The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Green on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that jobcentres help younger jobseekers plan for the future.
Priti Patel
This Government is committed to ensuring all young people are either earning or learning. That is why we have launched Jobcentre Plus support for schools and from April 2017 we will ensure all young people are supported through our new Youth Obligation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 23 February (HL6044), whether they will clarify whether the Conference held in 2007 was the final meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference or its most recent meeting.
Lord Dunlop
The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference remains part of the architecture of the Belfast Agreement and its most recent meeting was held in 2007. There are no plans to hold a meeting of the Conference in the immediate future.
Interaction between the UK Government and Irish Government takes place regularly at all levels and in many different forums. These include an annual summit between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, and regular meetings between the heads of UK and Irish government departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many deaths resulting directly from epilepsy have been recorded in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
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 Jim Shannon on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to encourage greater co-operation between police forces in the constituent parts of the UK to better enable them to address online crime.
Mr John Hayes
Online crime covers a vast range of criminality; what is illegal offline is also illegal online. However, the internet has enabled crime to be committed in a different way, which requires a different type of approach from Law Enforcement. That is why this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.
The 2015 Strategic Policing Requirement states that ‘capabilities will be delivered locally by police forces but may need to be brought together nationally through collaborative arrangements between forces or with other partners when the threat or risk demand joint working’. In some cases they are combined to provide an ongoing regional resource that provides a national network of capabilities to disrupt serious and organised crime, for example, through the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs).
The Government has invested over £90 million in ROCUs, over the last three years. In addition to at least a further £20 million in 2016/17, in order to increase and sustain the specialist capabilities required in law enforcement to respond to Serious and Organised Crime including online crime, and to support local forces to investigate online crime in a collaborative way in England and Wales.
Action Fraud, within the City of London Police also plays an important role in educating and assisting local forces to investigate cyber crime and cyber enabled fraud, with a particular focus on improving the service to victims.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) operates UK wide and works in close collaboration with all UK police forces and other law enforcement partners, including PSNI and Police Scotland (including through two-way tasking and coordination processes). The NCA leads some investigations, whilst supporting and coordinating others.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the role, and (2) the annual cost, of presenting officers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to benefit appeals.
Baroness Altmann
The role of the Presenting Officer is to present the Department’s case effectively thereby helping the tribunal reach the right decisions and to gather feedback from the tribunal for its decision makers.
The year to date costs for existing DWP Presenting Officers (to January 2016) is approx. £1.5m.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-07-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) extent of protection of human rights and (b) operation of the democratic process in Bangladesh.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Government are concerned about protection for human rights in Bangladesh. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has named Bangladesh as one of its 30 Human Rights Priority Countries. Where credible allegations of abuses are made, we regularly raise them with the Government of Bangladesh. In particular we condemn all forms of violence and excessive use of force, including
extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and attacks against secularists and religious minorities. We make clear our opposition to the death penalty.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce financial incentives for physiological services to engage with and achieve IQIPS accreditation.
David Mowat
Comprehensive data on the number of audiology services in England is not collected.
NHS England has no current plans to introduce financial incentives for the achievement of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) accreditation.
As of 1 September, there are 39 organisations with IQIPS accreditation for audiology, covering 28 adult and 21 paediatric audiology services. If an organisation is accredited for both adult and paediatric audiology, United Kingdom Accreditation Service considers that one accreditation.
In Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A framework for clinical commissioning groups, published in July, NHS England strongly encourages clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to expect providers to have completed the IQIPS self-assessment tool and applied for accreditation with UKAS, and achieve accreditation within the duration of their contract. This is reflected in the model service specification for adults.
In the contract for Genomics Medicines Centres, Annex M requires National Health Service trusts nominated as Lead Organisations and Local Delivery Partners to be working towards diagnostic accreditation across all available schemes, including IQIPS.
NHS England is also working with the Care Quality Commission to agree the use of scientific and diagnostic schemes as an information source for inspection purposes, as set out in their latest strategy.
We currently have no plans to introduce mandatory accreditation of audiology services in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were (a) enrolled and (b) funded at each free school at the start of the 2015-16 academic year.
Edward Timpson
The number of pupils on roll for the academic year 2015/16 is not yet available.
Each October, we publish the number of pre-16 pupils funded in schools which were open as of the start of that financial year. The data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/466234/Annex_A_-_Schools_block_Allocations_data_file_2015-16.xlsx. Data for schools which opened after the start of the 2015-16 financial year is due to be published in October 2016.
The number of post 16 pupils funded in each school for the academic year 2015/16 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468295/YP_FASS_Published_Allocation_Dataset_2015_to_2016-1.xlsx.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made in establishing the four-member international body to report on progress towards ending paramilitary activity connected with Northern Ireland.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
The establishment of a new body to report on progress towards ending paramilitary activity is a commitment in the Fresh Start Agreement. The Agreement provides that the new body will be established by the UK Government and the Irish Government. My officials are engaging with Irish Government officials on a treaty to establish the new body. The key provisions of that treaty will then be given legal effect in the UK through the passage of legislation at Westminster.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 16853, what responsibilities were allocated to the additional staff added to national minimum wage enforcement teams in 2015-16.
Greg Hands
The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.
Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.
The extra funding was allocated in two tranches. The first of £3 million has been used by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to recruit additional staff primarily into front line compliance posts to increase the scope and coverage of interventions aimed at identifying employers who do not pay the minimum wage.
The second tranche of £1 million has been used to appoint staff into new roles specifically geared to promoting compliance with the National Minimum Wage, through education and support for employers, helping workers to understand their rights, and tackling serious non-compliance where deliberate behaviour is suspected.
Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing National Minimum Wage, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation. However, HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond those identified in UIN 16853.
HMRC does not breakdown the overall budget allocated into specific activities. For details of the overall budget in 2015/16, I refer the honourable member back to the answer provided at UIN 16853. Funding allocations for 2016/17 onwards have yet to be confirmed.