The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.
Stephen Crabb
I refer the hon Member to the reply given by my Rt hon Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 2 April, Official Report, Column 721W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what particular projects under the Department of Health and the Department for Education will be funded in the current spending review period as a result of the allocation of £40 million for specialist domestic and sexual violence services.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Over the spending review period the £40 million ring-fenced funding for specialist domestic and sexual violence services consists of £28 million
allocated by the Home Office. This funding is provided directly to local areas not other government departments and is used to support independent domestic violence advisors, independent sexual violence advisers, and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinators. £900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national help lines for victims of domestic violence and stalking.
The Ministry of Justice contribution of £12 million is used to fund 78 local rape support schemes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environment Agency staff have been redeployed to inspect flood defence assets in each of the last five months.
Dan Rogerson
The Environment Agency has 100 members of staff fully trained in asset inspection who have all been deployed in the last five months. Only trained staff are used to inspect assets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward proposals to make apprentices who earn below earning thresholds eligible for statutory sick pay.
Mike Penning
There is no intention to increase the financial burden on business and extend the qualifying rules for Statutory Sick Pay to bring apprentices earning below the lower earnings level into eligibility. An apprentice earning below the lower earnings limit will, in line with other employees on a low income, continue to have access to Employment and Support Allowance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the individual total cost is of each of the biodiversity offsetting pilot schemes in (a) Devon, (b) Doncaster, (c) Essex, (d) Greater Norwich, (e) Nottinghamshire, (f) Warwickshire, (g) Coventry and (h) Solihull to date; and what the estimated total cost is of the schemes.
Dan Rogerson
This information is not held centrally. An evaluation of the pilots is being produced and will be published.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 8 May 2014, Official Report, column 298W, on Highways Agency, what the (a) criteria and (b) procedures are for considering the extension of the provisions of section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994 to a new body.
Mr David Gauke
Section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994 applies to Government departments and health authorities. It is governed by a Treasury Direction. Any extension of the provisions is a matter for Treasury Ministers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what education projects her Department is supporting in Nigeria.
Lynne Featherstone
DFID supports five education projects in Nigeria (Education Sector Support Programme, Girls’ Education Programme, Teacher Development Programme, Developing Effective Private Education, and Education Data, Research and Evaluation through which an additional 800,000 children will access better quality schools by 2015.
DFID also supports two further projects through the global Girls’ Education Challenge (Discovery Girls and Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises), through which 48,000 marginalised girls will be supported to access better schools.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many local digital service licences have been awarded in Kent and Medway.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The independent regulator Ofcom, is responsible for allocating commercial TV and radio licences. Ofcom has received two applications to operate a local TV service in the Maidstone area on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform and anticipates making a decision about the award of this licence in the summer.
The licence to operate the DAB radio multiplex covering Kent was awarded in 2003. The Kent DAB multiplex currently carries the following stations: BBC Radio Kent, Capital, Heart Kent, Kmfm, Smooth Kent, Xfm and Pop Up radio.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints about (a) staff behaviour, (b) contested sanction decisions and (c) telephone line waiting times have been made against Bolton Jobcentre Plus offices in each year since 2010.
Esther McVey
Until July 2012, when a new process for handling and recording customer feedback was introduced, complaints were not formally categorised. It has therefore not been possible to accurately identify the requested data prior to that date. In addition, contested sanction decisions are subject to the appeals and reconsideration process and are not categorised as complaints. The information we are able to provide for Bolton Jobcentre is as follows:
|
Period |
Staff behaviour |
Telephone line waiting times |
|
01/07/2012 – 31/12/2012 |
5 |
0 |
|
01/01/2013 – 31/12/2013 |
20 |
0 |
|
01/01/14 – 31/03/14 |
12 |
0 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what planning data was used to devise his Department’s recruitment target for the Army Reserve as part of its Army 2020 reforms.
Anna Soubry
The term “recruitment target” has been interpreted as the 30,000 trained Army Reservists required under Army 2020.
During the Three Month Exercise, the Ministry Of Defence examined a range of Force Structure options which were assessed as being able to deliver the policy demand specified by the new Defence Planning Assumptions laid out in Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. As a result of this, a Senior Military Judgement Panel chaired by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force concluded that the size of the Regular Army should be 82,500, and the Independent Commission to Review the United Kingdom’s Reserve Forces recommended an Army Reserve of 30,000 trained personnel. This was judged to be the optimal size and shape of the Army within available resources.