The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in shire county council bus subsidies on the opportunities for social interaction of elderly and disabled people.
Brandon Lewis
The Department for Transport is the lead Department on policy and funding for buses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 469W, on Secure Colleges: Leicestershire, what steps have been taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the cohort.
Jeremy Wright
The requirements set out within the tender for the design and build of the Secure College pathfinder took into account departmental experience of providing safe custodial environments. The initial design for the Secure College pathfinder was evaluated against these requirements as well as design, operation and security considerations.
The Ministry of Justice will be working with Wates, the preferred design and build bidder, over the coming months to refine the initial design. This will include ensuring that different groups of young people can be accommodated discretely, if needed, within the site.
The safety and wellbeing of young people is central to all plans for the design and operation of the Secure College pathfinder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, how much onshore wind capacity was recovered in each month in 2013.
Kris Hopkins
The main consideration in the recovery of wind turbine appeals is the potential impact of the development on the surrounding area, in the particular circumstances of each appeal and its location. The generation capacity of the appeal is not a driver in the decision on whether or not the appeal should be recovered.
As I said in my earlier answer my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which wards, in which town, county and constituency had a postal vote turnout greater than 90 per cent at the last General Election.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission does not hold the data requested at ward level.
The Commission collects electoral data at each set of polls. In nearly all cases this is collected down to the level of individual contests, which means that it only holds ward level data for local elections.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which chemicals are authorised for use in the fracking process in the UK; what assessment he has made of the potential risk posed to humans and the natural environment from those chemicals before their authorisation; and if he will make a statement.
Dan Rogerson
The Environment Agency will require full disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
Operators will not be able to use chemicals for well stimulation unless the Agency considers them acceptable for use. The Environment Agency will assess the hazards presented by fracking fluid additives on a case-by-case basis.
Allowing the use of a chemical at one site does not automatically mean the Agency will allow it to be used elsewhere. This is because the environmental risks may be different, for example, due to local geological conditions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the contracts for personal independence payments assessments were awarded to Atos and Capita; and how many applications they were forecast to have processed by (a) March 2014 and (b) March 2015.
Mike Penning
The start date for both ATOS and Capita contracts was the 31st July 2012.
No forecast figures are available for numbers of applications processed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria a biodegradable plastic bag will need to fulfil for exemption from his single use plastic bag charging policy.
Dan Rogerson
We intend to exempt biodegradable bags that meet certain standards from the charge to give consumers an alternative to using single-use plastic bags when they do not take a reusable bag with them. The standards will be worked up in consultation with industry. They are likely to cover how the bag should behave during disposal or recycling (for example, having a short degradation time period), resource use, energy consumption during production and other elements across their lifecycle.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what contingency arrangements have been put in place by the Department’s Child Maintenance Group to ensure that the Child Maintenance Options Service answers all calls promptly and there is a good service; and how often those contingency arrangements were invoked in the last year.
Steve Webb
The Child Maintenance Options service has an effective business continuity plan in place, which includes the ability to divert calls to other trained colleagues and deploy a variety of telephony-based solutions such as Interactive Voice Response.
There were around eight occasions in which contingency measures had to be used in the last year for reasons including brief local power outages, activation of the fire alarm system and occasions where call demands exceeded forecasted volumes.
Steps have been taken to prevent or minimise any reoccurrence of these events, including the installation of an uninterrupted power supply and better forecasting as we fully establish the impact of recent changes such as the use of Child Maintenance Options as a mandatory gateway to the statutory scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the number of people who have overstayed their approved visa to be in the UK by (a) up to six months, (b) six months to one year, (c) more than one year and (d) more than three years as at 31 March 2014.
James Brokenshire
It is not possible to accurately quantify the number of immigration offenders in the UK as, by their very nature, those that deliberately evade immigration control to enter and stay in the country illegally are not officially recorded until they come to light and are arrested.
The Immigration Bill will provide new powers to implement exit checks, which the last Labour Government scrapped in 1998. This will allow the Home Office to screen those who leave the UK to identify threats and persons of interest to Border Force, immigration enforcement and other law enforcement bodies, and to enable an appropriate response.
The Home Office continues to prevent abuse, pursue offenders and increase compliance with immigration law – our Immigration Compliance and Enforcement teams across the UK target illegal migrants who have no right to live and work in the community.
The Immigration Bill will stop migrants using public services to which they are not entitled, reduce the factors which encourage people to come to the UK and make it easier to remove people who should not be here.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2014-06-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he has taken to support small and micro-businesses in creating new jobs.
Nicky Morgan
Support for small and micro businesses is part of the Government’s long term economic plan to back business and create jobs. From April this year, businesses can access a £2000 Employment Allowance. Over 90% of the benefit of this allowance will go to small businesses – reducing the cost of creating new jobs.
In addition, from April 2015 we will abolish employer NICs for all under 21 year olds making it cheaper for businesses to employ young people.