The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2014-05-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to answer Question 195074, from the hon. Member for Leicester West, on social care providers and non-payments of the National Minimum Wage.
Mr David Gauke
I have done so today.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-05-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made by the leading donor countries, including the United Kingdom, in South Sudan in promoting civil society, effective governance and accountability.
Baroness Warsi
The current crisis in South Sudan has significantly set back the development of civil society and effective governance. As a member of a Troika (UK, US and Norway) we have worked closely with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) mediators to identify opportunities for civil society participation in the political process, and, in particular, the engagement of women, youth and faith group representatives. IGAD has proposed to both parties that representatives of civil society are present in the talks themselves, and assist in informing of the agenda.
We are clear that accountability for human rights violations and abuses will be an essential part of the peace process. We support the work of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan and UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan) human rights team as first steps towards ensuring that perpetrators are held to account.
The promotion of civil society voices and effective governance will continue to be part of the UK’s development programmes to support stabilisation and peace-building in South Sudan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to develop its existing work on violence against women in Afghanistan in its next operational plan.
Justine Greening
DFID works with partners in Afghanistan, including other donors, Afghan women and civil society groups, and the Afghan Government to build on our existing work tackling violence against women and improving women’s rights.
This includes £3m funding for a joint programme with the Australian Government to improve the implementation of laws designed to protect women and girls affected by violence. From 2014, up to £2m in grants from the DFID-funded Tawanmandi programme to Afghan civil society organisations will also be primarily focused on the elimination of violence against women and girls.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker’s allowance claimants have been referred early to payment group three of the work programme since June 2011; and what proportion of all the referrals to that payment group they account for.
Esther McVey
The number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants referred early to the Work Programme under payment group three between June 2011 and December 2013 is 51,440. This equates to 18.5% of the total number referred under this payment group.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Barnett on 2014-05-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 26 March (HL Deb, col 528), what was the basis on which he described the sale of the student loan book for £160 million as value for money for the taxpayer”; and what was the original value of the loans.”
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Mortgage Style loans offered for sale had a face value of around £890 million.
The sale of the Mortgage Style Loan Book was value for money as the purchase price exceeded the value of retention to Government.
The real value of the book is below the face value of the loans because of the subsidised nature of the loans and their age. These loans attract low interest rates and have an earnings threshold for repayment. The age-related write off combined with the earnings threshold means some borrowers never repay.
The sale of Mortgage style Loans also allowed the Student Loans Company to focus on its core business of supplying income contingent loans (ICR) to current students and collecting repayments from those loans.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding is currently allocated to higher education institutes to assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities to disabled students under the Equality Act 2010.
Mr David Willetts
In the academic year 2013/14 £15 million was allocated to Higher Education Institutions through theHigher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) grant, to help them recruit and support disabled students. This figure was an increase of £2 million on the previous year and has been maintained by HEFCE for 2014/15. This is in addition to the direct support provided to disabled students through the Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA). In England, £125.1 million was spent on providing DSA in 2011/12.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many soldiers who enlisted in the Army aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 years and above dropped out before completing phase two training in the last 10 financial years.
Mr Mark Francois
‘Enlistment’ has been interpreted as those who joined the untrained strength, for example those that begin Phase 1 training. Totals for the period between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2014 are shown below:
| Age on Entry | Untrained Strength |
| Intake Outflow | |
| Under 18 | 35,190 12,300 |
| 18 and over | 64,950 17,250 |
| Unknown | 430 430 |
| Total | 100,570 29,980 |
Source: Defence Statistics (Army).
Personnel may leave the Army for a number of reasons, including medical and fitness factors, disciplinary reasons, or voluntary withdrawal. Those who join-up under 18 years of age have a statutory right to discharge from the Armed Forces within six months if they feel they are unsuited to service life.
The figures in the table exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves.
Where an individual’s entry date is blank on the records, the age on entry has not been able to be calculated and is shown as ‘unknown’.
Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in ‘5′ have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not be the sum of their parts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to publish their review on removing barriers to entry and expansion in retail banking.
Andrea Leadsom
Budget 2014 detailed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority will publish a review of their work on removing barriers to entry and expansion in retail banking later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the target time is for dealing with passport applications.
James Brokenshire
Expected service standards for passport applications are given at
www.gov.uk.
Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the
cost of collating it would be disproportionate.
The table below shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of
the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service
standards.
|
2013 |
% straightforward applications processed within the published timescales |
% non-straightforward applications processed within the published timescales |
|
June |
100% |
97.8% |
|
July |
100% |
96.9% |
|
August |
100% |
96.4% |
|
September |
100% |
96.0% |
|
October |
100% |
95.9% |
|
November |
99.99% |
96.5% |
|
December |
99.99% |
96.3% |
|
2014 |
||
|
January |
99.99% |
96.8% |
|
February |
99.98% |
98.1% |
|
March |
99.95% |
96.8% |
|
April |
98.59% |
99.6% |
|
May |
92.26% |
93.9% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether officials from the British Embassy have visited Huber Ballesteros in La Picota prison in Bogota.
Mr Hugo Swire
The UK cannot interfere in Colombia’s judicial process but will continue to raise any concerns regarding due process and conditions with the Colombian authorities.
The Embassy is currently awaiting authorisation from the Municipal Criminal Court to visit Huber Ballesteros in prison.
To date, the British Embassy has not yet been authorised to visit Huber Ballesteros in prison, this is despite requesting permission on six different occasions.
No representatives of the British Embassy were able to attend the preliminary hearings in the case of Huber Ballesteros due to unrelated security concerns. His trial will take place on 26 and 27 of June and the British Embassy intends to send Officials to observe this.