The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department will reply to the report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin into sunbed regulation in England.
Jane Ellison
Government has noted the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin report and is currently considering the recommendations and the implications.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-03-24.
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, columns 705-6W, on domestic violence: prosecutions, if he will estimate the number of victimless prosecutions for domestic violence-related offences in 2013.
Oliver Heald
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave her on the 13th February (Official Report, Col 706W).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to monitor London Midland’s (a) budgeting and (b) contractual relationship with Siemens for maintenance work on the Desiro EMU fleet.
Stephen Hammond
London Midland provide their Management Accounts to the Department every period. In addition, we receive an annual Business Plan and quarterly forecasts of future revenues and costs for the following twelve months. These are reviewed by qualified management accountants within the Department and challenged with the London Midland senior management team at meetings with a view to assessing the ongoing viability of the TOC.
Responsibility for monitoring the maintainer rests with the TOC who are responsible for delivering a required performance and availability benchmark through their Franchise Agreement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Halfon on 2014-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent on road crossing patrollers in (a) Essex and (b) Harlow constituency in the last 10 years.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department does not hold records of the amount spent on school crossing patrol services in each local authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they spent in each of the last three years on the prevention and control of HIV infection in the developing world through (1) multilateral bodies, and (2) bilateral programmes.
Baroness Northover
Over the past three years the UK Government has spent nearly £1 billion on tackling HIV through multilateral organisations and bilateral programmes.
Details of DFID spending on HIV prevention, treatment and care are available at Section 4.1 of the 2013 evaluation of the HIV Position Paper “Towards Zero Infections” and can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/towards-zero-infections-two-years-on.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on tackling worklessness among social housing tenants.
Esther McVey
The Secretary of State has met the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on a number of occasions and they have discussed a variety of issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with the government of Bahrain concerning the number of children who have been arrested there since 2011.
Baroness Warsi
Our Embassy in Manama has raised the rates of imprisonment of young people with the Ministry of the Interior and senior members of the Government of Bahrain on several occasions. This included supporting the decision by the Ombudsman’s Office of the Ministry of the Interior to investigate fully concerns about the imprisonment of children set out by human rights non-governmental organisations last year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the incidence of truancy was in schools in the latest period for which figures are available; and what steps he is taking to reduce it and to involve parents in those efforts.
Elizabeth Truss
Since the report by Charlie Taylor on improving school attendance, the Government’s focus has been on reducing absence overall and encouraging schools to address patterns of poor attendance early.
To help schools do this, the Department for Education reduced the threshold at which pupils were classified as persistent absent, from 20% to 15% of sessions missed. In 2012, we increased the level of the school attendance penalty fines, from £50 and £100 to £60 and £120 respectively, and in 2013 reduced the overall timescales for paying fines from 42 to 28 days. The second most common reason for absence is family holiday, so we tightened the law in September 2013 so that headteachers could only grant requests for leave during term time in exceptional circumstances.
Our reforms are working. In 2012/13, 300,895 pupils were persistently absent, down from 433,130 in 2009/10 – a fall of almost a third. 130,000 fewer pupils were missing 15% of school in 2012/13 compared to 2010/11. Overall absence rates are down from 6.3% of possible sessions missed in 2008/09 to 5.2% in 2012/13.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received any representations about the refusal of Eurostar to allow pets on board its trains using the Passports for Pets scheme.
Lord De Mauley
Defra has received a small number of letters from pet owners on this issue since 2012.
Government does not impose any obligation on transport companies to carry pet animals. It is a commercial decision on the part of transport companies as to whether they offer this service to their customers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many requests to leave the Environment Agency under the voluntary early release scheme are from staff in the operations and legal services departments.
Dan Rogerson
As of 1 April this year, the Environment Agency had received 956 requests within its operations and legal services departments to leave the organisation under its voluntary early release scheme.