handlers to get more information about patients.

    4. Category A19 is the total number of Category A calls (Red 1 and Red 2) which resulted in a fully equipped ambulance vehicle (car or ambulance) able to transport the patient in a clinically safe manner arriving at the scene within 19 minutes of the request being made.

    The Government is aware of the increasing demand on urgent and emergency care services. The Urgent and Emergency Care Review is currently considering whole system change to the delivery of urgent and emergency care, including new models of delivery of care for ambulance services. The first phase of the review was published last November, and we expect NHS England to be publishing further reports later this year.

  • John Stanley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Stanley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Stanley on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether parish councils and town councils are eligible to apply for flood and coastal erosion risk management grant-in-aid.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra flood and coastal erosion risk management grant-in-aid is only available to a risk management authority, as defined by section 6(13) of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. If a parish council or town council wish to progress a flood management scheme they should contact the lead local flood authority for the area.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rehman Chishti – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many start-up loans have been granted to businesses in (a) Gillingham and Rainham constituency, (b) Medway and (c) Kent to date.

    Matthew Hancock

    12 Start-Up Loans have been granted to businesses within the Gillingham and Rainham constituency with a total drawn down value of £68,800.

    36 Start-Up Loans have been granted with a total drawn down value of £220,750 in the Medway constituency.

    265 Start-Up Loans have been granted in Kent with a total drawn down value of £1,498,105.