Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department gave to the local transport authority in Suffolk (a) in total, (b) per mile of road in the local authority area and (c) per head of population in that area in each year since 1997.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department for Transport has allocated the following amounts to the local transport authority in Suffolk for the years for which figures are available:
| Year | £million | £ per mile of road length | £ per head of population |
| 2000/01 | 8.472 | 2,063 | 13 |
| 2001/02 | 20.967 | 5,097 | 31 |
| 2002/03 | 19.958 | 4,773 | 30 |
| 2003/04 | 20.566 | 4,910 | 30 |
| 2004/05 | 22.230 | 5,331 | 32 |
| 2005/06 | 22.624 | 5,424 | 32 |
| 2006/07 | 23.610 | 5,559 | 34 |
| 2007/08 | 21.745 | 5,113 | 31 |
| 2008/09 | 29.834 | 7,011 | 42 |
| 2009/10 | 26.894 | 6,333 | 37 |
| 2010/11 | 23.155 | 5,448 | 32 |
| 2011/12 | 27.924 | 6.566 | 38 |
| 2012/13 | 30.304 | 7.123 | 41 |
| 2013/14 | 35.513 | 8,341 | 48 |
| 2014/15 | 37.523 | 8,813 | 51 |
Note: population and road lengths data are not available for 2014. Figures for 2013 have been used to calculate the £ per mile and £ per head in 2014.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the level of street lighting they should have in place.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Street lighting plays an important role in road safety, as well as ensuring the personal safety of pedestrians. I refer my Hon Friend to the answer of 13 May 2014, Official Report, columns 535-36W, which provides a comprehensive answer on how there is no prescriptive Whitehall guidance, and places in context the policy of the last Administration which actively encouraged cuts to street lighting.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officer recruits in (a) Suffolk and (b) England and Wales began residential training in each year since 2010.
Answered by Mike Penning
This information is not held centrally by the Home Office. Decisions about the numbers of police officer recruits who undertake residential training are a matter for the local police force.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have (a) claimed and (b) been successfully awarded employment allowance in (i) Bury St Edmunds, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (iv) England and Wales.
Answered by David Gauke
A statistical release covering take-up of the Employment Allowance, including regional and constituency data, is already scheduled for publication on the 7th November.
The release will cover take-up for the first six months of 2014-15. The scheme as a whole has enjoyed good take-up so far. A press release from July 2014 announced that by the end of June around 725,000 businesses and charities; including around 72,000 in the East of England, around 616,000 in England, and around 30,000 in Wales had benefitted from the allowance.
This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to reducing the costs of employment for small businesses across the UK.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drivers were fined for speeding in each police force area in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The number of offenders fined for speeding offences, by police force area, in England and Wales, from 2009 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the table.
| Offenders fined at all courts for speeding (1) offences, by police force area, England and Wales, 2009 to 2013 (2)(3)(4) | |||||
| Police Force Area | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Metropolitan Police | 9,649 | 8,702 | 8,877 | 9,025 | 7,736 |
| Cumbria | 2,009 | 1,542 | 1,212 | 1,277 | 1,473 |
| Lancashire | 5,719 | 4,514 | 4,699 | 4,312 | 5,651 |
| Merseyside | 1,627 | 2,529 | 2,412 | 2,078 | 2,545 |
| Greater Manchester | 4,259 | 6,716 | 8,319 | 5,821 | 5,964 |
| Cheshire | 2,697 | 2,862 | 2,181 | 2,151 | 1,788 |
| Northumbria | 2,688 | 2,919 | 2,345 | 2,581 | 2,160 |
| Durham | 486 | 401 | 555 | 411 | 469 |
| North Yorkshire | 2,192 | 1,583 | 1,478 | 1,680 | 1,776 |
| West Yorkshire | 4,951 | 4,429 | 3,668 | 4,374 | 4,567 |
| South Yorkshire | 1,591 | 2,602 | 3,139 | 3,493 | 3,511 |
| Humberside | 3,254 | 2,649 | 2,680 | 2,815 | 3,046 |
| Cleveland | 519 | 658 | 1,129 | 1,197 | 813 |
| West Midlands | 4,216 | 4,001 | 2,203 | 1,444 | 1,442 |
| Staffordshire | 2,667 | 3,193 | 2,861 | 4,065 | 5,164 |
| West Mercia | 1,885 | 2,580 | 2,678 | 2,115 | 2,598 |
| Warwickshire | 1,249 | 1,848 | 2,583 | 2,327 | 2,778 |
| Derbyshire | 1,492 | 926 | 854 | 1,007 | 1,075 |
| Nottinghamshire | 2,953 | 2,696 | 2,554 | 3,046 | 2,900 |
| Lincolnshire | 3,316 | 2,241 | 2,800 | 3,308 | 3,179 |
| Leicestershire | 2,609 | 1,873 | 1,417 | 2,211 | 2,253 |
| Northamptonshire | 1,355 | 1,329 | 822 | 595 | 521 |
| Cambridgeshire | 3,355 | 2,483 | 2,433 | 3,529 | 2,831 |
| Norfolk | 2,603 | 2,763 | 2,136 | 2,307 | 1,675 |
| Suffolk | 3,484 | 1,978 | 2,749 | 2,211 | 2,114 |
| Bedfordshire | 1,890 | 1,346 | 1,141 | 2,334 | 1,553 |
| Hertfordshire | 3,218 | 2,841 | 2,222 | 2,427 | 1,983 |
| Essex | 4,068 | 3,483 | 3,397 | 1,719 | 3,091 |
| Thames Valley | 6,143 | 5,367 | 4,989 | 6,471 | 4,466 |
| Hampshire | 3,665 | 3,400 | 4,057 | 2,778 | 3,667 |
| Surrey | 2,611 | 2,169 | 2,642 | 3,584 | 3,134 |
| Kent | 2,652 | 3,150 | 3,036 | 3,362 | 3,915 |
| Sussex | 2,896 | 2,641 | 2,449 | 2,841 | 1,976 |
| City of London (5) | 507 | 323 | 732 | . | . |
| Devon and Cornwall | 2,792 | 2,003 | 1,944 | 2,282 | 2,410 |
| Avon and Somerset | 4,587 | 4,117 | 4,798 | 2,590 | 3,925 |
| Gloucestershire | 712 | 380 | 723 | 697 | 561 |
| Wiltshire | 4,553 | 3,720 | 856 | 719 | 406 |
| Dorset | 1,588 | 1,693 | 1,511 | 1,349 | 1,172 |
| North Wales | 3,456 | 3,080 | 1,696 | 1,466 | 1,744 |
| Gwent | 1,272 | 1,380 | 1,414 | 1,902 | 2,486 |
| South Wales | 2,118 | 2,181 | 2,647 | 5,152 | 6,491 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 1,001 | 988 | 1,153 | 1,468 | 2,540 |
| England and Wales | 122,554 | 114,279 | 110,191 | 112,521 | 115,549 |
| '-' = Nil | |||||
| (1) Offences under SS16, 81, 84, 86, 88 & 89 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 | |||||
| (2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. | |||||
| (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||||
| (4) The category Otherwise Dealt With (ODW) includes: one day in police cells; disqualification order; restraining order; confiscation order; travel restriction order; disqualification from driving; recommendation for deportation; and other miscellaneous disposals. | |||||
| (5) City of London Local Justice area ceased to exist with effect from 1 January 2012 | |||||
| Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. | |||||
| Ref: PQ212647 | |||||
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) convictions and (b) fixed penalty notices there have been following arrests for speeding offences in England and Wales (i) in total and (ii) on (A) the A143 and (B) the A14 in each year since 1997.
Answered by Mike Penning
The total number of offenders found guilty at all courts for offences relating to speeding offences, in England & Wales, from 1997 to 2013 (the latest available), can be viewed in table 1.
Data on fixed penalty notices for speed limit offences in England and Wales from 1997 to 2012 (the latest available), provided by the Home Office, can be viewed in the table 2. Data for 2013 is scheduled for publication in Spring 2015.
From centrally reported data it is not possible to separately identify fixed penalty notices issued for speeding on specific roads.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many of each category of fixed penalty notices were (a) issued and (b) paid in each month since their introduction in (i) Bury St Edmunds, (ii) Suffolk, (iii) the East of England and (iv) England and Wales.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Government has recently unveiled plans that would see an end to Penalty Notices for Disorder and a range of other Out of Court Disposals, including cautions. The aim is to ensure that there are more direct consequences in future for committing even minor crimes. The new approach will be trialled in three police force areas over the next 12 months.
This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the amount of financial penalties collected over the last three years.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service is actively seeking an external provider for the future delivery of compliance and enforcement services. This will bring the necessary investment and innovation to significantly improve the collection of criminal financial penalties and reduce the cost of the service to the taxpayer.
The number of Penalty Notices for Disorder issued to all persons aged 16 and over from 2005 to 2013 with outcomes can be viewed as follows:-
Data for the Suffolk Police Force Area can be viewed in Table 1
Data for the East of England can be viewed in Table 2
Data for England and Wales as a whole can be viewed in Table 3
Data on fixed penalty notices for motoring offences broken down by month are not collected centrally by the Home Office.
When PNDs and FPNs are not paid within the prescribed time limits they are registered as fines for enforcement by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). Once PNDs and FPNs are registered as fines it is not possible to identify these separately from other court imposed fines so it is not known how many have been paid. Fine registered PNDs and FPNs are enforced in the same way as all other court imposed financial impositions.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many drivers convicted of driving when under the influence of alcohol or drugs had previous convictions for the same offence in (a) Bury St Edmunds, (b) Suffolk, (c) the East of England and (d) England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The number of drivers convicted of driving when under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and who had previous convictions for the same offence in Suffolk, the East of England and England and Wales in each of the last five years, are given in Table 1. Offenders in Bury St Edmunds alone cannot be identified from the Police National Computer.
The Ministry of Justice’s extract of the Police National Computer, which is used for all analyses of offenders’ histories, only holds details on convictions given for recordable offences and does not generally include non-recordable summary offences usually heard in Magistrates courts.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individual cases of customer overpayment debt there have been in (a) Bury St Edmunds, (b) Suffolk, (c) the East of England and (d) England and Wales in each of the last five years; and what the total monetary value was of customer overpayment debts in this period.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Official statistics for customer overpayment debt are not readily available and to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Ruffley (Conservative - Bury St Edmunds)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many roadside checks for (a) speed, (b) use of seat belts and child restraints, (c) vehicle safety and roadworthiness and (d) driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs were carried out in (i) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (ii) Suffolk and (iii) England and Wales by each police force in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Penning
Available information relates to the number of roadside breath tests conducted in Suffolk and England and Wales, these data are provided in the table. Data for 2013 is scheduled for publication in Spring 2015.
Data on the number of roadside checks for speed, use of seatbelts and driving under the influence of drugs, as well as breakdowns for Bury St Edmunds constituency are not reported to the Home Office.
| Number of roadside breath tests conducted, 2010-2012 | ||||
| Area | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Suffolk | 10,501 | 11,832 | 16,083 | |
| England and Wales | 736,846 | 685,992 | 682,558 | |