The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made on Single Fraud Investigation Service; what plans he has for its roll out; and if he will make a statement.
Esther McVey
Progress has been made with regard to the implementation of the Single Fraud Investigation Service and this will commence from 1 July 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a copy of the newly-designed Household Registration Form and the Invitation to Register forms.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that these forms have been formally approved by the Minister of State, and as such the Cabinet Office will be placing them in the Library shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure that local authorities in England pursue continuous improvement in the proportion of their eligible population being (a) offered and (b) taking up NHS health checks.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) has set out a long-term aspiration of achieving an uptake of 75% and encourages areas to offer the NHS Health Check to 20% of the local population each year. In 2014-15, PHE has set a short term ambition of working towards achieving a 66% uptake and offers to 20% of the eligible population.
PHE is developing an improvement offer, tailored to the needs of local areas, to support local action. PHE will also enable local authorities to overcome common issues that affect offers by actively disseminating learning on information governance and data flows.
To support improvement in uptake PHE will work to inform the public’s understanding of the programme. In recent weeks PHE has launched NHS Health Check content on NHS Choices and is planning to extend this by developing a directory of services for England.
Research and evaluation on applying behavioural insights to maximise uptake is also taking place. In the coming months PHE will support a network of local authorities to test and disseminate learning on the approaches that maximise uptake.
The quarterly publication of both offer and uptake data brings transparency to local delivery of the programme. This enables local councillors, Healthwatch and the public to use existing local government mechanisms to scrutinise activity and encourage improvements in both performance and quality.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-07.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authorities in Great Britain failed the Standard Three performance standard for the completeness and accuracy of electoral registration records in 2013.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that this information was published and tabled in a written statement to the House on 31 March. The Commission has written to the hon. Member with a copy of the report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the new Egyptian President about freedom of religion.
Mr William Hague
The Government has been clear throughout recent events in Egypt, that the freedom of religious belief needs to be protected and that the ability to worship in peace is a vital component of a democratic society. I have not yet met President el-Sisi, but will look to work with him and the Egyptian Government to implement the rights contained in Egypt’s constitution, which includes protections for freedom of religious belief.
Hugh Robertson, Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, discussed the situation faced by Coptic Christians and implications of the new constitution in a meeting with Bishop Yulios during his visit to Cairo in December.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-03-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to the Howard League for Penal Reform’s request to the Ministry of Justice to reverse their ban on family and friends sending books to prisoners.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
There are important reasons why we have restricted the sending in of parcels by families and friends of prisoners and we do not intend to withdraw those restrictions. The changes we introduced last year in relation to parcels were to ensure consistency across the estate and to make sure that security can be maintained. There have always been controls on the sending of parcels into prisons, and allowing parcels to be sent in unrestricted would be operationally unmanageable and would lead to a significant risk of drugs and other illicit items being smuggled into prisons.
We have always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects these have on prisoners’ welfare. Every prison has a library, to which every prisoner has access. Prisoners may hold up to 12 books in their cell at any one time, and additional books can be stored locally at the prison. The National Offender Management Service also works closely with the Shannon Trust to support schemes such as ‘Toe by Toe’, which includes peer mentoring to improve reading levels.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) women and (b) men aged 24 and above applied for financial assistance for NVQ levels 3 and 4 in the first and second academic quarters in each year since 2008.
Matthew Hancock
The information is not readily available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2014-03-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the functioning of the inquest system in the absence of publicly funded legal representation for the families of deceased victims of actions on the part of the police or other public authorities.
Lord Faulks
The Government is confident that the inquest system is functioning effectively following reforms introduced last July under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. We are committed to reviewing the impact of the reforms in 2015.
In addition, the Government has specifically protected legal aid for families at inquests. Legal Help (the advice and assistance level of legal aid) remains routinely available within the scope of the civil legal aid scheme. In exceptional circumstances funding can also be provided for the family’s legal representation at the inquest pursuant to section 6(8)(b) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (AJA) or section 10(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) (the applicable legislation depending on the date of the original application). A means test applies but can be waived in certain circumstances.
The Lord Chancellor is prevented by statute from giving directions and guidance to the Legal Aid Agency in relation to an individual case, but has published general guidance to which the Director of Legal Aid Casework must have regard when making individual decisions on applications for exceptional funding for representation at inquests. The guidance sets out the relevant criteria and specifically addresses inquests where there is a death in custody or a death in the course of police arrest, search, pursuit or shooting.
Following a review of its decision in the Groce family’s case, the Legal Aid Agency made a funding request to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor has considered the request and has granted funding
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the UN on the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Mr Hugo Swire
In October 2013, I met members of the Commission of Inquiry team on a visit we organised for them to the UK. I travelled to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March to urge action following their report, and I was pleased with the strong resolution which passed later that month.
In April the UK raised the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) human rights concerns during closed consultations between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Security Council. The same month the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York met with members of the Commission of Inquiry and expressed our strong support for the work of the Commission. The UK also took part in a public ‘Arria’ briefing with other Security Council members to consider DPRK human rights. In May, we raised the need for continued focus on the situation during a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee meeting. I will travel to the UN in Geneva this week in order to meet the DPRK Special Rapporteur, Marzuki Darusman, and to set out the UK’s concerns to the Council. The meeting of the UN General Assembly in September presents a further opportunity to hold discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will break down the £31,400,000 for Royal Mail sale transaction costs in his Department’s Supplementary Estimates 2013-14.
Michael Fallon
The Supplementary Estimate included a Reserve Claim to cover the cost of managing and realising the Royal Mail pension assets in 2013-14 of c£31.4m. This is in line with the funding arrangement agreed with HM Treasury in May 2011, whereby costs over and above £50m funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) would be met by HM Treasury. These assets transferred to Government from the Royal Mail Pension Plan in April 2012.
The Supplementary Estimate also included a Reserve Claim to cover the total cost of the transaction estimated to be around £32.6m of which £9.2m is stamp duty, £13.1m underwriters and intermediaries commission fees, £4.2m underwriters’ discretionary fee which has not been paid, and the balance the direct retail cost.