David Hanson

Information regarding trade envoys can be found on the gov.uk website.

Information regarding trade envoys can be found on the gov.uk website.

We have ongoing discussions with the construction sector about the CITB Levy scheme on how existing arrangements are affected, and whether any changes are required, including whether they may wish to see changes to the CITB levy regime when the apprenticeship levy takes effect.

The apprenticeship levy is economy wide. It will apply to all employers with a pay bill over £3,000,000 including those in the construction and engineering construction sectors.We are aware that the industry is concerned about the potential impact of paying two levies. We are working closely with the Industry Training Boards who will consult with their members ahead of the introduction of the apprenticeships levy on how their existing arrangements will be affected.

We will be confirming our plans for future competitive CFD allocation rounds in due course and are considering how we use the tools available under the CFD to implement the manifesto commitment to end new subsidies for onshore wind.

Lenders participating in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme originate loans to eligible business entities using their own capital.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is provided in favour of the Lender and consequently no companies in receipt of a loan facilitated by the scheme have received public funds through the EFG scheme following liquidation.

Delivery of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is fully devolved to the participating lenders and loans can be made to several types of businesses, including limited companies. Up to the 31st December 2014, the number of businesses that have been recorded by all lenders as having defaulted on the terms of their loan, at some stage during the life of their loan, is 4,495. Not all defaults will necessarily lead to a claim being made against the guarantee.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 January 2015 to Question UIN 220931.

Information on the total value of the loans underpinned by the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme in each year since its inception, and the value of the loans underpinned by that scheme made by each financial institution in each of those years, is attached.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills maintains contact with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) executives throughout the year covering a range of matters of mutual interest. His most recent meeting to discuss RBS’s proposed course of action on the Enterprise Finance Guarantee was with Alison Rose, CEO of Commercial and Private Banking at RBS, on 14 January 2015.

We have not estimated the number of buildings domestic or commercial that use LED lighting. We estimate that sales of LED lighting in 2013 had increased to 2.5% of the total sales of lighting. From a recent report that DECC published in the summer of 2014 consumers using these more efficient light bulbs, compared to incandescent, can save over £300 by 2030:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/328083/Energy_efficient_products_-helping_us_to_cut_energy_use_-_publication_version_final.pdf.

Energy Efficient Luminaires were introduced into the domestic Green Deal Assessment Software on 7 December 2014 allowing an assessor to recommend low energy lighting to consumers to improve the overall efficiency of their home. This means that Energy Efficient Luminaires can appear on a Green Deal Advice Report, which can be used to take forward a Green Deal Finance Plan. Energy Efficient Luminaires are complete light fittings which must be fixed to the dwelling and that can only take low energy lamps (e.g. such as LEDs).

The Government remains fully committed to the principle of House of Lords Reform. In a modern democracy, there should be elected members in both Houses, which was the intention of the Government’s House of Lords Reform Bill in 2012.

The Government continues to favour a reformed upper House containing mostly elected members even though it has not been possible to pass legislation to achieve this in this Parliament.

The withholding of a retention is a common contractual practice in the construction industry. Through the Construction Leadership Council the Government is working with the construction industry to move towards a position where retentions are no longer needed, as part of a more general set of measures on good payment practices.

This Department has issued no guidance on the use of retentions in the construction industry.

Operation of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is devolved by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to the participating lenders. BIS monitors lenders’ administration of EFG but does not intervene in individual disputes between lenders and borrowers.

If a borrower has a complaint regarding their loan they should initially follow their lender’s internal complaints process. If that does not provide a satisfactory outcome then in most cases they have the option of approaching the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Use of mediation as a means of resolving any disputes which may have arisen between participating lenders and borrowers who have received an EFG-backed loan is a matter for the lender and borrower.

Delivery of EFG is fully devolved to over 40 participating lenders, each of which has their own arrangements for handling customer complaints. The Department does not mediate in disputes between individual borrowers and lenders. Any business complaining to BIS or the British Business Bank is guided in the first instance to follow their lender’s complaints procedure. Upon exhaustion of that process the next step for dealing with an unresolved dispute in most instances will be to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Delivery of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is fully devolved to over 40 participating lenders. As such the Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not directly receive, approve or terminate any EFG applications.

Participating lenders do not report to the Department numbers of applications submitted or terminated. Since inception of the scheme in January 2009, participating lenders have made offers of 26,189 EFG-backed loans and other types of debt facilities.

The Government's intention to bring forward a recall Bill in this session was announced in the Queen's speech on 4 June.

Given the very large and urgent list of other constitutional reforms currently underway, it’s hard to justify giving Lords reform a higher priority than other manifesto promises. We will continue to consider steps that are able to command support from all sides of the House. The Leader of the House of Lords has convened cross-party talks to discuss these issues, and those talks continue.

The information is not available.

The information is not available.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Government has asked Lord Strathclyde to lead a review to examine how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to (i) its primacy on financial matters; and (ii) secondary legislation. Lord Strathclyde will be supported by a panel of experts and further details will be announced in due course.

The Government has asked Lord Strathclyde to lead a review to examine how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to (i) its primacy on financial matters; and (ii) secondary legislation. Lord Strathclyde will be supported by a panel of experts and further details will be announced in due course.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leicester South on 8 January 2015 to UIN: 219343.

Given the very large and urgent list of other constitutional reforms currently underway, it’s hard to justify giving Lords reform a higher priority than other manifesto promises. We will continue to consider steps that are able to command support from all sides of the House. The Leader of the House of Lords has convened cross-party talks to discuss these issues, and those talks continue.

The headcount at the Intellectual Property Office from 01 April 2010 is as follows:

The number of patent applications which have been pending a decision for over two, three and four years are:

(a) Over two years: 8233

(b) Over three years: 3863

(c) Over four years: 1241

The IPO has a Ministerial Target, offering faster handling of patent applications by providing an examination report with a search report when both are requested at the application date, and meeting at least 90% of requests for an accelerated two-month turnaround for search, publication and examination. All requests to receive the search and examination reports together are acceded to; and 97% of all accelerated examination requests have been completed within 2 months of request for the current financial year.

The termination arrangements for agency workers are determined by the contract of engagement.

In recognition of a need for greater transparency to better support agency workers, the Government set out in its response to the Taylor review of modern employment practice the intention to introduce a “key facts” page for agency workers, which will set out clearly all the information needed by an agency worker to make an informed decision prior to entering into a contract.

The Department holds no information on how long agency workers have been employed on contracts for specific periods of time.

The Department’s discussions with employers about bereavement or compassionate leave have not referred to agency contracts.

Our manifesto made a commitment that bereaved parents should be able to take some time away from work to grieve for a lost child. To achieve that, the Government is supporting the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. Consultations with business representatives took place last summer and further consultation will take place this year on the details.

Acas has developed guidance for employers on managing bereavement in the workplace, in conjunction with Cruse Bereavement Care. It recognises the effect that bereavement might have on employees in undertaking their duties, sets out the law in this area and provides guidance on good practice, including having a bereavement policy in place.

The Taylor review into modern employment practices highlighted several areas where the protections of agency workers’ rights could be strengthened.

In response, the Government is currently consulting on the regulation of umbrella companies, and intermediaries; state enforcement of the Agency Worker Regulations; whether “pay between assignments” contracts for agency workers (known as the Swedish derogations) should be repealed; and on the essential information that should be included in a ‘key facts’ summary of an agency worker’s contract.

Ofgem is considering options to protect vulnerable consumers and has yet to announce a formal proposal. Alongside this Ofgem has announced a package of measures to help consumers move away from poor value tariffs.

Please find below a breakdown of funding provided by the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to support the installation of electric vehicle chargepoints in each financial year since 2010/11:

In addition, £22.9m of funding under the Government’s £40m Go Ultra Low City Scheme is for charging infrastructure, and is being awarded across four years from 2016.

The Government is supporting an increase in provision of electric vehicle chargepoints as part of its programme for ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs). At Autumn Statement 2016, the Chancellor announced additional funding of £80m for charging infrastructure for the period to 2020 and Government is considering how best to allocate this funding to meet the needs of drivers across the UK and deliver value for money.

Alongside this, Highways England has £15m to expand the existing rapid chargepoint network to ensure that across 95 per cent of the strategic road network there will be a chargepoint at least every 20 miles.

In addition, the Government is proposing to take forward powers under the forthcoming Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill that will enable the Government to require Motorway Service Areas, and large fuel retailers to install sufficient provision of electric vehicle chargepoints.

Additional grant funding is also available UK-wide to support the installation of chargepoints at workplaces, at homes, and on residential streets. Further detail of how to apply is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-grants-for-low-emission-vehicles

Public chargepoints funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles must be registered on the Government’s National Chargepoint Registry, an open source data set containing information on the type and geographical location of chargepoints. The registry is available online at: www.national-charge-point-registry.uk

Operators of public chargepoints can also choose to add other chargepoints to this dataset. The Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill is due to include new powers that could require operators of public chargepoints to make openly available key information about all chargepoints that they operate, including geographic location.

The current dataset from the National Chargepoint Registry shows the following statistics for chargepoints in the UK:

1. Wales - 37

2. England - 4909

3. Scotland - 997

4. Northern Ireland - 346

Additional chargepoints will also have been installed with support from the private sector that are not listed on this data set but can be found on websites such as Zapmap (www.zap-map.com)

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) ‘On-street Residential Scheme’ is providing up to £2.5m for Local Authorities to fund the installation of chargepoints in residential streets where homeowners have no access to off-street parking. £22.9m is being provided to Local Authorities for electric vehicle infrastructure through OLEV’s ‘Go Ultra Low Cities’ scheme and a further £14m through their ultra low emission taxis scheme.

Between 2010 and 2014 more than 6400 chargepoints were installed in 8 local authority regions though the Plugged in Places support scheme. Between 2013 and 2015, following a competitive bidding process open to all UK Local Authorities, more than 580 fast chargepoints and 250 rapid chargepoints were installed under the National Infrastructure Grant Schemes.

A reply was sent to the Rt Hon Member on 22 February 2017.

The Government is grateful for the hard work that has gone into the Review, and will now consider this report as part of the evidence base to determine whether this technology could play a cost effective role in the UK’s energy mix. The Government will respond to the Hendry Review report in due course.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the right hon. Member for Delyn on 28 November.

The Department’s discussions with employers about bereavement or compassionate leave have not referred to agency contracts.

Our manifesto made a commitment that bereaved parents should be able to take some time away from work to grieve for a lost child. To achieve that, the Government is supporting the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. Consultations with business representatives took place last summer and further consultation will take place this year on the details.

Acas has developed guidance for employers on managing bereavement in the workplace, in conjunction with Cruse Bereavement Care. It recognises the effect that bereavement might have on employees in undertaking their duties, sets out the law in this area and provides guidance on good practice, including having a bereavement policy in place.

The Taylor review into modern employment practices highlighted several areas where the protections of agency workers’ rights could be strengthened.

In response, the Government is currently consulting on the regulation of umbrella companies, and intermediaries; state enforcement of the Agency Worker Regulations; whether “pay between assignments” contracts for agency workers (known as the Swedish derogations) should be repealed; and on the essential information that should be included in a ‘key facts’ summary of an agency worker’s contract.

The Department holds no information on how long agency workers have been employed on contracts for specific periods of time.

The termination arrangements for agency workers are determined by the contract of engagement.

In recognition of a need for greater transparency to better support agency workers, the Government set out in its response to the Taylor review of modern employment practice the intention to introduce a “key facts” page for agency workers, which will set out clearly all the information needed by an agency worker to make an informed decision prior to entering into a contract.

Superfast broadband coverage in Wales has now reached over 1 million premises, over two-thirds of the total in Wales. 345,000 premises have gained coverage as a result of the Superfast Cymru broadband programme which has funding from the UK government, Welsh Government and European funds.

The contract for Superfast Cymru is not based on delivery of cabinet or exchange upgrades, but instead requires target numbers of premises able to access superfast broadband. A list of exchanges and deployment status by local authority area is available on the Superfast Cymru website: http://www.superfast-cymru.com/where-and-when

Openreach publishes a list of exchanges accepting orders which can be searched at: https://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

The number of end-of-life vehicles found not to have the required consent is set out in the answer to PQ 54514. No figures are available for the numbers of end-of-life vehicles that had consent because vehicles categorised as B1250 are classed as green list waste, which is not automatically subject to notification.

The then Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in London in November 2015 and issued a joint statement in which they resolved to work together to improve protection for both captive and wild Asian elephants. Further official level discussions have taken place with the Indian High Commission to clarify the issues and discuss specific areas on which we might work constructively beyond the international forums such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which already exist.

Within CITES the UK has led on securing agreement to measures to increase focus on protecting Asian elephants. These include the strengthening of national legislation and enforcement to combat illegal trade in live Asian elephants, for range countries to develop strategies to manage their captive domestic populations and to develop and apply a regional registration and marking system covering domestic Asian elephants.

The table below provides details of the average hourly earnings of each group of employees in the core-Department as at 30^th June 2015 in each of the last five years.

The difference in hourly rate of pay for male and female staff can be explained by a greater proportion of male staff at the higher grades.

A recent equal pay review, analysing pay by grade, found that there were no significant equal pay differences based on gender.

Organic farmers in England are eligible to claim Common Agricultural Policy support under the Basic Payments Scheme and are also eligible to apply for funding under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

In England between 2010 and 2014, support for organic farmers was provided under the Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme (OELS) and Organic Higher Level Stewardship scheme (OHLS), which were set up under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The following table provides details of the annual funding provided during this period. Organic farmers were also eligible for payments under the Single Payment Scheme.

OELS and OHLS funding in England 2010-2014:

Footnote 1: Because agriculture is a devolved matter, separate schemes operate in other UK countries. Data on other funding provided is available from devolved administrations.

Footnote 2: These data include payments to organic farmers under conventional land management options in combined organic and conventional agreements and include payments for existing and new agreements each year.

Footnote 3: RDPE funding comprises EU funding allocated under the CAP for England and relevant Exchequer match funding.

Over the past five years, the total amount of funding committed by Defra to tackling the illegal wildlife trade is as follows:

In December 2013, Defra and DFID announced that £10m of funding would be made available over the period 2014/15 – 2017/18 to help developing countries tackle the illegal wildlife trade, to be administered by Defra. In March 2015, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development announced that an additional £3m would be made available for this purpose.

The DFID funding is largely distributed through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, for which I announced the opening of a second round of applications in August 2015. In addition, Defra has supported projects which will help tackle the illegal wildlife trade through the Darwin Initiative and through direct awards to organisations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We also supported the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in March this year.

Combined costs of external legal, financial and project assurance advice on all three freight contracts including legal advice up to the end of December 2018 were approximately £800,000. Subsequent costs up to termination cannot yet be derived as contracts are still live and invoices pending.

I refer the hon Member to my Rt Hon Friend's Written Statement of 7 January. Payments for services will not be made until the services are provided.

The table below shows the average hourly earnings for (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of the Department for Transport which includes:

• Department for Transport (c)
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
• Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Vehicle Certification Agency
• Government Car Service
• Highways Agency

Please note: the Government Car Services (GCS) does not hold information on FY 2010/2011 and FY 2011/2012 and is therefore not included in the Department return for these years.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) are committed to providing testing in the Chester area, from mid-February DVSA will offer both car and motorcycle practical tests from Cheshire County Sports Club as a temporary measure. In the meantime, DVSA is continuing to look for a new permanent site in the Chester area.

The number of residents of (a) Flintshire and (b) Wrexham county that have used the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency test centre facilities in Chester in each year since 2010 is shown below –

The above figures reflect the individual residents who have taken a test at Chester in each year. Where someone has used the test centre in more than one year, they will be counted in each of those years.

The number of individuals is based on the number of unique driver licence numbers. If someone has been issued with a new driver licence number, for example if they have changed their name, both driver licence numbers will be counted.

The Government has not estimated the cost of implementation of Operation Stack on the public purse.

Government firmly views the implementation of Operation Stack as a last, not first resort, and that it is implemented only when necessary by Kent Police. The priority is to keep traffic and goods moving on the roads, while minimising the impact on the public purse.

The Government continues to work with Kent County Council, Kent Police, and Highways England on a range of short to long term solutions to support Operation Stack.

Currently, we cannot identify and collate data on prison leavers on the Universal Credit platform in a systematic way. Due to this, we do not hold the information requested.

We are committed to gathering better data to support claimants with complex needs and have prioritised this as part of the wider work programme for Universal Credit, anything we do will be introduced incrementally and would be broad across complex needs rather than focusing on one particular group.

DWP and MoJ are working closely to deliver an improved Universal Credit claim process for prison leavers. We continue to work collaboratively with MoJ to explore options to overcome a number of issues, including the use of prison documentation as proof of identity for Universal Credit claims. We also continue to explore options for claims to be made via telephony channels.

At present, there are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions, for those who do not have identity documents.

Where claim closure is considered, a number of checks are conducted before claim closure is undertaken.

The assessment we have made of the Universal Credit Full Service claims that were declared in January 2019 is as follows: Applications were unsuccessful and closed prior to the first payment for a variety of reasons. These include ineligibility, nil entitlement, insufficient evidence, claim withdrawal and non-compliance with the Universal Credit process.

For claimants that need support with their Universal Credit application, the Citizen’s Advice Help to Claim service is available, offering tailored, practical support online, over the phone, and face-to-face.

This provision is expected to start in early June 2019, subject to standard DWP partnership checks and procedures being completed. It is planned to run for one year and will support approximately 24 ex-offenders recently released from prison. Evaluation will be conducted by the Norfolk Foundation in the form of an impact study.

DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.

We encourage all our Jobcentre teams to consider opportunities for partnership-working, where local circumstances allow. Local areas have the flexibility to work alongside local and national organisations to help meet the needs of their communities, assisting our most vulnerable claimants, including those effected by homelessness.

In addition, all Jobcentres in England refer claimants considered to be homeless or at risk of homelessness, to the local authority to receive further housing support.

The Department takes the issue seriously and we are in the process of responding.

Universal Credit is a means tested system of support. Where claimants already receive Maternity Allowance to meet their living costs it is right that their Universal Credit award is adjusted to take account of the support that they are already receiving (as currently is the case with other DWP legacy means tested working age benefits).

Information about the number of women in receipt of maternity allowance who have applied for universal credit that have worked for less than 26 weeks continuous weeks is not available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate request.

Universal Credit is a means tested system of support. Where claimants already receive Maternity Allowance to meet their living costs it is right that their Universal Credit award is adjusted to take account of the support that they are already receiving (as currently is the case with other DWP legacy means tested working age benefits).

Information about the number of women in receipt of maternity allowance who have applied for universal credit that have worked for less than 26 weeks continuous weeks is not available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate request.

National statistics on the number of people living in in-work relative low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The numbers of people living in in-work relative low income is not available at constituency or ward level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.

The percentage of working age adults living in relative low income by economic status at a UK level can be found in file “5_workingage_timeseries_risk.ods”, table 5_11ts and the number of working age adults living in relative low income for Wales can be found in file “5_workingage_timeseries_region.ods”, table 5.18ts.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/599136/hbai-2015-2016-supporting-ods-files.zip

We are currently working with the Ministry of Justice to look at ways of developing the service for prison leavers claiming Universal Credit on release.

In the month leading up to their release, Prisoner Work Coaches can support prisoners in preparation to make a claim to Universal Credit. Following recent improvements to Universal Credit advances, claimants, including prison leavers, can now apply to receive up to 100% of their expected monthly entitlement from day one of their claim. Ministry of Justice and DWP are working collaboratively to ensure that prison leavers receive financial support and gain stability to find work on their day of release.

The information requested is shown in the table below:

Notes:

Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.

‘#’ means fewer than 5 in this category.

The information requested is not available.

The information requested is shown in the table below:

Notes:

The data provided relates to all DWP benefits apart from Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Child Maintenance Group and Personal Independence Payment who do not record clearance time data in this format.

The data provided is counting the number of Mandatory Reconsideration claims cleared within each given time period, no claim will appear in more than one column.

- Less than one calendar month

- More than 1 month less than 2 months etc.

- More than 6 calendar months

The calculation for a cleared claim is the number of days from the Mandatory Reconsideration being received by the Department to the date a decision was made.

The data has been provided in financial years, 01^st April to 31^st March with the exception of this financial year which runs from 01^st April to 31^st December

Data is only available from 1 April 2014. This is because The Social Security, Child Support (Decision and Appeals) Regulations 1999, were amended on 28th October 2013 and only from then could the Secretary of State require a person to apply for a decision to be revised (i.e. apply for a mandatory reconsideration), before appeal. Pre October 2013 data is not comparable to current volumes. Volumes from October 2013 – April 2014 (initial Appeals Reform roll-out) were small and so not reflective of normal trend.

Annual figures cannot be directly compared to each other as different benefits have been included over time for example Universal Credit (UC) did not commence until November 2014

Source:

Decision Making and Appeals Case Recorder (DMACR)

The data provided is internal management information that does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances split by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html

Table 1 below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsideration decisions where the award was changed by year since the introduction of PIP in the Parliamentary Constituencies of Torfaen, Delyn and Jarrow.

Table 1 - Number of Mandatory Reconsiderations decisions where the award changed by financial year of decision.

Tables 2-4 below show the Number of appeals found in favour of appellant by financial year, data from Ministry of Justice.

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

¹ Social Security and Child Support data are attributed to the hearing venue nearest to the appellants’ home address. For appellants living in Jarrow appeals are attributed to the South Shields venue. For appellants identified as living in Torfaen Constituency this would be Langstone Tribunal venue. For appellants identified as living in Delyn Constituency this would be this would be either Prestatyn or Wrexham Tribunal Venues.

^2. Percentage Found in favour of Appellant this is based on the number found in favour as a percentage of the appeals cleared at hearing. In line with the published stats, data are not available at a level more-detailed than hearing venue.

³ By financial year - from April to March.

⁴ PIP replaced Disability Living Allowance for people aged 16 to 64 and rolled out from 8 April 2013. As such, appeal volumes in HM Courts & Tribunals Service in the Year 2013-2014 are low.

⁵ Indicates the population where the decision was in favour with 30 appeals or less

National statistics on the number of children in relative low income are set out in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication. The number and proportion of children in relative low income is not available at local authority or constituency level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.

Latest 3-year estimates for Wales of the proportion and number of children in low income are available in Table 4.16ts and Table 4.17ts in the file “4_children_timeseries_risk” from this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/599136/hbai-2015-2016-supporting-ods-files.zip

From the start of the contract with Capita in 2013 to the latest data available, January 2017, the number of claimants arriving at an assessment centre for their appointment and unable to be seen is:

The data has been provided by our contracted supplier. The Department does not publish data on the number of Personal Independence Payment assessments cancelled and to check the validity of the data would incur disproportionate cost

The Government has been clear that the introduction of further transitional arrangements cannot be justified, given the imperative to focus public resources on helping those who are most in need.

There are no plans to go beyond the £1.1 billion concession introduced when Parliament considered the changes.

The letters to which you refer were received by Capita but not processed in line with their standard procedures. Capita apologises for the delay and any inconvenience caused and are investigating why their procedures were not followed.

Capita sent their reply to the honourable Member on Friday, 17 June.

Capita aims to respond to correspondence within 20 working days but this is not a contractual service level agreement

The average duration of Personal Independence Payment consultation times in (a) Wales and (b) by postcode area of Wales (in minutes) were:

Such information as is available on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances, awards and average clearance times for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are available at a Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level and published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

Such information as is available on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances, awards and average clearance times for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are available at a Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level and published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

As confirmed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 21 March, the proposed changes to PIP will not be going ahead.

We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.

The Department only holds data on the number of Full PIP Rollout claimants they have notified/invited to claim since July 2015. Information on the number of natural reassessment claims notified since October 2013 is not held within our systems. Therefore the information you have requested is not available.

Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim registrations for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are available at a Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level and published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.

Such information as is available on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances, awards and average clearance times for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are available at a Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level and published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

Such information as is available on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances, awards and average clearance times for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are available at a Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level and published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

The information requested is not readily available, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The available information may be found in Contract Finder via this link http://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/contract/740844/

The Department has agreed a range of performance measures with Capita Business Services Ltd. Specifically, targets have been agreed on the timescales for undertaking assessments, the quality of assessments, and the claimant experience.

The Department for Work and Pensions pays employees an annual salary rather than an hourly rate.

The Department uses a grade structure to determine salary rates. The grade structure is underpinned by Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), an analytical job evaluation tool which meets all requirements of legislation and EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) statutory codes of practice on Equal Pay. The use of JEGS and its application in determining the appropriate grade for a role enables us to determine where employees are doing equal work based on “work rated as equivalent”.

DWP Equality data is published on an annual basis on https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/equality-and-diversity .This includes the average male and female pay for each year.

In 2015, the gender pay gap in DWP was 3.7%. ONS reported that the mean gender pay gap within the UK was 19.2%, indicating that the gender pay gap within the DWP is considerably narrower than the UK gender pay gap.

Part time employees receive a ‘pro-rated’ salary based on their working hours. Below, we have provided average salaries for part time employees based on the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) salary rate.

The main factor influencing the DWP gender and working pattern pay gap is the difference in distribution of staff within each of these groups across the grades. DWP continues to regularly review ways to address the pay gap.

Information on the number of cases awaiting individual assessments is not routinely supplied and is not published data. Departmental statisticians are continuing to develop measures around clearance times and waiting times to ensure they provide a rounded and representative picture of Personal Independence Payment system performance, improvement activity and the claimants’ experience. These statistics will be published when they are ready, with the release pre-announced in line with United Kingdom Statistics Authority release protocols.

The information requested is not collected centrally.

In February 2013, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) (now HM Prison and Probation Service) issued guidance to prisons and immigration removal centres operated by NOMS concerning emergency ambulance call-outs. This guidance, Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 03/2013 Medical Emergency Response Codes outlines the medical symptoms in a prisoner, but not behaviours such as drug misuse, for which a prison must always call out an emergency ambulance. This PSI is mandatory in all prisons in England.

The information requested is not collected centrally.

In February 2013, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) (now HM Prison and Probation Service) issued guidance to prisons and immigration removal centres operated by NOMS concerning emergency ambulance call-outs. This guidance, Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 03/2013 Medical Emergency Response Codes outlines the medical symptoms in a prisoner, but not behaviours such as drug misuse, for which a prison must always call out an emergency ambulance. This PSI is mandatory in all prisons in England.

Information is not collected centrally on how many prisons use the National Early Warning Score to respond to symptoms of new psychoactive substances.

The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the use of the National Early Warning Score in prisons in Liverpool.

The information requested on what drug rehabilitation programmes are operated, the budget, number of prisoners using them and the location of the prison is either not collected centrally or not available in the format requested.

NHS England estimates that it spends approximately 20% of all prison healthcare spending on substance misuse services. In the financial year 2016/17, NHS England allocated approximately £405 million for all health expenditure in the adult prison estate. Comparable data is not available prior to 2013/14 when NHS England became operational.

The information requested on what drug rehabilitation programmes are operated, the budget, number of prisoners using them and the location of the prison is either not collected centrally or not available in the format requested.

NHS England estimates that it spends approximately 20% of all prison healthcare spending on substance misuse services. In the financial year 2016/17, NHS England allocated approximately £405 million for all health expenditure in the adult prison estate. Comparable data is not available prior to 2013/14 when NHS England became operational.

There are no plans to consult on the implementation plan for England on the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. NHS England published a Statement of Intent to implement the UK Strategy in February 2014. Implementation of the Strategy is also included in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View.

The UK Rare Disease Forum is responsible for monitoring progress on implementation of the Strategy across the United Kingdom. It published its first progress report on 29 February 2016. This recognises that significant progress has been made against majority of the 51 recommendations in the report. Further reports will be published in 2018 and 2020.

There are no plans to consult on the implementation plan for England on the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. NHS England published a Statement of Intent to implement the UK Strategy in February 2014. Implementation of the Strategy is also included in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View.

The UK Rare Disease Forum is responsible for monitoring progress on implementation of the Strategy across the United Kingdom. It published its first progress report on 29 February 2016. This recognises that significant progress has been made against majority of the 51 recommendations in the report. Further reports will be published in 2018 and 2020.

The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, as amended, provides for the registration of babies born without signs of life after 24 weeks’ gestation, which is the legal age of viability. Parents of babies who are stillborn after 24 weeks’ gestation receive a medical certificate certifying the stillbirth and, upon registration, can register the baby's name and receive a certificate of registration of stillbirth.

Parliament supported a change to the stillbirth definition from “after 28 weeks” to “after 24 weeks” in 1992, following a clear consensus from the medical profession at that time that the age at which a foetus should be considered viable should be changed from 28 to 24 weeks. Medical opinion does not currently support reducing the age of viability below 24 weeks of gestation. Therefore, there are no plans to amend the stillbirth definition.

We are aware that some parents find it very distressing that they may not register the birth of a baby born before 24 weeks. However, it is important to recognise there would also be parents distressed at the possibility of having to do so. When a baby is born without signs of life before 24 weeks’ gestation, hospitals may issue a local certificate to commemorate the baby's birth.

In November 2015, the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth. The announcement also committed to publishing an annual report to update the public, health professionals, providers and commissioners on the progress we are making towards achieving the ambition.

To support the system in achieving this ambition we also announced:

― A £2.24 million capital fund for equipment to improve safety.

― Over £1 million to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care.

― £500,000 to develop a new system that can be used consistently across the National Health Service to enable staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.

The following table shows the average hourly rates of pay for all Civil Servants in the Department by gender and by working pattern for the last five years. The average hourly rate calculation uses net hours for both full-time and part-time staff.

The Department does not collect information on the time taken to transfer documents between general practitioner (GP) surgeries.

The GP contract requires GP practices to use the electronic facility known as “GP2GP” for the safe and effective transfer of any computerised patient records where they have access to this system. As at end September 2015, 97.2% of GP practices were using GP2GP. 5,859,890 patient electronic health records have been transferred by GP2GP to the patient’s new GP since 2007.

We do not have any record of discussions that have taken place between the Secretary of State for Health and the devolved administrations on the speed and efficiency of transfer of patient records between administrations. However, we are aware that Wales has been conducting a pilot of the GP2GP system, which enables patient records to be electronically transferred between one practice and another, and Scotland has also been rolling out the system. In the future this should enable faster, more effective transfer of patient records between administrations.

Additionally, the Summary Care Record Programme in England has a four nations forum with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that focuses on best practice and lessons learned from the respective national record sharing solutions.

7,547 general practitioner practices in England were live with the GP2GP system at the end of November 2015; this equates to 97.7% of all GP2GP eligible practices within England.

The Department does not collect information on the time taken to transfer documents between general practitioner (GP) surgeries.

The GP contract requires GP practices to use the electronic facility known as “GP2GP” for the safe and effective transfer of any computerised patient records where they have access to this system. As at end September 2015, 97.2% of GP practices were using GP2GP. 5,859,890 patient electronic health records have been transferred by GP2GP to the patient’s new GP since 2007.

Clinicians are encouraged and manufacturers are mandated to report deaths and other incidents to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) if they suspect a device fault.

The numbers of United Kingdom deaths reported annually since 2010 to the MHRA involving patients implanted with approved pacemakers, are as follows:

According to registry data from 2014, over 35,000 pacemakers are implanted annually in the UK. Therefore the number of reported patient deaths listed above which could have potentially related to pacemaker failure represents no more than 0.01% of this population.

Analysis of MHRA investigation conclusions revealed that none of the above deaths resulted from a faulty pacemaker.

As the UK regulatory authority, the MHRA is responsible for monitoring the safety of medical devices once they have been approved for market. Although the majority of pacemakers are well functioning, the MHRA actively monitor the performance of implants using a variety of methods.

One key element involves the investigation of device-related adverse incidents, where manufacturers’ mandatory reports are supplemented by voluntary reports from clinicians and members of the public using the yellow card system.

The MHRA challenges manufacturers if it is believed that the proposed post-investigation action is inadequate to protect public health.

Every new incident, including those involving pacemakers, is assessed and assigned to an appropriate type of investigation according to its severity and the likelihood of obtaining further information on the cause of the event. All reports, even those unsuitable for further investigation, are fully recorded and subject to periodic trend analysis by the MHRA to look for signals suggesting any possible device-related problems.

In addition to scrutinizing manufacturers’ device data provided in incident investigations, and their published product performance reports, the MHRA also monitors relevant published research and articles on potential safety concerns as part of its surveillance of the medical device market. If evidence emerges that affects the safety of UK pacemaker patients, the Agency issues advice to the health service and takes any necessary regulatory action.

Furthermore the Agency actively engages with the clinicians and professional bodies to gauge their opinion on early indications for failure and problems encountered with device usage.

Clinicians are encouraged and manufacturers are mandated to report deaths and other incidents to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) if they suspect a device fault.

The numbers of United Kingdom deaths reported annually since 2010 to the MHRA involving patients implanted with approved pacemakers, are as follows:

According to registry data from 2014, over 35,000 pacemakers are implanted annually in the UK. Therefore the number of reported patient deaths listed above which could have potentially related to pacemaker failure represents no more than 0.01% of this population.

Analysis of MHRA investigation conclusions revealed that none of the above deaths resulted from a faulty pacemaker.

As the UK regulatory authority, the MHRA is responsible for monitoring the safety of medical devices once they have been approved for market. Although the majority of pacemakers are well functioning, the MHRA actively monitor the performance of implants using a variety of methods.

One key element involves the investigation of device-related adverse incidents, where manufacturers’ mandatory reports are supplemented by voluntary reports from clinicians and members of the public using the yellow card system.

The MHRA challenges manufacturers if it is believed that the proposed post-investigation action is inadequate to protect public health.

Every new incident, including those involving pacemakers, is assessed and assigned to an appropriate type of investigation according to its severity and the likelihood of obtaining further information on the cause of the event. All reports, even those unsuitable for further investigation, are fully recorded and subject to periodic trend analysis by the MHRA to look for signals suggesting any possible device-related problems.

In addition to scrutinizing manufacturers’ device data provided in incident investigations, and their published product performance reports, the MHRA also monitors relevant published research and articles on potential safety concerns as part of its surveillance of the medical device market. If evidence emerges that affects the safety of UK pacemaker patients, the Agency issues advice to the health service and takes any necessary regulatory action.

Furthermore the Agency actively engages with the clinicians and professional bodies to gauge their opinion on early indications for failure and problems encountered with device usage.

No such assessment has been made, though a number of studies that include a comparison of elective waits between England and Wales have been published, including that by the Nuffield Trust.

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the table below.

Public Health England officials are in discussions with St George's, University of London, concerning the production of a National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths report covering the year 2013.

The Department has asked Public Health England to consider how future data on volatile substance abuse deaths might be collected and reported. Additionally, on 17 October 2014, the Office for National Statistics published a one-off report providing data on drug related deaths involving volatile substances and nitrous oxide in England and Wales, 1993–2013. A copy of the report is attached.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays salaries according to a fixed banding structure. Pay rates, including hourly rates, for each band are the same for male and female employees.

The average hourly earnings for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK based staff, taken as a snapshot on the 31st of December each year, are:

Average earnings and average salaries are determined by a number of factors – length of service, levels of performance, promotions, type of work etc but a key factor is the distribution of staff throughout the FCO grading structure.

Further information on average salaries of staff is available on pages 6, 10 and 11 of the FCO Diversity & Equality report 2015.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450587/FFFCO827_Equality_Report_2015_v5.pdf

The figures do not include local staff directly employed by our embassies and missions overseas. To obtain this data would incur disproportionate cost.

The UK plays a leading role in encouraging countries to take action to stop poaching of endangered species and to reduce demand for illegal wildlife products. For example, the UK drafted both the London Declaration from the London Conference on IWT in 2014 and the Kasane Statement from the Botswana Conference of March 2015 to push countries into committing themselves to ambitious actions to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. A review was compiled for the Botswana Conference showing progress by countries on the commitments to action agreed at London. These documents have been made publicly available on www.gov.uk.

Effective follow up and implementation of the now-agreed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is one of the UK’s top priorities at the United Nations. We continue to discuss this with the UN Secretary General, the wider UN system, and Member States. It would need to be clear what value any new UN special envoy would add to existing UN activity before the UK advocated such an idea, over and above existing sustainable development activities.

The numbers requested of diplomatic staff whose work includes illegal wildlife trade are as follows:

China - 5
Vietnam- 3
Laos- 2
Malaysia – 1
Botswana -2
Mozambique- 2
Gabon -2
South Africa -2
Thailand- 2
India -1

In most cases our diplomatic staff in these Posts spend a proportion of their overall time on this issue and are supported by locally engaged staff who also work on tackling illegal wildlife trade.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not keep records of the average time taken to process such refunds. HMRC only holds records for the number of NHS trainees receiving refunds under the widening access scheme from April 2013. A total of 8209 refunds have been processed since then, as follows:

The issues raised are a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) who are operationally independent from Government.

The questions have been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the Honorable Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

HM Treasury currently has 3 secondments in from the Financial Conduct Authority. None of these work in any ministerial private office.

This information is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on their website http://www.ons.gov.uk. ONS figures include both the mean and median gender pay gaps for the Civil Service and HM Treasury. The ONS headline estimates are also calculated using hourly earnings excluding overtime.

This information is published as Official Statistics together with the Inheritance Tax National Statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/inheritance-tax-statistics.

The information is not available. HMRC's administrative systems do not separately identify mortgage interest payments against residential property from other financial costs incurred across all types of property businesses (both residential and non-residential). Moreover property income is grouped with other income in the calculation of tax liabilities, and consequently the amounts of specific deductions effective against each rate of tax is not precisely defined.

The information is not available. HMRC's administrative systems do not distinguish between residential and non-residential property businesses nor the nature of rental property businesses such as buy-to-let investors. Moreover property income is grouped with other income in the calculation of tax liabilities, and consequently the amounts of specific deductions effective against each rate of tax is not precisely defined.

The information is not available. HMRC's administrative systems do not distinguish between residential and non-residential property businesses nor the nature of rental property businesses such as buy-to-let investors. Moreover property income is grouped with other income in the calculation of tax liabilities, and consequently the amounts of specific deductions effective against each rate of tax is not precisely defined.

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.

The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.

That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.

In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.

Data on asset recovery is published annually, the latest published figures are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.

The Home Office runs the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). With over 250 agencies participating in the Scheme, it would take disproportionate time and resource to provide a detailed breakdown of these individual payments.

The amounts recovered in respect of confiscation orders, together with amounts paid from this amount in compensation is provided in the attached table. This information was taken from the live database, JARD (Joint Asset Recovery Database) on 9 May 2019.

There are no immediate plans for changing the distribution allocations in the ARIS, but the Government keeps it under review. The upcoming Asset Recovery Action Plan will make wider recommendations to improve the use and effectiveness of powers and practice in this area.

Data on asset recovery is published annually, the latest published figures are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.

The Home Office runs the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). With over 250 agencies participating in the Scheme, it would take disproportionate time and resource to provide a detailed breakdown of these individual payments.

The amounts recovered in respect of confiscation orders, together with amounts paid from this amount in compensation is provided in the attached table. This information was taken from the live database, JARD (Joint Asset Recovery Database) on 9 May 2019.

There are no immediate plans for changing the distribution allocations in the ARIS, but the Government keeps it under review. The upcoming Asset Recovery Action Plan will make wider recommendations to improve the use and effectiveness of powers and practice in this area.

Data on asset recovery is published annually, the latest published figures are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asset-recovery-statistics.

The Home Office runs the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS). With over 250 agencies participating in the Scheme, it would take disproportionate time and resource to provide a detailed breakdown of these individual payments.

The amounts recovered in respect of confiscation orders, together with amounts paid from this amount in compensation is provided in the attached table. This information was taken from the live database, JARD (Joint Asset Recovery Database) on 9 May 2019.

There are no immediate plans for changing the distribution allocations in the ARIS, but the Government keeps it under review. The upcoming Asset Recovery Action Plan will make wider recommendations to improve the use and effectiveness of powers and practice in this area.

The Government recognises that dog attacks on livestock can cause considerable stress to livestock owners, as well as causing serious injury to the animals.

A range of powers are available to the police to tackle this issue, including offences provided for by the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 and Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and civil orders introduced by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which can be used to address nuisance behaviour involving dogs.

The police should record and investigate all crimes reported to them.

On 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £100 million of funding for serious violence in 2019/20 to help the police’s immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, and also to support investment in Violence Reduction Units. It is important that we recognise that greater law enforcement on its own will not reduce serious violence and that we must continue to focus on prevention.

The majority of the investment will go towards supporting police forces where violent crime is impacting the most, to take immediate action to suppress the violence we are seeing, to make our streets safer. We are engaging with partners including the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and we are developing the criteria by which forces will receive this funding.

The Government fully understands the interest that Members of Parliament and others have in the outcomes of the Home Office review of the regulation of air weapons. It remains our intention to set these out as soon as we can.

The Home Office collects and publishes data quarterly on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

This includes the number of recorded offences of violence with injury, robbery of business property and fraud. However, information on the value of theft or whether or not fraud was committed online is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The Home Office collects and publishes data quarterly on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

This includes the number of recorded offences of violence with injury, robbery of business property and fraud. However, information on the value of theft or whether or not fraud was committed online is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The Home Office collects and publishes data quarterly on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

This includes the number of recorded offences of violence with injury, robbery of business property and fraud. However, information on the value of theft or whether or not fraud was committed online is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The Home Office collects and publishes data quarterly on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

This includes the number of recorded offences of violence with injury, robbery of business property and fraud. However, information on the value of theft or whether or not fraud was committed online is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The Home Office collects and publishes data quarterly on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

This includes the number of recorded offences of violence with injury, robbery of business property and fraud. However, information on the value of theft or whether or not fraud was committed online is not held centrally by the Home Office.

The Home Office does not hold data on IOPC investigations. The Independent Office of Police Conduct will write to my hon. Friend and I will place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

The Home Office does not hold data on IOPC investigations. The Independent Office of Police Conduct will write to my hon. Friend and I will place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

The Home Office does not hold data on IOPC investigations. The Independent Office of Police Conduct will write to my hon. Friend and I will place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

We are committed to tackling violence and abuse toward shop workers; everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

On 21 January I announced that we will launch a call for evidence to strengthen our understanding of this issue. We will launch this shortly, before the Offensive Weapons Bill completes its passage through Parliament. We will ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to respond and that the analysis and subsequent Government response is taken forward promptly.

To support this, we are providing £50,000 for a sector-led communications campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We are finalising plans for this campaign and will announce further details shortly.

On 12 February I chaired a meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which focused exclusively on this issue. Agenda items included a discussion on the scope and direction of the call for evidence, and the NRCSG’s workplan on tackling violence and abuse, including in relation to the police response. My response to the Rt Hon member’s letter of 22 January was sent on 12th March 2019 and sets out plans for this work in more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library.

We are committed to tackling violence and abuse toward shop workers; everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

On 21 January I announced that we will launch a call for evidence to strengthen our understanding of this issue. We will launch this shortly, before the Offensive Weapons Bill completes its passage through Parliament. We will ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to respond and that the analysis and subsequent Government response is taken forward promptly.

To support this, we are providing £50,000 for a sector-led communications campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We are finalising plans for this campaign and will announce further details shortly.

On 12 February I chaired a meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which focused exclusively on this issue. Agenda items included a discussion on the scope and direction of the call for evidence, and the NRCSG’s workplan on tackling violence and abuse, including in relation to the police response. My response to the Rt Hon member’s letter of 22 January was sent on 12th March 2019 and sets out plans for this work in more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library.

We are committed to tackling violence and abuse toward shop workers; everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

On 21 January I announced that we will launch a call for evidence to strengthen our understanding of this issue. We will launch this shortly, before the Offensive Weapons Bill completes its passage through Parliament. We will ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to respond and that the analysis and subsequent Government response is taken forward promptly.

To support this, we are providing £50,000 for a sector-led communications campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We are finalising plans for this campaign and will announce further details shortly.

On 12 February I chaired a meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which focused exclusively on this issue. Agenda items included a discussion on the scope and direction of the call for evidence, and the NRCSG’s workplan on tackling violence and abuse, including in relation to the police response. My response to the Rt Hon member’s letter of 22 January was sent on 12th March 2019 and sets out plans for this work in more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library.

We are committed to tackling violence and abuse toward shop workers; everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

On 21 January I announced that we will launch a call for evidence to strengthen our understanding of this issue. We will launch this shortly, before the Offensive Weapons Bill completes its passage through Parliament. We will ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to respond and that the analysis and subsequent Government response is taken forward promptly.

To support this, we are providing £50,000 for a sector-led communications campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We are finalising plans for this campaign and will announce further details shortly.

On 12 February I chaired a meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which focused exclusively on this issue. Agenda items included a discussion on the scope and direction of the call for evidence, and the NRCSG’s workplan on tackling violence and abuse, including in relation to the police response. My response to the Rt Hon member’s letter of 22 January was sent on 12th March 2019 and sets out plans for this work in more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library.

We are committed to tackling violence and abuse toward shop workers; everyone has the right to feel safe at work.

On 21 January I announced that we will launch a call for evidence to strengthen our understanding of this issue. We will launch this shortly, before the Offensive Weapons Bill completes its passage through Parliament. We will ensure that interested parties have sufficient time to respond and that the analysis and subsequent Government response is taken forward promptly.

To support this, we are providing £50,000 for a sector-led communications campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We are finalising plans for this campaign and will announce further details shortly.

On 12 February I chaired a meeting of the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) which focused exclusively on this issue. Agenda items included a discussion on the scope and direction of the call for evidence, and the NRCSG’s workplan on tackling violence and abuse, including in relation to the police response. My response to the Rt Hon member’s letter of 22 January was sent on 12th March 2019 and sets out plans for this work in more detail. A copy of this letter has been placed in the House library.

We do not publish this specific data. This information could only be obtained by a manual case by case review to collate the data which would be disproportionately expensive.

I have considered the proposals raised at the roundtable on retail crime held on 11 December 2018 and am committed to providing the Rt. Hon Member for Delyn a response before the tabling deadline for Lords amendments to the Offensive Weapons Bill.

Statistics published by the College of Policing on 20 December 2018 show the number of officers and staff that had completed new 'disclosure and relevancy – conducting fair investigations' training as at 30 November 2018. This includes a breakdown by police force area. These are available at https://www.college.police.uk/News/College-news/Documents/Disclosure_programme_completion_figures191218v3.pdf

I replied to the Rt Hon Member on 12 March 2019.

Border Force does not release location specific statistics on the deployment of its resources as doing so could compromise border security.
For information on Border Force staffing from 2010 I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to the Hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale on 7 February 2017, UIN 60627.

The latest published staffing figures for Border Force can be found in the Home Office Annual Report for 2016 – 17 on page 66 at:
/ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017

Data for staffing levels in 2017/18 will be available when the Annual Report for 2017 – 18 is published

Border Force does not release port-specific staffing numbers for national security reasons.

Border Force does not release port-specific staffing numbers for national security reasons.

I chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group with the British Retail Consortium. This brings retailers and the police together to ensure an effective response to crimes affecting retailers and includes work to reduce shop thefts.

The Home Office does not record the information requested as this is not part of the application process. To provide the requested information would require manual examination of all applications for right of abode and exceed the dispropotionate cost limit.

The good character test for British citizenship applies to those aged 10 and over, in line with the age of criminal responsibility. There are no plans at present to review this. I recently wrote to the Joint Committee for Human Rights on several issues relating to British citizenship, including the good character test.
Figures relating to citizenship applications, including decisions to refuse where the applicant is found to not be of good character, are included in the latest Home Office quarterly migration statistics published on 24 May and available on Gov.uk.

The good character test for British citizenship applies to those aged 10 and over, in line with the age of criminal responsibility. There are no plans at present to review this. I recently wrote to the Joint Committee for Human Rights on several issues relating to British citizenship, including the good character test.
Figures relating to citizenship applications, including decisions to refuse where the applicant is found to not be of good character, are included in the latest Home Office quarterly migration statistics published on 24 May and available on Gov.uk.

The good character test for British citizenship applies to those aged 10 and over, in line with the age of criminal responsibility. There are no plans at present to review this. I recently wrote to the Joint Committee for Human Rights on several issues relating to British citizenship, including the good character test.
Figures relating to citizenship applications, including decisions to refuse where the applicant is found to not be of good character, are included in the latest Home Office quarterly migration statistics published on 24 May and available on Gov.uk.

The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally. It is the responsibility of chief constables to manage working time and support the workforce effectively, ensuring police officers are able to take the rest days they are entitled to.

The Government’s review of the regulation of air weapons received a large number of representations from interested parties and members of the public. We are considering these carefully and will publish our findings in due course.

The Government has noted the key findings from the report of the Office of National Statistics on deaths related to volatile substances and helium in Great Britain.

We are committed to preventing deaths related to substance misuse. Our Drug Strategy, published in July 2017, brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.

Drug control is kept under constant review and we work in consultation with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to consider any new evidence of misuse or harms.