The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have died as a result of a heroin overdose in each of the last 15 years.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in what way her Department is supporting the work of the Church of Scotland in South Sudan.
Grant Shapps
Whilst our DFID programme has not directly engaged with the Church of Scotland, the UK does support faith-led reconciliation efforts in South Sudan. We fund two projects that, through our implementing partners the Catholic Relief Services and the UN Development Programme, work closely with the South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission (SSPRC). The SSPRC plays an important role in coordinating a wide range of stakeholders to discuss and shape peace related actions within South Sudan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many accidents involving aircraft there have been in the UK in each of the last five years.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Statistics for aircraft accidents in the UK are kept by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is required to investigate events which come within the definition of accident contained in Article 1 of the EU Regulation 996/2010. AAIB also investigates "serious incidents" as defined by the Regulation.
The table below sets out the number of investigations that the AAIB has undertaken. These includes investigations into serious incidents involving commercial air transport aircraft for the sake of completeness.
|
Year |
No of AAIB Investigations Commenced |
|
2014 |
236 |
|
2013 |
245 |
|
2012 |
264 |
|
2011 |
251 |
|
2010 |
248 |
CAA statistics differ slightly as they are based on reports made under the mandatory occurrence reporting requirements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what orders were placed by (a) Network Rail and (b) Highways England for (i) steel manufactured by UK-based companies and (ii) all steel in 2014-15; and what tonnage was ordered at what cost in each such order.
Claire Perry
Network Rail advises that for its major use of steel it has a five year framework contract from April 2014 for the supply of new steel rails from Long Steels UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel. Network Rail is in close contact with Tata Steel to ensure continuity of supply.
Network Rail buys approximately 140,000 tonnes of steel rail per annum from Tata Steel, which equates to around 95% of total aggregated demand for Network Rail. This is supplied directly from Scunthorpe. Smaller contracts are also in place with Arcelor Mittal (Spain) and Voestalpine (Austria). These relate to the manufacture of very special steel products.
These volumes are broken down are as follows. The figures for 2015-16 are provisional:
|
Year |
Tata Supply (Tonnes) |
Tata Spend (£) |
|
2011-12 |
137,762.2408 |
97,715,813.91 |
|
2012-13 |
142,022.9286 |
100,210,560.98 |
|
2013-14 |
158,891.8490 |
107,201,303.99 |
|
2014-15 |
138,387.2325 |
90,832,520.93 |
|
2015-16 |
138,000 |
87,713,500.74 |
Highways England does not procure steel materials directly. Despite the changes in UK steel output over the last five years, Highways England and its predecessor have continued to invest heavily in UK steel. During this period Highways England has used a category management framework as the main method of procuring steel gantries for the Strategic Road Network. To date circa 95% of this steel has been drawn from Tata Steel in the UK, which equates to approximately 11,000 tonnes of steel. The approximate framework spend is £30 million, of which about 35% will be steel procurement i.e. raw materials, and will equate to around £10.5 million.
As rail freight is a wholly commercial business and therefore has to respond to market changes as part of its operational model, the Government does not itself undertake assessments of the impact on rail freight of variations in the flows of specific commodities. Network Rail’s Freight Market Study, published in 2013, assumed a small recovery in the steel market based on information available at that time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total value is of outstanding benefit overpayments due to be recovered by his Department.
Justin Tomlinson
The latest preliminary figures for 2014/15 estimate Fraud and Error levels as £3.2 billion, or 1.9% of benefit expenditure. The net figure after recoveries is £2.3bn, or 1.4%. This means that DWP Fraud and Error is at its lowest ever level.
The total value of outstanding benefit overpayments as of 1 October 2015 is £2.5 billion. This represents less than 1.5% of the total benefit expenditure of £168 billion for 2014 – 2015.
The Department recovered over £1.3 billion of debt in 2014-2015, including benefit debts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-10-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 22 June (HL689) in determining that North Korea does not pose a terrorist threat, what assessment they made of any involvement by North Korea in assassinations, attempted kidnapping and offering support for the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and Hamas.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are aware of media reports linking individuals alleged to be agents of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to assassination attempts against DPRK citizens who have resettled in the Republic of Korea (ROK). The reports also detail the actions taken by the ROK authorities in response to these incidents. There are also occasional unverified reports that North Korean agents have abducted refugees resident in other countries. While the DPRK has acknowledged its involvement in the historical abductions of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s, it has not admitted to participation in these more recent reported cases. We strongly support efforts to resolve enforced disappearances and spoke on this matter during a UN Human Rights Council panel discussion in September.
We are also aware of media reports alleging cooperation between the DPRK and the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and Hamas. Despite these reports, recent public assessments indicate that the DPRK is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since 1987. However, the UK remains extremely concerned by the DPRK’s indiscriminate global proliferation of arms and related material, in violation of UN sanctions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will respond to the Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group report on the regulation of herbal practitioners published in March.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government response to the Report on the Regulation of Herbal Medicines and Practitioners will be published by the end of 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2015-10-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the different controls placed on recruitment to university initial teacher training and recruitment to School Direct and school-centred initial teacher-training programmes in 2016–17 on the choice available to prospective trainee teachers.
Lord Nash
The government is committed to the ongoing expansion of school-led initial teacher training (ITT). The move towards school-led ITT has created new opportunities for universities to grow their business: engaging directly with schools to become their chosen partner; and working with school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) to offer academic awards. In addition, the university sector as a whole has the opportunity to recruit trainees up to the same overall level as they have for the 2015/16 academic year. It is, therefore, not expected that this change of approach will have a substantial impact on the higher education sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-10-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates who will not be in education or employment one year after graduation, in each of the next five years.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Estimates for future years are not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much was paid in (a) year-end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of her Department in each of the last three years.
Mr Ben Wallace
In the last three financial years my Department paid officials the following amounts for year-end and in-year bonuses:
|
Financial Year |
In-Year Bonuses (£) |
Year-End Bonuses (£) |
|
2012/13 |
22,100 |
35,800 |
|
2013/14 |
32,150 |
31,800 |
|
2014/15 |
22,710 |
25,600 |
Non-consolidated performance related pay is only paid to reward excellence, for example to recognise and incentivise those responsible for delivering high quality public services and savings to the taxpayer. These one-off payments are not pensionable. Since 2010-11, the Government has restricted awards for senior civil servants to the top 25% of performers (from 65% in previous years), saving around £15 million overall.