Dominic Raab

This Government inherited a legacy of underinvestment in energy, especially electricity. Our new policies for investment and reform of the electricity market have led to more than £45 billion of investment in electricity generation and networks between 2010 and 2013. Our electricity market reforms mean that average annual household electricity bills will be around £41 lower over the period 2014 to 2030 than decarbonising without these changes.

The estimated number of business start-ups in Esher and Walton constituency between 2008 and 2014 are shown in the table below. Data is not available for earlier years.

Source: BankSearch: number of new business bank accounts opened. All figures rounded to the nearest 10.

The Government does not collect information on the tuition fee income that Higher Education Institutions earn from particular subject provision.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes data on student enrolments at UK Higher Education Providers. Statistics on enrolments by mode, level and subject of study at UK Universities are published in Table 4 of their annual Statistical First Release, “Higher Education Student Enrolments and Qualifications obtained at Higher Education Providers in the United Kingdom”. The latest available statistics refer to the 2013/14 Academic Year and are available at the link:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/sfr210

The Government does not forecast the number of students studying particular subjects, as those numbers are dependent on decisions taken by individuals and universities.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency will publish statistics for the 2014/15 academic year in January 2016.

The latest estimate can be found at Official Report, 20 March 2014, Col 706W

Separate estimates are not routinely calculated for fee and maintenance components, or for separate subjects.

As and when matters are brought to the attention of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) they are assessed in the context of the SFO's remit to investigate fraud, bribery and corruption. If appropriate, relevant matters will be considered for criminal investigation in line with SFO internal procedures. However, in line with its published policy, the SFO does not comment on its assessments or their status at any one time but does publish on its website details of those cases formally adopted for criminal investigation, whenever this is possible without prejudice to the investigation.

The Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain a central record of the number of re-trials that have been pursued. To identify the number of these would require a manual exercise to review individual files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

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

The Government is committed to ensuring markets work in the interests of ordinary people and the Consumer Green Paper contained a number of provisions which safeguard consumer rights whilst ensuring competition benefits consumers. We will continue to develop policy options across the range of measures proposed in the green paper and will respond in due course.

A free media is essential to the health of our democracy and this Government has always been clear it is vitally important to uphold that freedom. We have introduced a new system of independent press self-regulation. However, it is for the press to decide whether they wish to sign up.

The specific information requested is not collected or held centrally.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent statutory body, is responsible for the enforcement, monitoring and assessment of how public bodies comply with the public sector Equality Duty (PSED) and specific duties. The EHRC has published two reports to date which look at the performance of public bodies in England under the PSED and specific duties:

• ‘Publishing equality information: Commitment, engagement and transparency' was published in December 2012. This report looked at how public authorities had performed with regard to the first specific duty (publication of equality information). Data for this assessment was collected between February and April 2012 and covered 1,159 public authorities in England. The report indicated that about half of the public authorities reviewed were publishing equality information on their workforce and service users by April 2012. Many more (78%) were publishing information on either their staff or their service users.

• ‘Assessment of the publication of equality objectives by English public authorities' was published in Autumn 2013. This report sets out the findings of an assessment of how public authorities in England are publishing equality objectives. Data for the assessment was collected between September and December 2012 and covered 2,010 public authorities.

These reports do not estimate the associated costs of producing and publishing equalities information.

The specific information requested is not collected or held centrally.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent statutory body, is responsible for the enforcement, monitoring and assessment of how public bodies comply with the public sector Equality Duty (PSED) and specific duties. The EHRC has published two reports to date which look at the performance of public bodies in England under the PSED and specific duties:

• ‘Publishing equality information: Commitment, engagement and transparency' was published in December 2012. This report looked at how public authorities had performed with regard to the first specific duty (publication of equality information). Data for this assessment was collected between February and April 2012 and covered 1,159 public authorities in England. The report indicated that about half of the public authorities reviewed were publishing equality information on their workforce and service users by April 2012. Many more (78%) were publishing information on either their staff or their service users.

• ‘Assessment of the publication of equality objectives by English public authorities' was published in Autumn 2013. This report sets out the findings of an assessment of how public authorities in England are publishing equality objectives. Data for the assessment was collected between September and December 2012 and covered 2,010 public authorities.

These reports do not estimate the associated costs of producing and publishing equalities information.

I want to ensure all young people are prepared for life in modern Britain, regardless of background. Over the course of this Parliament, we have invested £8.8bn through the pupil premium, and introduced accountability measures to ensure it is used to improve the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Our analysis shows that the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is narrowing.

We are also investing £5 million to help schools ensure that pupils develop character attributes, such as resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment.

Education plays a vital role in giving all young people the opportunities they deserve. That’s why we are committed to ensuring all young people can attend a good local school. One million more pupils are in good or outstanding schools than in 2010.

Average per pupil revenue funding figures for Surrey are given below. With the introduction of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) in 2006-07, the changes to the funding mechanism meant figures were no longer available to be shown split by phase of education.

Figures for financial years 2005 to 2013 are shown below. These are in cash terms:

The below figures are in real terms using December 2014 gross domestic product (GDP) deflators in 2013-14 prices:

The per pupil figures use the sum of DSG allocations plus other schools related grants, such as the school standards grant, the school standards grant (personalisation) and the standards fund; divided by total pupils aged 3-15 and then rounded to the nearest £10. Most of the additional grants were mainstreamed into DSG in 2011-12.

The changes to DSG funding in financial year 2013-14, with funding allocated through three blocks; ‘schools’, ‘early years’ and ‘high needs’, mean that there is no longer a comparable overall figure with previous years. The table below shows the DSG schools block unit funding figures in cash and real terms for Surrey LA.

*Real terms figures shown in 2013-14 prices using GDP deflators at 23.12.14

Since 2011-12 schools have received the pupil premium which targets funding at pupils from the most deprived backgrounds to help them achieve their full potential. In 2011-12, the premium was allocated for each pupil known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM), looked after children and children of parents in the armed services. In 2012-13 coverage was expanded to include pupils known to have been eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years. The per-pupil amounts for each type of pupil are shown in following table in cash terms:

*Also includes children adopted from care

Total pupil premium allocations for Surrey local authority for each year are shown in the following table in cash terms:

The below figures are in real terms:

Price Base: real terms at 2013-14 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 23.12.2014

The table below shows capital funding for the financial years that are available. The data is in cash terms as allocations are phased across more than one year making real terms calculations meaningless. Complete information on the split of capital between phases of education is not held centrally.

Notes:

1. Capital allocations includes capital grant and supported borrowing allocations.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

3. Funding in 2014-15 is still subject to project progress and is therefore subject to change.

During the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021 there were significant periods of time during lockdown when the Environment Agency eased mooring restrictions and we were not enforcing. The Environment Agency was successful in an enforcement matter in 2019 for a boat owner overstaying on their moorings and had costs awarded for their costs of £20k Kingston boater fined for illegal moorings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Environment Agency have been told there are allegedly 116 unregistered boats moored to their land in Elmbridge but cannot confirm the details of that data. The matter of the use of Article16 of the Inland Waterways Order 2010 has been subject to public consultation on its use. Until the consultation has been reviewed and a response has been published the Environment Agency has not concluded on how the use of Article 16 will be enforced across the country.

The Environment Agency cannot quantify our cost of enforcement of illegal moorings in Elmbridge as the work is river wide. In 2022 the Environment Agency carried out a project to remove wrecks and abandoned boats, but not limited to the River Thames in Elmbridge, at a cost of £280K for the removal and disposal of 41 wrecks. Each and every vessel, if removed from the River Thames will have its own cost for removal.

Operational matters on inland waterways are the responsibility of the relevant navigation authority, such as in this case the Environment Agency’s enforcement of illegal moorings on the non-tidal Thames.

The Environment Agency waterways department as part of Defra is aware of all mooring issues or potential reported issues on its land. The intelligence is captured and collated in the Environment Agency navigation enforcement team’s Tactical Assessment (Thames). The document includes mooring and trespass issues on Environment Agency land only and helps prioritise and deliver outcomes. Trespass and mooring issues not relating to the Environment Agency fall under riparian landowners’ or other navigation authorities’ responsibilities.

The Tactical Assessment is a classified document and deemed as sensitive and would not be shared with the public. The Thames Enforcement Plan for the Environment Agency Non-Tidal Thames, which gives an overview of enforcement actions and priorities for 2023/2024, can be viewed here: Non-Tidal River Thames Regulation and Enforcement Plan 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Environment Agency works with partner agencies to improve compliance on the non-tidal Thames, sharing outcomes with local authority areas and stakeholders alike. However, intelligence and ongoing enforcement actions are not shared with the public due to legal privilege and GDPR rules and regulations. More information relating to enforcement on the non-tidal Thames can be viewed on the Non-Tidal River Thames Regulation and Enforcement Plan 2023/2024: Non-Tidal River Thames Regulation and Enforcement Plan 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Defra launched a £4million Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder Scheme in 2013 to understand local resilience better and to contribute to our policy making. The scheme will close in March 2015 and - following an evaluation – we intend to share the lessons learnt with local authorities and community organisations.

The Environment Agency’s local teams work on a daily basis with at-risk communities across the country to build resilience.

Value for money is not just a matter for those who ultimately foot the bill for our aid budget – British taxpayers. Given the lifesaving work UK aid does across the globe, driving value for money also means that fewer lives are wasted to the scourge of poverty and disease. Driving the very best results for our money is therefore as much about helping the poorest as it is for justifying spending to those paying for it.

The Department for International Development (DFID) reports its total spend and spend by sector in the annual report that is published in June every year. This report is available online from our website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfid-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014.

DFID’s expenditure on disaster relief is reported under humanitarian assistance. DFID reports expenditure on clean water under water supply and sanitation as the majority of our programmes address these together, recognising that both are important for improving public health.

DFID does not record information on the classifications of business below the overall category ‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME’s) therefore we cannot respond to the level of detail you have specified.

DFID does not record information on the classifications of business below the overall category ‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME’s) therefore we cannot respond to the level of detail you have specified.

The Secretary of State allocates subsidies and premiums for each franchise using the following criteria at the bidding stage. This determines if a franchise will either pay a premium to the department or receive a subsidy.

For a premium paying TOC

The total income bid exceeds the sum of total bid costs and bid margin

For a subsidy paying TOC

The sum of total bid costs and bid margin exceed total bid income.

The Premiums receivable and Subsidies payable are set at the point of contract award based on bid forecast. There are some factors that may make actual payments differ from Bid. They include Revenue (share)/support, profit share, regulatory changes, inflation indices etc.

The Government is allocating just under £6 billion for highways maintenance to local highway authorities in England, outside London between 2015-16 and 2020-21. An announcement was made on 23 December 2014 on how this funding is to be allocated. Further details including how much funding Surrey County Council will receive in each year is available at the following weblink:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-maintenance-funding-allocations-201516-to-202021

From this funding we have also set aside £575 million for a Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund and bids for Tranche 1 of the Fund were received in the Department for Transport on 9 February. If successful, local highway authorities can receive additional funding over and above what we are allocating.

We also announced from 2016/17 that we would be introducing an incentive element totalling £578 million to reward councils who are adopting efficiencies and have an asset management strategy. Local highway authorities, such as Surrey, will be required to complete a self-assessment questionnaire to determine how much additional funding they will receive over and above what they are already receiving from Government for local highways maintenance.

The Department for Transport provides capital funding to local highway authorities such as Surrey County Council, to help tackle potholes. This also includes the Esther and Walton constituency which falls within Surrey County Council’s area of responsibility. I, therefore, refer my Honourable Friend to my answer of 26 January 2015 (221595) which listed the funding the Department has provided to Surrey County Council for local highways maintenance, including tackling potholes, since 2009/10.

The Department has provided Surrey County Council with the following funding for local highways maintenance since 2009/10. This funding can be used to help permanently repair potholes or stop them forming in the first place on the road network for which they are responsible.

Since Privatisation annual rail passenger journey growth has averaged almost 4%, compared to 0.58% over the previous 60 years and the number of passenger journeys has more than doubled from 735 million in 1994/95 to 1.6 billion journeys in 2013/14. On a network roughly the same size as 15 years ago there are now 4,000 more services a day, which are all delivered through dynamic private sector stewardship with the flexibility to respond to the needs of passengers. This is reflected in improved passenger satisfaction scores, which are at a higher level now than when these were first collected in the late 1990s.

Investment in the rail network is at record levels and the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy will see £38bn spent by Network Rail on enhancing and maintaining the network between 2014-2019.

There is no consistent performance measure that has been in place since privatisation so it is not possible to make a meaningful comparison. However, performance in recent years has been higher than it was in the later 1990s, when figures were first available, on a network that is far busier and safer than it was at that time.

Private sector train operating companies provide billions of pounds to the public purse. The last 5 franchises let by this Government alone (Thameslink Southern Great Northern; Essex Thameside; InterCity West Coast; South Eastern; InterCity East Coast) are due to pay over £9bn to the Department for Transport over the lives of their contracts.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s infrastructure investment funds the world-class facilities, expertise, and skilled delivery workforce for research across the National Health Service and wider health and care system in England from early translational clinical research through to applied health and care research.

It is difficult to attribute this funding to specific disease and therapy areas as the staff and facilities funded through the NIHR infrastructure support research across disciplines. For example, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported almost one million participants to take part in health and care research in England in 2022/23 across 5,000 studies and 30 specialties, and the 20 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres supported 8,700 experimental medicine studies in 2021/22.

Whilst audited data for NIHR expenditure for 2022/23 is not yet available, the following table shows the NIHR spend on research infrastructure each financial year between 2018/19 and 2021/22 as well the proportion of spend on research infrastructure compared to overall NIHR spend:

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The £40m funding will remain available; if we can spend more on the best quality science, we will do. The level of funding for brain tumour research depends on funding applications received. It is worth noting that all applications to NIHR that have been assessed as “fundable” in open competition have been funded and this will continue.

The following table shows NIHR’s committed spend on research into brain tumours in each year since 2018:

Additionally, NIHR research infrastructure supports brain tumour research studies, mainly in the National Health Service. This infrastructure – people and facilities - is instrumental to the delivery of research funded by the NIHR, charities and others. Resources are significant, though it is difficult to disaggregate purely brain tumour spend to add to the figures above.

The UK Cancer Prevalence Project from the National Cancer Intelligence Network and Macmillan Cancer Support will publish 20-year cancer prevalence data in summer 2015, including new statistics on brain tumour survivors. Previous data can be found at:

http://www.ncin.org.uk/view.aspx?rid=76

Note: The brain tumour statistic relates to International Classification of Diseases’ version 10 codes C70-C72.