Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 This report shows written answers and statements provided on 3 December 2015 and the information is correct at the time of publication (06:37 P.M., 03 December 2015). For the latest information on written questions and answers, ministerial corrections, and written statements, please visit: http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers/ CONTENTS ANSWERS 5 ATTORNEY GENERAL 5 Attorney General: Families 5 Attorney General: Research 5 BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS 5 Apprentices: Disability 5 Apprentices: STEM Subjects 6 Iron and Steel: Government Assistance 7 Personal Care Services 7 Small Businesses: Debt Collection 8 Student Opportunity Fund 9 Students: Loans 9 Transport: South West 9 CABINET OFFICE 10 Civil Servants: Redundancy 10 Government Departments: Listed Buildings 10 Government Departments: Public Expenditure 11 Public Appointments: Females 11 TREASURY 11 Carbon Sequestration 11 Fuels: Tax Evasion 12 Sanitary Products: VAT 12 Social Security Benefits: Children 12 Universal Credit 13 CHURCH COMMISSIONERS 13 Refugees: Syria 13 CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT 14 Aerials 14 Arts: West Midlands 14 Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information 15 Football 15 Listed Buildings 15 Recreation Spaces 15 Sports: Public Participation 16 Telecommunications: Sheffield Heeley 16 World Heritage Sites 16 DEFENCE 17 Apache AH-64 Helicopter 17 Armed Forces 17 Armed Forces: Deployment 18 Armed Forces: Pay 18 Armed Forces: Training 18 Defence Equipment 19
Transcript
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015
This report shows written answers and statements provided on 3 December 2015 and the information is correct at the time of publication (06:37 P.M., 03 December 2015). For the latest information on written questions and answers, ministerial corrections, and written statements, please visit: http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers/
CONTENTS ANSWERS 5
ATTORNEY GENERAL 5
Attorney General: Families 5
Attorney General: Research 5
BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS 5
Apprentices: Disability 5
Apprentices: STEM Subjects 6
Iron and Steel: Government Assistance 7
Personal Care Services 7
Small Businesses: Debt Collection 8
Student Opportunity Fund 9
Students: Loans 9
Transport: South West 9
CABINET OFFICE 10
Civil Servants: Redundancy 10
Government Departments: Listed Buildings 10
Government Departments: Public Expenditure 11
Public Appointments: Females 11
TREASURY 11
Carbon Sequestration 11
Fuels: Tax Evasion 12
Sanitary Products: VAT 12
Social Security Benefits: Children 12
Universal Credit 13
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS 13
Refugees: Syria 13
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT 14
Aerials 14
Arts: West Midlands 14
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information 15
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council in Brussels: 7 December 2015 70
HOME OFFICE 71
WePROTECT Global Summit to Tackle Online Child Sexual Exploitation 71
JUSTICE 72
Courts 72
TRANSPORT 73
Rail Franchising - West Midlands 73
4 Thursday, 3 December 2015 Daily Report
WORK AND PENSIONS 74 Agenda of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) 7 December 2015, Brussels 74
Notes:
Questions marked thus [R] indicate that a relevant interest has been declared. Questions with identification numbers of 900000 or greater indicate that the question was originally tabled as an oral question and has since been unstarred.
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 ANSWERS 5
ANSWERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Attorney General: Families
Caroline Ansell: [17921]
To ask the Attorney General, what training the Law Officers' Departments have provided to staff on the family test; what other steps he has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of the Law Officers' Departments; and if he will make a statement.
Robert Buckland: The Government Legal Department provides training to all lawyers within the Government Legal Service, Attorney General’s Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, and hosted a training session on the legal implications of The Family Test in May 2015. While training places were prioritised for lawyers advising the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), all government lawyers were eligible to apply.
In addition, the training committee within the DWP legal advisers will consider the inclusion of further training on The Family Test in response to any further needs identified.
The Serious Fraud Office and Crown Prosecution Service are not directly involved in frontline policy development and whilst they are aware of the published DWP guidance on applying the test, no specific training has been deemed necessary at this stage. However, they would of course apply the test should the need arise.
Attorney General: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17757]
To ask the Attorney General, how much of the Law Officers' Departments funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Robert Buckland: Spending Review 2015 set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.
Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.
BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS
Apprentices: Disability
Mr Virendra Sharma: [17101]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of disabled people participating in apprenticeships.
Nick Boles: Thousands of disabled people have benefitted from apprenticeships. In 2014/15, 44,090 of those starting an apprenticeship declared a disability or learning difficulty (LDD). This compares with 26,390 in 2009/10.
To provide an incentive to employers to offer more opportunities, apprenticeship training for 16-18 year olds is fully funded by Government. Government also fully funds apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Apprentices aged 19 to 24 without an EHC Plan, who have a learning difficulty and/or disability can benefit from additional funding through Learning Support.
Advice is also available to help employers and training providers understand disabilities and how to better support disabled apprentices. We have funded NIACE to produce an employer toolkit http://www.employer-toolkit.org.uk/ for employers that want to develop a more inclusive and accessible apprenticeship offer.
An Apprenticeships Equality and Diversity Advisory group helps government understand and address any apprenticeship equality and diversity issues in order to reduce barriers and make apprenticeships as inclusive as possible.
Apprentices: STEM Subjects
Chris Green: [17937]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships have been taken up in STEM industries since 2010.
Nick Boles: Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeships started in the ‘Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies’, ‘Information and Communication Technology’ and ‘Science and Mathematics’ Sector Subject Areas since May 2010.
TABLE 1: NUMBER OF APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IN THE ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGIES, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
SECTOR SUBJECT AREAS SINCE MAY 2010 (MAY 2010 TO JULY 2015)
TABLE 1: NUMBER OF APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IN THE ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGIES, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
SECTOR SUBJECT AREAS SINCE MAY 2010 (MAY 2010 TO JULY 2015)
Notes:
1) The source is the Individualised Learner Record.
2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10, with the exception of totals which are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Iron and Steel: Government Assistance
Greg Mulholland: [12608]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support the UK steel industry.
Anna Soubry: The Government recognises the current difficulties that are unique to the steel sector. While we cannot fix the price of steel, halt global overproduction or fix currency rates, the government has taken a number of measures to help our steel industry.
We have taken action on unfair trade, recently voting in support of anti-dumping measures on wire rod and steel tubing imports, as well as lobbying successfully for an investigation into cheap imports of Reinforcing Steel Bar.
The Government will be exempting eligible Energy Intensive Industries, including steel, from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and Small Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). This will we can keep their bills down, keep them competitive, keep them here and also give certainty for future investment decisions. The steel industry’s request for flexibility over Industrial Emissions Directive exemptions has also been secured. This will save the industry millions of pounds of unnecessary expenditure at a time of crisis by offering steel companies more time to comply with this European legislation.
Finally, we are taking action to drive up the number of public contracts won by UK steel manufacturers and their partners through fair and open competition. The Government published on 30 October new guidelines for departments to apply on major projects when sourcing and buying steel. The new instructions will help steel suppliers compete on a level playing field with international suppliers for major government projects.
Personal Care Services
John Mc Nally: [17861]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people are employed as practitioners within the UK hair industry.
Anna Soubry: In Official Statistics types of business are subdivided by internationally agreed Standard Industrial Classification codes. These do not have sufficient detail to separately identify the hair industry but group this under SIC 96.02 - Hairdressing and other beauty treatment, which also includes facial, nail care and other make-up and beauty services. According to the latest Annual Business Survey (ONS) this industry accounted for 139,000 jobs in 2014.
John Mc Nally: [17862]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the value of the hair industry to the economy.
Anna Soubry: In Official Statistics types of business are subdivided by internationally agreed Standard Industrial Classification codes. These do not have sufficient detail to separately identify the hair industry but group this under SIC 96.02 - Hairdressing and other beauty treatment, which also includes facial, nail care and other make-up and beauty services. According to the latest ONS Annual Business Survey this industry contributed nearly £2.7bn in gross value added to the UK economy in 2014.
Small Businesses: Debt Collection
Rehman Chishti: [17794]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the Government is doing to assist small businesses to recover debts.
Anna Soubry: Late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK. The Government is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts.
Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to help small business resolve disputes with large companies, tackling, in particular, late payment. The Commissioner will act as a disincentive to unfavourable payment practices, and build the confidence and capabilities of small businesses to help them to assert themselves in contractual disputes and negotiate more effectively with larger businesses.
This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.
We have also strengthened the Prompt Payment Code to ensure it is a recognised and demonstrated beacon of best practice, and we recently consulted on proposals to give representative bodies wider powers to challenge grossly unfair payment practices.
Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the
Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.
Student Opportunity Fund
Bridget Phillipson: [18155]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish guidance for higher education institutions on how Student Opportunity Fund monies are allocated.
Joseph Johnson: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is responsible for decisions on how the student opportunity fund is allocated to higher education institutions, and for publishing associated guidance.
The Government issues a grant letter to HEFCE outlining Government’s priorities for expenditure through the teaching grant, including on widening access. This will take account of the announcements made in the Spending Review.
Students: Loans
Gordon Marsden: [14943]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to apply the freeze of the student loan repayment threshold on which his Department has recently consulted to the repayment of 24+ Advanced Learner Loans.
Nick Boles: As set out in the consultation, because both higher education student loans and 24+ Advanced Learning Loans share a repayment threshold, the change will equally affect both groups of learners.
The Spending Review announced that the Government has decided to implement a repayment threshold freeze for all borrowers with post-2012 (‘Plan 2’) loans. The repayment threshold will be £21,000 at April 2016, and it will not be uplifted until at least April 2021, when the threshold will be reviewed. This threshold remains higher in real terms than that of the loans taken out before 2012.
Transport: South West
Rebecca Pow: [17570]
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the contribution of further investment in road and rail infrastructure to economic growth and resilience in the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership area.
Anna Soubry: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport and I agree about the vital contribution of road and rail infrastructure to national and local economic growth and resilience. In the Spending Review, the government committed to £7.2 billion of transport investment in the South West, including projects with benefits for the Heart of the South West area such as the £2 billion investment to dual the A303. The government also confirmed that:
• Projects such as the North Devon Link Road will be able to bid for the new £475 million Local Majors Fund.
• It is investing £20 million in the New Stations Fund, which will look at bids including the proposal for a stop between Castle Cary to Taunton.
• The new South Western rail franchise will incentivise bidders to increase capacity and improve passenger satisfaction.
• Existing £195.5m Growth Deal commitments, including transport infrastructure, have been confirmed.
CABINET OFFICE
Civil Servants: Redundancy
Louise Haigh: [18113]
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) redundancy and (b) voluntary exit programmes for civil servants are currently in operation in each department.
Matthew Hancock: This information on the number of exit schemes currently in operation is not collated centrally.
Government Departments: Listed Buildings
Tim Loughton: [18017]
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which former Government-owned listed properties have been sold either as freehold or on a long lease in London in the last 10 years.
Matthew Hancock: [Holding answer 1 December 2015]: Cabinet Office records show that two buildings listed have been sold in central London on a long lease in the last 10 years.
The first is Admiralty Arch, which is leased on a 250 year long lease,generating over £65 million in capital receipts for the exchequer.
The second is the Old War Office, leased on a 250 year long lease. Both freeholds remain with Cabinet Office for the perpetuity.
Information is only held centrally on the Government Estate in central London. Any information outside of this is held locally by departments.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, by when Departments are required to publish Single Departmental Plans.
Mr Oliver Letwin: Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives. A public version of the Single Departmental Plans will be published on gov.uk in January 2016Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives. A public version of the Single Departmental Plans will be published on gov.uk in January 2016.
Public Appointments: Females
Craig Whittaker: [17468]
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of public appointments filled by women.
Matthew Hancock: [Holding answer 2 December 2015]: The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and has aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women. We are making good progress, with 44% of new appointments made to women in 2014-2015 and a higher proportion of all public appointments (new appointments and reappointments) went to women last year than at any other point since records began.
The Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office supports departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Steps we are taking to increase diversity include streamlining the application process, placing an emphasis on ability over previous experience, and increasing awareness of opportunities by using a central website, social media and engaging with different diversity networks and groups.
TREASURY
Carbon Sequestration
Paul Flynn: [17999]
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the closure of the competition for carbon capture and storage projects was announced on a Stock Market news website on 25 November 2015, in advance of the Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015.
Damian Hinds: Following the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, it was announced on the London Stock Exchange at 2:57pm on 25 November 2015 that HMG is not providing £1bn capital grant funding.
We have not taken this decision lightly. However, this was a tight financial settlement and difficult decisions have had to be made. Support for the CCS competition projects has always been conditional on affordability and value for money.
This decision means that the CCS Competition cannot proceed on its current basis. CCS has a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK and the government is engaging closely with the bidders on the implications of this decision for them.
Fuels: Tax Evasion
Mr Gregory Campbell: [17415]
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fuel laundering plants were discovered in Northern Ireland in 2014; and how many of those plants were (a) fully operational at the time of discovery and (b) within ten miles of the border of the Republic of Ireland.
Damian Hinds: 31 fuel laundering plants were discovered in Northern Ireland in 2014. All 31 were considered to be operational at the time of discovery.
Area specific information cannot be supplied as it is likely to be used by those minded to undermine HMRC’s strategy in dealing with fuel fraud and as such have a detrimental impact
on its ability to assess and collect tax.
Sanitary Products: VAT
Paula Sherriff: [17820]
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.114 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what the evidential basis for the estimate of £15 million annual tax receipt on sanitary products; and to what range of products that estimate applies.
Mr David Gauke: The £15m estimate of the annual VAT revenue from sanitary products is produced by HM Revenue and Customs and is consistent with the published estimate of the cost of the current 5% relief for sanitary products (available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/minor-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs ).
Social Security Benefits: Children
Rachel Reeves: [17935]
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of a family in receipt of tax credits with (a) three, (b) four and (c) five children of the Government's proposals to limit claims for tax credit and universal credit to two children as announced in the Summer Budget 2015 and the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Damian Hinds: At Summer Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that families will no longer be able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for third or subsequent children in a family where the child is born after April 2017. In addition families making a completely new claim to Universal Credit after April 2017 will no longer be entitled to support for their third or subsequent children.
A family currently claiming Child Tax Credit with three or more children will see no change to their household income because of this change. This policy will only affect families claiming Child Tax Credit where they have a third or subsequent child on or after 6 April 2017.
Universal Credit
Rachel Reeves: [17940]
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect on the household income of a family with one earner and two children which becomes a new claimant of universal credit and is not migrating from a legacy benefit of the Government's proposed changes to universal credit announced in the Summer Budget 2015 in each of the next four financial years.
Damian Hinds: This issue is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. I understand that the Minister for Work and Pensions has responded to an identical question tabled by the hon Member.
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
Refugees: Syria
Mr Mark Hendrick: [18054]
To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps each Anglican church in the Diocese of Blackburn is taking to assist Syrian refugees.
Mrs Caroline Spelman: The Diocese of Blackburn is working alongside other dioceses of the Church of England and local faith communities to coordinate their response to assist Syrian refugees. Churches in the diocese have been advised of the type of assistance that can most usefully be offered, working in conjunction with local authorities and other faith communities.
The three bishops of the Diocese of Blackburn were amongst the signatories to the letter from Church of England bishops to the Prime Minister, which welcomed the commitment of the Government to provide aid and resettlement, while calling on it to resettle substantially more than 20,000, and made clear the Church’s commitment to help in that task.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many mobile telephone masts are due to be erected in the UK by March 2016.
Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: [17289]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many telephone masts have been erected under the Government's mobile infrastructure project.
Mr Edward Vaizey: This Government has committed to ensuring that 90 per cent of the UK landmass will have voice and SMS coverage by 2017.14 telephone masts have been completed and are providing mobile coverage in areas of Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Lincolnshire, Somerset, Suffolk and Northern Ireland. Over 50 other potential mast sites are currentlybeing progressed by our supplier with the aim of delivering as many of these as possible by the project end date of 31 March 2016.
Arts: West Midlands
Mr Jim Cunningham: [17193]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2015 to Question 15657, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the level of support provided to the arts in the West Midlands in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government recognises the intrinsic, social and economic value of the arts and supports fair distribution of funding across the whole country. Following the announcement of the spending review on 25 November 2015, Arts Council England will continue to support community arts organisations throughout the country including the West Midlands.
The West Midlands has seen a number of high quality arts programmes delivered in the region over the last five years. These include The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry which has received over £2.5 million of Government funding since 2012 enabling them to create eight new Youth Theatre groups - among them the Asian Youth Theatre and the Black Youth Theatre, which aim to give a voice to local communities; The Courtyard in Hereford which, thanks to almost £1 million of Government funding since 2012, became the first arts venue to join the Dementia Action Alliance, and is now a recognised leader in the development of dementia-friendly arts venues; and The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, one of Arts Council England’s National portfolio organisations, which has been attracting national attention by challenging and changing people’s attitudes towards racism, domestic violence, forced marriage, poverty and crime.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information
Norman Lamb: [18105]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) average and (b) maximum length of time taken by his Department is to carry out a public interest case to determine whether certain information will be disclosed in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government publishes annual statistics on Freedom of Information on GOV.UK, including detailed statistics on public interest cases. This includes information relating to DCMS. Please see the latest annual figures for 2014 at:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the FA, the Premier League and the Football League on the cost to supporters of following football.
Tracey Crouch: I have raised the issue of costs to supporters with the football authorities but it is important to remember this is a matter for individual clubs. However I am pleased to hear of some excellent examples of clubs reducing ticket prices such as Coventry City and Doncaster Rovers - in line with the Football Supporters' Federation 'Twenty Plenty' campaign, and that Premier League clubs are also considering an extension of the Away Supporters' Initiative.
Listed Buildings
Ben Howlett: [17782]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the introduction of application fees for listed building consent.
Tracey Crouch: Ministers are considering a number of measures relating to local Heritage management as part of the Cultural White Paper, which will be published in due course.
Recreation Spaces
Tom Pursglove: [902540]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the contribution of recreational spaces to local sporting and community life.
Tracey Crouch: The government is committed to supporting recreational spaces across the country. Our new sport and physical activity strategy recognises that these spaces can be crucial in getting people active and are an important part of the nation's sporting infrastructure.
Sports: Public Participation
Lucy Frazer: [902541]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to reform the allocation of funding to increase participation in sport.
Tracey Crouch: The funding model used to date has not delivered the sustained increase in participation we want to see across the country. The new sport and physical activity strategy will ensure that funding is clearly targeted at those organisations that can best deliver results.
Telecommunications: Sheffield Heeley
Louise Haigh: [18045]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2015 to Question 9695, on telecommunications: Sheffield, Heeley, whether the problem referred to has now been resolved.
Mr Edward Vaizey: BT have confirmed that the work to provide a telephone and internet connectivity to the new build site has been completed.
World Heritage Sites
Sir Simon Burns: [902547]
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to help protect heritage sites worldwide.
Mr Edward Vaizey: The protection of cultural heritage affected by acts of destruction is a priority for this Government. We are committing £30 million towards a new Cultural Protection Fund and will bring forward legislation to enable the UK to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols at the first opportunity.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, when he plans for the Apache helicopter upgrade to take place.
Maria Eagle: [17844]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the Apache helicopter upgrade.
Maria Eagle: [17845]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs likely to be sustained by the Apache helicopter upgrade.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Apache Capability Sustainment Programme is currently in the Assessment Phase and the investment decision is anticipated in summer 2016 to enable orderly upgrade of our existing fleet as they reach their out-of-service date.
Armed Forces
Maria Eagle: [17846]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what he plans the force generation ratios to be for the expeditionary force of 50,000 personnel announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Penny Mordaunt: In the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm9161) we have increased our ambition so that for Joint Force 2025 we will be able to deploy an expeditionary force of around 50,000 including greater contributions from the air and maritime domain. This is is the largest scale operation that Defence plans to be able to deliver whilst continuing to conduct a range of concurrent "fixed" tasks such as defending the homeland, running military bases and training our military personnel. The scale and nature of the deployment means that there is no specific force generation ratio associated with it.
Maria Eagle: [17875]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans for the increase in (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force personnel provided for in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 to take place.
Mark Lancaster: On current planning assumptions, the new military personnel numbers provided for in the Strategic Defence and Security Review will begin to come into effect in 2016 and will be achieved by 2022 for the Royal Navy and 2018 for the Royal Air Force.
Maria Eagle: [17959]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to (a) merge and (b) disband military units in implementing Joint Force 2025.
Penny Mordaunt: There are no plans to merge or disband military units in implementing Joint Force 2025. We are committed to maintaining the size of the regular Armed Forces, not reducing the Army below 82,000, and increasing the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force by a total of 700 personnel.
Armed Forces: Deployment
Maria Eagle: [17944]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his timetable is for introducing proposals to amend the legal standing on which the armed forces undertake operations, as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.
Penny Mordaunt: Work is under way to examine the options. We will announce further details in due course.
Armed Forces: Pay
Maria Eagle: [17898]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 33 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, if he will set out the elements of the new pay model for members of the armed forces.
Maria Eagle: [17899]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 33 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what estimate he has made of how many serving members in each branch of the armed forces are likely to be affected by the new pay model for members of the armed forces.
Penny Mordaunt: We will provide further updates on Armed Forces Pay Reform in 2016.
Armed Forces: Training
Mrs Madeleine Moon: [17646]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost of providing adventurous training in Bavaria to each branch of the armed forces was in each of the last 10 years; how many
personnel in each branch have participated in such training in each of those years; and if he will make a statement.
Penny Mordaunt: The Ministry of Defence does not hold records dating back 10 years, however over the last financial year (financial year 2014-15) the detailed breakdown of the costs to deliver adventurous training, by service, at each of the three adventurous training centres in Bavaria, are as follows:
TRAINING CENTRE PERSONNEL PARTICIPATING
(APPROX) APPROX COST (PER YEAR)
Force Development Training Centre (FDAT) Bavaria (RAF)
1,740 £850,000
Naval Outdoor Centre Germany (NOCG) (Navy)
2,000 £1.4 million
Adventurous Training Centre (ATC) Bavaria (Army)
1,300 £3.5 million
Defence Equipment
Maria Eagle: [17734]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the level of potential efficiency in the equipment budget in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19, (e) 2019-20 and (f) 2020-21.
Mr Philip Dunne: We were already planning to deliver efficiency savings in the equipment budget as outlined in the Defence Equipment Plan 2015 published on 22 October 2015, available in the Library of The House.
Following the Spending Review and Strategic Defence and Security Review (Cm9161), the total amount of equipment efficiency savings we plan to make is equivalent to 3% of the equipment budget in 2016-17 rising to 6% of the equipment budget by 2020-21.
Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator
Paul Flynn: [17996]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects to publish the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator's Annual Report for 2014-15.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Defence Safety Authority Annual Assurance Report (AAR) 2014-15 was published on 1 December 2015. This was informed, in part, by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator's AAR for 2014-15 which is expected to be published in early 2016.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 80 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what the 170 investments to sustain and enhance defence capabilities are.
Mr Philip Dunne: The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm 9161) set out the range of capabilities that, taken together, will sustain and enhance our ability to fulfil Defence's contribution to UK National Security.
Frigates
Maria Eagle: [17855]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what his Department's planning assumptions are for the number of vessels of the new class of general purpose frigates which his Department plans to procure.
Mr Philip Dunne: The number of general purpose frigates to be procured through the programme has yet to be determined. Work on the programme will be scoped initially during the concept study outlined in the White Paper National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161).
Maria Eagle: [17856]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what estimate he has made of the cost of the new general purpose frigates.
Maria Eagle: [17880]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, when he plans for the new class of general purpose frigates to be in service.
Mr Philip Dunne: The cost and schedule of the general purpose frigate programme outlined in the White Paper National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence And Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161) has yet to be determined. The programme will be scoped during a concept study as part of the programme announced by the Prime Minister on 23 November 2015 (Official Report: column 1049).
Maria Eagle: [17857]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what planning assumptions he has made of the Royal Navy's frigate fleet size in each year from 2015 to 2040.
Mr Philip Dunne: As explained in the White Paper National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161) we intend to maintain a fleet of 19 frigates and destroyers until the 2030s when the introduction of a new class of general purpose frigate will allow this size of the fleet to increase. The timetable for the general purpose frigate programme, and the number of ships we intend to buy, have yet to be determined and will be shaped by the Shipbuilding Strategy we will publish in 2016.
Gibraltar: Navy
Maria Eagle: [17949]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the size of the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron has been in each year since 2010.
Maria Eagle: [17950]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron in each year since 2010.
Penny Mordaunt: Each year since 2010 the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron (RNGS) has consisted of two SCIMITAR Class Patrol Boats, HMS SCIMITAR and HMS SABRE and three Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs). It is also frequently bolstered by Royal Navy vessels transiting the region.
Since 2010 there have been 22 stationed personnel which were increased by five temporary augmentees following a pattern of increased Spanish incursions in 2012. After a review in 2014 the number of personnel was permanently uplifted to 26.
The following table represents the financial expenditure incurred by British Forces Gibraltar in support of the RNGS in each year since 2010.
Figures are in millions.
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
1.3 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.5
Military Aircraft
Maria Eagle: [17832]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the first Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft came into full service; and by what date he plans for all nine to be operational.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Boeing P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft entered service with the United States Navy in November 2013. Under current plans, we anticipate that it will enter
service with the RAF in the UK during financial year 2019-20. Exact dates for entering service and for all nine aircraft to be operational are yet to be agreed.
Maria Eagle: [17833]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost per unit of each Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Maria Eagle: [17834]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of the Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Maria Eagle: [17835]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the annual running cost of the proposed fleet of Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft when they first enter service.
Mr Philip Dunne: We are unable to release this information publicly while commercial negotiations are continuing.
Maria Eagle: [17836]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria his Department used to procure the Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft fleet.
Mr Philip Dunne: As with any acquisition programme, the Boeing P-8A - along with a number of other potential platforms - was assessed against the system's ability to meet the Department's Key User Requirements, using a combination of scientific, technical and operational analysis, as well as industry's ability to deliver the programme in a timely and cost-effective manner, to meet the capability need within budget.
Maria Eagle: [17838]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of UK-based jobs in each region likely to be sustained by his Department's decision to procure the Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft fleet.
Mr Philip Dunne: The UK is in negotiations with Boeing on the route to contract for P-8, which will determine how the programme will affect UK-based jobs. It is expected the P-8 will have a significant impact on the UK economy: P-8 is based on the Boeing 737, the supply chain for which already includes UK industry, and the UK also manufactures subsystems of the P-8. Purchase of the aircraft will also create opportunities for UK industry to bid for training and support contracts, and basing of this fleet at RAF Lossiemouth will bring significant economic benefits to Scotland. Boeing estimates that in total, its entire P-8 programme could generate over US$1 billion to the UK supply chain and economy.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what military assets his Department propose to use to undertake maritime patrol functions between the Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft comes into service.
Mr Philip Dunne: The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) announced the cancellation of the Nimrod MRA4 which was 11 years late and nearly £800 million over budget. It acknowledged what would result in a capability gap that would be mitigated by using a combination of other surveillance aircraft, including those from Allies, as well as ships and submarines. SDSR 2015 announced we will buy nine new Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Maria Eagle: [17840]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft will be capable of being refuelled by RAF Voyagers aircraft.
Mr Philip Dunne: The P-8A uses the 'boom and receptacle' method of in-flight refuelling. As such, the P-8A will not be able to refuel from RAF Voyager Aircraft, which use a different configuration for air-to-air refuelling.
Maria Eagle: [17869]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of his Department's running costs for the Command Support Air Transport fleet in each year from 2015 to 2020.
Mr Philip Dunne: It is estimated that the running costs for the Command Support Air Transport Fleet would be some £19 million - £20 million per annum, in each year from 2015-2020.
Maria Eagle: [17870]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on running costs for the Command Support Air Transport fleet in each year since 2010.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Air Command running costs, in £millions and by financial year, for the Command Support Air Transport fleet based at RAF Northolt are as follows:
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
14.8 15.9 18.8 19.1 18.0
Costs for the current financial year 2015-16, have not yet been finalised.
Maria Eagle: [17871]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of recapitalising the Command Support Air Transport fleet.
Mr Philip Dunne: A full assessment phase will be undertaken to ensure that any recapitalisation decisions provide the most efficient way of delivering capability and offer best value for money.
Military Bases
Mrs Madeleine Moon: [17677]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of specialist skills and training available for armed forces personnel at (a) MOD Llanwrst and (b) MOD Fairbourne; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Lancaster: The RAF constantly reviews its adventurous training to ensure the training being delivered best meets its requirements.
Ministry of Defence: Communication
Maria Eagle: [17948]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 25 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what projects he plans to fund from the £300 million investment in operational communications.
Mr Philip Dunne: Up to £300 million will be spread across Front Line Commands and a number of capabilities. It will not only be invested to enhance operational communications, but also to renew the existing air defence system and upgrade infrastructure, all in the context of the Falkland Islands.
Ministry of Defence: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17761]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Mr Philip Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to para 6.44 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm9161) for the proportion of our defence budget dedicated to science and technology.
Ministry of Defence: Science
Maria Eagle: [17943]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of his Department's budget has been spent on science and technology in each year since 2010.
Mr Philip Dunne: Expenditure from the centralised Ministry of Defence Science and Technology Programme under the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser for each year since 2010 (inclusive of non-recoverable VAT at current prices) is given below:
FINANCIAL YEAR DEFENCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME
EXPENDITURE (£MILLION)
2010-11 422
2011-12 432
2012-13 444
2013-14 435
2014-15 436
Nuclear Submarines
Maria Eagle: [17894]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 36 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what the costs are of the Successor programme.
Mr Philip Dunne: As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 15 (Cm9161), our latest estimate of the total cost to manufacture the four Successor submarines is £31 billion; we will also set a contingency of £10 billion. This level of contingency represents about 35% of the costs to completion and is a prudent estimate based on past experience of large, complex projects.
We expect that, once the Successor submarines come into service, the in-service costs of the UK's nuclear deterrent, which include the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, will be similar to those of today - around 6% of the Defence budget.
Paul Flynn: [17974]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the National Security and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, which (a) government departments and (b) commercial partners will be represented on the new delivery body for nuclear submarine procurement and support; and to which government department that body will report.
Mr Philip Dunne: Options for the composition of the new organisation will be developed and assessed for a decision in 2016. The Ministry of Defence will remain in control of the Successor submarine programme.
Nuclear Submarines: Procurement
Maria Eagle: [17736]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the projected in-service date for the first of the Successor class submarines has been delayed by two years; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the latest estimate of the cost of the Successor class submarine programme has increased to £31 billion; and whether he expects that cost to rise.
Maria Eagle: [17895]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the cost estimates of the Successor class of submarines in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 differs from his Department's previous cost estimates for those submarines.
Maria Eagle: [17897]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the proposed in-service date for the Successor class of submarines has been postponed.
Mr Philip Dunne: Designing and building submarines is one of the largest programmes and one of the most complex activities that the Ministry of Defence and UK Industry has ever undertaken. It is the purpose of a design phase to improve our understanding of costs and timescales, which we have now done. The current estimates reflect what we have learned since the design phase began.
As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 2015 (Cm9161), our latest estimate of the total cost to manufacture the four Successor submarines reflects greater maturity of the design and understanding of the supply chain, amounts to £31 billion; we will also set a contingency of £10 billion. This level of contingency represents about 35% of the costs to completion and is a prudent estimate based on past experience of large, complex projects.
Nuclear Weapons
Paul Flynn: [17976]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the National Security and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, by what date the new team sponsoring the defence nuclear enterprise is scheduled to be established.
Mr Philip Dunne: We expect to announce further details of the new organisation in 2016.
Nuclear Weapons: Transport
Paul Flynn: [17997]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the most recent review of the emergency response arrangements for a radiation emergency involving the nuclear warhead convoy was completed.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence emergency response arrangements are subject to a continuous process of review through a regular series of exercises which test the effectiveness of the response. The most recent exercise took place on 12 November 2015.
Patrol Craft
Maria Eagle: [17858]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, when he plans for the off-shore patrol vessels being procured by his Department to come into service.
Mr Philip Dunne: Three River Class Patrol Vessels are already under construction, the first two of which are scheduled to enter service in 2018 and the third in 2019. The contract for two further vessels, and therefore their delivery schedule, has yet to be agreed and will be influenced by the Shipbuilding Strategy to be published in 2016.
Maria Eagle: [17859]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 31 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, whether he plans for the off-shore patrol vessels being procured by his Department to be manufactured using the same supply chain as the off-shore patrol vessels under construction.
Mr Philip Dunne: As with the three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) currently under construction, the two additional OPVs referred to in the White Paper National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence And Security Review 2015 (Cmd 9161) will be built at BAE Systems' (BAES) shipyards on the Clyde. Decisions about the appointment of sub-contractors to the supply chain will be a matter for BAES.
Radar: Hebrides
Angus Brendan MacNeil: [18240]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to upgrade the Hebrides Range radar on St Kilda.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence's current planning assumption for the Watchman radar on the Hebrides Range is that it will be upgraded in November 2020.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what timetable he has set for the introduction of the Rapid Strike brigade as set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Mr Kevan Jones: [17930]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with how many new Scout land vehicles each of the new Strike Brigades, referred to in the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 will be equipped.
Mr Philip Dunne: The two Strike Brigades will provide a rapidly deployable agile force, with enhanced range, speed, protection and firepower, significantly enhancing the UK's ability to respond to international crises.
As previously announced on 3 September 2014 by My right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary (Michael Fallon) (Official Report, column 19WS) a contract has been awarded to deliver 589 Ajax vehicles. Detailed allocation plans have yet to be finalised. Fielding of Strike Brigades will start from 2018, delivering an initial operating capability in 2021 and moving towards Full Operating Capability from 2025.
Sentinel Aircraft
Maria Eagle: [17867]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to retire the Sentinel aircraft from service.
Mr Philip Dunne: Under plans announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm9161), Sentinel will be extended in service into the next decade.
Maria Eagle: [17868]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of his Department's (a) running and (b) maintenance costs for Sentinel aircraft in each of the next five years.
Mr Philip Dunne: The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review announced the extended life of the Sentinel into the next decade. Detailed cost estimates are currently being finalised.
Syria: Military Intervention
Paul Flynn: [18002]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK sought permission from the government of Syria to deploy manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft over Syria before he made his Statement to the House on 21 October 2014.
Penny Mordaunt: No. This activity is conducted as part of the international counter-ISIL/Da'esh Coalition in the self-defence of the UK and the collective self-defence of Iraq, under article 51 of the UN Charter, against the direct threat from ISIL's heartland in Syria.
Type 26 Frigates
Maria Eagle: [17878]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the operational capabilities are of the Type 26 frigates announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Type 26 Global Combat Ship, designed to provide an anti-submarine warfare capability, will be a multi-mission warship designed for joint and multinational operations across the full spectrum of warfare, including complex combat operations, counter piracy, humanitarian and disaster relief work.
It will be capable of operating independently for significant periods, or as part of a task group. Its design is inherently flexible, allowing greater choice in operational tasking through the incorporation of modular systems, to allow incremental upgrades to its systems through the life-time of the class. These include the flexible strike silo (able to host anti-submarine, anti-ship and, if required, land attack strike missiles) and the modular mission bay (able to host unmanned air, surface or sub-surface systems, boats for an embarked force, further command facilities or humanitarian relief stores).
I am withholding further detail as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Maria Eagle: [17879]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the strategic rationale is for the change in the total number of Type 26 frigates to be built.
Mr Philip Dunne: The Strategic Defence and Security Review (Cm9161) endorsed the requirement for eight of the anti-submarine warfare variant of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship to replace the eight Type 23 frigates that currently fulfil this role. The review also concluded that the remainder of the Navy's future frigate requirement would be better met by a new class of lighter, flexible, general purpose frigates than by the five general purpose Type 26 ships previously planned. This new class of frigate will be procured in greater numbers enabling an increase in the size of the Navy's destroyer and frigate fleet above the 19 ships currently in service. This will further improve the Royal Navy's ability to deliver the full range of defence, warfighting and maritime security tasks well into the middle of the 21st Century.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 17136, on what date Watchkeeper is expected to be at full operating capability.
Margaret Ferrier: [18063]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 17136, what the cost to the public purse will be of each Watchkeeper ordered by his Department by the time it reaches full operating capacity.
Margaret Ferrier: [18064]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 17136, what his Department's original estimate was for the development and delivery of Watchkeeper to full operating capability.
Mr Philip Dunne: Watchkeeper is expected to achieve full operating capability in the second quarter of 2017.
The original cost estimate for the development and delivery of Watchkeeper to full operating capability, at the time of Main Gate approval in 2005, was £847 million.
With regards to the cost of each Watchkeeper, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 October 2014 to question 211342 to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson).
Attachments:
1. Unmanned Air Vehicles [Hansard Extract 28 October 2014.docx]
Warships
Maria Eagle: [17876]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 30 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, when he plans for three new logistic ships to come into service.
Maria Eagle: [17877]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 30 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, what estimate he has made of the cost of each of the new logistic ships.
Mr Philip Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 December 2015 to Question 17447 to the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens).
Attachments:
1. Royal Fleet Auxiliary [Hansard Extract 17447 1 December 2015.docx]
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department plans to spend on new precision weapons systems in each year from 2015 to 2020.
Mr Philip Dunne: Over the next five years, the Department plans to spend around £6.5 billion on the procurement, support and testing of sophisticated weapons systems.
EDUCATION
Carers
Alan Johnson: [18033]
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department plans to allocate for specialist services for kinship carers in the period to March 2019.
Edward Timpson: We will set the Department’s individual budgets as part of the internal business planning process. We will announce the future of specific programmes in due course.
Department for Education: Families
Caroline Ansell: [17924]
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training her Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps she has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of her Department; and if she will make a statement.
Edward Timpson: Officials from the Department for Education have liaised with the Department for Work and Pension as the lead Department for the Family Test to embed it into the policy process. This has included training officials on applying the Test, disseminating relevant evidence, learning materials and best practice.
The Department for Education follows that guidance, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-test-assessing-the-impact-of-policies-on-families.
Mental Health Services: Children in Care
Philip Davies: [17585]
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) likely level of unmet mental health needs of looked-after children and (b) care outcomes of such children with such unmet needs.
Edward Timpson: The major study on this issue, ‘The mental health of young people looked after by local authorities in England’, conducted by the Office for National Statistics in 2002, found
that 44% of children with a mental disorder were in contact with child mental health specialists, and a third had accessed special education services.
The Government recognises the need to improve the provision of mental health services for children, including looked-after children, care leavers and those who are adopted from care, because they face a higher risk of developing mental health difficulties. In line with the proposal in ‘Future in mind’ , Clinical Commissioning Groups across all areas have submitted Local Transformation Plans for children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing to NHS England. These plans, which are currently being assured, should cover the whole spectrum of services for children and young people, including interventions for those with existing or emerging mental health problems.
A new mental health services dataset is being implemented which, from 2016, will begin to allow benchmarking of local services at national level. This will begin to provide better data on outcomes, the source of referral, waiting times and demographic information, including whether a child is looked after. This will enable further analysis of whether vulnerable children and young people are able to access services.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education
Stephen Timms: [18223]
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance she has given to schools on including internet safety awareness in PSHE lessons for primary school children.
Edward Timpson: Internet safety has been a statutory requirement within the new computing programme of study since September 2014. The national curriculum sets the expectation that children in primary schools are taught how to use technology safely and respectfully; how to keep personal information private; and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content on the internet.
The introduction of internet safety content in key stages 1 and 2 reflects the fact that children are increasingly accessing the internet from a young age, and is intended to inform pupils of good practice in staying safe online from an early age.
Schools are also able to teach pupils about internet safety in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons. The PSHE Association’s non-statutory programme of study for health and well-being includes ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe, including online.
Schools: Bullying and Harassment
Ben Howlett: [17785]
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools address sexual harassment and bullying.
Edward Timpson: All forms of bullying and harassment are unacceptable and every school is required to have in place a behaviour policy with measures to tackle all forms of bullying. They are
held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour.
The Longitudinal Study of Young Peoplein England(LSYPE), which was published by the Department in November 2015, compared bullying among two cohorts of 14 year olds (year 10 students)from 2004 and 2014. It found that 30,000 fewer people in year 10 said they had been bullied in the last twelve months. This represents a drop from 41 per cent in 2004 to 36 per cent in 2014.
Good schools have a whole school approach to behaviour management that fosters tolerance and respect. Schools can also choose to teach about internet safety and the safe use of social media through their PSHE and sex and relationships provision. Under the computing curriculum, children from the age of five are taught how to stay safe online and how to communicate safely and respectfully.
All schools must have regard to the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’. This highlights the specific safeguarding issues that staff should be aware of including bullying, child sexual exploitation, gender based violence against girls, sexting and teenage relationship issues, and signposts staff to additional information and support.
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Electricity: Prices
Caroline Flint: [18242]
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the effect on the wholesale price of electricity of an increase in low carbon generation.
Andrea Leadsom: DECC estimates that wholesale electricity prices were around £1/MWh lower (equivalent to £5 lower for an average household energy bill) in 2014 than they would have been in the absence of policies to incentivise investment in low-carbon generation, and reduce electricity demand. In 2020, wholesale electricity prices are estimated to be around £4/MWh lower (or £12 lower for an average household energy bill) than they would be in the absence of the same policies.1
[1] All figures are real 2014 prices. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014.
Fossil Fuelled Power Stations: Carbon Emissions and Nitrogen Oxides
Dr Alan Whitehead: [17799]
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the (a) CO2 (kg CO2e per kwh) and (b) NOx (mg/m3N) emissions are of power derived from (i) coal fired power stations, (ii) open cycle gas turbines, (iii) diesel reciprocating engines, (iv) gas reciprocating engines and (v) combined cycle gas turbines.
Andrea Leadsom: The carbon dioxide and NOx emissions produced by fossil fuel power plants are dependent on a number of factors including, thermal efficiency, technology type and design, type and composition of fossil fuel, mode of operation and type of pollution abatement measures implemented.
Using published data on the carbon intensity of different fuel types, combined with estimates for the efficiency of each plant type, the kg CO 2 e per kWh of electricity generated and per kWh of fuel is provided in the table below.
(2) Source: Emissions Performance Standard Impact Assessments
(3) Source: STOR Carbon Intensity Report, National Grid
Emissions data on NOx is not readily available but the table below provides the Emission Limit Values for NOx (mg/Nm 3 ) for certain types of fossil fuel plant as set down in the Industrial Emissions Directive and Medium Combustion Plant Directive. NOx emissions from some fossil fuel plant will be higher than these limits currently – the timetable for achieving compliance with the limits and full detail of the conditions and exclusions relating to the limits is contained within the relevant Directives.
1. The limits for coal and gas turbines & engines are not directly comparable as they are based on different O 2 contents.
Housing: Solar Power
Jim Shannon: [17564]
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to ensure companies that install solar panels on homes are insured for that installation.
Andrea Leadsom: Under the Feed-in Tariff (FITs) and Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) schemes installers are required to be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), whose requirements include companies carrying the appropriate insurance and product warranties.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Acute Oak Decline
Sir Nicholas Soames: [18109]
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the scale of Acute Oak Decline (AOD); what research her Department is undertaking into AOD; and what steps she is taking to tackle AOD.
George Eustice: Over the past five years Forest Research, in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, has conducted a systematic survey to model the distribution of acute oak decline (AOD) in England and Wales. The results show that the condition currently affects several thousand oak trees, mostly across East Anglia, the Midlands and southern England.
Since 2013, Defra has invested £1.1 million in research to understand the causes, distribution and scale of AOD in the UK.
Earlier this year Defra, in collaboration with the Research Councils, the Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission, launched a further £2 million call for
research proposals on ‘oak health’ and Phytophthora. The successful bids from this call are due to be announced shortly.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Ms Margaret Ritchie: [18225]
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons; and if she will make a statement.
Rory Stewart: Most production, import and use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has now been banned in the UK in accordance with our obligations under the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol and EC Regulation 1005/2009 on substances that deplete the ozone layer. Exemptions to the ban are granted under certain circumstances for essential laboratory and analytical uses. CFCs may also still be imported for destruction and may be used for the production and processing of other chemicals but emissions must be minimised. These measures are enforced in England by the Environment Agency and Local Authorities.
Flood Control: Finance
Kerry McCarthy: [18118]
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding the Government has allocated for flood defence maintenance in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.
Rory Stewart: The Government has confirmed through the Spending Review that, given the potentially devastating impact flooding can have on communities, Defra will protect investment in flood defences. We remain committed to spending £2.3 billion on over 1,500 schemes by 2021, better protecting 300,000 homes from flooding. Flood defence maintenance funding will also be protected, and a planned efficiency programme will generate 10% efficiencies by 2019-20, with all resultant savings reinvested in maintenance.
National Parks
Kerry McCarthy: [18114]
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.153 of Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what legal flexibilities the Government plans to give to National Parks.
Rory Stewart: Responding to requests from the national park authorities, on 30 November the Government tabled an amendment to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill to give national park authorities a Function Specific General Power of Competence. The Government believe that this will further enable national park authorities to be a vital part of devolution deals and support growth across our rural economy. The government has committed in addition to protect the funding of the National Parks.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development on (a) sheep carcase classification and (b) price reporting for sheep; and if she will make a statement.
Ms Margaret Ritchie: [18157]
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in the devolved administrations on (a) sheep carcase classification and (b) price reporting on sheep; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice: The Commissioner has established a series of workshops on the future of the sheep sector in the European Union. This forum is providing an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues relevant to the sector, including carcass classification and price reporting. Defra and the devolved administrations are fully engaged in these discussions.
In addition, Defra and the devolved administrations are contributing to the Commission’s review of regulations on carcass classification and price reporting as part of the EU Commission’s legislation simplification programme.
HEALTH
Cancer: Drugs
Rachel Reeves: [18107]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which NHS trusts make Docetaxel chemotherapy treatment available.
George Freeman: Information on which treatments are provided by different National Health Service trusts is not collected centrally.
Commissioners are legally required to fund docetaxel for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer (where the disease becomes unresponsive to hormone treatment) as recommended in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal guidance.
NHS England has advised that it does not routinely commission docetaxel chemotherapy for the treatment of hormone sensitive prostate cancer. However, an associated policy statement is currently being developed and NHS England expects this to be published in the early part of 2016, subject to appropriate approvals and governance arrangements.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12813, what assessment he has made of the accessibility, clarity and ease of comparison of the care home ratings referred to; and if he will encourage the Care Quality Commission to develop a ratings table to increase transparency of that data.
Alistair Burt: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social acre in England. The CQC publishes the results of its new inspections regime including ratings on its website to help people choose care.
The CQC website provides a search facility for the services registered with it, including care homes. It is possible to search by name of provider or post code area. The results may be viewed as a list or on an interactive map and may also be downloaded on a spreadsheet. In this way, the CQC provides flexible access to the most up to date information of the sectors it inspects.
The Department expects the CQC to consider how it presents information to the public to ensure it is provided in a transparent and meaningful way and to keep its presentation of information under review.
Department of Health: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17767]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Alistair Burt: The Spending Review confirmed that the Government will invest more than £5 billion over the next five years in health research and development through the Department.
Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination
Andrew Gwynne: [17428]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) reduction in cases of and deaths from human pappillomavirus (HPV) as a result of the introduction of the HPV vaccine to the UK schedule in 2008, (b) number of HPV vaccinations administered in each year since that programme began and (c) cost of delivering that programme in each year since 2008.
Jane Ellison: HPV vaccination will eventually prevent hundreds of deaths due to cervical cancer every year. Public Health England (PHE) expect the major benefit of the vaccination programme, i.e. a decrease in cervical cancer, which peaks in women between 25 and 50; will be seen in some years’ time.
Table 1: Number of HPV vaccine doses given for the academic years 2008/09 to 2013/14.
ACADEMIC YEAR TOTAL DOSES GIVEN
2008/09 -2010/11 1 (routine and catch-up cohorts*)
5,319,058 $
2011/12 2 (routine only) 784,831
2012/13 3 (routine only) 766,832
2013/14 4 (routine only) 762,038
2014/15 (routine only) Not available
*Routine cohort are school Yr8 females (aged 12-13 years) in academic years 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11) and catch-up cohorts are females born between 1/9/1990 and 31/8/1995. $ Data for 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 are combined as these years had both routine and catch-up cohorts targeted and include some ‘mop-up’ vaccinations for eligible females receiving vaccine(s) after the academic year they first became eligible for vaccination.
Table 2. The cost of delivering the HPV programme since 2008.
FINANCIAL YEAR ESTIMATED TOTAL PROGRAMME COSTS
2008/09 £51 million
2009/10 £114 million (includes catch up campaign)
2010/11 £40 million
2011/12 £27 million (change in dosage schedule)
2012/13 £24 million
2013/14 £28.2 million
2014/15 £16.3 million (change from 3 to 2 doses)
These are the estimated full programme costs (including the cost of the vaccine) for England, inclusive of VAT.
40 Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 ANSWERS
Influenza: Vaccination
Andrew Gwynne: [17429]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) forecast reduction in cases of and deaths from infection by influenza as a result of the nasal flu vaccine in 2015, (b) forecast number of nasal flu vaccines administered and (c) cost of delivering that programme in each of the next three years.
Jane Ellison: It is difficult to forecast the population impact that the nasal flu vaccine will have in the forthcoming season as vaccine effectiveness will vary according to the circulating influenza virus in any one season together with the vaccine uptake achieved. In general the effectiveness of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) ranges from 50% upwards against illness caused by antigenically matched strains in children, but has also shown some protection against antigenically mismatched strains. The provisional uptake in two, three and four year olds in England up to week 46 2015 (ending 15 November 2015) was 23.0%, 24.0% and 19.4% respectively.
In 2016/17 the childhood flu programme will cover all 2-7 year olds and at risk children.
In 2017/18 the childhood flu programme will cover all 2-10 year olds and at risk children.
Table 1: The forecast number of nasal flu vaccines administered to children in each of the next three years.
YEAR FORECAST NUMBER OF DOSES OF NASAL FLU VACCINE
ADMINISTERED TO CHILDREN
2016/17 2.8 million
2017/18 4.3 million
2018/19 4.3 million
Source: NHS England’s Spending Review submission for childhood flu.
Table 2: The forecast cost of delivering the childhood flu programme in each of the next three years.
YEAR ESTIMATED COST OF DELIVERING THE CHILDHOOD FLU
PROGRAMME
2016/17 £80 million
2017/18 £120 million
2018/19 £120 million
Note: These are the full programme costs (including the cost of the vaccine).
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the reform of the junior doctors' contract.
Ben Gummer: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health is in regular dialogue with the devolved administrations. Health is a devolved matter and it is for each administration to decide whether to seek to reform junior doctors’ contracts. All four countries were party to the negotiations that the British Medical Association walked away from in October 2014.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Cycling
Mr Mark Hendrick: [18053]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what facilities are provided by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on its premises for the use of cyclists.
George Freeman: This is a matter for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
We have written to Stuart Heys, Chair of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust informing him of the hon. Member’s enquiry. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Mental Health Services: Children
Luciana Berger: [18243]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will ensure the needs of children who have been abused are considered when allocating the £1.25 billion for Child and Adolescent Mental Health services over the next five years.
Alistair Burt: This Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in Mind and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access and make services more widely available across the country so that, where possible, children can access high-quality support locally.
This transformation programme, backed by additional investment of £1.25 billion and an extra £150 million to improve eating disorders, allocated over the next five years, will deliver a step change in the way children and young people’s mental health services are commissioned and delivered.
All clinical commissioning groups, working closely with their partners, were asked to develop and submit Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans must cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need, including children who have been abused and/or
exploited. LTPs should also demonstrate that services have been designed with children and young people and their families, and meet the needs of their local population of children.
LTPs covering all local areas were submitted in October 2015 and are currently being assured by NHS England’s regional teams.
Luciana Berger: [18244]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support Clinical Commissioning Groups to commission effective mental health services for children under 18 who have experienced abuse.
Alistair Burt: This Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services.
As a first step in delivering this transformation and in line with guidance published by NHS England in August, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have produced Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health with their local partners as proposed in Future in mind . These include plans which set out how CCGs will ensure that the needs of vulnerable groups, including children who have been abused, are met. LTPs covering all local areas have been submitted and are now being assured by NHS England’s regional teams.
Strategic Clinical Networks provide clinical advice and leadership to support decision making and strategic planning at a local level. The networks were established to bring together those who use, provide and commission the service to make improvements in outcomes for complex patient pathways using an integrated, whole system approach such as for children who have been abused. The networks work in partnership with commissioners (including local government), supporting their decision making and strategic planning, by working across the boundaries of commissioner, provider and voluntary organisations as a vehicle for improvement.
NHS England is scoping a further programme of commissioning support to build on what is already being delivered locally.
Mental Health Services: Children and Young People
Luciana Berger: [18247]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children and young people were admitted to hospital due to mental health problems in 2014-15.
Alistair Burt: Information in the form requested is not collected centrally but there were 12,309 Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorder for patients aged 0-18 years in 2014-15.
Note:
An FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients as a person may have more than one admission within the period.
NHS Trusts: Finance
Mr Douglas Carswell: [18253]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.
Alistair Burt: The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.
Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.
The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS's own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.
NHS: Public Appointments
James Cartlidge: [17929]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the representation on the boards of NHS England, Monitor and other relevant health bodies at local, regional and national levels of people with a background in the mental health services; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman: Non-executive appointments to the boards of the Department’s arm’s length bodies, including NHS England and Monitor, are advertised widely and open to all in line with the requirements of the Commissioner for Public appointments. The application process is open to candidates with a background in mental health services.
Applications are treated equally and appointments are made on merit. There are board members of arm’s length bodies appointed through this process that have a mental health services background.
Non-executive appointments to National Health Service trusts are made by the NHS Trust Development Authority and are also regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Candidates are appointed on merit where they can add the best value to the needs of the individual board, ensuring that the board contains a balance of experience and skills in different areas, which can include mental health services.
Executive board appointments are made by the organisations themselves.
NHS: Working Hours
Julie Cooper: [17970]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to extend the hours of social workers and other professionals required to support doctors in their new working arrangements to meet the Government's aspiration for a seven day a week NHS.
Alistair Burt: Local authorities are already working with their local health service partners towards ensuring appropriate 7 day 24 hour social work cover. Out of hours social services and emergency duty services are already in place and some local authorities are employing social workers along with occupational therapists to work at weekends to manage safe hospital discharge and other requirements such as equipment provision, to ensure people have appropriate and timely support to leave hospital.
We recognise that providing high quality urgent and emergency services seven days a week requires far more than just doctors to be present, and that nurses, diagnostic staff, and other allied health professionals all play an invaluable role in caring for patients. It will be for local providers and their Local Education and Training Boards to develop workforce plans for delivering seven day services in hospitals which will make the best use of staff skills and expertise. While there may be additional staff needed, we are working with NHS England to make sure we have the workforce we need, including looking at new working patterns and roles such as physician associates.
Patients: Travel
Rachel Reeves: [18108]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding is available to assist with the travel costs of patients who have to travel more than 100 miles to receive a particular treatment for their condition.
Alistair Burt: The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme allows patients on low incomes and those in receipt of specific qualifying benefits or allowances to be reimbursed in part or in full for costs incurred in travelling to receive certain NHS services. Eligible patients can claim payment
of travel expenses to appointments made to receive non-primary medical and non-primary dental services when referred by a primary care practitioner. There are no mileage restrictions on this scheme.
Psychiatry: Recruitment
Luciana Berger: [18246]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Specialist Training 4 psychiatry posts were filled in each year since 2010.
Ben Gummer: The information requested, which has been provided by Health Education England, can be found in the attached document. The Department does not hold data prior to 2011.
Attachments:
1. Specialist Training 4 psychiatry posts since 2010 [Filled Specialist Training 4 psychiatry posts since 2010.xlsx]
Sexual Assault Referral Centres: Children
Luciana Berger: [18245]
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children under 18 were referred to Sexual Assault Referral Centres in each financial year since 2010-11.
Jane Ellison: NHS England co-commissions sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) in England with police and crime commissioners and police forces in England.
Data on the number of children referred to SARC’s is not collected centrally. However, as part of improving SARC services, NHS England are requiring all SARCs to return from April 2016, a mandatory, standardised data set that will include the ages of people seen.
HOME OFFICE
Counter-terrorism
Andrew Rosindell: [17386]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken and plans to take to ensure that out of city areas are adequately defended and protected from a repetition of the recent attacks in Paris.
Mr John Hayes: Since the attacks in Mumbai in 2008 the Home Office has worked with the Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health and the police and security and intelligence agencies to develop a strong, police-led capability to deal with large-scale firearms attacks in the UK. We have also improved joint working between the emergency services to deal with the particular challenges of this type of incident so that specialist joint police, ambulance and fire teams are now in place in key areas across England (including London), with equivalents in Scotland and Wales. Firearms police are
trained to respond to a marauding firearms attack and fire and ambulance teams are trained and equipped to manage casualties in higher risk environments. Under the Spending Review, the Government has also committed to protecting police spending in real terms and to further strengthen police firearms resource to protect citizens from terrorism. New funding is also available to the security and intelligence agencies to provide for an additional 1,900 officers to better respond to the threat we face from international terrorism, cyber-attacks and other global risks.
We are reviewing our response to firearms attacks of the type seen in Paris, to see if there is anything we can learn.
Emergency Services: Mobile Radios
Chris Evans: [18303]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will revise the bidding procurement process for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme in order to increase the number of bidders for the provision of mobile services.
Mike Penning: The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) Mobile Services procurement attracted all national mobile network operators and on 13 November announced its intention to award a contract to EE. Subject to an application decision in the High Court on 8-9 December to lift the automatic suspension, following a challenge by one of the down-selected bidders, EE will be awarded the contract for Mobile Services.
Employment: Crime
Paul Blomfield: [18117]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 92 of the consultation document entitled, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, (a) how many prosecutions and (b) what penalties have been applied for each of the existing offences that are in the remit of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.
Karen Bradley: The list of offences that will be in the remit of the Labour Market Enforcement Director are subject to public consultation. The following figures are available for prosecutions and penalties for offences that are being considered for inclusion in the Director’s remit.
There have been nine prosecutions relating to National Minimum Wage underpayment since the first prosecution took place in 2007. Criminal prosecution is reserved for the most serious cases. Penalties totalling over £3.9 million has been issued.
There were three prosecutions (one failed) for suspected breaches of Employment Agencies Standards (EAS) Regulations in 2013-14. Fines totalling £5,200 were issued and total compensation and costs awarded to workers was £6,041. Information on prosecutions prior to 2013/14 can be found in EAS Annual Reports online.
During 2013/14 and 2014/15, there were six and nine prosecutions respectively for offences contained within the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004. Penalties included fines and custodial sentences for these and other non labour market offences.
The Modern Slavery Act offences, which could fall within the remit of the Director, came into force on 31st July 2015. Data is not yet available for those offences.
Paul Blomfield: [18119]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 92 of the consultation document entitled, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, what the existing offences under employment law within the Director of Labour Market Enforcement's remit are to which the proposed new offence of aggravated labour law breach would apply.
Karen Bradley: The Government is seeking views in the consultation “Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market” on proposals to strengthen powers to deal with those who deliberately and persistently commit breaches of labour legislation. We will set out our proposed approach to the new offence in the response to the consultation early next year.
Paul Blomfield: [18120]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 14607 and with reference to the consultation document entitled, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, published in October 2015, what research (a) has been commissioned and (b) will be commissioned better to understand the nature of labour market non-compliance.
Karen Bradley: Labour market enforcement bodies routinely collect operational intelligence on the nature of labour market non-compliance. The Government is consulting on the merits of establishing a Director of Labour Market Enforcement, whose proposed role would include making better use of such intelligence and commissioning further research, if needed, to better understand the nature of non-compliance.
Gangmasters Licensing Authority: Police
Paul Blomfield: [18154]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the annual police expenditure on joint operations with the Gangmasters Licensing Authority has been in each of the last five years.
Karen Bradley: This information is not held centrally. It is an operational decision for Chief Constables, working with the relevant Police and Crime Commissioner, to determine the level of resources used in such instances.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of how many refugees will be resettled in the UK under the vulnerable persons programme in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018, (e) 2019 and (f) 2020.
Richard Harrington: The programme is driven by need, and the number resettled in a particular period will de-pend on a range of factors. This includes the number of referrals we have received from UNHCR and the number of confirmed places we have received from local authorities that are suitable for the specific needs of those who have been accepted for resettlement. Rather than a monthly or yearly target we acknowledge that some months we will resettle more or less than others because it is based on the need in the region at that time and the progress of those people through the system.
Refugees: Syria
Wayne David: [17821]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what security checks her Department carries out on refugees from Syria who are admitted to the UK.
Mr John Hayes: The Syrian nationals admitted to the UK under the UNHCR Resettlement Programme are some of the most vulnerable displaced people and they are taken directly from the region.
We take security extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement, working closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When refugees arrive in the UK they have been through a thorough two-stage vetting process to ensure we know who is entering the country. This includes the taking of biometric data, documentation verification and interviews. Potential resettlement cases are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further information on the details of the screening process itself.
Wayne David: [17822]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department carries out of the needs of Syrian refugees who are admitted to the UK to ensure they receive the support they need.
Richard Harrington: The UNHCR identifies refugees for potential resettlement under the Syrian VPR scheme using their vulnerability criteria. Once our security processes have been completed, a full medical assessment is conducted by the International Organisation for Migration in the host country. Local Authorities are provided with case details of all referrals so they can
consider whether they have the infrastructure and support networks needed to ensure appropriate care and integration of refugees.
Stephen Timms: [18222]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that Syrian refugees who are resettled in the UK as part of the vulnerable persons programme do not lose contact with family who are not also resettled in the UK.
Richard Harrington: The Syrian refugees being resettled in the UK are, wherever possible, resettled with their immediate family members. It is up to the individuals concerned to decide how best to maintain contact with their family members who are not in the UK.
Stephen Timms: [18224]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of how many Syrian refugees in the vulnerable persons programme will be resettled in (a) North East England, (b) North West England, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) the East Midlands, (e) the West Midlands, (f) the East of England, (g) Greater London, (h) South East England, (i) South West England, (j) Wales, (k) Scotland and (l) Northern Ireland by 2020.
Richard Harrington: We are still in discussions with many local authorities to establish whether they wish to participate in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.
Mr Douglas Carswell: [18248]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria are used for selection of Syrian refugees to come to the UK, outside the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme.
Richard Harrington: Syrians in need of protection are predominantly resettled through the Syrian Resettlement Scheme which has been expanded to resettle up to 20,000 during this Parliament. This is in addition to those resettled through our global resettlement schemes: Gateway and Mandate. Individuals resettled through Gateway and Mandate must be UNHCR recognised refugees who are judged by UNHCR to be in need of resettlement. Individuals resettled under Mandate must have a family member in the UK.
Mr Douglas Carswell: [18254]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Syrian refugees will qualify for (a) indefinite leave to remain and (b) UK citizenship after five years of residence.
Richard Harrington: Syrians who are resettled under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme are given a five year humanitarian protection visa. At the end of the 5 years they can apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) and if granted they can apply for UK citizenship 12 months later. Each application for settlement and citizenship is decided in accordance with our guidance for these routes.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to prevent recently arrived Syrian refugees on the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme from relocating to different areas of the UK from where they were originally located by that scheme.
Richard Harrington: Local authorities provide those resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme with a comprehensive support package which is tailored according to the individuals needs. We encourage refugees to remain where they have been resettled to take advantage of this offer, however, they are free to relocate within the UK if they choose to do so.
Mr Douglas Carswell: [18256]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what weight will be given to the security situation in Syria at such a time as Syrian refugees who have entered the UK due to the present crisis in that country become eligible for indefinite leave to remain of UK citizenship.
Richard Harrington: Syrians who are resettled under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain and UK citizenship at the expiration of their five year humanitarian protection visa. Each application will be assessed on a case by case basis in line with our guidance which considers the ongoing need for protection, including the security situation in Syria at the date of decision, as well as the individual’s behaviour.
UK Visas and Immigration: Internet
Dr Julian Lewis: [17396]
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the webchat service offered by the International Enquiry Service has been unavailable when required by enquirers.
Karen Bradley: [Holding answer 1 December 2015]: In July 2014 a decision was taken to cease the Web chat service provided by the International Enquiry Service. This allowed the provider to focus on the higher volumes of enquiries being received through the email and phone channels. These channels are currently delivering their services within published service standards. In addition, customers can access a range of information on our application processes for free through our pages on gov.uk.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department provides to support efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of that funding.
Mr Nick Hurd: DFID provides no bilateral aid to Brazil. As such, DFID does not provide any support to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation. DFID does provide support to stop deforestation in other developing countries, such as Indonesia, Liberia, and the Central Africa region, and this is a key priority for UK climate finance.
DFID’s relationship with Brazil focuses on working together in partnership to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in other developing countries.
Burundi: Humanitarian Aid
Jeremy Lefroy: [18124]
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to provide humanitarian funding to (a) refugees from and (b) internally displaced persons in Burundi.
Mr Nick Hurd: The UK Government is extremely concerned by the ongoing political unrest in Burundi and its humanitarian consequences, including internally displaced persons and the flow of Burundian refugees to neighbouring countries.
The UK is the second largest bilateral donor to the regional appeal, after the US. DFID offices across the region, including in Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, are working closely to monitor the situation, review preparedness activities and provide humanitarian support. £18.15 million has been committed by DFID for refugee response in the region through UN agencies, such as UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, and international NGOs. This funding includes £14.25 million to support refugees in Tanzania and £3.9 million to support refugees in Rwanda. We are staying in close contact with these agencies about future funding needs. DFID has deployed a Humanitarian Advisor to the region in support of the response and to monitor funding provided so far.
Department for International Development: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17769]
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of her Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Mr Nick Hurd: DFID is a leader in funding high-quality high-impact development research, providing technologies and rigorous evidence to tackle critical development challenges - from new treatments for children with malaria to what approaches work to prevent violence against women. DFID’s funding for research and development expenditure up to 2020 will be determined through the Department’s internal resource allocation process. Decisions will be based on an analysis of critical development challenges, key evidence and technology gaps, and DFID’s areas of comparative advantage as a research funder. We committed in our manifesto to lead a major new global programme to accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and in November announced the Ross Fund which will deliver on this commitment.
JUSTICE
Court Orders: Lancashire
Mr Mark Hendrick: [18051]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted by each magistrates' court in Lancashire in each month between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015 for breaching a restraining order; what the gender was of the people so convicted at each such court; and how many such people were given a (a) community order, (b) suspended sentence order and (c) term of imprisonment at each such court.
Mr Shailesh Vara: The number of offenders found guilty at each magistrates court in Lancashire for offences relating to breach of a restraining order, by month, in 2014 are in Table 1 below. This is the latest period available. The number of defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for offences relating to the breach of a restraining order in all magistrates’ courts in Lancashire in 2014 can be viewed in Table 2 below. This data has been provided by the local justice area: the data requested is not available at magistrates’ court level.
Data by gender is not provided on a sub-national level as numbers are too small. This is in line with the Criminal Justice Statistics disclosure policy to prevent the identification of individuals.
TABLE 1: OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY AT MAGISTRATES' COURT FOR OFFENCES RELATING TO BREACH OF A
RESTRAINING ORDER (1) BY LOCAL JUSTICE AREA, IN LANCASHIRE, BY MONTH, 2014 (2)(3)
Local Justice Area
Jan-14
Feb-14
Mar-14
Apr-14
May-14
Jun-14
Jul-14 Aug-14
Sep-14
Oct-14
Nov-14
Dec-14
Total
East Lancashire
4 1 9 4 4 6 3 3 3 11 3 4 55
Flyde Coast
7 1 0 8 5 7 8 15 9 5 7 5 77
Chorley 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 9
Lancaster 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 3 0 2 13
Ormskirk 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 10
Preston 7 7 3 6 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 29
South Ribble
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Preston and South Ribble
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 3 9 4 6 28
Burndley, Pendle, and Rossendale LJA
3 4 2 4 2 5 5 3 3 5 7 1 44
Total 26 14 16 24 12 23 24 27 22 34 24 19 265
(1) An offence under S5(5) & (6)Protection from Harassment Act 1997
(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
54 Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 ANSWERS
TABLE 1: OFFENDERS FOUND GUILTY AT MAGISTRATES' COURT FOR OFFENCES RELATING TO BREACH OF A
RESTRAINING ORDER (1) BY LOCAL JUSTICE AREA, IN LANCASHIRE, BY MONTH, 2014 (2)(3)
Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.
Ref: PQC 18051
TABLE 2: DEFENDANTS SENTENCED AT MAGISTRATES' COURT FOR OFFENCES RELATING TO BREACH OF
A RESTRAINING ORDER, BY LOCAL JUSTICE AREA IN LANCASHIRE, 2014 (1)(2)
Offence
Outcome
East Lancashire
Flyde Coast
Chorley
Lancaster
Ormskirk
Preston
South Ribble
Preston and South Ribble
Burndley, Pendle, and Rossendale
Breach of a Restraining Order (3)
Sentenced
55 77 9 13 10 29 0 28 44
Of which:
Committed for sentence
2 8 1 1 1 3 0 2 5
Absolutedischarge
- - 1 0 0 0 0 0
Conditionaldischarge
6 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 3
Fine 5 14 0 1 0 5 0 6 6
Communitysentence
10 16 2 9 7 6 0 5 13
Suspended sentences
8 14 1 0 2 8 0 3 4
Immediatecustody
21 14 3 1 0 7 0 10 11
Otherwisedealtwith
3 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 ANSWERS 55
TABLE 2: DEFENDANTS SENTENCED AT MAGISTRATES' COURT FOR OFFENCES RELATING TO BREACH OF
A RESTRAINING ORDER, BY LOCAL JUSTICE AREA IN LANCASHIRE, 2014 (1)(2)
Compensation order
- - 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
(3) An offence under S5(5) & (6)Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.
Ref: PQC 18051
Courts: WiFi
Mr David Anderson: [17618]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of courts and tribunal buildings in England and Wales have wifi access.
Mr Shailesh Vara: One of the main projects within the Criminal Justice Efficiency Programme was to introduce Wi-Fi throughout the criminal courts, allowing professional court users access to their home systems and the internet, improving their productivity and efficiency of flow of cases in court. With 158 courthouses already connected, the Programme is on track to deliver to all criminal courts well before summer 2016. Further courts may come into scope depending on the outcome of the consultation on the court estate which is currently underway. In addition to the wifi provided for professional court users many
courts have commercially provided BT wifi solutions to allow court users to access the internet. These have been installed locally and no central record is held on the exact number of courts where this is available.
We have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.
Crime and Courts Act 2013
Paul Farrelly: [17595]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which sections of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 have not yet been implemented.
Mike Penning: Most of the Act has been implemented, but the sections which have not been commenced are listed below.
PROVISION NOT IN FORCE
s.26(1), (3)-(8)
s.40ss. 41 & 42 (in so far as they are ancillary to section 40)
S.56 and Sch.22 (commenced in England and Wales only)
Sch. 8 (11)
Sch. 9 (62) (Repealed)
Sch. 13 Part 4
s.44 (only to the extent it enacts the following provisions in Sch. 16)Sch. 16, Part 4 (11-21)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) regulations and (b) guidance apply to Sheriffs breaking into commercial properties to recover debts.
Mr Shailesh Vara: The rules governing the power to enter a commercial property for enforcement by taking control of goods are contained in Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Enforcement under a High Court Writ, which was the responsibility of Sheriffs, is now carried out by High Court Enforcement Officers pursuant to the High Court Enforcement Officers Regulations 2004. Paragraphs 14 to 30 of Schedule 12 (as amended by the Crime and Courts Act 2013) make provision concerning powers of entry for the purposes of enforcement, and paragraphs 18A and 19 make provision specifically in relation to the power to use reasonable force to enter premises at which the enforcement officer reasonably believes the debtor carries on a trade or a business. The Ministry of Justice has produced guidance, the Taking Control of Goods: National Standards, to support creditors and enforcement agents and promote minimum standards. It is available on the Gov.uk website.
Domestic Violence Protection Orders: Lancashire
Mr Mark Hendrick: [18052]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Domestic Violence Protection Orders were issued by each magistrates' court in Lancashire in each month between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015; and what the gender was of the people on whom the orders were served.
Mr Shailesh Vara: Applications for Domestic Violence Protection Orders were first made in Lancashire in August 2014, with all applications being heard at Preston Magistrates’ Courts. The table below shows the number of orders issued and the gender of the people on whom the orders were served during the requested period:
NOTE: ~ Numbers based on less than five cases are suppressed for confidentiality reasons.
Ministry of Justice: Families
Caroline Ansell: [17928]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training his Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps he has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of his Department; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Dinenage: This department has liaised directly with DWP for advice and guidance on applying the Family Test in policy development. Policymakers in this department have been encouraged to attend Family test training on applying the Test and have been made aware of best practice.
Ministry of Justice: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17770]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Mike Penning: The amount of funding allocated for research and development will be determined through the Ministry of Justice’s internal budget setting process. This process has not yet concluded so the amount is not known.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been found (a) in possession and (b) under the influence of drugs in each of the last five years in each region.
David Simpson: [17683]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been found (a) in possession and (b) under the influence of alcohol in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous: We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has in place a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques to detect items of contraband including drugs and alcohol, to prevent smuggling into prisons. We use specially trained dogs to detect illicit alcohol and drugs. We are also piloting the use of body scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body. There has been an increase in the number of drug finds over the past five years, which is likely to have been partly caused by improved and increased reporting.
NOMS does not record centrally the number of prisoners found under the influence of alcohol and drugs. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The table below gives the number of prisoners found in possession of alcoholin prisons in England and Wales in the timeframe requested.
NUMBER OF ALCOHOL 1 RELATED FINDS INCIDENTS, ENGLAND AND WALES, 2010 TO OCTOBER 2015 2
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 to
October (2)
Number of incidents
387 574 805 875 1,091 1,045
(1) Changes were introduced to the Incident Report System in September 2015 that improved the recording of alcohol finds. Prior to these changes, figures were produced by searching for the words "alcohol", "hooch" and "fermenting liquid" in the incident text.
(2) Data for 2015 up to 31st October only
The table below gives the number of prisoners found in possession of drugs in prisons in England and Wales in the timeframe requested:
INCIDENTS WHERE DRUGS WERE FOUND IN PRISONER'S POSSESSION 1 , ENGLAND AND WALES, 2010 TO
INCIDENTS WHERE DRUGS WERE FOUND IN PRISONER'S POSSESSION 1 , ENGLAND AND WALES, 2010 TO
OCTOBER 2015 2 , BY REGION
October (2)
East Midlands
161 224 247 219 249 212
East of England
60 45 119 108 185 167
Greater London
66 68 83 140 216 201
Kent and Sussex
102 96 72 77 216 156
North East 163 188 233 110 132 98
North West 345 240 310 352 560 629
South Central
31 31 31 35 31 70
South West 101 122 134 87 122 116
Wales 47 34 42 57 59 88
West Midlands
64 92 160 190 284 275
Yorkshire and Humberside
102 76 134 181 235 242
Escort areas 6 1 0 0 0 1
Total 1,248 1,217 1,565 1,556 2,289 2,255
(1) Where drugs were found in a cell search, strip search and other search (inmate).
(2) Data for 2015 up to 31st October only.
Changes were introduced to the Incident Report System in October 2015 that improved the recording of drug finds. Prior to these changes, figures were produced by searching in the incident text.
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 ANSWERS 61
All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.
NOMS does not record centrally the number of prisoners who are found under the influence of drugs and could not do so without incurring disproportionate cost by conducting a survey of every prison establishment.
Prisons: Religious Practice
Paul Maynard: [17977]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the speech given by the Secretary of State for Justice at Prisons Hearing Alliance on 17 July 2015, whether he plans for participation in chaplaincy-led programmes with a proven effect on rehabilitation rates to count towards earned release in the same manner as does classroom-based educational activities.
Andrew Selous: Reoffending rates for offenders sentenced to custody are too high and the Ministry of Justice is looking at ways to make sure that offenders are properly rehabilitated and better equipped to lead a crime free life. As the Secretary of State indicated in his speech of 17 July, earned release is being explored as an option to help achieve this. We are still at the very early stages of exploring how any earned release scheme might work.
Reoffenders
David Simpson: [17823]
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people released from prison reoffended within six months in each region in each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous: The Government does not hold six month proven re-offending rates.
A link to the one year proven re-offending rates for the last five years for those released from custody can be found here in table C2a (Adult proven re-offending data) and C2b (Juvenile proven re-offending data):
In the quarterly proven re-offending statistics, a proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period that leads to a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up or within a further six month waiting period to allow the offence to be proven in court.
To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he has had with the Arab League on the situation in Syria before he published his response to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, on the Extension of Offensive British Military Operations to Syria, HC 457.
Mr David Cameron: The Government are in regular contact with the Arab League who attended the International Syria Support Group in Vienna on 14 November. Nabil Al-Araby, Chair of the Arab League, participated in a discussion on Syria with UK representatives at the United Nations General Assembly on 30 September. We remain committed to engagement and coordination with regional partners in our efforts to degrade Daesh in Syria.
Paul Flynn: [18001]
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to pages 12 and 13 of his response to the Second Report from the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, on the Extension of Offensive Military Operations to Syria, HC 457, what specific steps have been taken through the Financial Action Task Force and Egmont Groups to block funding of ISIS.
Mr David Cameron: The Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) report on ‘Financing of the Terrorist Organisation ISIL’ (Feb 2015) sets out specific measures which countries should adopt, over and above general measures designed to block terrorist financing, to ensure Daesh cannot access the international financial system. The FATF conducted a report for the G20 Leaders in November 2015 on implementation. They found almost all 194 jurisdictions had criminalised terrorist financing and 90% of jurisdictions had a legal framework to enforce sanctions. There were 33 jurisdictions which had secured convictions for terrorist financing.
The Egmont Group comprises 151 members, including the UK, USA, France and regional partners such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Lebanon. In June 2015 the Group expanded its membership; 42 new bilateral agreements to exchange information were announced to help combat global money laundering and terrorist threats. The Group also issued a communication to its members in June 2015 regarding Daesh which encouraged members to use its unique global network to combat Daesh money laundering and financing by increasing international cooperation, including the exchange of information.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Comprehensive Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
David Mundell: Spending Review 2015 set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people. Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.
TRANSPORT
[Subject Heading to be Assigned]
Sadiq Khan: [18230]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many assaults there were on staff working for (a) London Underground, (b) London Overground, (c) London buses, (d) Docklands Light Railway and (e) Tramlink in each hour of the day in 2014.
Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Transport does not collect this information.
However, I am able to say that the British Transport Police will shortly be launching Project Servator, which aims to detect and deter crime on the railways. It deploys highly visible and unpredictable police patrols to prevent a range of criminal activity, from pickpocketing and theft to more serious crimes including terrorism.
Channel Tunnel Railway Line
Mrs Cheryl Gillan: [18241]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the average operating speed for High Speed trains to Europe.
Claire Perry: Eurostar operate passenger trains from London into Europe at speeds of up to 186 miles per hour.
Department for Transport: Redundancy
Louise Haigh: [18112]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) redundancy and (b) voluntary exit schemes for civil servants are currently in operation in his Department.
Mr Robert Goodwill: The Central department has two voluntary exit schemes. These are both small, targeted schemes aimed at specific groups of people who we have not been able to redeploy or who do not have the skills and capabilities we need.
There are also 2 schemes in DVLA which have received Cabinet Office approval and are underway. There are
1. A voluntary redundancy scheme – this is required to deal with a number of people who have TUPE transferred into DVLA from Fujitsu following the insourcing of our IT function, who are based in locations which are not within travelling distance of Swansea and are not able to move home
2. A voluntary exit scheme – this is required to deal with surplus numbers of people based in Swansea following the TUPE transfer into DVLA from Fujitsu, Concentrix and IBM as result of the insourcing of the DVLA IT function
The Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency has no redundancy and one voluntary exit scheme currently in place. The voluntary exit scheme is to enable staff who have been identified as surplus to be released if needed as a result of the agency restructuring. It is not open for general applications.
Department for Transport: Staff
Louise Haigh: [18111]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants were employed in his Department in each year from 2010 to 2015.
Mr Robert Goodwill: The number of people employed in the Department for Transport in each financial year is shown for each year in the table below. As at March 15 there were 17,142 employees.
HEADCOUNT MAR '10 MAR '11 MAR '12 MAR '13 MAR '14 MAR '15
HEADCOUNT MAR '10 MAR '11 MAR '12 MAR '13 MAR '14 MAR '15
Government Car Despatch Agency
329 235 178 91 * *
Highways Agency
3,834 3,633 3,488 3,331 3,471 3,757
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
1,230 1,142 1,118 1,086 1,073 1,064
Vehicle Certification Agency
149 147 156 156 163 166
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
2,527 2,305 2,206 2,265 2,268 **
Total DfT 19,220 18,251 17,725 17,571 16,661 17,142
Notes to Data
* GCDA ceased to be an Agency and joined the central Department as the Government Car Service (GCS) in July 2012, but continued to report their staff separately until March 2013 due to using a different shared services system. After this date, the GCS was reported as part of the central Department
** In April 2014 DSA and VOSA merged to form a new Agency called the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)
Louise Haigh: [18151]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the scale of the change of his Department's workforce arising from the departmental settlement announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Mr Robert Goodwill: As set out in Table 1.B of the Spending Review document, the Department’s Spending Review settlement includes a real terms reduction to its administration budget of 12%. The Department’s workforce will need to reduce broadly in line with this settlement.
Motor Vehicles: Fires
Richard Burden: [18115]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Vauxhall on Zafira models catching fire.
Andrew Jones: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is in regular contact with Vauxhall regarding their investigation into the cause of the fires. Vauxhall are continuing their action of notifying owners of Zafira's, requesting the return of the vehicle to a franchised dealer for inspection of the heating and ventilation system.
DVSA have a forthcoming meeting with Vauxhall to evaluate early evidence from the fire damaged vehicles and those vehicles examined as part of the pro-active action. DVSA will continue to work with the manufacturer to identify the cause of the fires and agree an action going forward to address the issue.
Railways: Contracts
Angela Rayner: [17091]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which passenger rail contracts let by (a) his Department, (b) the Scottish Government, (c) the Welsh Government, (d) Transport for London and (e) Merseyrail are (i) franchises, (ii) concessions, (iii) management contracts and (iv) other types of passenger rail contract.
Claire Perry: Under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 (as amended), all operational contracts for the supply of passenger rail services are franchises.
Railways: Franchises
Angela Rayner: [17079]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which current rail franchises include break clauses; and what is the purpose of each of those break clauses.
Claire Perry: Older franchise agreements including Chiltern (let in 2002) and Wales & Borders (let in 2003) have continuation reviews at defined points, which could allow the removal of a poorly performing operator. Newer franchise agreements do not have continuation reviews at pre-defined points but the Department has the right under the Franchise Agreement to terminate the franchise in the event of severe and continuing non-compliance with the Agreement.
Railways: North of England
Angela Rayner: [17020]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the franchise agreements for Northern Rail and TransPennine Express will be published.
Andrew Jones: The draft franchise agreements are already published by the Department:
and the final agreements will be published after the conclusions of the franchise competitions, due in December 2015, and when the agreed redactions have taken place.
Angela Rayner: [17103]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers he proposes that Rail North will exercise in respect of the Northern and TransPennine Express rail franchises by May 2016.
Andrew Jones: In March of this year the Department for Transport (DfT) signed a formal partnership agreement with Rail North. This agreement sets out the arrangements by which a locally-based team in Leeds, reporting to a joint Rail North/ DfT strategic board will manage the new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises from April 2016. The agreement includes important mechanisms to enable the Rail North authorities to make decisions on changes to their local rail service and fares and to make investments in these franchises to make improvements.
It also sets out the steps by which further devolution will be agreed by the parties during the life of the franchises.
Angela Rayner: [17104]
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers he plans Rail North to assume in relation to rail franchises by 2020.
Andrew Jones: In March of this year the Department for Transport (DfT) signed a formal partnership agreement with Rail North. This agreement sets out the arrangements by which a locally-based team in Leeds, reporting to a joint Rail North/DfT strategic board will manage the new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises from April 2016. The agreement includes important mechanisms to enable the Rail North authorities to make decisions on changes to their local rail service and fares and to make investments in these franchises to make improvements. The partnership agreement with Rail North signed in March 2015 sets out the steps by which further devolution will be agreed by the parties during the life of the franchises.
WALES
S4C: Finance
Susan Elan Jones: [17789]
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if he will meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the effect of the reductions in funding to S4C proposed in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Stephen Crabb: I have regular meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which provide opportunities to discuss a range of issues, including matters related to funding of services across Wales.
The Government is committed to Welsh language programming and to the future of S4C. The majority of S4C’s funding comes via the BBC and last week's spending review settlement on the Government element of S4C's funding therefore represents a modest reduction in its overall funding.
Wales Office: Research
Nicola Blackwood: [17777]
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much of his Department's funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.
Alun Cairns: The Wales Office allocates no funding specifically for research and development. The Department funds research and development on a case by case basis, and any future spend will be met from within the Department’s overall spending review settlement.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Department for Work and Pensions: Religion
Mr Mark Hendrick: [18055]
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which faith-based organisations Ministers of his Department have visited since June 2015.
Justin Tomlinson: There has been one visit undertaken by a DWP Minister to a faith-based organisation since June 2015.
MINISTER ORGANISATION DATE
Justin Tomlinson MP The Message Trust 6 Th October 2015
Funeral Payments
Chi Onwurah: [18149]
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Funeral Payment provision for funeral expenses.
Justin Tomlinson: The Social Fund Funeral Payment scheme continues to provide valuable help towards the cost of a funeral for people in receipt of a qualifying benefit. My department continually reviews the scheme to improve and streamline it.
Funeral Expenses Payments are made to all applicants who satisfy the eligibility criteria. Awards cover the full necessary costs involved with either burial or cremation and up to £700 for other funeral expenses. In 2014/15 over 32,000 awards were made to people in Great Britain. These payments were worth £44 million, with an average award of £1,375. The average award has increased by 27% since 2006.
Social Fund Budgeting Loans are also available to help with funeral expenses for people who have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit for at least 26 weeks.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Dr Eilidh Whiteford: [18116]
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for which the jobseeker's allowance claimant rate is falling faster than the unemployment rate; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of people eligible to claim jobseeker's allowance in 2013-14 who did not do so.
Priti Patel: It is not appropriate to consider Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) in isolation because the roll out of Universal Credit (UC) means growing numbers now claim UC rather than JSA.
The Office for National Statistics publishes claimant count figures that combine JSA and those claiming UC who are not in work. This does not show the claimant rate falling faster than the unemployment rate. In fact over the past quarter the claimant rate has remained flat while the unemployment rate has fallen 0.3 percentage points.
Estimates of the take-up of income-related benefits in 2013-14 have already been published and are available at the following link:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the current average waiting time is for a workplace capability assessment.
Priti Patel: Official statistics for the current average waiting times for a Work Capability Assessment are not readily available and to provide the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.
70 Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 WRITTEN STATEMENTS
WRITTEN STATEMENTS
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
55th Horserace Betting Levy Scheme
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage (Tracey Crouch): [HCWS353]
On 4th November 2015 the Chair of the Horserace Betting Levy Board (‘the HBLB’) informed me that the HBLB had been unable to approve a recommendation from the Bookmakers’ Committee as to the terms of the 55th Levy scheme. Under section 1(2) of the Horserace Betting Levy Act 1969 (‘the Act’), it therefore now falls to me to determine those terms. The Act allows me to determine a new scheme for the said period; or direct that the current scheme shall continue to have effect for that period.
I have decided to direct that the current Levy scheme should continue to have effect for 2016/17. In making this Determination I have had regard to the offer made by the Bookmakers’ Committee, which also proposed that the headline rate of 10.75% was maintained for another year. I also took into account the reasons why the offer was rejected by the HBLB, which is because racing felt that it could not accept the overall proposed package, which included supplementary contributions outside of the statutory Levy.
Any discussions or negotiations about voluntary Levy contributions in respect of offshore remote betting operators are outside the scope of my statutory role in making this Determination. I am aware that such negotiations took place and several bookmakers had undertaken to make wholly voluntary Levy contributions, which would have secured additional funding for racing for the next three years, and I welcome this offer. With the statutory Levy rate now set for next year, I hope that these discussions continue and that an agreement can be reached.
Having concluded the Determination I would like express my disappointment that the HBLB and Bookmakers’ Committee were not able to agree the Levy scheme and that it has been necessary to refer this matter to Government.
HEALTH
Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council in Brussels: 7 December 2015
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jane Ellison): [HCWS354]
The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will meet on 7 December in Brussels. The Health and Consumer Affairs part of the Council will take place in the afternoon.
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 WRITTEN STATEMENTS 71
Council conclusions – The Council will adopt conclusions on:
• “An EU strategy on the Reduction of Alcohol-related Harm”
• Personalised Medicines for Patients
• Supporting People Living with Dementia: Improving Care Policies and Practices
• Lessons Learned for Public Health from the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa – Health Security in the European Union
Under Any Other Business there will also be presentations on three other points:
Regulations on medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices – the Presidency will provide an update on the state of play, with negotiations currently at trialogue stage.
The regulations seek to address weaknesses in the current regulatory system, ensure a more consistent level of implementation across the EU, and ensure that the EU will continue to be viewed by business as an innovation-friendly regulatory environment. The UK has broadly supported the Commission’s proposals in order to ensure high standards of patient safety.
Public Health conferences – information from the Presidency of conferences they organised in this field
Dutch Presidency – the Dutch delegation will set out priorities for their forthcoming Presidency, which will run from January until June 2016.
For information, I attach a copy of the latest agenda.
Attachments:
1. EPSCO Agenda - 7 Dec 2015 [EPSCO Agenda - 7 December 2015.pdf]
HOME OFFICE
WePROTECT Global Summit to Tackle Online Child Sexual Exploitation
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May): [HCWS356]
I am pleased to share with the House the Government’s progress in galvanising a coordinated global response against online child sexual exploitation.
On 16 and 17 November the UK and United Arab Emirates brought together governments, companies and civil society organisations in Abu Dhabi for the second WePROTECT Summit, to protect children from online sexual exploitation. This built on the first Summit hosted by the Prime Minister in London last year.
While I could not attend due to the Paris attacks, Baroness Shields and His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan opened the Summit. I am pleased Baroness Shields was able to attend in my place, and welcome that she has been appointed as joint Minister for Internet Safety and Security for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office. This appointment serves to further underpin the importance this Government places on tackling online child sexual exploitation. The event secured a wider global reach for
72 Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 WRITTEN STATEMENTS
WePROTECT, with new countries from the Middle East and Latin America and, for the first time, China. This brought to 62 the total number of countries and international organisations signed up to the WePROTECT commitments.
The Summit commitments included an agreement on taking coordinated national action against online child sexual exploitation, guided by the WePROTECT Model National Response. To drive national action, governments will publish an analysis of their own response and use this to identify further capabilities needed.
I am pleased to say that the UK has already made significant progress in tackling this crime. All UK police forces and the National Crime Agency are now connected to the new Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) that was launched last year. A new operational victim identification strategy has been established around CAID by the National Crime Agency and is helping to identify even more victims of online child abuse. In the first six months of this year alone, UK authorities identified over 185 victims – already more than for the whole of any previous year.
In addition, the Internet Watch Foundation shared almost 19,000 digital fingerprints of child sexual abuse material – all of which originated from CAID – with five major global technology firms, to enable the removal and prevent the sharing of potentially thousands of images from their platforms and services. Companies have committed to build on this by coordinating the sharing of these digital fingerprints globally. The Prime Minister will hold international discussions next year to take this forward.
We are also fulfilling our commitment to support others to build their capabilities. At the London Summit, the Prime Minister pledged £50 million over five years to tackle violence against children globally. The first £10m of this funding is financing a global programme by UNICEF to tackle online child sexual exploitation in 17 countries.
To drive further progress, all WePROTECT signatories at the Abu Dhabi Summit agreed to put the WePROTECT Advisory Board on a firm long-term footing, as a body responsible to all those signed up to this initiative and charged with supporting countries and other stakeholders to implement their commitments. The Board will also take forward a joint proposal by the UK, US and EU Commission to merge WePROTECT with the Global Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Online to bring together global efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation.
JUSTICE
Courts
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Michael Gove): [HCWS355]
The courts take money from offenders in a number of ways, including fines, the victim surcharge, compensation orders, prosecution costs and the Criminal Courts Charge.
Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 WRITTEN STATEMENTS 73
This array of penalties, fines and charges is complex and confusing. I have therefore asked my department to review the entire structure, and purpose, of court-ordered financial impositions for offenders, in order to bring greater simplicity and clarity to the system.
This review will seek to achieve three goals: giving the judiciary greater discretion in setting financial impositions; making financial penalties a more effective tool in delivering improved non-custodial sentences; and ensuring that money raised through financial penalties plays an appropriate - and sustainable - role in supporting taxpayers to meet the costs of running the courts.
The review will consider how to ensure offenders make a fair contribution. The Criminal Courts Charge was introduced in order to ensure that those who break the law make a financial contribution to the costs of seeing justice done.
The basic principle behind the policy – that those who have broken the law should bear some of the costs of running the criminal courts – is right. However, as the Justice Select Committee set out in its recent report, there have been concerns raised about how this has worked in practice.
I am today laying in Parliament an amending statutory instrument which will mean that, as of 24 December, the criminal courts charge will no longer be imposed. Our review will consider alternative ways of ensuring that criminals pay their fair share.
TRANSPORT
Rail Franchising - West Midlands
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Claire Perry): [HCWS351]
Today I have announced the successful conclusion of negotiations for a new Directly Awarded Franchise agreement with London Midland. This deal will see London Midland continue to run passenger rail services on the West Midlands franchise until October 2017 covering services between London, the West Midlands and the North West of England. The Direct Award ensures continuity of passenger services and paves the way for the start of the formal franchise that will commence in Autumn 2017. This franchise competition will be launched later this month.
During the course of this Direct Award, West Midlands passengers will benefit from a £13 million package of improvements; which builds on the massive £750 million refurbishment of Birmingham New Street station and the investment of a £60 million fleet of brand new trains, which has already been delivered.
First, the new Direct Award will put the passenger first and provide new and extended services across the route; resulting in around 6,600 additional seats from Euston to Crewe, into Birmingham on a Sunday and the Abbey line every week. These services include two extra evening services every weekday from London Euston to the Trent Valley providing 2,300 extra seats each week; earlier services to Birmingham on Sunday mornings from a number of towns including Rugby and Lichfield, with new Sunday services from Dorridge, Whitlocks End and Longbridge providing more than 900 extra seats, and an extra return
74 Daily Report Thursday, 3 December 2015 WRITTEN STATEMENTS
evening service on the Abbey line between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey which will provide an extra 3,400 seats every week.
Second, passengers will benefit from new ticket machines, an upgrade of existing ticket machines with ‘click and collect’ capability and contactless payment options. Also, passengers on all long-distance services between London Euston, Birmingham, Crewe and Liverpool will be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi. When the next full franchise starts in 2017, it is our commitment to roll-out free Wi-Fi on all London Midland services.
Third, new passenger satisfaction, punctuality and cleanliness targets will be introduced on the franchise. These commitments will be supported through greater staff presence. In the contract, London Midland will recruit additional drivers, conductors, revenue protection staff and employ more apprentices in different departments across the business. London Midland will be contracted to achieve a 2% improvement in overall customer satisfaction before the end of the Direct Award franchise.
As well as the benefits delivered through the Direct Award franchise, the government is also continuing to invest in rail infrastructure in the franchise area, improve rail services in the West Midlands including projects to electrify the line at Bromsgrove and between Walsall and Rugeley, as well building a new station at Kenilworth.
Reaching this agreement with London Midland builds on the success of my Department’s ongoing rail franchising programme; working in partnership with the rail industry to deliver better services for passengers as well as value for money for the taxpayer.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Agenda of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) 7 December 2015, Brussels
The Minister for Employment (Priti Patel): [HCWS352]
The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will take place on 7 December 2015 in Brussels. Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, will represent the UK.
The Council will be invited to seek a general approach on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on a better gender balance among the non-executive directors of listed companies and related measures.
The Council will receive a progress report on the Proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
The Council will be invited to adopt draft Council Conclusions on; equality between women and men in the field of decision making, the promotion of social enterprise as a key driver of economic and social development in Europe and on social governance for an inclusive Europe.
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The Council will be invited to seek political agreement on a Proposal for a Council Recommendation concerning the integration of the long term unemployed into the labour market.
The European Commission will present the Annual Growth Survey 2016, the draft Joint Employment Report, the Alert Mechanism Report and also seek the views of Member States on a draft Recommendation of the Council of the Eurozone.
Under any other business, the Presidency will provide an update on progress on EURES and undeclared work. The Commission will present information on the Pact for Youth Employment launched at the summit “Enterprise 2020”, the European Accessibility Act and measures to advance the equal treatment of LGBTI people. The current Presidency will report on the conferences and initiatives it has organised and the Dutch delegation will present the work programme of their upcoming Presidency.
