Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department has spent on the Type 45 programme in each of the last four financial years; and what the projected spend is on that programme in each of the next four financial years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The total spent on the Type 45 programme in each of the last four financial years is shown in the table below. This includes costs of the Type 45 build programme and the in-service support of the six ships. I am withholding information on the projected spend over the next four financial years as we are negotiating a contract for future support, and its release would therefore prejudice the commercial interests of the Department.
Financial Year (FY) 2010-11 £ million
| FY 2011-12 | FY 2012-13
| FY 2013-14
| Total |
281 | 237 | 167 | 104 | 789 |
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department has spent on the aircraft carrier programme in each of the last four financial years; and what the projected spend is on that programme in each of the next four financial years.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The total spent on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier programme in each of the last four financial years, as published in the National Audit Office’s Major Project Report covering each of the relevant years, is as follows:
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
£630 million | £670 million | £712 million | £773 million |
I am withholding the breakdown of the projected spend on the programme for each of the next four financial years as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests. The overall cost of the ship programme, as announced by the then Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), on 6 November 2013, (Official Report, column 251-254), is £6.212 billion.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if the Government will make it its policy to include families with children as a vulnerable group in the Social and Environment Statutory Guidance to the Gas and Electric Market Authority.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Ofgem Review of 2010-11 recommended that the Social and Environmental Statutory Guidance to the Gas and Electricity Market Authority should be replaced with a new Strategy and Policy Statement. The guidance will be repealed once the statement is designated. The draft statement, which Government consulted on last year, makes it clear that helping vulnerable households is one of the Government’s strategic priorities to which Ofgem should have regard to when carrying out its regulatory functions.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many families with children in (a) North Devon constituency and (b) the UK are in debt to their energy companies.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy suppliers’ performance and publishes information in relation to debt owed by domestic electricity and gas accounts holders in Great Britain, but they do not publish data relating to families with children or constituency areas. At the end of 2013, latest data available, 1.5 million domestic electricity accounts holders and 1.4 million domestic gas accounts holders were in debt to their energy supplier:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/92186/annualreport2013finalforpublication.pdf.
(Ofgem’s Domestic Suppliers’ Social Obligations: 2013 Annual Report)
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what research his Department has (a) commissioned, (b) funded and (c) undertaken on the mental health needs of service personnel and veterans since 2010; and what his most recent estimate is of the number of service personnel and veterans with such needs.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) commissions and funds a wide range of research into the mental health of Armed Forces personnel. This work continues to produce high quality evidence upon which we can make considered decisions about the way we manage and treat our personnel.
In particular, we continue to fund the large-scale, ongoing independent study (initially commissioned by the MOD in 2003) from the King's Centre for Mental Health Research (KCMHR), which has become an important source of data on the impact of deployment on the overall health and wellbeing of military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specific work commissioned under this contract since 2010 includes research into mental health disorders in Reservists; evaluation of a Post-Operational Stress Management programme tailored to Reservists; mental health stigma in the Armed Forces; and a US-funded study into a possible screening tool for mental health issues. Another significant piece of work commissioned and funded by the MOD has been a study of alcohol use disorders, conducted by Cranfield University.
It is not possible to provide the number of serving personnel or veterans with mental health needs at any single point in time. However, statistics show that in financial year 2013-14, 5,040 UK Armed Forces personnel had a new episode of care for a mental disorder at one of the MOD's Departments of Community Mental Health, the majority of whom will have already been successfully treated and returned to work. The medical treatment of ex-service personnel is the responsibility of the UK Departments of Health, and the MOD continues to work closely with them to improve the mental healthcare available.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to provide support to female service personnel with mental health problems; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anna Soubry
We take the health of our military personnel very seriously, and provide mental health treatment and support to all members of the UK Armed Forces, regardless of gender. We have both male and female mental healthcare staff, and are thus able to accommodate cases where an assessment or therapy referral makes a specific recommendation about the gender of the mental healthcare professional providing treatment.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what cross-departmental work his Department is undertaking on veterans' welfare.
Answered by Anna Soubry
A very feature of the Armed Forces Covenant is the Covenant Reference Group (CRG), which is chaired by the Cabinet Office Minister for Government Policy and includes representatives from all of the main Government Departments. The CRG meets regularly to guide and direct work on the Armed Forces Covenant, including support for the veteran community. Other members of the CRG include the three Service Family Federations, COBSEO (the Confederation of Service Charities) and other charities.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is represented at cross-Departmental groups, such as the DCLG Working Group for Homeless Veterans. In addition, the MOD co-chairs with the Department of Health the MOD/UK Departments of Health Partnership Board, which is responsible for ensuring that the MOD and UK Health Departments work together to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces Covenant (an obligation which the NHS in England is mandated to deliver), and to improve the health and healthcare of the Armed Forces, their families and veterans.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of time taken by Veterans UK and its predecessors to deal with cases relating to (a) war disablement pensions and (b) compensation for injuries or illness incurred during service in the armed forces was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The average length of time taken by Veterans UK and its predecessors to deal with War Disablement Pensions (WDP) and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) claims are detailed in the table below:
Average Processing Time (Working Days) | |||||
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-151 | |
AFCS | 93 | 125 | 164 | 109 | 89 |
WDP | 39 | 51 | 82 | 110 | 104 |
Note:
1As at 31 December 2014
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to release statistics on pupil premium take-up since September 2014.
Answered by David Laws
For financial year 2014-15, the Department for Education has already published the number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium and illustrative allocations for schools in December 2013, based on free school meal figures gathered up to and including the January 2013 school census. This information is published online at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2013-to-2014-final-allocation-tables
The final allocations for 2015-16 based on the January 2015 school census figures will then be published towards the end of 2015 or early 2016.
Asked by: Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department expects to complete its consultation with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on a blanket ban on new psychoactive substances or so-called legal highs.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
On 30 October the Government published its response to the new psychoactive substances review expert panel’s report. We have committed to look at the feasibility of a general prohibition on the distribution of non-controlled new
psychoactive substances, through testing and developing of legislative proposals, in the UK context. This work has begun and we will set out further detail on these proposals in due course.
Our letter of 30 October to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs committed us to keeping the Council updated as we develop this approach