The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff are employed within his Department’s Child Maintenance Group’s Financial Investigation Unit.
Priti Patel
Child Maintenance Group currently has 33.01 full-time equivalent staff working within the Financial Investigations Unit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to strengthen the transparency and governance arrangements of the NHS Strategic Projects Team.
Lord Prior of Brampton
We are advised that NHS England is awaiting finalisation of its review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group contract with UnitingCare LLP before considering what action might be required with regard to the Strategic Projects Team.
We understand that NHS England will not be making any commitments on any other current procurements until the review is complete and NHS England has had time to consider the findings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse of the assisted voluntary return scheme was in each year since 2004.
James Brokenshire
Up until January 1st 2016 the Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) scheme has been outsourced but is now part of the Home Office Voluntary Return Service (VRS).
The cost of the outsourced scheme in the years 2006 to 2015 is set out below. Data for 2004 to 2006 is incomplete and has therefore been omitted.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the (a) extra cost to police forces and (b) extra staff hours in police forces resulting from the change in the level of reported cases of contact child sex offences in the last two years.
Mike Penning
Resourcing is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement to empower police forces to maximise specialist skills and expertise to prevent offending and resolve cases. This means that police forces must have in place the capabilities they need to protect children from sexual abuse.
In 2015/16 the Government provided an additional £10 million to the National Crime Agency to create specialist teams to tackle online child sexual exploitation. We have also made available £1.7 million to fund Operation Hydrant, which coordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support regional coordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling child sexual exploitation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what evidence he has received on the possible use of cluster munitions in Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
Michael Fallon
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have alerted us to their online reports on the use of cluster munitions in Yemen, which we are analysing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average annual spend per pupil was in grammar schools in each region in 2015-16.
Nick Gibb
Schools self-select their own admissions category on Edubase. 163 schools are identified as ‘selective (grammar).’
The Department does not yet hold the income and expenditure data from 2015-16. The data will be available for those which are maintained by the local authority in December 2016, and for those which are academies in the summer of 2017.
The overall expenditure per pupil in grammar schools by each region for 2014-15 is listed in the following table:
|
Region |
Number of grammar schools |
Expenditure per pupil (£) |
|
East Midlands |
15 |
5,195 |
|
East of England |
8 |
5,644 |
|
London |
19 |
5,683 |
|
North West |
18 |
5,392 |
|
South East |
55 |
5,332 |
|
South West |
20 |
5,210 |
|
West Midlands |
17 |
5,553 |
|
Yorkshire and the Humber |
6 |
5,557 |
|
England Total |
158* |
5,404 |
*Note: There are 5 selective schools which converted to academies during 2014-15 and as such we do not have comparable financial data for them for this period. The expenditure per pupil takes into account expenditure from all income sources, including self-generated income.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Thompson on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to reduce the Big Lottery Fund budget for Scotland.
Tracey Crouch
In line with the arms’ length principle of lottery distribution, the Big Lottery Fund itself decides how much of its funding to allocate to Scotland and to each of the other home nations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dubs on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider providing a 24-hour mental health helpline for serving soldiers.
Earl Howe
Combat Stress provides a free 24-hour service for the entire military community (Service personnel, veterans, and their families) when seeking confidential and safe help and advice about Service-related mental health issues. The MOD is the single biggest contributor of funding to Combat Stress.
In addition, the MOD has a contract with the Big White Wall, a 24-hour online community which provides safe, anonymous support to anyone struggling with mental health issues. It is free for all serving personnel, veterans, and their families.
There are no plans for MOD to provide an additional mental health helpline.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to provide funding for carbon capture and storage projects in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round.
Andrea Leadsom
Under the Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) Regulations 2014, Contract for Difference allocation rounds are limited to renewable technologies. The next allocation round for less established technologies is expected to take place by the end of 2016. We are currently working with HM Treasury to finalise the budget for future allocation rounds and will set out more information in due course.
Contracts for Difference for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are issued only on direction from my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24142, how much is owed in child maintenance arrears by non-resident parents whose CSA liability has ended as a result of the proactive or reactive CSA case closure process.
Priti Patel
The information requested on case closure arrears is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.