The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what visits (a) each of the Ministers in his Department, (b) the Prime Minister and (c) the Deputy Prime Minister have made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.
Mr Francis Maude
Details of Ministers’ visits overseas are published quarterly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to give local authorities greater powers to deal with the consumption of legal highs in a public place; and what support he is providing to councils who wish to put by-laws in place to prevent such consumption.
Norman Baker
As stated in my answer to the Honourable Member of 7 April 2014, Official
Report, column 112W, on 12 December 2013 I announced a review by an expert panel to look
at how the UK’s response to new psychoactive substances, sometimes inaccurately
called ‘legal highs’, can be enhanced beyond the existing measures. The expert panel includes
a senior policy adviser from the Local Government Association to inform the
work of the panel from a local government perspective, including whether
existing by-laws may be used to tackle this damaging trade. This work is
ongoing, and the panel is due to report its recommendations by the end of
spring 2014.
To support local authorities, the Home Office published guidance in December
2013 setting out the range of legislative tools local authorities can use to
tackle the ‘head shops’ where these substances are often sold. This was developed in
collaboration with the Department for Communities and Local Government, the
Local Government Association and the Trading Standards Institute and can be
found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-against-head-shops
The guidance covers offences head shops may be committing under the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971, the Intoxicating Substances (Supply) Act 1985, and various
consumer protection regulations.
The Home Office has also provided targeted support to local authorities with
testing of new psychoactive substances through the Forensic Early Warning
System, to help them take action against the sale of these products by
identifying the contents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John McDonnell on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department plans to take to improve equality monitoring of employment within the media industry; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Promoting greater equality of opportunity in the workforce is a matter the Government takes seriously. The Government is actively engaging with leading organisations in the media industry who are working together through the Creative Diversity Network to help address the under-representation of ethnic minorities in that sector. The industry will outline the steps it intends to take at a roundtable event in early July. Equality data monitoring is among a number of issues that will be discussed. In addition, Ofcom has a number of duties relating to equality of opportunity, as set out in the Communications Act 2003. These include requiring all UK licensed radio and television broadcasters’ licences to have in place arrangements for promoting equal opportunities in employment on the basis of gender, race and disability, and to review those arrangements with regard to any relevant guidance published by Ofcom.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many equal opportunities investigation officers there are in each branch of the armed forces; what their qualifications are; what training is provided to them; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
The Ministry Of Defence maintains a cadre of Harassment Investigation Officers who investigate complaints raised within the Services and by MOD civilians concerning bullying and harassment, and who are not permanent employees of the Department; Appendix six to the 2013 Annual Report of the Service Complaints Commissioner provides further details. Beyond this centrally-managed team, the three Services maintain teams of investigators, many of whom are drawn from their own Service police force, who can investigate complex complaints.
The Royal Navy has one Complaint Investigation and Mediation Team (CIMT), comprising two members of the Royal Navy Police with many years of investigative experience. In addition to their extensive police investigative training, they are Equality and Diversity Advisers, and have undertaken the MOD Harassment Investigation Course and professional Mediation Training (through an external training provider).
The Army currently has six permanent members and three temporary assigned (12 months) soldiers in its Service Complaints Investigation Team (SCIT), which replaced the Equal Opportunities Investigation Team. All members of the SCIT are serving Senior Non-Commissioned Officers from the Royal Military Police, and hold the following qualifications:
Initial Military Police Investigation Course
Volume Crime Investigation Course
Management Investigation Course
Police and Criminal Evidence Act Interviewing Course
Disclosure Officers Course
Equality & Diversity Advisor Course
On arrival in the SCIT, investigators receive work place training and are allocated a supervising investigator for a period of three months or as necessary.
The RAF has a Service Complaints Team, and an Equal Opportunities Investigation Team (EOIT), which investigates complex equality and diversity complaints. The latter team comprises a Warrant Officer and a Flight Sergeant, both members of the RAF Police, and an administrator. The investigators complete the following courses as part of their role training:
Equality and Diversity Advisor
Harassment Investigation Officer
Fundamentals of Employment Law (through CIPD)
Preparing for Employment Tribunal (through CIPD)
Certificate in Bullying and Harassment Investigation – City and Guilds
Level 4
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK aircraft have flown outside Afghan airspace in support of NATO International Security Assistance Force missions in Afghanistan.
Mr Mark Francois
To support the UK’s contribution to the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan UK military aircraft regularly transit to and from Afghanistan through non Afghan airspace .There has not been any employment of armed UK aircraft outside of the borders of Afghanistan in support of ISAF.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the renewable heat incentive scheme is targeted on households most in need of help with their energy bills.
Gregory Barker
The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is targeted at, but not limited to, homes off the gas grid, which are more expensive to heat than those with mains gas. Households without mains gas have the most potential to save on their fuel bills and decrease their carbon emissions. The RHI is funded through general taxation rather than through a ‘green levy’ on energy bills.
As well as homeowners, the domestic RHI is also open to social landlords and private landlords. Following the very successful Renewable Heat Premium Payment Social Landlords’ Competitions, with over 4,200 installations to date, we expect to see significant take-up in the social housing sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full outturn cost of (a) building maintenance, (b) staffing, (c) training, (d) salaries for recruits and (e) other costs were at Catterick Infantry Training Centre in each year since 2006; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
Financial data is held from financial year 2007-08 onwards. The Ministry of Defence’s budgetary structure is organised into a number of different Top Level Budget areas. This means that the cost of activities at a single location can often be split between a number of different budgets which are not managed centrally. For example infrastructure costs (including utilities) are managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation through contracts which do not split out the costs for individual units operating on a particular site. Similarly, equipment costs are managed across whole fleets of items by Defence Equipment and Support, and not by individual location. For this reason the full running costs of the Infantry Training Centre and the Army Foundation College cannot be provided in the format requested. However the costs attributable to the Army can be provided from financial year 2007-08 onwards.
|
Unit |
2007-08 |
2008-09 |
2009-10 |
2010-11 |
2011-12 |
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
|
£million |
£million |
£million |
£million |
£million |
£million |
£million |
|
|
Army Foundation College |
54.658 |
62.078 |
58.435 |
60.829 |
62.199 |
63.486 |
62.232 |
|
Infantry Training Centre |
83.172 |
90.790 |
104.702 |
81.471 |
103.196 |
105.274 |
93.046 |
The Army’s anticipated outturn for the Army Foundation College Harrogate in 2014-15 is £66.204 million, and for Infantry Training Centre Catterick is £90.793 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives from the European Commission on European sanctions on Russia.
Mr David Lidington
As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) told the House on 8 April, we are gravely concerned about the situation in Crimea and in the east of Ukraine. We have consistently condemned Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea including in public statements, international fora, and in bilateral contacts with the Russian Federation.
The UK has played a key role in ensuring a tough and united response from the international community. We have reviewed all bilateral engagement with Russia and have frozen military cooperation, refused export licence requests which may be used by the Russian military, and postponed a number of planned Ministerial Summits. Along with other G7 members, the UK has withdrawn participation in the planned G8 Summit in Sochi in June, and will instead take part in a G7 meeting in Brussels.
The Foreign Secretary has taken part in a number of discussions on sanctions at the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), in which the European Commission has also been involved. On 14 April, the FAC agreed to expand the second tier of sanctions and to add further names to the list of individuals subject to those sanctions. The FAC agreed on the urgency of completing work on a possible third tier of more far reaching sanctions, which might be implemented in the absence of meaningful diplomatic engagement by Russia or further provocation against Ukraine. The European Commission was tasked to identify such economic measures.
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear to the Russian Foreign Minister, the EU remains prepared to impose additional sanctions should that become necessary. Russia should be clear that any deliberate escalation of this crisis may bring serious political and economic consequences.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-12.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Office in the last parliamentary Session did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation; and when each such question was first tabled.
Mr Nick Clegg
Sixteen Parliamentary Questions, all of which were tabled to my Office one day before prorogation in the last Parliamentary Session, did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bingham on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of NHS funding is allocated to (a) mental and (b) physical health care.
Norman Lamb
The International Classification of Diseases is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. This includes the analysis of the general health situation of population groups. It is used to monitor the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems.
The Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems includes in Chapter V a detailed classification of more than 300 mental and behavioural disorders. Its publication follows extensive field-testing by more than 100 clinical and research centres in 40 countries.
Aggregate primary care trust (PCT) expenditure on mental health was £11.28 billion in 2012-13, which is 11.9% of the £94.78 billion total spend by PCTs. The estimate of expenditure on mental health does not include the majority of expenditure on primary care appointments which is recorded as a separate programme category.
It is not possible to provide an estimate of expenditure on physical health. A number of programme categories will have elements of expenditure which could be classified as non-physical, for example, learning disabilities, neurological and social care.
The Department has made no estimate of the cost to the economy of untreated mental illness.