The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2014-04-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average annual household income in each of the ten districts of Greater Manchester in each of the last ten years.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 146W, on food: charitable donations, and 7 March 2013, Official Report, column 1105, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) the Food Standards Agency has made of the compatibility of legislation to remove criminal and civil liability from good faith food donors with EU food safety laws.
Jane Ellison
We are advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that consideration was given to whether an exemption from European Union food safety law was available in respect of donations of food for charitable purposes in 2012. The FSA’s view at that time was that no exemption is available and as the FSA’s advice has not changed it does not consider that any further assessment of the issue is necessary.
The FSA published guidance on its web site in July 2013 on which charitable and community food provision does not require registration. This can be found at:
http://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/hall-provision.pdf
Food supply not requiring registration is exempt from the requirements of food hygiene legislation although all such provision is still required to provide food that is safe.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2014-04-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the 67 successful prosecutions brought by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority since the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 are related to on-farm” activities; and how many were brought against the food supply industry.”
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
As at 8 April 2014, 69 prosecutions have been undertaken against 44 individuals
and companies that operated without a licence, one company that obstructed the
Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) officers, and 24 individuals and
companies that used the services of unlicensed gangmasters.
A standard GLA licence allows a gangmaster to undertake activity in both
agriculture and food supply. As a result, the GLA do not retain data on
whether individual prosecutions related to agriculture or food supply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geraint Davies on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funds have been provided from his departmental expenditure limit to meet the costs of (a) clinical negligence and (b) NHS litigation in this financial year.
Dr Daniel Poulter
£1.2 billion has been budgeted by the National Health Service Litigation Authority for the current 2014-15 financial year. £1.1 billion of this is allocated to clinical negligence, by far the most significant proportion of which is funded by members’ contributions, rather than allocated directly from the Department’s expenditure limit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when the standard individual export licence granted in May 2011 to permit tear gas ammunition to be exported to Turkey expired.
Michael Fallon
The licence expired on 4th May 2012. Temporary export licences are issued for a period of 12 months, with a condition that the goods are returned to the UK within the validity of the licence. The goods were returned to the UK on 23 May 2011.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the reporting of domestic and sexual violence offences by victims.
Norman Baker
Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
within our society. The Coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling
such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
Action Plan, updated in March 2014.
Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
helpline.
Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
for:
144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
£900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
victims of domestic violence and stalking.
In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In
response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s
recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects to publish his Department’s response to the consultation on Building a responsible payment culture.
Matthew Hancock
We are currently analysing responses to the Government’s discussion paper on building a more responsible payment culture and will publish the response shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition is used by HM Passport Office of a straightforward application for passports for the purpose of setting internal targets; and if this definition has been amended since 2010.
James Brokenshire
A straightforward application is one where all the required information,
including supporting documentation, is provided, the application is signed and
no further enquiries are required in order to progress the application.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff have (a) taken voluntary redundancy or (b) been made compulsorily redundant from his Department since May 2010; and how many of these (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.
Brandon Lewis
[Holding Reply: Monday 7 April 2014]
The number of staff that left the Department on (a) voluntary redundancy and (b) compulsory redundancy terms from May 2010 to March 2014 is set out below.
|
May 2010 to March 2014 |
|
|
Compulsory Redundancy |
8 |
|
Voluntary Severance or Redundancy |
522 |
|
Total |
530 |
None of these staff (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.
Exit figures through 2010 – 2012 reflect the completion of the Department’s major restructuring programme. Our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that total staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a saving of £117 million a year. The number of staff has been reduced from 3,781 full-time equivalent in 2009-10 to 1,681 in 2012-13, a reduction of 56%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on non-disclosure or compromise agreements for former employees of probation trusts since 1 January 2014.
Jeremy Wright
There have been no non-disclosure or compromise agreements included as part of the departure packages of the Trust Chief Executives who have taken early retirement. The terms of departure for other former Trust staff were agreed through their own local arrangements.