The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to reform compensation for armed forces veterans affected by mesothelioma.
Mark Lancaster
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) to question number 903759.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people under the age of 18 have been convicted under section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1998 since that Act’s implementation; and what the average length of custodial sentence was received for such convictions.
Andrew Selous
No juvenile offenders have been sentenced to immediate custody under section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 in England and Wales since its implementation. Data for 2004 to 2014 is available in the Criminal Justice Statistics outcome by offence data tool available at the below link;
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014
No juveniles were convicted before 2006. Court proceedings data for 2015 is planned for publication in May 2016.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many jobs in (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department’s non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, non-ministerial departments, advisory bodies and other accountable statutory bodies (i) have been abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010 and (ii) will be abolished in or relocated from East Cheshire Local Authority by 2020.
Mr Robert Goodwill
In the Department for Transport itself, no posts have been based in East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010.
The Department’s Executive Agencies (Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Vehicle Certification Agency and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) have had no posts based in East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010, other than DVLA.
DVLA Chester Local Office was closed in November 2013, as part of a programme of closures, rationalising the DVLA estate and centralising work at the main headquarters in Swansea. There were 16 Civil Service posts based out of this office. Staff were offered the opportunity to relocate to the DVLA in Swansea. Two staff chose to transfer out to other government departments within the region; one member of staff came to the end of their contract and 13 staff chose to take redundancy rather than relocate.
There are currently no plans to increase or decrease the number of posts in the East Cheshire Local Authority between now and 2020.
We are not aware of any jobs being based in East Cheshire Local Authority since 2010 in the wider accountable statutory bodies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding the Government provides to the Protection of Basic Services Programme in Ethiopia.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Government no longer provides funding to the Protection of Basic Services (later known as the Promotion of Basic Services) Programme in Ethiopia. The International Development Secretary announced withdrawal of funding to this programme in February, 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-07-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made of the value of debts written off during HM Revenue and Customs’ switch from the Business Review of the Collection Service to the Real Time Information system.
Mr David Gauke
The transition from the Business Review of the Collection Service, more commonly known as BROCS, to the Real Time Information System did not cause the write off of debt.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken to improve forensic pathology services in England and Wales other than those based on the Hutton review of forensic pathology since the General Election in 2015.
Brandon Lewis
The Home Office Forensic Pathology Unit has worked alongside the forensic pathology profession, National Police Chief’s Council, Chief Coroner, the Royal College of Pathologists and other senior stakeholders towards continuous improvement of the service. Improvements include the delivery of a robust system of annual appraisal and revalidation, an annual audit of pathology reports and ongoing oversight of standards through monitoring individual pathologist’s workload and quality.
Together this package of improvements ensures that forensic pathologists’ work is now quality assured in order to protect the Criminal Justice System. The Home Office continues to support and fund trainee forensic pathologists to maintain long-term capability.
Furthermore, the Home Office Pathology Unit identified a shortage of sub-speciality pathologists who support forensic pathologists in complex cases. To resolve the capability gap a recruitment and training programme has been established that has resulted in greater resilience in paediatric, bone, eye and neuro-pathology support to the service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the comments made by a spokesperson of his Department made in an article published in the Herald newspaper on 10 January 2016, and pursuant to his oral contribution of 18 January 2016, Official Report, column 1118, if his Department will retrospectively re-examine reports of civilian casualties received from September 2014 to January 2016 to see whether any credible reports of potential civilian casualties from UK strikes were overlooked.
Penny Mordaunt
There has been no change in Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy with regard to considering external reports when making an assessment of possible civilian casualties resulting from air strikes.
The MOD takes allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and we do an assessment after every British strike of the damage that has been caused, and check very carefully whether there are likely to have been civilian casualties. As has always been the case, we continue to consider all available credible evidence to support such assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-02-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which lobbying campaigns organised by charities have been funded by government grants since May 2010.
Lord Bridges of Headley
Information on lobbying campaigns organised by charities is not collected by government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 28610, which outsourced providers his Department uses for cleaning services; and if he will request information from those providers on the rate of pay for cleaners providing services for his Department.
Mike Penning
All employers are obligated to pay a minimum of the new National Living Wage from April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they propose to make in the new contract for doctors in training in the light of the equality analysis undertaken under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The contract published on 31 March is a huge step forward for achieving fairness for all trainee doctors. For the first time junior doctors will be paid and rewarded solely on the basis of their own hard work and achievement and pay progression will be linked to level of training rather than arbitrarily to time served.
All junior doctors should have the same terms and conditions – a level playing field – which is ultimately what employers and the British Medical Association (BMA) want and everyone deserves.
When the Secretary of State published the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS (“Doctors”) on the 31 March 2016 on the GOV.UK website he made it clear that, as a result of considering the Equality Analysis, in accordance with his duties and obligations, he had asked for a number of changes to the draft contract to address specific issues for certain groups with protected characteristics. This has been done and the contract has been duly amended. These changes included changes that benefited staff who work part time. The new contract is not discriminatory it ensures that all junior doctors receive equal pay for work of equal value. The BMA’s own lawyers have advised that nothing in the new contract is discriminatory. Nevertheless the equality duty is an ongoing duty and it is intended that monitoring will continue after the introduction of the new contract in accordance with the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010.
A copy of the Equality Analysis is attached.