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Tag: 2014

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, in which locations cables between onshore windfarms and connecting sub-stations have been placed completely underground in each of the last 10 years.

    Michael Fallon

    The Department does not hold this information. Windfarms usually own the cables connecting them to substations. Gathering the information requested would, therefore, require contacting individual windfarm developers at a disproportionate cost.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department maintains of instances where a teacher has had a sexual relationship with a student under the age of 16 years in (a) maintained schools and (b) independent schools.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Since April 2012, where a teacher has been dismissed, or resigned in the face of dismissal, as a result of serious misconduct all schools have had a statutory duty to consider referring the matter to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). The NCTL acts as the regulator of the teaching profession on behalf of the Secretary of State. It is responsible for determining whether the referred individual should be prohibited from teaching on the grounds of unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that might bring the profession into disrepute and/or conviction of a relevant offence. Information about cases considered by NCTL is not held in the format requested and to obtain the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

    In addition to the NCTL process for regulating teachers, the Department’s Independent Education and Boarding Team (IEBT) administer the wider regulatory system for independent schools. This team can receive information about allegations of abuse from a variety of sources, including Ofsted, local authorities, parents and the police. The Department’s records show that there have been 5 referrals since April 2012 and 2 from January 2009 to March 2012 where sexual abuse of a pupil by an adult working at the school was a factor. When such referrals are received, the Department’s role is not to investigate the allegations, which are a matter for the local authority and the police, but to determine whether the school is meeting the independent school standards, and take action to ensure it does so.

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent police officers of each rank and grade were employed by North Yorkshire police on (a) 31 March and (b) 30 September in each year since 2004.

    Damian Green

    The following table contains the requested data and covers the period up until
    30 September 2013. Figures as at 31 March 2014 are due to be published 17 July
    2014.

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many applications for undergaduate study were made to (a) the University of York, (b) York St John University and (c) all English universities in each year since 2009-10.

    Mr David Willetts

    The latest information is given in the table. UCAS have not released any data on applications to individual institutions for the 2014 application cycle, but the latest figures for total applicants to all UK institutions (published on May 30th) show that they have risen by 4%, compared to the same point in 2013.

    UCAS main scheme applications to University of York, York St John University and England, 2009 to 2013

    Full-time undergraduate courses

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    University of York

    21,543

    24,548

    23,725

    23,570

    25,030

    York St John University

    6,194

    7,685

    8,657

    9,600

    9,700

    All institutions in England

    2,021,546

    2,303,678

    2,418,828

    2,209,337

    2,265,95

    Source: UCAS reference tables.

    1. Each applicant can submit up to five applications.

    2. Figures cover applicants who applied during the main UCAS application scheme which closes on June 30th. Applicants who subsequently applied during clearing are not included.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for citizenship were made in each year since 2009 from males recruited into the armed forces from Belize; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    Information on whether individuals from Belize have been recruited into the
    armed forces and applied for British citizenship was not aggregated in national
    reporting systems prior to November 2012. This information could only be
    obtained by a disproportionately expensive manual case by case search to
    collate the data.

    There are no such applications recorded since November 2012.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients resident in England but receiving health care in Wales have requested that their treatment be delivered in England in the last year.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not held by the Department.

  • Guy Opperman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Guy Opperman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guy Opperman on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to raise the plight of persecuted Christians abroad; and what steps he is taking to raise the case of Meriam Ibrahim with his Sudanese counterpart.

    Mark Simmonds

    I am appalled at the death sentence given to Meriam Ibrahim, and her continued imprisonment. Immediately following her trial, I issued a statement describing her conviction as barbaric and calling upon the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion or belief and international human rights laws as enshrined in its own constitution. The Chargé d’Affaires of the Sudanese Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign Office on the 19 May at the request of Foreign Secretary. DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lynne Featherstone, reiterated our demand with the Sudanese Foreign Minister when she met him on 20 May. Our Embassy in Khartoum, that attended her trial, continues to press the Sudanese authorities for Meriam Ibrahim’s release, and is in close contact with the defence team.

    This is a priority human rights area for us. We speak out regularly against violence perpetrated against Christians. The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) gave a speech in Washington in November last year on the need for unity in confronting the intolerance and sectarianism that leads to minority communities being persecuted. We also lobby for changes in discriminatory laws and practices that affect religious minorities, including Christians, and support UN resolutions on the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

  • Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Martin Horwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to incentivise charities to manage their assets in a manner compliant with the Financial Reporting Council’s UK Stewardship Code.

    Nick Hurd

    The Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code does not direct itself to matters particular to charities such as their responsibilities under charity law and their focus on beneficiaries. ‘Good Governance – a Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector’ developed by a coalition of charity and voluntary sector bodies is a code designed for charities and the voluntary sector. This Code has the support of the Charity Commission which encourages its adoption through publications and signposting on its website.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department will be attending the high-level Ministerial Dialogue on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action on 6 June 2014 in Bonn, Germany; what the Government’s aims are in such talks; and if he will make a statement.

    Gregory Barker

    The UK is represented at senior official levels at Bonn. It is a mid-year meeting paving the way for the Lima Conference of Parties (COP) in December and ministers do not usually attend the Bonn meetings.

  • Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2014-04-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which social care providers have been identified by HM Revenue and Customs as non-compliant with national minimum wage legislation; how much is owed in arrears by each such provider and to how many workers; and what value of fines have been levied on such providers to date.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the national minimum wage legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999. It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have a legal duty of confidentiality towards their customers. For NMW, this includes employers and their workers. This means that HMRC cannot supply all the information requested as this would breach HMRC’s statutory duty of confidentiality under s18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

    Fines are associated with criminal offences. Where minimum wage arrears are identified for any pay reference periods starting on or after 6 April 2009, the employer will be charged an automatic penalty. The rate of the penalty charge was 50% of the arrears falling in pay periods after 6 April 2009 (minimum penalty charge was £100 and the maximum was £5,000).

    The Government has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.

    To ensure that underpaid workers receive the arrears of national minimum wage due to them, HMRC contacts every employer for confirmation that they have paid the arrears to workers. In cases where 5 or fewer workers are owed arrears HMRC also contacts all those workers for confirmation of payment. In cases where more than 5 workers are identified as being owed arrears HMRC contacts an additional sample of workers for confirmation of payment.

    HMRC records information by Standard Industry Codes. The table below shows the number of employers in the Social Care sector found to be non-compliant with NMW legislation in the last year. Also shown are the value of arrears, the number of underpaid workers identified and the value of penalties issued to employers as a result of those investigations.

    Financial Year

    Number of employers recorded as Social Care Sector and found to be non-compliant

    Arrears identified during those investigations

    Underpaid workers identified during those investigations

    Penalties issued during those investigations

    2013-14

    30

    £800,883

    3,620

    £46,020