Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make Police Scotland eligible for VAT refunds.
Answered by David Gauke
I refer the Hon. Lady to the answer that I gave her on 04 March 2015 (224504).
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what technical assistance his Department has provided to the government of Bahrain in addition to the support and training already provided to the Ombudsman Office, the Special Investigations Unit and the judiciary.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There has been progress in the reform programme being put in place in Bahrain. The UK Government has been and will continue to support the Government of Bahrain in implementing its human rights and political reform programme through the provision of technical assistance, training, and sharing best practice sharing. In addition to the support that we are already providing to the Ombudsman Office, the Special Investigations Unit and the judiciary, we are engaged on a number of projects including capacity building engagement with youth Non-Governmental Organisations and working on reform of the security sector and the youth justice system.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to include Bahrain as a country of concern in his Department's next Human Rights and Democracy Report.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Bahrain has been designated as a country case study in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's 2014 Human Rights and Democracy Report, as such we will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Bahrain and issue a biannual assessment. There has been progress with the reforms put in place in Bahrain and the UK will continue to assist the Court of Bahrain in areas such judicial reforms. We assess every country, where we have human rights concerns, before the end of each calendar year for possible inclusion as a country of concern in the annual human rights report. The next global assessment will therefore take place shortly before the end of 2015.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Stornoway was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in February 2015.
Answered by John Hayes
The new flexible shift patterns and the ability for areas covered by the new HM Coastguard structure to be handled by any Coastguard within it mean workload is managed nationally rather than on a centre by centre basis. This enables HM Coastguard to proactively match available staff across the whole network to its busiest areas and times, both daily and seasonally.
Therefore, it is more relevant to consider the total number of Coastguards available on the growing national network.
As of 6 March this network, and the benefits it delivers, stretches from Beachy Head to the Mull of Galloway. The transition of the national network around the United Kingdom will be complete by December 2015.
These historic risk assessed watch level assessments at the current individual centres err strongly on the side of caution. As each centre joins the evolving national network, the number of Coastguards at any of the individual centres becomes less significant.
Where there are specific issues at a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Her Majesty’s Coastguard uses the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.
Work continues on the fresh appraisal I have asked for on the relationship between the available levels of resource and need in the light of the benefit of the new structure.
Based on the risk assessment which characterised the previous model, during February 2015 Stornoway MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 23 occasions out of 56 shifts, and Belfast MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 15 occasions out of 56 shifts.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Belfast was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in February 2015.
Answered by John Hayes
The new flexible shift patterns and the ability for areas covered by the new HM Coastguard structure to be handled by any Coastguard within it mean workload is managed nationally rather than on a centre by centre basis. This enables HM Coastguard to proactively match available staff across the whole network to its busiest areas and times, both daily and seasonally.
Therefore, it is more relevant to consider the total number of Coastguards available on the growing national network.
As of 6 March this network, and the benefits it delivers, stretches from Beachy Head to the Mull of Galloway. The transition of the national network around the United Kingdom will be complete by December 2015.
These historic risk assessed watch level assessments at the current individual centres err strongly on the side of caution. As each centre joins the evolving national network, the number of Coastguards at any of the individual centres becomes less significant.
Where there are specific issues at a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Her Majesty’s Coastguard uses the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.
Work continues on the fresh appraisal I have asked for on the relationship between the available levels of resource and need in the light of the benefit of the new structure.
Based on the risk assessment which characterised the previous model, during February 2015 Stornoway MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 23 occasions out of 56 shifts, and Belfast MRCC was staffed below risk assessed levels on 15 occasions out of 56 shifts.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average length of time was for the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch to publish a report into the causes of maritime accidents or incidents in each year from 1990 to date.
Answered by John Hayes
MAIB reports are published at the earliest opportunity to ensure that safety lessons can be applied as soon after an accident as possible. All investigations are different with complex cases requiring more time, so average reporting times can be misleading. The recent grounding of the Hoegh Osaka in the Solent, and the tragic loss of eight seafarers when the Cemfjord sank in the Pentland Firth are two recent examples that demonstrate this. Where urgent safety lessons are identified at any time during an investigation the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents can issue a Safety Bulletin containing recommendations.
The average length of time between the date of the accident to the date of the publication of MAIB’s report for each of the years is:
1990 | No accident investigation reports published |
1991 | 25.5 months |
1992 | 17.3 months |
1993 | 16.5 months |
1994 | 21 months |
1995 | 16.3 months |
1996 | 16.9 months |
1997 | 16.9 months |
1998 | 18.8 months |
1999 | 10.1 months |
2000 | 11.4 months |
2001 | 10.3 months |
2002 | 11.9 months |
2003 | 10.4 months |
2004 | 7.1 months |
2005 | 10.2 months |
2006 | 8.2 months |
2007 | 8.6 months |
2008 | 8 months |
2009 | 8.5 months |
2010 | 8.7 months |
2011 | 8.9 months |
2012 | 9.3 months |
2013 | 10.8 months |
2014 | 10.1 months |
2015 to date | 10.7 months |
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch plans to report on the accidents or incidents involving the (a) Nagato Reefer, (b) Dieppe Seaways, (c) Commodore Clipper, (d) St. Helen, (e) Pride of Canterbury, (f) Dover Seaways, (g) Cemfjord and (h) Hoegh Osaka vessels; and how many investigators are working on each such investigation.
Answered by John Hayes
Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) reports vary in their complexity and consequently the time taken for them to be completed. At the moment, projected publication dates for the reports of these eight investigations are:
a. Nagato Reefer – April 2015
b. Dieppe Seaways – June 2015
c. Commodore Clipper – August 2015
d. St Helen – July 2015
e. Pride of Canterbury – August 2015
f. Dover Seaways – July 2015
g. Cemfjord – end 2015
h. Hoegh Osaka – end 2015
MAIB investigations are conducted by teams that will vary in size and specialism according to the nature of the accident. Typically, two or three inspectors are deployed in the early stages of an investigation, with one having responsibility for leading the team and for producing the published report.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were affected by the changes to the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme which allow for time bringing up children to be included as a full qualifying year for the State Pension.
Answered by Steve Webb
The state pension reforms under the Pensions Act 2007, affecting those reaching state pension age from 6 April 2010, included the introduction of a single contribution condition of 30 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits for a full basic state pension and the replacement of the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme with a new system of National Insurance credits for parents and carers and earlier years of Home Responsibilities Protection were converted into qualifying years.
These measures were primarily designed to improve the basic pension entitlements of women. The effects of the relaxation of the contribution conditions and the changes to Home Responsibilities Protection are complex. It has not been practicable to disaggregate the combined effects.
However, information on the numbers of women resident in Great Britain receiving the full basic State Pension for the years 2009/10 to 2013/14 can be found in Table 1 of the Ad Hoc statistical release published to support the review of the Pensions Act 2007 which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398701/statistical-analysis-review-pensions-act-2007.pdf
Equivalent information in relation to men is not readily available.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service eligible for VAT refunds.
Answered by David Gauke
There are no current plans to bring forward legislative proposals to make Scottish Fire and Rescue Service eligible for VAT refunds.
In 2011 the Scottish Government were explicitly advised of this potential consequence of changing from regional fire and police forces to single authorities as part of the proposed revised funding model for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Police Scotland. At the time they took the decision to make these reforms they would have known they would no longer be eligible for the VAT refunds as a result.
Asked by: Baroness Clark of Kilwinning (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of the change in the level of real wages in Scotland since May 2010.
Answered by David Mundell
Our economy is recovering from the deepest recession since ONS records began in 1948.
Thanks to this government’s long-term economic plan we have seen average regular pay rising faster over the last year than inflation. Furthermore, business surveys expect the steady rise in real wages to continue.