The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-03-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what change there has been in his Department’s data entry spending in the last year; and what the reasons are for any such change.
Mike Penning
There are no dedicated data entry roles and accordingly no cost to the department can be reliably estimated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of his proposed changes to energy company obligation funding on families in fuel poverty who were in flood risk areas.
Gregory Barker
The impact of the proposed changes to the Energy Company Obligation was estimated in the Assessment of Impacts published alongside the consultation document on 5th March:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-of-the-energy-company-obligation
No specific estimate was made for those fuel poor families specifically living areas of flood risk.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change intends to complete a full Impact Assessment as part of the Government’s response to the consultation later in the year.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether his proposed changes to the energy company obligation will reduce funding availability for flood-risk homes which are automatically defined as hard-to-treat.
Gregory Barker
Homes at risk of flooding are not automatically defined as having hard-to-treat cavity walls, however flood-risk homes with hard-to-treat cavity walls are eligible for funding under the Energy Company Obligation. Proposed changes to the scheme will enable more homes to receive funding for energy efficiency measures, including those homes that are at risk of flooding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many with the homes with hard-to-treat cavity walls and which require insulation measures are situated in flood risk areas.
Gregory Barker
DECC does not hold information on how many of homes that are considered to have hard to treat cavity walls are situated in flood risk areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) cats, (b) dogs and (c) horses were rehomed after their release from laboratories following research in 2012.
Norman Baker
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, authority may be given to
re-home animals where those animals were bred or held for supply for use in
regulated procedures, or were intended for use in regulated procedures, or have
been used in regulated procedures. This may also apply to animals which are
being kept under the care of the Named Veterinary Surgeon after completing
procedures, and is always contingent on our acceptance of certain reassurances
relating to Section 17A of the Act. Records of each animal re-homed would be
kept locally at the licensed establishment so that they can be available to
Home Office Inspectors on request.
European Directive 2010/63/EU, which was implemented in the UK and other
Member States on 1 January 2013, does not provide legal grounds on which the UK
can impose a mandatory obligation of re-homing under the Animals (Scientific
Procedures) Act 1986. Nevertheless, we have provided guidance on re-homing
animals in our Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures)
Act 1983, section 5.21.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many black and minority ethnic personnel have served in each regiment of the Army in each of the last 10 years.
Anna Soubry
The number of black and minority ethnic personnel serving in each Regiment of the Army in each of the last 10 years is detailed in the tables below:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) cats, (b) dogs and (c) horses were retired and rehomed under European Union Directive 2010/63/EU in 2013.
Norman Baker
The Home Office does not hold the information requested.
Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, authority may be given to
re-home animals where those animals were bred or held for supply for use in
regulated procedures, or were intended for use in regulated procedures, or have
been used in regulated procedures. This may also apply to animals which are
being kept under the care of the Named Veterinary Surgeon after completing
procedures and is always contingent on our acceptance of certain reassurances
relating to Section 17A of the Act. Records of each animal re-homed would be
kept locally at the licensed establishment so that they can be available to
Home Office Inspectors on request.
European Directive 2010/63/EU, which was implemented in the UK and other Member
States on 1 January 2013, does not provide legal grounds on which the UK can
impose a mandatory obligation of re-homing under the Animals (Scientific
Procedures) Act 1986. Nevertheless, we have provided guidance on re-homing
animals in our Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures)
Act 1983, section 5.21.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who (a) were given a non-custodial sentence and (b) were given their first custodial sentence in each year from 2004 had previously had (i) no criminal convictions, (ii) one criminal conviction, (iii) two criminal convictions, (iv) three criminal convictions, (v) four criminal convictions, (vi) five to 10 criminal convictions, (vii) 11 to 20 criminal convictions, (viii) 21 to 30 criminal convictions, (ix) 31 to 40 criminal convictions, (x) 41 to 50 criminal convictions, (xi) 51 to 75, (xii) 76 to 100 criminal convictions and (xiii) more than 100 criminal convictions.
Jeremy Wright
Since 2010, crime has continued to fall and fewer individuals are entering the criminal justice system for the first time. But we have a persistent hardcore of offenders being recycled round and round the criminal justice system, as these figures bear out.
This Government is committed to tackling re-offending rates. We have reformed sentences, so that they combine both punishment and requirements that are effective at preventing further offending. We have legislated so that all community orders must now have a punitive element, and, from 2015, every offender leaving prison spends at least 12 months under supervision, where currently around 50,000 are released each year with no statutory support. We are transforming rehabilitation, by bringing together the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors, and only rewarding them when they actually do reduce reoffending.
Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent judiciary, taking account of the circumstances of the case and the maximum penalty for the offence. A court may only impose a community order or a custodial sentence where the offence is imprisonable. The overwhelming majority of repeat offenders have previously received a number of custodial sentences but the large majority of previous convictions identified in the table below resulted in a fine as they were for summary non-motoring offences.
The number of offenders who were given a non-custodial sentence in each year since 2004, broken down by their number of previous convictions, is given in Table 1. It is important to note that these figures are based only on those offences recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) by an English or Welsh police force, including the British Transport Police, and include a number of offences for which the maximum sentence available to the court is a fine. It should also be noted that these figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were sentenced in each year and some offenders will therefore be represented several times in the figures.
Table 2 provides a similar breakdown for those offenders who received their first custodial sentence in each year. Again, the figures are drawn from the PNC and will include a number of offences for which the maximum sentence available to the court is a fine. A large proportion of each offender’s criminal history is therefore likely to include some offences for which it is not possible to receive a custodial sentence. Of those offenders who had between 76 and 100 previous convictions between the 12 months ending September 2004 and the 12 months ending September 2013, 84% of the disposals for their previous convictions were fines. This increases to 96% when you look at the offenders who had over 100 previous convictions. It should also be noted that these figures are based on counting the number of separate occasions on which offenders were sentenced in each year and some offenders could therefore be represented several times in the figures.
The number of offenders who have received at least one previous conviction, or indeed multiple previous convictions, before receiving their first custodial sentence has decreased under this Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the extension of the shared accommodation rate to people under the age of 35 years.
Steve Webb
The final research outputs from DWP’s independent evaluation of the changes to the Local Housing Allowance are due to be published this summer. The research will cover the impact of extending the age threshold for the Shared Accommodation Rate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is giving to local authorities to implement changes to apprenticeship funding.
Matthew Hancock
We are giving employers control of the funding for the training and assessment of the apprenticeships that they design. This will enable them to work directly with education and training providers to secure the most effective training for their apprentices. We will be testing a new funding model via apprenticeship starts in the 2014-15 academic year based on standards developed by our Trailblazer groups of employers. We will develop a comprehensive communication programme for employers (including local authorities) to help them understand the changes.