Tag: 2014

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

    Biography information for Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Sadiq Khan on Justice.

    1

    Jeremy Wright

    We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and continue to modernise the prison estate so that it delivers best value for the taxpayer. This Government has a long term strategy for managing the prison estate which will provide more adult male prison capacity than we inherited from the previous Government.

    Crowding occurs when the number of prisoners in an accommodation unit exceeds the Certified Normal Accommodation in that unit. The average rate of crowding is published annually in the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts.

    Figures for the years 2005-06 to 2013-14 are as follows:

    Year

    Average Rate of Crowding

    2005/06

    24.0

    2006/07

    24.6

    2007/08

    25.3

    2008/09

    24.7

    2009/10

    24.1

    2010/11

    23.8

    2011/12

    24.1

    2012/13

    23.3

    2013/14

    22.9

    In 2013-14, the average number of prisoners held in crowded conditions decreased to 22.9% of the total population compared to 23.3% in 2012-13. This is the lowest level since 2001-02 and has come down from a high of 25.3% in 2007-08.

    Whilst we collect the total number of prisoners held in crowded conditions we do not centrally record the overall numbers of prisoners who are accommodated in multiple-occupancy cells, be it crowded (e.g. two prisoners held in a cell designed for one) or not (e.g. two prisoners held in a cell designed for two). To identify the number of prisoners who shared a cell in each prison in England and Wales in each of the last five years would require manually going through prisoners’ individuals records to identify each prisoner’s cell location in each prison in each of the last five years, which could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the additional £5 million for tackling waste crime announced in the budget statement will reduce in the planned workforce and associated workload in the enforcement and legal department of the Environment Agency.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra and the Environment Agency have been working together to ensure that the additional funding is targeted effectively to tackle waste crime. A decision on how the additional £5 million will be spent is subject to Defra Ministerial approval.

    Depending on how the £5 million is to be spent, the Environment Agency will review its planning assumptions to determine the impact on its workforce and associated workload

  • Biography information for Catherine McKinnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Biography information for Catherine McKinnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Catherine McKinnell on Work and Pensions.

    1

    Steve Webb

    We announced our plans for the implementation of universal credit on 5 December, and these were set out in a written ministerial statement. The WMS can be found here:

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/wmstext/131205m0001.htm#13120551000006

    Official statistics on universal credit were most recently published on 11 June and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-statistics-apr-2013-to-31-march-2014

    “

  • Barry Gardiner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Gardiner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by what date each of the 40 air quality zones with exceedances of nitrogen dioxide limit values in 2010 will achieve compliance with 2010 nitrogen dioxide limit values.

    Dan Rogerson

    Meeting EU standards for nitrogen dioxide remains a challenge for many large urban areas in the UK and across Europe. In 2011 Defra submitted estimates of the year each part of the UK would meet these standards to the European Commission. The assumptions behind our projections are regularly reviewed to reflect new understanding and we expect to have new projections available later this year.

  • Biography information for Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Biography information for Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Helen Goodman on Culture, Media and Sport.

    1

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The detail requested is not held centrally by this Department, nor is it collected by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy as part of the annual public library statistics provided by individual library authorities.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to draw attention to the persecution of Christians in Vietnam; and what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Vietnam on that matter.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We highlight Vietnam as a country of concern in the annual Foreign and Commonwealth Office human rights report published on 10 April.

    Our assessment is the Vietnamese government is allowing more space for religious expression and has increased the number of churches and places of worship approved for use in 2013. In general the Vietnamese are able to practise the religion of their choosing and a number of prominent Ministers, including the Prime Minister, are openly Buddhist.

    The authorities take a harder line when religious groups are involved in political movements, with persecution taking place in this context.

    Our Embassy continues to promote freedom of religion and belief in this atmosphere and meets with leaders of all faiths. In January they accepted a petition by families of Catholic activists on trial and supported an EU statement calling for the Vietnamese to uphold freedom of expression in these cases. Staff also attended meetings, alongside other EU Member States, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling for greater transparency over allegations that authorities had intimidated Catholics in Nghe An province.

    We also make sure to raise our concerns at a Ministerial level at every opportunity – be it through the annual UK-Vietnam Strategic Dialogue in October 2013 or the Foreign Secretary’s meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh earlier this month. The UK also runs projects deisgned to allow greater scope for civil society to develop and receive basic protections when raising their concerns and pursuing their beliefs.

  • what steps they will take to ensure that the current proposals (1) to introduce auctioning of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for only one particular group of technologies in October 2014 – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    what steps they will take to ensure that the current proposals (1) to introduce auctioning of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for only one particular group of technologies in October 2014 – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by what steps they will take to ensure that the current proposals (1) to introduce auctioning of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for only one particular group of technologies in October 2014 on Energy and Climate Change.

    2

    Baroness Verma

    The EU ‘Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020′, which were adopted in principle on 9 April 2014, set out a requirement to introduce technology neutral competition for renewable technologies, including a transitional phase, with a number of derogations. In May 2014 the Government confirmed proposals to move straight to competition for more established technologies. For less established technologies, if there is insufficient budget in a CfD allocation round to satisfy all bids, a competitive auction will apply. We believe our proposals are consistent with the guidelines.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to support the Tanzanian Government to ensure the effective implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy for All Children, pre and primary education age, in and out of school programme.

    Lynne Featherstone

    DFID is the largest financier of the Global Partnership for Education and in Tanzania has supported the award of a £57m grant to implement the “Literacy and Numeracy Education Support (LANES)” programme. LANES targets the acquisition of reading, writing and numeracy skills among children in and out of school, targeting especially the marginalised.

    DFID’s programme in Tanzania provides major support to basic education. In 2013/14 £24m of education sector budget support was provided directly to the Tanzanian government. In addition a £49m programme of support commenced, to improve the overall quality of primary education in seven disadvantaged regions.

  • Biography information for Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Biography information for Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Paul Flynn on Defence.

    1

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK has made it clear that the circumstances in which any employment of nuclear weapons might be contemplated are very remote. We would employ nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances of self defence and in accordance with our obligations under international law. The UK uses nuclear weapons as a deterrent every single day as demonstrated by the Continuous At Sea Deterrence. The most recent major Government reports that explore these issues are the 2006 White Paper “The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent”; the 2010 SDSR and the 2013 Trident Alternatives Review, all of which are in the public domain.

  • 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 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many items were borrowed from prison libraries in each year from 2010 to 2013.

    Jeremy Wright

    The requested information is not held centrally and would need to be collated through enquiries at each prison in England and Wales. This would incur disproportionate cost.