The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many coastguard operations room staff in Liverpool have left the service in the last two years.
Stephen Hammond
Since April 2012 eight Coastguards that worked in the operations room at Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre have left Her Majesty’s Coastguard.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who were convicted of a sexual offence have been prosecuted for having failed to notify their personal details to the police in the last 10 years.
Norman Baker
Figures for the number of registered sex offenders who were either cautioned or convicted for breaches of their notification requirement in England and Wales are contained in the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Report, published by the Ministry of Justice. The MAPPA reports for 2009-2013 may be found on the GOV.uk website. Reports published prior to 2009 may be found on the national archives website.
Management of sex offenders is a devolved matter, so the figures do not include Northern Ireland.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received from charities and community organisations on the removal of warm phones from Jobcentre Plus offices.
Esther McVey
The Department has received a number of enquiries from charities and community organisations on the removal of Customer Access Phones.
They have all been reassured that claimants will still have access to a telephone when necessary.
Jobcentres provide face to face support for claimants. After the removal of Customer Access Phones, claimants who require access to a phone in connection with their benefit or job search will be given controlled access to a telephone in a Jobcentre.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks of imprisoned extremists returned from terrorist operations overseas (a) radicalising the Muslim prison population and (b) recruiting other prisoners to commit terrorist acts in the UK or overseas.
Jeremy Wright
I am responding to this question as I am the Minister responsible for the prison estate. We are well aware of the risks posed by individuals who return to the UK having gained experience, through training or participation, in terrorism overseas. At the current time clearly those travelling to and from Syria are of particular concern.
The Prison Service works closely with the Police and other Agencies in all areas of Counter Terrorism work; including where individuals are held in custody having returned from overseas. All prisoners are managed according to the risk they pose, taking into consideration all relevant information and intelligence that is identified.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has long recognised the threat posed by terrorists and extremists, and has considerable experience in managing this threat. The Prison Service will continue to use its well established and effective three-tiered response: to identify behaviour that may indicate extremism, to report it using established intelligence systems, and to manage it through disruption and intervention.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2014-04-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to maintain the level of youth services provision.
Mr Nick Hurd
We are supporting the voluntary sector in offering new learning opportunities for young people through programmes like NCS.
In addition, we will be offering practical support to local authorities who want to deliver high quality youth services in an innovative way – for example by access to our £10m support programme for Mutuals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had on tendering for contracts to run community rehabilitation companies.
Jeremy Wright
The tendering process is being run in accordance with standard Government procurement practice. Ministers are being kept updated on progress and throughout the programme have engaged in discussions with a wide range of stakeholders. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) are expected in June 2014 and the contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to guarantee the safety of Mr Stephen Yaxley-Lennon if he is moved to another prison from HM Prison Winchester.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
NOMS takes the safety of all prisoners very seriously and individual risk assessment based on all relevant information informs any decisions made to safeguard individual prisoners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Prime Minister, if he will attend (a) Ban Ki Moon’s Climate Summit in September 2014 in New York and (b) the European Council meeting in October 2014 to finalise the EU’s climate and energy goals for 2030.
Mr David Cameron
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Ms Lucas) on 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 176W.
It is my normal practice to attend Heads of Government EU Council meetings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to ensure that (1) social workers are prepared to identify and intervene in cases of mental or emotional abuse towards children, and (2) social services are adequately funded to carry out such investigations to the highest standards.
Lord Nash
Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2013, defines abuse and neglect including emotional abuse. Social workers will use this definition when deciding what action to take to protect a child. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
To be registered as a social worker, students will have undertaken an approved course providing an understanding of forms of harm, relevant legislation and policy, and the ability to assess risks and intervene appropriately.
Following the Narey review of social work education, the Chief Social Worker is leading work on a definitive document that will define more clearly the knowledge and skills required by children’s social workers. The ability to identify and intervene in cases of mental or emotional abuse will be a key part of the document.
Local authority funding for safeguarding children and young people is included within core funding for children’s social care which comes from the Department for Community and Local Government’s Formula Grant and local taxation. Funding is not ringfenced and it is for local authorities to decide how to apply their funding across the services they deliver. A report from the Audit Commission[1] published in November 2013 found that children’s social care has been largely protected from spending reductions from 2010/11 to 2013/14.
[1] http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Tough-Times-2013-Councils-Responses-to-Financial-Challenges-w1.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people were prosecuted for failure to pay vehicle excise duty in (a) Dartford constituency and (b) England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Stephen Hammond
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not hold this data broken down by parliamentary constituency. Figures are not held specifically for England and Wales. The table below shows the total amount of prosecutions for the offence of keeping or using an unlicensed vehicle in England, Scotland and Wales in each of the last five years.
|
Year |
Total number of prosecutions |
|
2009/10 |
64,408 |
|
2010/11 |
53,648 |
|
2011/12 |
44,159 |
|
2012/13 |
29,035 |
|
2013/14 |
25,044 |
The DVLA operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These range from reminder letters and penalties through to court prosecutions and the wheelclamping and/or removal of unlicensed vehicles. These measures have helped to improve compliance and the latest estimates show that vehicle excise duty evasion is at a historic low of just 0.6%.