The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government about the availability of childcare for children of parents who (a) work outside the hours of 9am to 5pm and (b) live in rural communities.
Priti Patel
Childcare is a devolved matter. There have therefore been no discussions with the Welsh Government about the availability of childcare in Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the costs of automatic-enrolment of pensions on small businesses.
Justin Tomlinson
In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small businesses. Following the recommendations of the MAEW review, the Pensions Act 2011 introduced a package of measures to reduce costs and make implementation easier for small employers. DWP’s impact assessments continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses.
DWP is working hard to minimise the additional costs of automatic enrolment, particularly for small employers. The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government specifically to ensure that smaller firms have access to high quality, good value pension provision.
NEST continues to undertake service improvements, including making it possible for small employers to set up and run NEST directly through their payroll software. The Pensions Regulator is also undertaking research and testing in order to enhance its tools and educational material, and to simplify the automatic enrolment process for small employers.
The decision to defer the staging period of small and micro firms from April 2014 to June 2015 brought significant easement to small and micro employers, leading to lower contribution costs and lower administrative costs. Additionally the contribution level is being phased in, in order to help employers adjust to these costs. The minimum employer contribution is currently 1% and this will rise to 3% when the auto-enrolment programme is fully rolled out over the next few years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many publications produced by his Department other than, Employment and Support Allowance sanctions for the work related activity group (ISBN Number: 978-1-78425-557-2), have been withdrawn from the gov.uk website since 8 May 2015.
Justin Tomlinson
In common with other departments, DWP regularly reviews its publications and other content online at GOV.UK and supplementary websites.
Records for changes to our websites are not held centrally, and this information could only be collated at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Bristol on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and in particular its commitment to freedom of religion or belief.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Saudi Arabia is a Foreign & Commonwealth Office priority country because of the human rights situation, particularly on the death penalty, access to justice, women’s rights, restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion or belief. The British Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief. Islamic law is strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia and the public practice of any form of religion other than Islam is illegal. The Saudi authorities do accept foreign workers privately practising religions other than Islam.
We believe that the key to increasing freedom in this area is to focus on tolerance. We have worked with Saudi Arabia to identify areas where different faiths could work together and foster trust.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many junior doctors have applied for a Certificate of Good Standing from the General Medical Council in each year since 2005.
Lord Prior of Brampton
A Certificate of Good Standing is now called a Certificate of Current Professional Status (CCPS).
The Department does not hold information on the number of junior doctors that have applied for a CCPS and is unable to estimate how many junior doctors will apply for a CCPS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 22 September (HL2151), on what date the convention that peers who are ministerial special advisers do not speak on the floor of the House was first established.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
Lord Hart of Chilton entered the House in 2004 and made his maiden speech only after ceasing to be a ministerial special adviser in 2007. This approach, based on advice from the then Clerk of the Parliaments, has been accepted practice since then.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 2015-10-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current estimate of (1) how many British citizens are serving prison sentences in other European Union member states, and (2) the distribution of those prisoners across member states.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We collect global detainee statistics twice a year. On 2 March 2015 we were aware of 807 British nationals detained (either pre- or post- sentencing) across EU member states. The distribution of British national detainees across Europe was:
|
Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Slovakia |
fewer than 5 each |
|
Belgium |
11 |
|
Bulgaria |
10 |
|
Cyprus |
7 |
|
Finland |
5 |
|
France |
104 |
|
Germany |
83 |
|
Greece |
12 |
|
Ireland |
222 |
|
Italy |
27 |
|
Malta |
11 |
|
The Netherlands |
16 |
|
Portugal |
31 |
|
Spain |
247 |
|
Sweden |
5 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many mental health treatment orders were issued by each magistrates’ court in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Lord Faulks
Data on Mental Health Treatment Requirement Orders (MHTRs) made by each court is not held centrally.
Only national data on numbers of MHTRs issued in England and Wales as part of a community order/suspended sentence is available and can be found here:
|
Year |
Numbers of MHTRs issued. |
|
2015 (January to March): |
202 |
|
2014 |
960 |
|
2013 |
854 |
|
2012 |
764 |
|
2011 |
878 |
|
2010 |
1005 |
The above data can be found in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletins.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS England’s Maternity Safety Thermometer will be updated to include a function to allow units to compare their data by (1) singleton, and (2) multiple, pregnancies; and if so, how they plan to use this information to drive improvements in care.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Maternity Safety Thermometer includes a function to allow staff to record whether the pregnancy in question was a singleton or multiple pregnancy. National Health Service providers who use the Maternity Safety Thermometer are therefore able to collect and use this information to drive improvements in care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-09-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to bring forward legislation for a new water abstraction licensing regime; and whether they propose to introduce a one-size-fits-all approach to reform of the sector.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We are currently working on finalising the legislative approach to abstraction reform. We remain on track to deliver abstraction reform in the early 2020s.
Our aim is to introduce fairer, more flexible and more efficient systems to manage water abstraction tailored to differing catchments within a national approach.