The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether Ministers from the devolved administrations have been invited to the Girl Summit co-hosted by the Prime Minister and UNICEF on 22 July 2014.
Justine Greening
I confirm that Ministers from the Devolved Administrations are being invited to Girl Summit 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-03-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons his Department has not published data on the effects of the under-occupancy penalty on the number of social housing tenants who have moved home or fallen into rent arrears.
Esther McVey
It is still too early in the policy’s lifetime to draw any firm conclusions as to its effect, including the number of tenants who have moved home. Rent arrears can have multiple causes and levels tend to fluctuate over time. A longer timeframe than one year is required in order to see whether and, if so, to what extent the removal of the spare room subsidy has impacted on rent arrears levels.
A consortium led by Ipsos-MORI and which includes the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research has been commissioned to carry out a two year monitoring of the effects of the removal of the spare room subsidy measure across Great Britain.
The Homes and Communities Agency reported in February that the median level of arrears among the larger housing associations had fallen from 4.1% in the second quarter of 2013-14 to 3.9% in the third quarter of 2013-14.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for employment tribunal fee remission were (a) received, (b) granted and (c) refused between 1 January and 31 March 2014; and how many such refusals were successfully appealed.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The Employment tribunal remissions data currently available does not permit this information to be readily obtained and assured.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2014-03-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information (a) his Department and (b) HM Tribunals Service hold on the age of people (i) prosecuted and convicted for television licence evasion and (ii) imprisoned for non-payment of a fine for television licence evasion.
Jeremy Wright
No published information is available. The information in the table is taken from a live case management system. As such, it is subject to change and is not checked to the level of Official Statistics. No information is available in respect of socio-economic status of those prosecuted or convicted or imprisoned for non-payment of a fine in respect of television licence evasion. The Government has said that it will examine whether television licence evasion should be decriminalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on how the UK’s overseas posts may be used more effectively to promote Northern Ireland trade and investment.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues, including in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on the importance of promoting Northern Ireland trade and investment.
Our Embassies abroad regularly work with InvestNI and the Northern Ireland Executive to assist with trade missions led by Northern Ireland Ministers. I shall be discussing with the incoming UKTI Chief Executive shortly how best UKTI posts abroad can work even closer with their counterparts in InvestNI.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the United States Department of Defense (USDoD) in respect of the installation by BT of a special communications system to link RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire with the USDoD headquarters in Washington DC and the US Africa headquarters for unmanned aircraft operations in Djibouti.
Mr Mark Francois
The installation of US communications systems at RAF Croughton is a matter for the United States Visiting Forces. No discussions have taken place in respect to the installation by BT of a special communications system to link RAF Croughton with the Department of Defence headquarters in the US, and US Forces in Djibouti.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that the centralisation in Newcastle of national insurance services for the North East does not have a negative effect on service for users.
Esther McVey
Measures taken ensure that dedicated centralised teams are able to offer both earlier and increased numbers of appointments to individuals of the North East. Measures are also in place to ensure mobile visits to employer sites are completed when necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Harriet Harman on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the three most popular instruments are for secondary school children in England who are learning an instrument in school.
Elizabeth Truss
The information requested is not held by the Department for Education. A recent report[1] published by Arts Council England shows that in the academic year 2012/13, 437,975 pupils in years 1-9 received free whole class ensemble teaching. This is 8.6% of the national cohort. 430,998 pupils were in years 1-6 (12.4% of the cohort) and 6,977 were in years 7-9 (0.4% of the cohort).
Many other children learn instruments in and out of school, but these figures are not collected or held centrally.
[1]http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/funding-programmes/music-education-hubs/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of households with children in the private rented sector in England.
Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Wednesday 18 June 2014]
According to the English Housing Survey, in 2011-12, there were 3.9 million households in the owner occupied sector with dependent children, 1.3 million in the private rented sector and 1.2 million in the social rented sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Walley on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to meet representatives of Cuadrilla and other members of the shale gas industry.
Dan Rogerson
The Secretary of State has no such planned engagements at present but always welcomes meeting a broad range of organisations to understand their needs and concerns. The UK Government is committed to the development of the shale gas industry in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.