Tag: 2016

  • Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2016-04-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many dedicated road traffic officers there were in each of the past five years in (1) Essex, (2) Kent, (3) Sussex, and (4) London.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The number of full time equivalent police officers employed in traffic policing roles as at 31 March in each of the last 5 years is provided in the tables. Officers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function or role. Data for 31 March 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available) can also be found in the supplementary tables of the July 2015 police workforce statistics publication:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444537/police-workforce-supptabs-mar15.ods

    As HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

    Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

  • Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the defence procurement budget was spent on foreign military sales in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The proportion of the defence procurement budget, and the defence budget spent on foreign military sales in each financial year cannot be provided. Under the Foreign Military Sales Agreement (FMS), Her Majesty’s Government commits to FMS cases with the US Government which then places contracts with industry to deliver our requirements. Additionally, FMS cases typically cover differing periods of performance, thereby making estimation of the commitment that would fall within each financial year unreliable.

    The number of new cases, together with their values, committed to under FMS for each financial year is given in the table below. They do not equate to actual expenditure, accruals or contractual commitments and include contingency provisions.

    Financial Year

    No. of new cases

    Value of new cases ($millions)

    2009-10

    22

    995

    2010-11

    30

    111

    2011-12

    33

    284

    2012-13

    23

    137

    2013-14

    25

    301

    2014-15

    26

    328

    2015-16

    32

    245

    2016-17 to date

    6

    13

    Totals

    197

    2,414

  • Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kate Osamor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government’s policy is on maintaining its commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas aid.

    Priti Patel

    This Government remains committed to continuing the UK’s leading role on international development, including through spending 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on overseas aid.

    As an outward-looking, globally engaged nation, we believe that the UK should work to tackle international problems at their source – not wait for them to arrive on our doorstep.

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 26 September (HL1844), how many Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship were available in each month from April 2011 to November 2014.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The data requested is routinely published on the Gov.uk website and can be found at the following address https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employer-sponsorship-restricted-certificate-allocations/allocations-of-restricted-certificates-of-sponsorship Please also find the information included in the link set out in the table below

    Allocation Month

    Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship Available

    Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship Granted

    Apr-11

    4200

    1019

    May-11

    4666

    781

    Jun-11

    5397

    845

    Jul-11

    6064

    859

    Aug-11

    6760

    819

    Sep-11

    7719

    673

    Oct-11

    8536

    818

    Nov-11

    9559

    766

    Dec-11

    10269

    729

    Jan-12

    11023

    706

    Feb-12

    11773

    832

    Mar-12

    12429

    1040

    Apr-12

    1725

    1037

    May-12

    2415

    913

    Jun-12

    3188

    924

    Jul-12

    3950

    1007

    Aug-12

    4648

    776

    Sep-12

    5486

    785

    Oct-12

    6418

    715

    Nov-12

    7418

    717

    Dec-12

    8408

    753

    Jan-13

    9355

    780

    Feb-13

    10269

    955

    Mar-13

    11031

    1044

    Apr-13

    1710

    1247

    May-13

    2172

    772

    Jun-13

    3120

    1373

    Jul-13

    3416

    1417

    Aug-13

    3680

    1110

    Sep-13

    4189

    1044

    Oct-13

    4863

    973

    Nov-13

    5595

    1024

    Dec-13

    6283

    1275

    Jan-14

    6714

    926

    Feb-14

    7427

    1289

    Mar-14

    7825

    1033

    Apr-14

    1724

    1699

    May-14

    1728

    1083

    Jun-14

    2350

    1738

    Jul-14

    2308

    1749

    Aug-14

    2213

    1763

    Sep-14

    2050

    1442

    Oct-14

    2277

    1473

    Nov-14

    2511

    1723

    Dec-14

    2481

    1819

    Jan-15

    2416

    1670

    Feb-15

    2392

    2409

    Mar-15

    1690

    1519

    Apr-15

    2528

    1888

    May-15

    2285

    2277

    Jun-15

    1609

    1215

    Jul-15

    2040

    1943

    Aug-15

    2347

    2418

    Sep-15

    1544

    1520

    Oct-15

    2111

    1953

    Nov-15

    2011

    2100

    Dec-15

    1898

    1774

    Jan-16

    1926

    1441

    Feb-16

    2439

    1760

    Mar-16

    2661

    1748

    Apr-16

    2175

    1692

    May-16

    2464

    1849

    Jun-16

    2575

    1853

    Jul-16

    2701

    2238

    Aug-16

    2695

    1952

    Sep-16

    2879

    1509

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to collect data on the loss of ancient woodland to development.

    Rory Stewart

    This Government recognises the importance of England’s trees, woods and forests. Our ancient woodlands are especially valuable to us. Indeed they reflect our heritage and identity, as well as providing a unique and rich habitat for our wildlife.

    That is why Natural England is working with partners to update and improve the Ancient Woodland Inventory. The planning system records the loss of ancient woodland where development proposals require an Environmental Statement and these losses are then a matter of public record.

    Given this, we have no plans to collect data from Local Authorities on the loss of ancient woodland to development.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the relevant per pupil outturn expenditure on Education Services Grant-supported activities for the highest, median and lowest spending local authorities was for the 2014-15 financial year; and if she will publish the same statistics for planned expenditure for the 2015-16 financial year.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Education Services Grant (ESG) is unringfenced and local authorities therefore have complete discretion on how to spend this funding. The Department for Education has previously set out a list of activities that the grant is intended to fund, which can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335723/ESG_AnnexA_reformatted.pdf

    Local authorities report their planned expenditure on the related budget lines through their section 251 returns and the data from these returns are published online. The data for 2014-15 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-benchmarking-tables-2014-to-2015 and the data for 2015-16 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2015-to-2016

    “

  • Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for tax evasion.

    Mr David Gauke

    At Summer Budget 2015, the Government announced an investment of £800 million to tackle non‑compliance and tax evasion.

    This investment includes £266 million and 670 new HMRC staff to tackle tax fraud, which will lead to a tripling of the number of criminal investigations into the most serious and complex tax crimes.

    The Government is also consulting on new criminal powers to tackle offshore tax evasion and corporate facilitation of tax evasion.

    This all builds on the Government’s earlier investment into HMRC, which enabled the Department to achieve a seven-fold increase in the number of prosecutions over the course of the last parliament and contributed to the protection over £2 billion of vital public revenue last year.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the UK’s membership of the EU to the UK’s work in (a) preventing and (b) identifying and detaining terrorists.

    James Brokenshire

    Terrorism and serious organised crime are global threats that cross national borders. Our unique relationship with the EU gives UK law enforcement access to EU tools and instruments that help keep people safe and tackle serious and organised crime, but also mean we are not obliged to participate in new measures when we do not judge them to be in the national interest.

    The tools and instruments that the UK participates in include Europol, an EU agency which supports cross-border police operations and intelligence sharing, and can assist in the identification of terrorist threats; the European Arrest Warrant, which allows swift extradition between EU countries of individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence; and the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), which enables law enforcement agencies around the EU to share live alerts, for example, for missing people and stolen vehicles. The UK is also in the process of implementing Prum, which will give us access to fingerprint and DNA data from other member states.

    Since 2004, using the European Arrest Warrant, over 1,000 individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence have faced justice in UK courts and over 7,000 have been extradited from the UK.

  • Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Manzoor – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-04-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, how many households containing children had an underpayment or non-payment of benefit as a result of official error.

    Lord Freud

    DWP is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of official errors at the Local Authority level. This is because the estimation of the rate and monetary value of official errors in a particular benefit is based on a sample of cases rather than the entire caseload for that benefit, and this sample is not large enough to split at the Local Authority level.

    DWP does not gather information on the number of children in a household when evaluating the rate of fraud and error in any particular benefit.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National pupil projections statistics release, published on 22 July 2015, if she will publish the (a) assumptions and (b) estimated total migration figures that were used in the calculation of the (i) migrant component of the principal population projection and (ii) high migrant variant in Table 3a of that data release.

    Nick Gibb

    The national pupil projections are only produced for the whole of England and do not break down projected pupil numbers by local education authority or region. They are derived from the 2012-based national population projections for England produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)[1] who used assumptions which were considered to best reflect demographic patterns at that time.

    The ONS uses assumptions on the levels of future fertility, net migration and life expectancy in the production of their population projections. They use central assumptions for the principal projections and alternative high and low assumptions to produce variant projections.

    New national pupil projections, based on the ONS’s mid-2014 national population projections[2], are scheduled to be published on 14 July 2016. The timing and content of National Statistics releases are a matter for the Head of Profession for statistics. The month of publication was pre-announced in 2015 and the specific date of publication was pre-announced on 26 February 2016.

    [1] Mid-2012 ONS national population projections available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2013-11-06

    [2] Mid-2014 ONS national population projections available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/bulletins/nationalpopulationprojections/2015-10-29

    “