The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many recruits enlisting in the armed forces under the age of 18 years had previously (a) been convicted of a criminal offence, (b) received a caution from the police, (c) received an anti-social behaviour order and (d) been permanently excluded from school in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Anna Soubry
This information is not held in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2014-03-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Lord Chancellor or any Minister in his Department last met the chief executive officer of the Legal Aid Agency; and whether they discussed (1) the issue of publicly funded representation at inquests for the families of deceased victims, and (2) the provision for publicly funded representation at the inquest of the family of Cherry Groce.
Lord Faulks
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The Chief Executive of the Legal Aid Agency has regular meetings with ministers at the Ministry of Justice. Following a review of its decision in the Groce family’s case, the Legal Aid Agency made a funding request to Ministers. Ministers have considered the request and have granted funding. |
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 steps he has taken to implement the recommendations on supporting the broadcasting of accessible information in to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea in paragraph 1224 of the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in that country.
Mr Hugo Swire
We have taken note of the UN Commission of Inquiry recommendation that civil society be supported to broadcast accessible information. We have helped to facilitate contact between BBC Worldwide and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) broadcasting authorities, to explore the possibility of the BBC supplying a range of programmes to the DPRK.
Through our Embassy in Pyongyang, the UK is also one of the few countries which is able to engage directly with the DPRK. This complements the efforts of others who are already broadcasting into North Korea. The recent report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights in North Korea recognised the importance of both approaches.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Gareth Thomas on 2014-03-26.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to encourage the Government Procurement Service to adopt (a) UN Global Compact and (b) ILO standards; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Nick Hurd
This Government’s procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project.
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires commissioners to consider the economic, environmental and social benefits of their approaches to procurement before the process starts, at the pre-procurement stage.
Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to improve the reliability of tracking methodologies for foreign (a) registered and (b) unregistered vehicles in the UK.
Stephen Hammond
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) receives information on foreign registered vehicles from the police and other enforcement agencies, as well as from members of the public. Other ways of obtaining this information are currently being explored.
The DVLA has been working with the police to pilot a new enforcement process. This involves the DVLA providing the police forces with registration numbers of foreign registered vehicles which may have overstayed the six- month exemption period and where the keepers have not complied with UK requirements. This information enables the four police forces involved to seize and impound vehicles that have overstayed, where appropriate. If the pilot is successful, the DVLA will explore the potential for extending it to more police forces.
The DVLA is also working with other government agencies to establish what other data might be used to track and identify over staying foreign registered vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what average time is taken to re-imburse a jobseeker’s allowance claimant who has been wrongly sanctioned.
Esther McVey
We do not hold any information that just captures the average time it takes to reimburse a Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimant who has been wrongly sanctioned.
Once a decision is made that a sanction is no longer appropriate the decision maker notifies our JSA claims maintenance teams. They identify these decisions as priority work and endeavour to input the revised decision into our system and pay any benefit due as soon as possible. For JSA our aim is to clear 90% of changes in 6 days. Based on Year to Date information, up to February 2014, we are achieving 94.9% on JSA.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his Statement of 9 June 2014, Official Report, column 269, on Birmingham schools, when Ministers of his Department were first made aware of allegations of extremism in schools in Birmingham.
Mr Edward Timpson
The Department for Education received the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter in December 2013. The Secretary of State has asked the Permanent Secretary to investigate how the Department dealt with warnings both since the formation of this Government in 2010 and before.
Since receiving a copy of the Trojan Horse letter, the Department has been working closely with agencies such as Birmingham City Council, the police and Ofsted. Based on the Department’s evidence-gathering, the Secretary of State commissioned inspections by Ofsted and appointed Peter Clarke as Education Commissioner.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-03-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department last visited a private, voluntary or independent sector childcare setting in an official capacity.
Elizabeth Truss
Records show that the most recent visits undertaken to PVI provision by Ministers in the Department for Education are as follows.
I visited Little Rainbows Day Nursery on 20 March 2014. My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, visited Norwood Kennedy Leigh Family Centre in November 2013.
It should be noted that we do not keep records of the specific business model of every nursery or childcare setting Ministers visit. Therefore, it is possible that other visits have been undertaken, details of which are not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Munn on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to develop pilot projects of his proposals to allow further delegation of children’s social care functions.
Mr Edward Timpson
Responses to the consultation on further delegation of children’s social care functions are currently being considered. Local authorities will be able to apply to the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme for support to make use of any new freedoms introduced, and the impact of activities funded through the programme will be robustly evaluated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2014-03-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will commission a study on measures to accurately record incidences of mis-stunning in abattoirs.
George Eustice
The Food Standards Agency already records instances of mis-stunning in slaughterhouses, so a study in this area is unnecessary. Details were given by the Minister for Public Health on 24 March 2014 : Column 132W – 134W.
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