Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the median gross weekly wage of employees in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people resident in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England received an award of legal aid in each of the last five years.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not record the number of people who receive legal aid. Instead it records the number of ‘acts of assistance'. One individual may receive a number of separate acts of assistance, and one act of assistance can help more than one person.
With regard to the breakdowns requested for Coventry, the West Midlands and England, the LAA cannot separately identify legal aid cases by the location of the person receiving legal aid. Applicant post codes are not systematically recorded against Legal Aid cases.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to tackle domestic violence and sexual abuse since 2010.
Answered by Norman Baker
Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
within our society. The Coalition Government's continued approach to tackling
such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
Action Plan, updated in March 2014.
Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
helpline.
Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
for:
144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
£900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
victims of domestic violence and stalking.
In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
domestic violence and abuse. HMIC's report exposed significant failings. In
response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC's
recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the reporting of domestic and sexual violence offences by victims.
Answered by Norman Baker
Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
within our society. The Coalition Government's continued approach to tackling
such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
Action Plan, updated in March 2014.
Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
helpline.
Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
for:
144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
£900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
victims of domestic violence and stalking.
In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
domestic violence and abuse. HMIC's report exposed significant failings. In
response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC's
recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding under which categories of expenditure her Department has allocated to domestic and sexual violence support services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Norman Baker
Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
within our society. The Coalition Government's continued approach to tackling
such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
Action Plan, updated in March 2014.
Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
helpline.
Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
for:
144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
£900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
victims of domestic violence and stalking.
In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
domestic violence and abuse. HMIC's report exposed significant failings. In
response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC's
recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.
The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what capabilities are currently being utilised to fulfil the role that would otherwise have been undertaken by Nimrod MRA4 aircraft; and what captabilities will fulfil that role in the long term.
Answered by Mark Francois
Since the Nimrod MR2 was taken out of service in 2009, some 12 months early, for financial reasons, by the then Defence Secretary, a range of assets were put in place by the previous Government to cover the capability, namely Type 23 frigates, Merlin Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopters and C-130 Hercules aircraft. The MRA4 project was nearly £800 million over budget, 10 years overdue and the aircraft could not pass airworthiness tests.
The Ministry of Defence is currently reviewing the UK's air intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements, including wide area maritime surveillance, and is identifying potential solutions. This work will provide analysis in support of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) homeless people and (b) rough sleepers in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, Column 32WS, my Department does not publish statistics by government office region.
National and local authority data for homelessness are published in Live Table 784a which is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.
National and local authority data on rough sleeping can be found in Table 1 of the Rough Sleeping in England statistical release which can be found on the department's website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2013
We are investing over £500 million over the current spending review period to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. This includes £20 million to support the roll out of the ‘No Second Night Out' standard and protect vital front line services. We have also supported the voluntary sector to deliver 'StreetLink' a national rough sleeping hotline, website and app to connect rough sleepers to local services.
On 10 June we announced that over £65 million of additional funding across Whitehall is being offered to councils and other organisations to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping around the country and ensure that vulnerable people can access a range of support and lead independent lives.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the situation in Kashmir; and what recent discussions he has had with his (a) Indian, (b) Pakistani and (c) US counterparts on this matter.
Answered by Lord Swire
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has spoken to each of his Indian, Pakistani and US counterparts in recent months about South Asia regional issues and relations between India and Pakistan. We recognise the importance of finding a lasting solution to the situation in Kashmir, but remain of the view it is not for third parties to prescribe one. We continue to follow developments in the region closely, and officials from our High Commissions in both New Delhi and Islamabad regularly discuss the situation in Kashmir with both governments and travel to the region, security situation permitting.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department allocated to the Conflict Pool for South Asia in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The Conflict Pool is funded from an HM Treasury settlement which is separate from and additional to departmental budgets. Details of Conflict Pool allocations are provided to Parliament annually in a Written Ministerial Statement. The statements for Financial Years 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 are available on the parliament.uk website.
A Statement giving details of Conflict Pool allocations for FY 2014/15 will be laid before the House shortly.
Asked by: Bob Ainsworth (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department allocated to the Conflict Pool for South Asia in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mark Francois
The Conflict Pool is funded from a Treasury settlement which is separate from and additional to departmental budgets and is administered jointly by the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for conflict prevention and mitigation work. Details of Conflict Pool allocations are provided to Parliament annually in a Written Ministerial Statement. Statements for financial years (FY) 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 are attached.
A Statement giving details of Conflict Pool allocations for FY 2014-15 will be released to the House shortly.