The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Corston on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a full range of sanitary products is provided to female prisoners, or whether they have to be purchased.
Lord Faulks
All prisons across the female custodial estate provide Interlude tampons and sanitary towels to women free of charge. Other brands of sanitary products are available for women to buy via the National Product list.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department of each grade have worked on the e-borders programme in each year since 2010.
James Brokenshire
The activities of the e-Borders programme have been absorbed into the Border
Systems Programme. The estimated cost to close the e-Borders programme and
define the Border Systems Programme was £340,000. These costs are attributable
to civil servants already in post and there has been no additional expenditure
or procurement in order to move the work from e-Borders to Border Systems.
The procurement approach to replacing the primary border security elements of
the Border Systems Programme will reflect broader Government ICT and Commercial
strategy, and there will be no single, large supplier. The Home Office will
lead development, with services procured from a range of providers, potentially
including small and medium enterprises; no tenders have been received at this
time.
By March 2015 the Border Systems Programme aims to:
• Complete resilience of all current business critical systems;
• Develop replacement primary border security systems;
• Provide the capability to support commitments on exit checks;
• Establish a programme for the next generation of Radiological and Nuclear
detection (Cyclamen);
• Continue the implementation of second generation e-Gates across the estate;
• Develop and implement new freight targeting capability for Sea Containers;
• Establish contracts to purchase new detection equipment;
• Continue to assure live operations of existing systems.
The breakdown of FTE Civil Servants engaged by the e-Borders and subsequently
the Border Systems Programme in each year since 2010, is:
| Dec-10 | Dec-11 | Dec-12 | Dec-13 | |
| SCS PB 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SCS PB 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| G6 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 9.8 |
| G7 | 11.8 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 17.8 |
| SEO/HMI | 33.5 | 34.7 | 48.8 | 49.7 |
| HEO/CIO | 26 | 25.4 | 22.5 | 30.9 |
| EO/IO | 22 | 19.3 | 25 | 20.8 |
| AO/PS | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rooker on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they have on the impact on the housing supply of taking planning decisions at the most local level.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
I refer the noble Lord to my Written Ministerial Statement of 10 June 2014, Official Report, Column WS40, which comprehensively explains how our planning reforms, including the abolition of the last Administration’s top-down Regional Strategies, have increased housing starts to their highest level since 2007 and resulted in 216,000 homes being given planning permission in England in 2013-14.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what discussions the Electoral Commission has had with the Office for National Statistics and other Government departments on the size of the UK population eligible to vote but not registered (a) before and (b) after the publication of its report, Great Britain’s Electoral Registers 2011.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that its 2011 report on Great Britain’s electoral registers provided an assessment of the accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers in force in December 2010 and April 2011 using a house-to-house survey methodology.
The Commission always intended to also carry out an assessment of the same registers by matching them against census data. It has therefore been having discussions with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the National Records of Scotland (NRS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) since 2010.
The Commission expects to publish reports on England, Wales and Scotland in summer 2014. The timing of the work in Northern Ireland is still the subject of discussions with NISRA.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue with the introduction of restrictions on the display of tobacco in smaller shops from April 2015, in the light of their plans to consider introducing standardised tobacco packaging; and, if so, what is their rationale for doing so.
Earl Howe
Legislation to end the open display of tobacco products in shops has been made and will come into force for all shops on 6 April 2015.
Standardised packaging of tobacco products is a policy that is still under consideration by the Government. No final decisions have been made regarding the policy. The Government will be publishing a final, short consultation that will contribute to final decision-making.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what representations he has received from (a) the Electoral Commission, (b) the Welsh Government and (c) Carmarthenshire County Council on the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council and his responsibilities as Returning Officer.
Greg Clark
I have not received any such representations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations he has received on funding for the transition to a two-tier school system in Bedford Borough.
Mr David Laws
We are not aware of any representations made on this matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to record the departure of non-EU students as they leave the UK at the end of their studies.
James Brokenshire
The Office for National Statistics long-term international migration data
include estimates of the numbers of students leaving the UK. At the request of
the Home Office and other migration statistics users, the ONS has improved its
methodology with an aim to identify emigrants who had originally arrived as
students. This has assisted in assessing the contribution of students to
overall net migration. It is estimated that 49,000 non-EU migrants, who had
previously immigrated for study, had emigrated from the UK in the year ending
September 2013.
HM Government has made a commitment to reintroduce exit checks. By 2015, we
will have checks in place on those who leave the UK by scheduled international
air, sea and rail services. Introducing exit checks will improve our ability to
confirm departure and to identify those who have failed to leave the UK when
they should have done so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to support negotiations for a voluntary code of conduct in the United Nations Security Council to help prevent the use the veto in situations where mass atrocities are taking place.
Baroness Warsi
There are currently no negotiations for a voluntary code of conduct in the United Nations Security Council to help prevent the use the veto in situations where mass atrocities are taking place. I am of course aware of the proposal put forward by France and think that it offers an important contribution to the wider debate on reform of the Security Council and I welcome the interest that this initiative has created. The United Kingdom wholeheartedly supports the principle that the Security Council must act to stop mass atrocities and crimes against humanity. We cannot envisage circumstances where we would use our veto to block such action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Darlington constituency currently receive independent living fund payments.
Mike Penning
The Independent Living Fund records data by post code or local authority rather than by constituency and therefore, does not hold the information in the format requested. As at 13 March 2014 there are 63 ILF recipients in the area covered by Darlington Borough Council.
The ILF publishes data by local authority quarterly on its website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ilf/publications/corporate-publications/statistics/index.shtml
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