Tag: 2014

  • Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the functioning of the inquest system in the absence of publicly funded legal representation for the families of deceased victims of actions on the part of the police or other public authorities.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government is confident that the inquest system is functioning effectively following reforms introduced last July under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. We are committed to reviewing the impact of the reforms in 2015.

    In addition, the Government has specifically protected legal aid for families at inquests. Legal Help (the advice and assistance level of legal aid) remains routinely available within the scope of the civil legal aid scheme. In exceptional circumstances funding can also be provided for the family’s legal representation at the inquest pursuant to section 6(8)(b) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (AJA) or section 10(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) (the applicable legislation depending on the date of the original application). A means test applies but can be waived in certain circumstances.

    The Lord Chancellor is prevented by statute from giving directions and guidance to the Legal Aid Agency in relation to an individual case, but has published general guidance to which the Director of Legal Aid Casework must have regard when making individual decisions on applications for exceptional funding for representation at inquests. The guidance sets out the relevant criteria and specifically addresses inquests where there is a death in custody or a death in the course of police arrest, search, pursuit or shooting.

    Following a review of its decision in the Groce family’s case, the Legal Aid Agency made a funding request to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor has considered the request and has granted funding

  • Fiona Bruce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the UN on the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    In October 2013, I met members of the Commission of Inquiry team on a visit we organised for them to the UK. I travelled to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March to urge action following their report, and I was pleased with the strong resolution which passed later that month.

    In April the UK raised the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) human rights concerns during closed consultations between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Security Council. The same month the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York met with members of the Commission of Inquiry and expressed our strong support for the work of the Commission. The UK also took part in a public ‘Arria’ briefing with other Security Council members to consider DPRK human rights. In May, we raised the need for continued focus on the situation during a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee meeting. I will travel to the UN in Geneva this week in order to meet the DPRK Special Rapporteur, Marzuki Darusman, and to set out the UK’s concerns to the Council. The meeting of the UN General Assembly in September presents a further opportunity to hold discussions.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will break down the £31,400,000 for Royal Mail sale transaction costs in his Department’s Supplementary Estimates 2013-14.

    Michael Fallon

    The Supplementary Estimate included a Reserve Claim to cover the cost of managing and realising the Royal Mail pension assets in 2013-14 of c£31.4m. This is in line with the funding arrangement agreed with HM Treasury in May 2011, whereby costs over and above £50m funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) would be met by HM Treasury. These assets transferred to Government from the Royal Mail Pension Plan in April 2012.

    The Supplementary Estimate also included a Reserve Claim to cover the total cost of the transaction estimated to be around £32.6m of which £9.2m is stamp duty, £13.1m underwriters and intermediaries commission fees, £4.2m underwriters’ discretionary fee which has not been paid, and the balance the direct retail cost.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for how many vehicles registered in another country applications were made to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to register them in the UK in each of the last five years.

    Stephen Hammond

    The table below shows figures for the amount of vehicles registered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that were previously registered elsewhere between 2009 and 2012.

    YEAR

    NUMBER OF VEHICLES

    2009

    65,060

    2010

    62,373

    2011

    58,379

    2012

    57,910

    Since 2013 the way that certain vehicle transactions are processed has changed and the data gathered about foreign registered vehicles is no longer readily available. In 2013, the DVLA processed 99,168 applications to register new and previously registered imported vehicles.

  • Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Government Response to Lord Heseltine’s report No Stone Unturned: in Pursuit of Growth, when he expects to publish a draft legislative reform order to ensure that the current legislation on combined authorities is fit for purpose.

    Brandon Lewis

    As I told the House on 18 March 2014, Official Report, Column 704, and as my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles) indicated on 3 March 2014, Official Report, Column 621, we are minded to amend legislation to allow councils that do not share the same boundaries to join a combined authority, if they wish. This change can be delivered through a Legislative Reform Order, subject to statutory consultation and approval of Parliament.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has for the future of the Public Defender Service.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Public Defender Service (PDS) will continue to deliver a range of quality services within the criminal defence market from advice and representation at the police station and magistrates courts through to advocacy in the higher courts.

  • Mr Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Nick Gibb on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will list all academy sponsors with 10 or more academies. [R]

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Sponsors with 10 or more academies are:

    · Academies Enterprise Trust (AET)

    · Academy Transformation Trust

    · ARK Schools

    · Cabot Learning Federation

    · CfBT Education Trust

    · Clifton Diocese

    · David Ross Education Trust (DRET)

    · Diocese of Salisbury Academies

    · Diocese of Wakefield

    · E-ACT

    · Elliot Foundation

    · Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust

    · Harris Federation

    · Kemnal Academy Trust, The (TKAT)

    · Northern Education Trust

    · Nottingham Roman Catholic Diocesan Education Service (NRCDES)

    · Oasis Community Learning

    · Ormiston Academies Trust

    · Outwood Grange Academies Trust

    · REAch2 Academy Trust

    · School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA)

    · The Education Fellowship Trust

    · The Griffin Schools Trust

    · The Primary Academies Trust

    · United Learning

  • David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure a high standard of teaching in numeracy and literacy.

    Elizabeth Truss

    We have published a more rigorous curriculum for English and mathematics. The new national curriculum sets expectations that match those in the highest-performing education jurisdictions in the world, challenging pupils to realise their potential in an increasingly competitive global market. It increases the level of demand from an early age, with greater emphasis on arithmetic, including learning times tables to 12 x 12 by age 9 and removing calculators from key stage 2 tests in mathematics, and on phonics, grammar and vocabulary development in English. GCSEs in English language and mathematics are also being reformed to be more challenging and give stronger guarantees of literacy and numeracy, with the mathematics GCSE in particular covering more than the current GCSE.

    We are confident that our reform to the national curriculum will give teachers greater flexibility and freedom, which will help to raise standards and expectations for all pupils. It has been significantly slimmed down and will free-up teachers to use their professional judgement to provide support that best meets the needs of their pupils.

    We have invested in and reformed initial teacher training (ITT) to focus on attracting the very best graduates with the right qualities for teaching into the profession through making more scholarships available; using bursaries to attract more of the most talented graduates in key subjects such as maths and physics and supporting the expansion of the highly-successful Teach First programme. Teach First is now the largest graduate recruiter in any sector in the United Kingdom.

    In 2013/14, we recruited 96% of the overall number of trainees we set out to recruit and the proportion with first-class or 2:1 degrees has risen 3 percentage points (74%) – a record compared to last year (71%). We have raised the bar for entry into ITT by making skills tests tougher, limiting candidates to two re-sits and making passing the tests in literacy and numeracy a requirement before entering, rather than exiting, ITT.

    Sir Andrew Carter has been appointed to lead an independent review about the effectiveness of ITT. As part of this, the review will look at ITT courses for both primary and secondary teaching to consider how well trainees are equipped to become outstanding teachers.

  • Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of employees in his Department of what (a) Civil Service pay grade and (b) gender work (i) reduced hours, (ii) flexi-time, (iii) from home, (iv) a compressed working week, (v) job share, (vi) term-time only and (vii) part-time.

    Dan Rogerson

    Information for core Defra staff is as follows.

    Grade

    Gender

    Compressed Hours

    Term Time Working

    Part Time

    AA

    Male

    Female

    0%

    0%

    0%

    0%

    0%

    60%

    AO

    Male

    Female

    0%

    0%

    2%

    1%

    2%

    14%

    EO

    Male

    Female

    1%

    2%

    0%

    1%

    2%

    18%

    HEO

    Male

    Female

    1%

    1%

    0%

    0%

    4%

    20%

    SEO

    Male

    Female

    2%

    4%

    0%

    1%

    5%

    21%

    Grade 7

    Male

    Female

    2%

    5%

    0%

    0%

    5%

    28%

    Grade 6

    Male

    Female

    5%

    5%

    0%

    0%

    10%

    21%

    SCS

    Male

    Female

    2%

    0%

    0%

    0%

    5%

    23%

    Notes:

    The term “reduced hours” has been interpreted as meaning part-time working.

    Other information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only by incurring disproportionate costs.

  • Robert Syms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Robert Syms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Syms on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, in determining the reduction in UK carbon dioxide emissions arising from Navitus Bay, what allowance his Department for UK carbon dioxide emissions from backup baseload generation to cover (a) for maintenance and repair downtime and (b) for the failure of the wind to blow in the operating range.

    Gregory Barker

    The Department does not undertake analysis or hold information of this nature relating to specific developments. The average load factor for offshore wind farms using five year historical data from 2008 to 2012 inclusive is 33.1%.