The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to appoint the consultant for the London and South Coast rail corridor study.
Claire Perry
The Department appointed the consultant for the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study in September. In October, the Government published the Study Terms of Reference on its website. Ministers anticipate receiving the findings by the end of 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when Network Rail first informed his Department of their estimate that electrification of the Great Western Main Line would cost more than £2 billion.
Claire Perry
In June 2015, as part of the affordability review exercise, Network Rail informed Department that the latest estimated cost of Great Western electrification was around £2.4bn. This forecast costs remained uncertain and further work was required to validate this figure. The validation is being undertaken as part of the Hendy review and we await the publication in the Autumn.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-10-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to raise with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the case of three British citizens murdered in Gujarat in 2002 when he visits the United Kingdom in November.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), has previously raised this case with Prime Minister Modi in his former role as Chief Minister of Gujarat. We continue to raise consular matters with the Indian authorities at all levels. Our officials have provided consular support to the families since 2002 and will continue to provide assistance to them as needed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Suttie on 2015-10-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to keep records on the amount of compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation through (1) the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, (2) civil claims for damages, (3) employment tribunal claims, (4) court-awarded criminal compensation, and (5) repayments for breaches of the National Minimum Wage.
Lord Bates
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority does not provide data breakdown of compensation awarded to victims by crime type. This is because it awards compensation in line with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme tariff of injuries rather than by the type of incident that led to those injuries.
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) administers civil claims, employment tribunal claims, and court-awarded criminal compensation. Civil claims and employment tribunal claims do not deal with cases where a crime has been alleged, so data is not recorded on victims of modern slavery. For court-awarded criminal compensations, the sentence passed on offenders for each offence committed is recorded, including any compensation awarded. This data is not cross-referenced against compensation received by victims of the offence, so compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation is not recorded.
There are no plans to change the way data is collected by CICA or HMCTS that would provide the information sought about compensation received by victims of trafficking for labour exploitation.
HMRC work with the police, Home Office and local authorities in cases that may involve slavery and servitude. HMRC do not collate specific data on arrears identified but are currently reviewing ways to record any National Minimum Wage outcomes in Modern Slavery cases they undertake.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-10-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) funding his Department is undertaking and (b) projects his Department has planned as part of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office and other government departments currently fund the Digital Inclusion team which works across government and with the private, public and voluntary sectors to ensure that everyone in the UK has the basic digital skills needed to benefit from being online.
The Digital Inclusion Strategy launched in 2014 outlined that by 2016 we will have reduced the number of people who are offline by25% and by 2020 everyone who can be online should be online.
To date 85 organisations have signed up to the Digital Inclusion Charter and collaborate with government to deliver the Digital Inclusion Strategy. The Digital Inclusion team has worked with these stakeholders to develop products such as the cross-sector Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework and initiatives like Digital Friends which promotes informal sharing of basic digital skills.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Lewis on 2014-02-26.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any records relating to the loss of the escort aircraft carrier HMS Dasher in March 1943 have (a) been retained from transfer to and (b) remain closed in the National Archives; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Francis Maude
Cabinet Office holds no records relating to HMS Dasher.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-02-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants have been transferred from London and the South-East of England to the West Midlands since May 2010.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Relocation of Government staff outside of London and the South East continues to be considered, amongst other options, to deliver the savings set out at the Spending Review and increase the efficiency of the Government’s estate. Reducing and rationalising the estate could result in relocations, although there is no centrally driven relocation target to this effect. Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each individual Department to determine.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Matthew Offord on 2014-02-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to increase the average hours a week of contracted education provided for 15 to 17 year olds in custody.
Jeremy Wright
At present 15-17 year olds in young offender institutions (YOIs) receive an average of only 12 hours contracted education a week. We have recently set out our plans for transforming youth custody and putting education at the heart of detention, and at the same time launched a competition for new education contracts in public sector YOIs which will more than double the time spend young people spend in education. In addition, we are seeking to put education at the heart of the YOI regime by bringing the head teacher overseeing education into the senior management team of the establishment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Reckless on 2014-01-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate by country of residence of the child he has made of the number of migrants residing in the UK who claimed benefits on behalf of children living abroad during 2013.
Nicky Morgan
HMRC are not able to provide the information in the manner requested. HMRC do not record the nationality of the claimant receiving Child Benefit for children living in another member state.
Published Child Benefit statistics provide annual estimates of the number of families and children claiming. The latest available (August 2012) show that there were 7.92 million families, responsible for 13.77 million children and qualifying young people receiving Child Benefit.
The main purpose of Child Benefit is to support families in the UK. Consequently, the rules generally do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children who live abroad.
Nevertheless, Child Benefit is a family benefit under EC Regulation 883/2004. This regulation protects the social security rights of nationals of all member states of the European economic area, including the UK, and Switzerland when they exercise their rights of free movement under EU law.
HMRC holds information on the number of Child Benefit awards under EC Regulation 883/2004. As at 31 December 2013, there were 20,400 ongoing Child Benefit awards under the EC Regulation in respect of 34.268 children living in another member state.
This is a fall of 3,682 (15.3%) awards in respect of 5,903 (14.7%) fewer children since 31 December 2012.
The breakdown by member state is as follows:
*We have withheld the number where it is fewer than 5, as there is risk that the information could be attributed to an identifiable person, which would prejudice their right to privacy and would therefore be a breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act.
Child Benefit
|
Country of residence of children |
Number of awards |
Number of children |
|
Austria |
23 |
37 |
|
Belgium |
75 |
140 |
|
Bulgaria |
186 |
245 |
|
Croatia |
*5 |
*5 |
|
Cyprus |
39 |
61 |
|
Czech Republic |
124 |
203 |
|
Denmark |
13 |
23 |
|
Estonia |
45 |
65 |
|
Finland |
12 |
23 |
|
France |
789 |
1429 |
|
Germany |
283 |
495 |
|
Greece |
44 |
69 |
|
Hungary |
136 |
196 |
|
Iceland |
*5 |
*5 |
|
Italy |
156 |
273 |
|
Latvia |
797 |
1091 |
|
Liechtenstein |
0 |
0 |
|
Lithuania |
1215 |
1712 |
|
Luxembourg |
7 |
14 |
|
Malta |
15 |
22 |
|
Norway |
30 |
61 |
|
Poland |
13174 |
22093 |
|
Portugal |
202 |
309 |
|
Republic of Ireland |
1231 |
2505 |
|
Romania |
230 |
392 |
|
Slovakia |
692 |
1232 |
|
Slovenia |
11 |
21 |
|
Spain |
600 |
1019 |
|
Sweden |
49 |
95 |
|
Switzerland |
77 |
150 |
|
The Netherlands |
142 |
288 |
|
Totals |
20400 |
34268 |
As announced in the 2014 Budget, to prevent EEA migrants claiming benefits they are not entitled to, the Government will increase compliance checks to establish whether EEA migrants meet the entitlement conditions to receive Child Benefit
Under domestic law, in order to claim Child Benefit EEA Migrants must be present in the UK, ordinarily resident and have a right to reside in the UK and their children must live in the UK.
The recent changes to migrants’ access to benefits announced by the Government sends a strong message that the UK benefit system is not open to abuse, as well as deterring those who may seek residence in the UK primarily to claim benefits.
Strengthening compliance checks will help prevent EEA migrants from claiming, and continuing to claim, benefits they are not entitled to. Checks will be applied to both new claims and existing awards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the statement made on 14 October by the President of the European Court of Justice that there is a strong link between the Court and European integration.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is defined in Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) as to “ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed”. The TEU also provides, in Article 5, that “the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred on it by Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein” and that “competences not conferred upon the Union remain with the Member States”. European law, including the judgments of the CJEU, has direct effect in this country because it has been given that authority by Acts of Parliament.