Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of successful child sexual abuse prosecutions that resulted in a criminal compensation order in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The number of prosecutions, convictions, sentences, compensation orders and average compensation amount for child sex abuse offences in 2017 can be viewed in the table attached.
Court statistics on prosecutions and convictions for 2018 will be published in May 2019.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average compensation award was for successful child sexual abuse prosecutions which resulted in a criminal compensation order in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The number of prosecutions, convictions, sentences, compensation orders and average compensation amount for child sex abuse offences in 2017 can be viewed in the table attached.
Court statistics on prosecutions and convictions for 2018 will be published in May 2019.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on reports from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Answered by Mark Field
We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government’s deepening crackdown; including credible reports of re-education camps, and widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities.
During China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November, the UK made a statement which described our concern about the treatment of ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghurs. We issued a specific recommendation, calling on China to implement the recommendations by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Xinjiang, and to allow the UN to monitor the implementation.
I raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during my visit to China on 22 July 2018. The Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns about the region with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China on 30 July 2018.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of people admitted to hospital after a suicide attempt were discharged with no follow-up appointment or care plan.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mental health providers are required to provide a follow-up to patients on a Care Programme Approach and discharged from hospital within seven days. The latest data provided by NHS England shows that over 95% of mental health providers are meeting this standard.
We would also expect that mental health providers to implement the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice (2015) which recommends a discharge plan is developed upon a patient’s imminent discharge from hospital. This should include a care plan for their ongoing needs and support.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of providing additional signalling staff to enable the earlier running of Sunday services between Derby and Crewe.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The cost of providing additional signalling staff to enable earlier services to operate on Sundays between Derby and Crewe in the next East Midlands franchise is estimated to cost approximately £53,000 per annum. This cost was supplied by Network Rail prior to the ITT for the franchise being issued.
Delivering earlier services on this route on Sundays was a clear stakeholder aspiration raised during the public consultation for the franchise. Delivering this commitment will create wider economic benefits through enhanced rail services allowing greater access to jobs, leisure activities and shopping in the region.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of violence against the Hazara people in Afghanistan; and what support the UK Government is providing to the Afghan Government to help protect the Hazara people.
Answered by Mark Field
We are concerned by reports of civilian casualties and displacement resulting from recent Taliban attacks in districts predominantly populated by Hazaras. We continue to monitor the situation closely, especially in Ghazni and Uruzgan districts. We understand that the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) are working to stabilise the security situation in both provinces.
The UK provides a range of support which aims to enhance the Afghan Government’s ability to protect all Afghan citizens, including minority ethnic and religious groups such as the Hazaras. DFID is a leading humanitarian donor and has contributed £42 million towards lifesaving humanitarian aid in Afghanistan this year. Through our contributions to NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, the UK is also committed to supporting the Afghan Security Forces to ensure their capability continues to improve in order to protect all ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan.
The British Government continues to urge all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan to respect international humanitarian law, protect the civilian population and facilitate the provision of assistance by neutral and impartial humanitarian agencies. We urge the Government of Afghanistan to protect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups, including the Hazaras, in line with the Afghan constitution.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress is being made on ensuring that government departments buy more British food.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
All fresh milk served in government establishments and more than 90% of butter and cheese served is made from British milk. This represents £11 million of business for British dairy farmers.
We are working with all central Departments to ensure their food and catering contracts comply with the balanced scorecard approach.
The Ministry of Justice recently launched a tender for supplying food to prisons, worth £500m, which requires bids to use the balanced scorecard. From April this year all 30 million portions of UHT milk supplied to prisons each year is 100% British milk. We are working with MoD to develop the best way to embed the balanced scorecard into their forthcoming contracts for the Armed Forces at home and abroad.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the (a) potential merits and (b) cost to the public purse of extending the class 1 secondary national insurance contributions exemption for employees aged under 21 to include employees aged under 25.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government is determined to support young people into work. The existing Employer NICs relief for under 21 year olds recognises that the problem of youth unemployment is most acute for those at the youngest end of the scale. The Employer NICs relief for apprentices under 25 (to be introduced this April) focuses resources on those seeking to gain skills and experience through an apprenticeship to improve their employment prospects.
HM Revenue and Customs does not routinely estimate the cost of extending tax or NICs reliefs, so an accurate assessment of the cost of extending the Employer NICs relief to all under 25s is not available. However, the Government keeps all taxes and tax reliefs under review as a matter of course. Any decision on extending these existing NICs reliefs would depend on whether this would offer value for money in helping young people find and stay in work.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse has been of the extension of the Class 1 Secondary National Insurance Contributions exemption for employees aged under 21 to date.
Answered by David Gauke
The information requested is not available as HM Revenue and Customs does not routinely produce in-year estimates of the cost of abolishing Class 1 employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) for employees under the age of 21.
However a full year costing estimate of this policy is published in table 2.2 of Budget 2015 which is available from the following address:
The estimates for each financial year from 2015 to 2020 are as follows:
| £ million | ||||
2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | |
-450 | -500 | -535 | -560 | -585 | |
These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) outturn data up to 2012-13, and then projected to 2019-20 in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2015 economic and fiscal outlook.
Asked by: Andrew Griffiths (Conservative - Burton)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many and what proportion of children in need (a) applied to and (b) entered university in the most recent years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Data published by UCAS show that young people from the most disadvantaged areas in England were more likely to enter higher education in 2014 than ever before, and the latest figures for 2015 show that the application rate was at a record level.
Acceptances and entry rates1 for 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas2 in England
Year of entry | ||||||
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
Acceptances | N/A | 19,130 | 19,920 | 19,890 | 21.180 | 22,980 |
Entry rate | 13.6% | 14.0% | 15.0% | 15.1% | 16.4% | 18.2% |
Source: UCAS end of cycle report December 2014. Comparable figures for 2015 will be published in December. N/A = not available.
Application rates3 for 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas2 in England
Year of entry | ||||||
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
Application rate | 18.0% | 18.6% | 17.9% | 18.9% | 20.4% | 21.0% |
Source: UCAS application rate report January 2015.
1. The entry rate is the percentage of the 18 year old population accepted into higher education through UCAS.
2. Quintile 1 of the POLAR indicator. The POLAR classification developed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) classifies small areas across the UK into five groups according to their level of young participation (entry at age 18 or 19) in higher education. Each of these groups represents around 20 per cent of young people and are ranked from quintile 1 (areas with the lowest young participation rates, considered as the most disadvantaged) to quintile 5 (highest young participation rates, considered most advantaged).
3. The application rate is the percentage of the 18 year old population who apply to higher education via UCAS.