Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s total budget for assisted voluntary returns projects is for the current financial year, and what has been the total budget for such projects in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The information requested is shown below.

    Financial Year

    Total spending on Assisted Voluntary Returns Programmes (£ million)

    2009-10

    20.5

    2010-11

    17.4

    2011-12

    7.5

    2012-13

    8.9

    2013-14

    8.6

    2014-15

    10.8

    The figures quoted relate to the UK Assisted Voluntary Return Programme, and the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programmes operated in Greece and Turkey.

    The figures for years 2009/2010 to 2013/2014 relate to actual spend and the figures for 2014/2015 are projected spend.

    The Home Office also receives funding from the European Union for the UK Assisted Voluntary Return programme. Due to a change in financial reporting the amounts for 2011/2012 onwards are shown net of the amounts received or expected from this source, whilst the amounts for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 are shown gross although the yearly total budget allocation remains broadly the same.

    The Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programmes in Greece and Turkey also receive funding from the British Government’s Return and Reintegration Fund. The figures quoted incorporate this funding stream.
    The figures provided are sourced from a Home Office management information system and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which is not quality assured under National Statistics protocols and is subject to change due to internal data quality checking. Figures provided from this source do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

  • Lyn Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many non-fire incidents with casualties were attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the hon. Member to my answer of today, Official Report, PQs 200566, 200567 & 200568.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to introduce training for magistrates and legal advisers following the introduction of the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda in England and Wales.

    Jeremy Wright

    Responsibility for judicial training lies with the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary, and is exercised through the Judicial College, an independent body. The Ministry of Justice is keeping the Judicial College informed of implementation plans for the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 and wider Transforming Rehabilitation reforms to enable the College to deliver training as it sees fit.

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to increase social mobility in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what measures his Department uses to assess the effectiveness of the Government’s social mobility strategy.

    Mr Nick Clegg

    The Government is committed to improving social mobility, as set out in our social mobility strategy, ‘Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers’, published in 2011. The strategy sets out a plan for improving social mobility across the whole country, incorporating polices such as early education for two year olds from lower income families, the Pupil Premium and the Youth Contract.

    To assess the progress of this strategy, the Government has committed to reporting regularly on a set of key indicators to track closely whether we are moving in the right direction on social mobility; I chair a group of key Ministers to oversee delivery of the strategy, and the Government has created a new Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

    These indicators were last updated in November last year, and will be updated again shortly.

  • Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sir Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Peter Bottomley on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Benjamin Mire was shown the report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office into his conduct.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The investigation into Mr Mire’s conduct was conducted in accordance with the Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations (2006) (as amended). The Regulations require a draft of a review body report to be disclosed to the subject of the disciplinary process. The regulations were followed accordingly in this case.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Valerie Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in England have a (a) science subject leader and (b) subject leader who has a science degree.

    Mr David Laws

    The information requested is not collected centrally.

  • Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many law firms were permitted to resubmit their tenders to the then Legal Services Commission bid for a contract to provide publicly funded immigration services in the 2010 tender round after the deadline set out in the tender rules.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    These questions relate to ongoing litigation against the Lord Chancellor and in the circumstances it would be inappropriate to respond at the current time.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with food suppliers to encourage them to reduce excess packaging; and if he will make a statement.

    Dan Rogerson

    The Secretary of State has not had recent discussions with food suppliers specifically about packaging. I spoke at the Fresher for Longer conference in February this year, and the Government is working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce food waste as part of the Courtauld Commitment, which is targeting a further reduction of 1.1 million tonnes of food and packaging waste by 2015. We encourage the use of a minimum level of packaging that protects products from damage and ensures that it maintains its quality during its shelf life.

  • Mark Garnier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Garnier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Garnier on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the performance of London Midland commuter trains.

    Stephen Hammond

    We do not monitor train operator performances by service type (i.e. commuter trains only) under the Franchise Agreement; we monitor each operator’s performance across their whole network against benchmarks under the Franchise Agreement.

    The Department monitors each train operator’s overall performance against these benchmarks and there are clear actions set out in the Franchise Agreement should performance drop below what is expected. This regular monitoring includes monthly meetings with their senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged.

    At present London Midland are assessed as being within their contracted performance benchmarks as set out in the Franchise Agreement.

    In 2002 when Network Rail took control of Britain’s Rail infrastructure, train performance was languishing at record low levels (78.6% of trains arriving on time nationally). Since then, it has risen to averaging around 90%. Network Rail has been tasked with ensuring that 92.5% of trains arrive on time nationally by 2019.

    We are determined that improvements in infrastructure across the network, as evidenced by the £38 billion investment agreed with Network Rail for the next 5 years, will further improve the performance of all train operators.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 486W, on health: business, whether he plans to make an assessment of the overall (a) number and (b) proportion of those companies which are meeting all of the pledges they have signed up to.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of our Responsibility Deal partners, the pledges they have committed to taking action on, their delivery plans and annual updates are all readily available on the Responsibility Deal website at:

    https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/partners/

    This information is published in full and the Department does not therefore publish an assessment of partners’ achievements under the pledges.