The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jolly on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government with how many Iraqi interpreters the armed forces have contracted since the start of military operations in Iraq in September 2014.
Earl Howe
Ministry of Defence interpreter requirements in Iraq have been met through a third party service contract since September 2014. All seven Iraq Interpreters supplied by the contractor to date are British Citizens.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from NHS trusts in England and Wales on the adequacy of midwife recruitment in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Ben Gummer
No representation from NHS trusts about the adequacy of midwife recruitment has been received in the last 12 months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel about its decision to approve the construction of Israeli settlement units in Bethlehem and close to Ramallah.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised the issue of settlement announcements with the Israeli Ministry of Defence on 17 November and the Israeli Deputy National Security Adviser on 18 November. The Government has repeatedly condemned settlement announcements, and we will continue to call on the Israeli authorities to cease all settlement building and to remove illegal outposts, as required under international law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many call-handling staff are employed by the Action Fraud helpline; and how many of those employees were employed on (a) 1 May 2015 and (b) 1 November 2014.
Mike Penning
With regards to the number of call-handling staff employed by the Action Fraud helpline:
• As of December 2015 there were69.78 FTEs
• As of May 2015 there were 81.92 FTEs
• As of November 2014 there were 84.67 FTEs
With regards to the number of frontline staff employed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): The NFIB is overseen by the City of London Police, it is not a public facing part of the Force, so does not employ any frontline staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have about the number of persons brought to justice for trafficking in persons, enslavement, forced prostitution, labour exploitation, and other similar crimes in the last three years, both in the UK and in other jurisdictions.
Lord Bates
The number of perpetrators of ‘slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour’, ‘human trafficking for sexual exploitation’ and ‘human trafficking for non-sexual exploitation’ found guilty and sentenced in each of the last three years is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
The ‘Outcomes by Offence Tables’ should be selected, and can be filtered for each of the three offences listed above. The UK Government does not hold information on the numbers brought to justice in other jurisdictions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time was that prisoners with mental illness waited for transfer to an appropriate health setting in the last 12 months.
Alistair Burt
Data are not collected centrally on the number of prisoners waiting for an initial psychiatric assessment. Data on prisoners in receipt of an assessment and awaiting transfer to secure hospitals under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 are collected by NHS England since April 2015, through Health and Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs) and available data are shown in the attached table, Health and Justice Indicators of Performance – Mental Health Secure Assessment and Transfer. NHS England intends to publish HJIP data online from April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to extend the entitlement to their late spouse’s teacher’s pension to the surviving spouses of teachers who retired or died prior to January 2007 and lost their entitlement to their late spouse’s pension on remarrying.
Nick Gibb
It has been the policy of successive governments that changes or improvements to all public service pension schemes should not normally be applied retrospectively. This policy protects the current membership from having to meet the cost of potentially very expensive improvements. There are therefore no plans to extend the entitlement for those whose spouse was a member of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and who died or retired before January 2007.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what costs his Department has incurred as a result of delays to the TransPennine Midland Main Line, and Great Western Main Line electrification project.
Claire Perry
The department has not incurred any additional costs as a result of Sir Peter Hendy’s re-plan of the rail upgrade programme, which includes TransPennine, Midland Main Line, and Great Western Main Line electrification.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the forthcoming cessation of funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit on the prosecution of wildlife crime cases in the UK; and if she will make it her policy to continue funding the National Wildlife Crime Unit for the next five years.
Rory Stewart
An assessment of the effect of future funding decisions regarding the National Wildlife Crime Unit on the prosecution of wildlife crime cases in the UK has not yet been made.
Decisions on future funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016 will be made as part of the current Spending Review process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the destinations of (a) people referred to the Mandatory Work Activity scheme who did not join that programme, (b) people who joined the Mandatory Work Activity scheme but did not complete the full length of their placement and (c) people who left the Mandatory Work Activity scheme after completing the full length of their placement.
Priti Patel
Mandatory Work Activity is a supportive programme designed to help claimants who need extra support from a short work placement to re-focus their job search activity and gain further experience of work. Unemployed Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit claimants are referred for up to 4 weeks work experience and will participate on the placement for up to 30 hours a week.
The number of referrals and starts is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working.
An impact assessment of Mandatory Work Activity was published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-work-activity–2) which considered referrals to the programme in the period May to July 2012. An evaluation of Mandatory Work Activity also published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-mandatory-work-activity-rr823) which included a telephone survey of participants who had been referred to and started an Mandatory Work Allowance placement.
The evaluation and impact assessment were conducted in 2012 and does not cover the period of the Official Statistics from May 2011 to August 2015.
“