The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Duty Provider Crime Contracts have been awarded to BAME firms in (a) the West Midlands, (b) the city of Birmingham and (c) Birmingham, Hodge Hill constituency.
Mr Shailesh Vara
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of Thursday 28 January, the crime Tender process has been withdrawn.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims against prison staff were made by prisoners in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous
NOMS defend robustly all claims brought and successfully defend two thirds of claims brought by prisoners. It is not possible accurately to separate prisoner compensation claims against prison staff from other similar claims (e.g. assaults by other prisoners).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total amount that the UK will contribute to the EU budget in each of the next five years.
Mr David Gauke
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for forecasting UK contributions to the EU Budget. Details of the OBR’s latest forecast of UK gross and public sector net contributions to the EU Budget on a financial year basis can be found in Table 2.25 of its Supplementary Fiscal Tables.
The OBR forecast is not directly comparable to the UK contributions set out in the 2015 EU Finances White Paper which averaged £7.1bn over the most recent period (Table 3.B). This is because the OBR’s net contribution to the EU budget does not include receipts that are not administered by UK government bodies and therefore does not reflect all EU transactions with the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to encourage transport operators to provide services that are accessible to disabled people.
Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport is committed to building transport networks which work for everyone, ensuring that disabled people have the same access to transport services as non-disabled members of society
Compliance with bus accessibility Regulations was 89% in England in 2015; while 60% of rail vehicles, up from 46% in 2013, were built or fully refurbished to modern access standards.
By the end of this year Access for All will have completed more than 150 step-free routes at rail stations against a target of 125. More than 1,200 stations have received smaller scale improvements. To build on this success £160m has been allocated to another 68 stations to be delivered by 2019.
We plan to require that taxi and private hire vehicle drivers provide assistance to wheelchair users and refrain from charging extra by commencing sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act 2010 by the end of the year.
The Department works closely with its statutory advisors on the needs of disabled people, the Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee, such as on a project to develop best practice guidance on the delivery of disability awareness training for bus and coach drivers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the higher education sector to the economy.
Joseph Johnson
Higher education is an important source of productivity growth. It equips individuals with the skills and abilities they need to succeed in the workforce, and helps drive innovation by strengthening the economy’s knowledge base, as well as enriching our cultural and intellectual life. The BIS research paper The relationship between graduates and economic growth across countries (2013) provides an estimate of the sector’s contribution, and is available online at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what monitoring her Department undertakes of the incidence of female genital mutilation (a) for each of the four known types of female genital mutilations and (b) in Bristol; and if she will make a statement.
Sarah Newton
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.
Work to tackle FGM forms an integral part of our cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy published on 8 March. The first annual statistics on the number of cases recorded by the NHS in England were published on 21 July for the period April 2015 to March 2016. They show that there were 5,702 newly recorded cases of FGM reported and of those, where type was known, Types 1 and 2 have the highest incidence (35 and 31 per cent respectively). In Bristol, there were 385 cases newly recorded.
More information on these figures is available on the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s website.
A 2015 prevalence study part-funded by the Home Office estimated that approximately 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales are affected by FGM and 60,000 girls were born to women who had undergone FGM.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to encourage local authorities to implement a voluntary Clean Air Zone; and what estimate she has made of how many will do so within the next 12 months.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
As part of the national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, we are requiring five cities (Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton) to implement Clean Air Zones. Other local authorities can introduce Clean Air Zones should they wish to do so using their powers under the Transport Act 2000.
On 13 October we launched a consultation on a framework for Clean Air Zones. This will provide a consistent approach to the implementation of Clean Air Zones. Its use by local authorities will give businesses and individuals a clear understanding of what a Clean Air Zone will deliver, and the impacts and benefits for them. Setting out the principles in this way will support both those authorities required by Government to implement a Clean Air Zone and those who, after analysing their own situation, consider a Clean Air Zone to be an appropriate measure to bring in.
In addition, applications are now open for councils to bid for a share of at least £3 million as part of an Air Quality Grant to help improve air quality in their area. Applications could include activities such as feasibility studies for Clean Air Zones.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects Libyan Investment Authority funds to be released for Libyan social and physical infrastructure projects from the Future Generations Fund, Libyan Local Investment and Development Fund and the Budget Stabilisation Fund.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
It is for the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) to decide on the allocation of funds for Libyan social and infrastructure projects. Some LIA assets are frozen under UN and EU regimes, but the LIA continues to have access to unfrozen funds. Article 8b of the EU Regulation provides a derogation such that if LIA were to make an application, the competent authorities of the Member States (which in the UK is HM Treasury) may authorise the release of frozen funds or economic resources under certain circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the Government has made on an impact analysis and consultation on changes to current pavement parking legislation since the withdrawal of the Pavement Parking (Protection of Vulnerable Pedestrians) Bill.
Andrew Jones
I intend to convene a round table in March, the details of which are currently being finalised. The round table will discuss the topic, and help to inform the Department’s thinking and the work it plans to do later this year to examine more closely the legal and financial implications of alternative approaches.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.
David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly; all staff that join, do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, mainly the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Justice, who remain the employers. As staff stay on the terms and conditions of their parent employers, the wellness strategy that would normally apply would be that of the parent body. Both the Ministry of Justice and Scottish Government have wellness strategies to support their staff. Through these strategies, the staff that are based at the Scotland Office in either London or Edinburgh have access to health facilities, mental health support, and employee assistance programmes.