Ian Davidson

The power of Fairtrade, championed by some of Britain's best brands, is undeniable. While it remains a commercial decision on whether or not to stock Fairtrade products and adopt Fairtrade Principles, sales of Fairtrade products in the UK rose by 14% in 2013/14 to £1.78bn.

Policy on Fairtrade products rests with the Department for International Development who have invested £18 million over six years in Fairtrade in order to help open up new markets in harder to reach places and also to break down trade barriers faced by women.

For our part, we are working with the British Retail Consortium to develop guidance which sets out how retailers can apply appropriate due diligence and reporting in respect of their supply chains to ensure that consideration is given to the manner in which goods are brought to market.

Enabling the world's poorest people to get a fair price for what they produce helps end poverty and also creates tomorrow's new markets for us to trade with.

Investing in a permanent workforce can have business benefits, however it is for employers and individuals to decide whether this is appropriate in any given situation. The Government has taken some steps to encourage more individuals to discuss different working patterns with their employer where it suits them. As of 30 June last year, all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service can make a statutory request to change their working pattern, for instance to request permanent hours. This is in addition to the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 which ensure all agency workers are entitled to information about relevant job vacancies within the hirer that would be available to a comparable employee or worker from day one of an assignment.

Small businesses are vital to our economy and our small business owners have driven this economic recovery. The Start-Up Loan Scheme has provided 18 loans, with a value of £44,515, to people starting a business in the Glasgow South West constituency.

We are committed to making Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business, and are doing this in a number of ways:

• £10 billion of financing will be unlocked for smaller business over the next 5 years by our British Business Bank;
• Government grants of up to £3,000 for better internet connectivity are available to small businesses;
• Growth Vouchers to help companies find and pay for professional strategic advice;
• GREATbusiness.gov.uk brings together all Government advice, guidance and support in one place and businesses can speak to or webchat with a helpline adviser direct using the Business Support helpline;
• £2,000 cut from the National Insurance bills of small firms through the Employment Allowance; and
• Businesses with up to fifty employees and start-ups are exempted from new regulations.

Latest figures published the Office for National Statistics on 23rd January show that the value of retail sales (excluding automotive fuel) in 2014 totalled £339 billion. This is an all-time high for the UK and is £47 billion higher than 2010 in cash terms.

Retail is vitally important to local and national economies, which is why Government is actively working to help all retailers. In October 2013, BIS published "A Strategy for Future Retail"; it was developed in partnership with industry and built on the previous retail strategy. It comprises actions to address barriers to retail growth and performance, and to help retail prepare itself for the future.

The 2014 Autumn Statement announced a £1 billion package to reduce the cost of business rates, including continuing the 2% RPI multiplier cap and the doubling of the Small Business Rates Relief to April 2016, increasing the discount for smaller retail premises to £1,500 to March 2016, extending Transitional Rate Relief to March 2017 and changing the rules on when alterations to rateable values can only be backdated to. This £1 billion package builds on the £2.7 billion support package introduced at Autumn Statement 2013.

The Government is also supporting town centres across the country to revitalise their high streets. This includes banning CCTV for parking, allowing residents and firms to review parking policies, a freeze on parking penalty charges, a review of Business Improvement Districts, action on planning, and support for the digital high street and retail markets. This is on top of: £2.3 million to support the 27 Portas Pilots and 330 town teams across England, £10 million from the High Street Innovation Fund, and a £500, 000 loan fund for new Business Improvement Districts.

Retail and wholesale industries are able to benefit from the support that Government is offering to all sectors. My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister recently announced the 25,000^th Start Up Loan –over £129 million has been lent to people of all ages to start their own business. Government has created one of the most competitive tax regimes in the world and businesses have less regulation. There has been a £10 billion cumulative net saving to business over the course of this Parliament. Small businesses have better access to business advice and support. GREATbusiness.gov.uk brings together all Government advice, guidance and support in one place. And for those who are ready to really grow, the Business Growth Service brings together expert advice to improve and grow in one place for up to 20,000 firms each year with the ambition and capacity to grow.

The launch of MyCSP as a mutual joint venture (MJV) was reported in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13.

The Cabinet Office has a contract with MyCSP Limited to provide pension administration services for the Civil Service pension scheme. MyCSP has met all key performance standards since February 2013. Overall performance is reviewed at regular contract meetings with officials and by the Civil Service Pensions Board which includes industry experts and nominees of Civil Service employers and scheme members.

Further to my answer of 8 January 2015 to the hon. Member for Leicester South about pre-existing issues, MyCSP took responsibility for the administration of the pensioner payroll from the previous supplier and inherited an unexpectedly large backlog of work. This caused a temporary dip in performance and some pension payments were delayed as a result. The Cabinet Office has instructed MyCSP to prioritise ensuring delayed payments are resolved quickly and returning service levels to normal as quickly as possible.

MyCSP vested as a MJV in May 2012 which permitted the injection of much needed new investment in IT, capability and technology into MyCSP. None of the recent service issues are as a result of the MJV model. The transformation this investment is enabling will allow MyCSP to deliver a wider range of services (including online services) to higher standards whilst halving the cost of pension administration within 10 years. Even before this transformation is fully completed (and whilst continuing to work with legacy systems and problems inherited from the predecessor organisation), MyCSP has improved productivity by 15% year-on-year since 2012, driven down staff absenteeism, while also improving staff engagement.

Awareness of the Fairtrade movement can be covered in Citizenship or as part of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. Schools are free to decide what to include in their PSHE programmes and should tailor the content of PSHE lessons to take account of the needs and interests of their pupils.

The UK is a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates international trade in endangered species. Tackling the illegal trade in products regulated under CITES, including Medicinal and Health Products, is one of the UK’s six current wildlife crime priorities.

In 2013 UK Border Force officers made 569 seizures under CITES regulations. Among the items seized were more than 700,000 units of medicines made from parts, or derivatives, of endangered species.

The UK Government is committed to working with our international partners to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. In February 2014 the UK hosted a major conference of global leaders to help eradicate the illegal wildlife trade and better protect some of the world’s most iconic species from the threat of extinction. Over 40 nations attended. The result was the London Conference Declaration, containing 25 commitments to action on enforcement and criminal justice, eradicating the market for illegal wildlife products and sustainable livelihoods.

We have designed a £10 million package, over four years, to support efforts around the world aimed at tackling the illegal wildlife trade. As part of this package, we are supporting projects which address the rising demand for illegal wildlife products, including demand for medicines made from endangered species, in China and Vietnam.

The sugar regime is one of the most heavily regulated and distorting elements of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the agreement to end sugar beet quotas in 2017 is an important step towards removing these distortions.

Naturally, the Government is concerned by the effect that these reforms may have on sugar producers in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries highlighted in the report. This is why we encouraged the European Commission to establish a Fund of Euro 1.24 billion in 2006 to assist sugar producing countries to adapt. My Department will continue to engage with the European Commission, the Private Sector, and ACP countries to maximise the impact of these funds. We will also ensure that ACP countries continue to benefit from preferential access to the EU sugar market.

The UK has provided £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nigeria to deliver food, safe water, clothes, shelter material and other basic necessities to those people displaced following attacks by Boko Haram. A further £1 million of UK funding is committed to the Nigerian Government’s “Safe Schools Initiative” to help protect children at school in North East Nigeria and provide schooling to children displaced by the violence. The UK has also contributed £1.7 million to the UN’s and EU’s relief efforts in Nigeria.

In addition, the UK is providing humanitarian support across the Sahel region – including £8m in Niger and £5.5m in Chad - to in part help those countries address the refugee caseload from Nigeria.

The Department does not hold the actual payment data for each franchised operator. However, the statutory accounts for each franchised operator can be used to provide a proxy for this payment with reference to the “Tax on profit on ordinary activities” in each Income statement and making the assumption that the tax is paid in that year.

On this basis the franchised train operator which paid the highest amount of corporation tax in each financial year from 2009-10 to 2013-14 is as follows

2009/10 West Coast Trains Limited

2010/11 Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited

2011/12 First/Keolis Transpennine Limited

2012//13 Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited

2013/14 Northern Rail Limited

The Department does not hold the actual payment data for each franchised operator. However the statutory accounts for each franchised operator can be used to provide a proxy for this payment with reference to the “Tax on profit on ordinary activities” in each Income statement and making the assumption that the tax is paid in that year.

On this basis, so far we do not have a complete picture for the financial year 2014-15, as we have received only one set of statutory accounts for a financial year ending in this period.

The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

I refer my Hon. Member to the reply given by the Department to his previous question number 223035, Official Report 09 February 2015.

The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not readily available for all special rules for the terminally ill benefits, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

For Personal Independence Payment new claims made under special rules for the terminally ill, please refer to the statistical ad hoc that was published on 28^th January to support discussions at the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-new-claims-ad-hoc-statistics

The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 205613 for details of penalties issued.

No details or estimates of the number of businesses or employees using the Employee Shareholder status within geographical regions or nationally are currently available.

No details or estimates of the number of businesses or employees using the Employee Shareholder status within geographical regions or nationally are currently available.

National Savings & Investments employ 165 people, of whom 8 work in Scotland. National Savings and Investment’s (NS&I) operational services are provided by Atos, with 1,528 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) people employed across the UK as of 13^th August. Of these, 1,074 FTE are permanent staff, 430 FTE are agency staff (varied on demand) and 24 FTE are IT contractors from SOPRA. At present NS&I and Atos work at one office in Scotland at Cowglen (Constituency: Glasgow South) but will be moving to two new offices: Capella (Constituency: Glasgow Central) & Orbital (Constituencies: East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow) in the near future.

The building at Cowglen is much larger than the current headcount of staff requires according to Government space standards. Our two new sites will provide for the anticipated future needs of NS&I operations in Glasgow.

With the introduction of the ‘Savings bonds for the 65s and over’ in January 2015 there will be a temporary increase in the number of staff to handle peak demand. Exact numbers are yet to be finalised and are still under discussion but some of these will be based in Glasgow Capella & Orbital.

The headcount and geographical breakdown as of 13 August 2014 is as follows:

National Savings & Investments employ 165 people, of whom 8 work in Scotland. National Savings and Investment’s (NS&I) operational services are provided by Atos, with 1,528 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) people employed across the UK as of 13^th August. Of these, 1,074 FTE are permanent staff, 430 FTE are agency staff (varied on demand) and 24 FTE are IT contractors from SOPRA. At present NS&I and Atos work at one office in Scotland at Cowglen (Constituency: Glasgow South) but will be moving to two new offices: Capella (Constituency: Glasgow Central) & Orbital (Constituencies: East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow) in the near future.

The building at Cowglen is much larger than the current headcount of staff requires according to Government space standards. Our two new sites will provide for the anticipated future needs of NS&I operations in Glasgow.

With the introduction of the ‘Savings bonds for the 65s and over’ in January 2015 there will be a temporary increase in the number of staff to handle peak demand. Exact numbers are yet to be finalised and are still under discussion but some of these will be based in Glasgow Capella & Orbital.

The headcount and geographical breakdown as of 13 August 2014 is as follows:

Tough enforcement is the cornerstone of this Government’s immigration policy.
Those who break our laws should be removed from the country at the earliest
opportunity, and we will seek to remove any foreign national who
receives a custodial sentence for a criminal offence.

We removed almost 5,100 foreign national offenders in 2013/14 and over 23,000
since 2010. We are removing more offenders straight from prison, which saved
the taxpayer £27.5million in the last financial year. This is all despite a 28%
increase in appeals.

We are dealing with offenders who do not want to go home, and in some cases
whose home country does not want to take them back. This presents challenges
which we are determined to overcome. Chief among the challenges are the legal
barriers we face.

That is why this Government is the first to have a strategy for dealing with
foreign national offenders, including overcoming obstacles to their removal. We have
also introduced new powers in the Immigration Act (2014) which have cut the number
of grounds on which criminals can appeal deportation. More than 500 foreign offenders
have already been removed under the new ‘deport now, appeal later’ provisions.

The majority of foreign national offenders in the community were released by an
Immigration Judge, despite our strong opposition. Most offenders are subject to
reporting conditions and, where possible, electronic tagging. If a foreign
national offender fails to comply with these conditions by absconding, our
dedicated national absconder tracing team works with the police, other
government agencies and commercial companies to track down, arrest
and return absconders to custody. The Home Office is using intelligence
and working more closely with partners to maximise the impact of enforcement
activity.

The Home Office has not made a comparative assessment of the costs of managing foreign national offenders in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

Last year, this Government removed 5,097 foreign national offenders, and wehave removed over 22,000 FNOs since 2010.

The Government introduced the Immigration Act (2014) which allows us to serve quick decisions, earlier in the process. It places the emphasis on the foreign criminal giving us information at the outset. This is a fundamental change in the process and we have already removed over 500 foreign national offenders underthe 'deport now, appeal later' provisions of the Act.

The Act also introduced new powers to prevent criminals using family life arguments to delay their deportation.

We have also introduced Operation Nexus which is a joint initative between Immigration Enforcement and police forces. Nexus identifies offenders that are foreign nationals at the point of arrest and allows Immigration Enforcement to consider those criminals for administrative removal or deportation. This has contributed to the removal of over 3,200 individuals so far.

This government is the first to have a strategy to remove foreign national
offenders.

Last year, this Government removed 5,097 foreign national offenders, and we
have removed over 22,000 FNOs since 2010. We have already removed over
500 foreign national offenders under the 'deport now, appeal later' provisions of the
Immigration Act which came into effect in July 2014. This is alongside FNOs
already being removed during their early removal scheme period. In 2013/14 we
removed more than 1,800 such FNOs.

Additionally we have introduced Operation Nexus, a joint endeavour between the
police and Immigration Enforcement officers, leading to the removal of over
3,200 individuals, joined the Schengen Information System (SIS II), extended
the use of checks of overseas criminal information and are working with the
Ministry of Justice to implement compulsory prisoner transfer agreements within
the EU.

Detention is used as a last resort when we consider that there is a risk of harm to the public, or of detainees absconding before they can be removed. We have a robust process for reviewing detention decisions to ensure that they are
justified and necessary; occasionally, the courts will disagree with a particular decision and award compensation, but this happens in less than 1% of all detention cases.

The amounts paid by the Home Office in compensation following claims for unlawful detention in Scotland were as follows:

Financial Year No. of Claimants Amount Paid
2011-12 3 £39,300
2013-14 2 £13,500

It is not possible to provide similar information for earlier periods, as data are not held in the appropriate format and to extract them would incur disproportionate cost.

Ministers from all three Departments meet regularly to discuss priority countries for FNO removals and the implementation of the cross-departmental action plan.