The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of homes for which planning permission has been granted but on which construction has been stalled for more than one year.
Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2014, to Question, UIN 207630.
We do not hold the requested figures on planning permission and the length of time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what level of fishing mortality reduction her Department considers sufficient for the conservation and recovery of sea bass stocks.
George Eustice
The advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in 2014 was that fishing mortality for sea bass should be reduced by 61%. Measures currently under discussion for introduction this year need to make substantial progress towards this objective.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Mexican counterpart on (a) the kidnapping of students in Iguala in September 2014 and (b) human rights in that country; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Hugo Swire
We have been closely monitoring the tragic events in Guerrero and both Ministers and officials have raised the case with their Mexican counterparts. I personally raised the case of the missing students in Iguala with the Mexican Foreign Minister during the UK-Mexico High Level Political Talks that took place in Mexico in November 2014.
We stand ready to support the Mexican government in their efforts to tackle violence and impunity and will continue to engage in constructive bilateral dialogue on human rights issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the sex was of the complainant and the accused in each case of stalking reported after the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; and what proportion of such cases which were investigated resulted in the accused being (i) charged with the offence and (ii) cautioned.
Lynne Featherstone
The Home Office does not hold this information centrally. The Home Office has received data on the number of stalking offences recorded in England and Wales since April 2014 as a separate offence category but these data do not contain
information on the sex of the victim or the perpetrator. Prior to April 2014, stalking offences under Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 were included within the harassment offence classification.
The latest available statistics show that between April and June 2014 there were 695 stalking offences recorded by the police in England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice hold separate data for the number of cautions that have been issued for stalking. Between the implementation of the Protection of Freedoms Act in January 2013 and 30 June 2014 there were 57 cautions given for
stalking. This comprised of 49 given to males, 7 given to females and 1 where the gender was not stated.
Neither the Home Office nor the Ministry of Justice hold information on the number of individuals charged.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders were sentenced to a custodial sentence of 12 months or less for each offence by each Crown Court in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mike Penning
The information you have requested cannot be extracted from our raw data due to the extensive nature of what you have requested. I will therefore write to my honourable Friend as soon as it is available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-01-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for co-ordinating the services and provisions needed by those sleeping rough.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Department of Communities and Local Government has the lead on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Formed in 2010, the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness brings Departments together to ensure that Departments across Government play their part in tackling both the causes and consequences of homelessness. Throughout this Parliament, the group has worked together to coordinate action on the issues facing homeless people.
The Government have increased spending to prevent and tackle rough sleeping and homelessness making over £500 million available, giving councils the funding and tools needed to take action against rough sleeping locally.
There are a range of initiatives and projects in place to help rough sleepers, prevent single homelessness and to help those who have been homeless find and sustain accommodation.
Thousands of vulnerable people, including military veterans, who have slept rough or faced with the prospect of doing so have been given the help they need through No Second Night Out and Streetlink. By using Streetlink the public can help connect rough sleepers to the local services available so they can get the help they need to get them off the streets. Since 2012 Streetlink has made nearly 21,000 rough sleeping referrals to councils with over 9,000 having positive outcomes (such as accessing services) of which nearly 1,800 have had a specific housing outcome.
We have supported the roll-out of No Second Night Out nationally through the £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund for the voluntary sector ensuring rough sleepers are found quickly and that they do not spend more than one night on the street. In 20 key rough sleeping areas outside London 67% of rough sleepers were helped off the streets after a single night according to homelessness charities.
We have launched an £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund for local authorities which will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness. 34 projects, working across 168 local authorities, will provide support for up 22,000 single homeless people.
Finally, the Government is helping single homeless people find and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector through our £13 million funding to Crisis. By 2016 we expect the Crisis scheme to have helped 10,000 single homeless people since it started in 2010.
We work closely with Homeless Link, who represent homelessness charities across England, and attended the launch of their homelessness manifesto at a recent parliamentary reception.
It is not for the Government itself to respond to the manifestos produced by Non-Governmental Organisations and pressure groups ahead of the general election, but we welcome the broader contribution to the debate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many patients presented themselves to the Accident and Emergency and Urgent Care Units at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital respectively in each month in the last two years; and in each month how many of those patients were admitted for treatment.
Earl Howe
Information is not available in the format requested.
Information showing quarterly accident and emergency activity and admissions at the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust between Q4 2010-11 and Q4 2014-15, is shown in the attached tables.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-01-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are proposing in relation to banks that have missold business loans to customers.
Lord Deighton
Business lending is not, and never has been, within the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) conduct rules. The position that has traditionally been taken in the UK is that the terms and conditions of contracts between businesses (e.g. loans) are not generally prescribed by government. The government is committed to regulating only where there is a clear case for doing so, in order to avoid putting additional costs on lenders that would ultimately lead to higher costs for businesses customer.
However, the smaller end of the business community does receive regulatory protection. In the UK, loans to the smallest businesses (sole traders, partnerships consisting of 2 or 3 partners and unincorporated businesses) of less than £25,000 are treated as regulated consumer credit agreements (CCAs).
This protects consumers, typically in their dealings with banks where there is the potential for consumer detriment. Around three quarters of the 4.8 million UK SMEs are sole traders, partnerships consisting of 2 or 3 partners and unincorporated businesses.
For those loans which are not treated as CCA loans, there is also a clear route of recourse for businesses that feel they have been mis-sold a business loan to pursue. A business’ first recourse should be to its bank’s customer complaints department. This is a route that has been taken by a number of customers. The FCA’s rules require the banks to properly investigate all complaints and, through ongoing supervision, it continues to monitor the banks’ complaint handling process.
Furthermore, micro businesses with a turnover of less than 2 million Euros and fewer than 10 employees have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is an independent, non-governmental body, established under statute to provide for the proportionate, prompt and informal resolution of complaints against financial services firms. It provides a free, independent dispute resolution service for bank customers and has a special team looking at this issue. Its decisions are binding on the firm concerned.
Beyond this, businesses are expected to be responsible for ensuring that contracts they make with other businesses are in their interest. However, if a business believes a bank has acted unlawfully, they can seek to take action through the courts
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-01-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the attention paid to vocabulary building within literacy syllabuses in the national curriculum from pre-school onwards.
Lord Nash
The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out that literacy development during the early years involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Both the reading and writing literacy goals in the Statutory Framework set out the skills that most children should meet by the end of the foundation stage. Children must also be given access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest.
The importance of vocabulary development is emphasised and integrated throughout the National Curriculum framework. This covers both general vocabulary development and the subject-specific language that pupils need to be able to use to progress in, for example, mathematics and science. Both the reading and writing domains of the English programmes of study emphasise the importance of building pupils’ vocabulary, so they understand and can use a wide range of words.
The approach to developing vocabulary is first through securing word reading and comprehension and secondly through pupils developing an understanding of how words and meaning can be created using prefixes and suffixes. Morphology and etymology are emphasised at key stage 2 to further develop pupils’ capacity for understanding and developing vocabulary. This is brought together in the appendix to the English programmes of study covering vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boswell of Aynho on 2015-01-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each government department, from January to June 2014, (1) on how many occasions the scrutiny reserve resolution in the House of Lords was overridden, (2) on how many occasions the scrutiny reserve resolution in the House of Commons was overridden, and (3) in respect of how many documents an override occurred in (a) both Houses or (b) either House.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government seeks to avoid breaching the Scrutiny Reserve Resolutions, continuing to account for overrides in writing to the Committees. The European Union Committee’s Report on 2013-14 (House of Lords Paper 6) published on 1 July 2014, recognised that continued positive engagement between the Committee’s secretariat and Departments has seen the number of overrides fall significantly since 2010, noting that many of the overrides that continue to be recorded relate to sensitive and fast-moving foreign policy matters, which cannot be made public beforehand, and where a scrutiny override may be difficult to avoid. That remained the case in the period January-June 2014 where of the 25 overrides across both Houses, 21 were in this category in the House of Lords and 22 in the House of Commons. During this period, 476 Explanatory Memoranda were submitted.
The figures requested are set out below:
|
Department |
(1). House of Lords Override |
(2). House of Commons override |
(a). No. of overrides in both Houses |
(b). Total no. of overrides |
|
Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
19 |
21 |
19 |
21 |
|
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Totals |
23 |
23 |
21 |
25 |