The Government intends to propose an amendment to the Children and Families Bill that will make a significant change to the legislation regarding care leavers. This amendment will be tabled for the House of Lords Third Reading of the Children and Families Bill.

The amendment will place a new legal duty on local authorities to support every care leaver who wants to stay with their former foster parents until their 21st birthday (“staying put” arrangements). This duty will come into force from April 2014 and we will be giving local authorities £40 million over the next three years to put the support arrangements in place.

The Government are always open to ideas that promote regional growth. The Airports Commission will shortly publish a report on the best use of existing airport capacity in the short to medium term and the Government will take its findings into account in our response.

Table 1 gives the level of recovery for crisis loans and budgeting loans in each of the four financial years to March 2013.

My most recent discussion with the Justice Minister concerning the remit of the National Crime Agency took place on 9 October. The NCA will provide

support and expertise to partners in Northern Ireland in a number of areas. We are keen to extend its remit to cover crime falling within devolved responsibilities, if agreement can be reached on this within the Northern Ireland Executive.

There has been no assessment of regulations on the safety of HGV wheels. However, the Department has recently consulted the trade associations of heavy vehicle operators to survey their members' experiences of road wheel durability. The study report will be available shortly and will inform any future decisions on research and the need for regulatory intervention.

There has been no assessment of regulations on the safety of HGV wheels. However, the Department has recently consulted the trade associations of heavy vehicle operators to survey their members' experiences of road wheel durability. The study report will be available shortly and will inform any future decisions on research and the need for regulatory intervention.

There has been no assessment of regulations on the safety of HGV wheels. However, the Department has recently consulted the trade associations of heavy vehicle operators to survey their members' experiences of road wheel durability. The study report will be available shortly and will inform any future decisions on research and the need for regulatory intervention.

Both myself and the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), have had general discussions with the European Commission and with representatives from other member states, including the Irish presidency on the roadworthiness proposal since it was published in July 2012.

More specifically, I addressed the Council of Transport Ministers on this issue in October 2012 and also December 2012 where the majority of member states agreed a General Approach on Periodic Technical Inspection which modified the proposal to be more acceptable for the UK. The Secretary of State attended the Council meeting in June this year where general approaches were agreed on roadside inspection and on the registration directive.

I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement concerning the Transport Council in December 2012 on 7 January 2013, Official Report, columns 10-12WS.

The EU Roadworthiness Package is a wide ranging legislative proposal. It comprises of two regulations and a directive containing several detailed annexes. An initial assessment of the implications for vehicle examination in the UK was included in my letter to the European Affairs Committee of 8 October 2012. The EU have not been able to prove any significant improvements to road safety for the UK and, as such,

I have opposed those measures that result in additional cost or administrative burden for the UK motorist or business.

I am aware of reports of the murder of Mr Ataollah Rezvani—a member of the much persecuted Bahai faith in Iran. I called publicly for the Iranian Government to conduct a full investigation into his death on 30 August. I will be monitoring developments in this case closely.

Of the 19 former Remploy employees from the Wythenshawe factory, three have secured and remain in full-time employment. Of the rest, four are on sabbatical, one has retired, and 11 are claiming ESA/JSA (three of those 11 are on Work Choice undertaking training and other activities aimed at moving them closer to employment).

We will open up rehabilitation to a diverse range of organisations and introduce new payment incentives for providers to focus relentlessly on reforming offenders. We plan to commence the competitive process for our new providers at the end of this summer. We will also create a new national public sector probation service, which will work to protect the public.

A Serious Fraud Office investigation into Arck is under way, and the Government cannot comment specifically

on any ongoing investigations. However, lawyers acting on behalf of Arck investors have themselves announced that the Financial Ombudsman Service is investigating complaints about Yorkshire bank’s role as custodian to Arck LLP. If the FOS were to determine that there had been any regulatory breach or failure by Yorkshire bank, and that that had led to investor detriment, it would be able to set an appropriate level of restitution.

[holding answer 4 March 2013]: I would draw the right hon. Member's attention to the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report ‘Tackling tax credits error and fraud’ (HC891) published on 14 February 2013 and available at:

http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1213/tax_credits_error_and_fraud.aspx

The latest available estimate of error and fraud is for 2010-11. This is shown in the following table along with values for the preceding four years. Although the value of error and fraud increased in 2010-11, the general trend since HMRC introduced its Tax Credits Error and Fraud Strategy in April 2009 has been downwards. When looked at as the proportion of total tax credits entitlement paid out incorrectly error and fraud has fallen from 8.9% in 2008-09, prior to the strategy, to 8.1 % in 2010-11.