The Ministry of Defence recognises the value of open, mutually beneficial relationships with employers, which is why we have introduced professionalised employer engagement at the national and regional level.

The relationships we are building show that supporting the Armed Forces community is not only the right thing for employers to do, but can also yield tangible business benefits. Showing support by signing the Armed Forces Covenant can enhance the reputation of a company and attract the interest of Reservists and Service leavers; highly skilled, well-trained professionals who can add real value to a business.

Since 2014 the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) has provided visible recognition to those employers which support Defence and is inspiring others to do the same. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to Defence and the Armed Forces community. Publicity around the ERS and the Armed Forces Covenant is valuable to both Defence and the employers involved. Ministers regularly attend Armed Forces Covenant signing events, most recently with ISS UK.

Our approach is delivering benefit; almost 1,000 employers have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and research shows that overall awareness of the Covenant has increased significantly over the last year.

Appropriate arrangements are currently in place to ensure that school spending is transparent. Details of income and expenditure in all maintained schools and academies are published annually by the department in Statistical First Releases, available on GOV.UK. The Permanent Secretary’s Accountability System Statement sets out in detail the accountability system for education, including maintained schools and academies, and for children’s services.

While we are always interested in improving transparency and accountability in spending by schools we have no current plans for changes.

In the last six years HM Treasury argued one case on taxation as the lead Department before the European Court of Justice. The judgment went against the UK, but the protective purpose was nevertheless served.

The government is at the forefront of assisting and protecting vulnerable children, wherever they are. Children in Europe are mostly already able to access support from countries that have similar legal obligations to our own.

The UK has been playing its full part in supporting European neighbours to provide support to those who have arrived. We have provided nearly £46 million of funding to the Europe wide response to help the most vulnerable, including children and infants.

In addition the £10 million the Department for International Development fund announced on 28 January will support UNHCR, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee to work with host authorities to care and assist unaccompanied or separated children.

This is in addition to resettling those from conflict regions through our Syrian Resettlement Programme and Children at Risk Resettlement Scheme. The UK is playing a leading role in the resettlement of the most vulnerable and supports other EU Member States in establishing and developing their resettlement schemes, through bilateral and multinational discussions.

As announced on 4 May we will be consulting closely with local authorities to find suitable places within the UK for these children.

Local authorities will be required to provide the right support, care and accommodation to meet the child’s specific needs. Statutory agencies at a local level are best placed to understand and meet the needs of all children and will continue to make decisions about the right accommodation and support services for those who are looked after.

Unaccompanied children will be eligible for foster care if it is considered that that this placement type will provide appropriate support and best meet their individual needs.

The UK has well-established and effective safeguarding procedures to ensure the safety of children who come to the UK.

We want to see even more competition to keep energy costs down for businesses.

The Competition and Markets Authority has already published some suggestions such as requiring suppliers to publish tariffs online and making switching easier for businesses on auto-rollover contracts.

We are looking forward to the CMA’s final report and are committed to implementing their recommendations.

Profits from BBC Worldwide are returned to the BBC. The BBC will publish its annual report and accounts for 2015 outlining the contribution BBC Worldwide has made in that financial year in due course. In the 2014/15 annual report the income the BBC received from Worldwide was £851.3million.

It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

DFID is committed to supporting economic development in Africa and South Asia as it recognises the central importance of inclusive economic growth in eradicating poverty. One of DFID’s priorities is to partner with businesses investing in frontier markets in order to unlock economic opportunities that also have high development benefits.

DFID is working to create a business environment in Africa and South East Asia which is more conducive to attracting private sector capital; key to this is ensuring that investments are made in companies which have responsible business practices. Within DFID we ensure that investment vehicles like CDC and Private Infrastructure Development Group have investment codes with sustainability at their core. We also support internationally recognised Codes of Conduct like the UN Global Compact and organisations which aim to drive better reporting standards like the Global Reporting Initiative.

EDF and the French Government have agreed a way forward on financing of the company. The chairman of EDF has begun a non-binding consultation with the company council ahead of a final investment decision, which is a commercial matter for EDF. The British Government and EDF are both confident that Hinkley will go ahead. The French Government also remain fully committed to the project.

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is central to the commitments of the National Security Council, Strategic Defence and Security Review, and the UK Aid Strategy. DFID works towards stability and security in the region through a joined up approach across HMG, prioritising efforts on what we can affect, exerting international influence and building resilience to prevent further failure. Our mission is to assist progress towards stability, preventing extremism and managing migration. The majority of our resources are targeted at a protracted humanitarian response and support stability through a focus on economic reform, education, jobs and local good governance. Since February 2012 and up to the end of financial year 2015/2016 we have spent nearly £1 billion. We will spend £510m in the region this year through the UK Syria crisis response, which will support humanitarian and non-humanitarian projects in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, benefiting people affected by the conflict.

An important aspect of the cross HMG response to build stability in the region is the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) under the direction of the National Security Council. CSSF brings together HMG effort on conflict, stability, security and peacekeeping and responds to emerging crises in states where the United Kingdom has key interests. In 2016/17 the CSSF will commit £189m in MENA. The CSSF provides funding to a range of programmes that target the underlying drivers of conflict and instability, from security and justice to peacebuilding (political settlements and transition, community-level dispute resolution and conflict management), human rights protection and governance reform.

To ensure compliance with the Gender Equality Act (2014), DFID ensures all programmes consider gender in order to understand and mitigate negative impacts of inequality and maximise opportunities to promote equality. Our strategic vision for women and girls is to unlock their potential to play a critical role in reducing poverty and building peaceful societies. For example, in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank in Jordan, Egypt and the OPTs, the £10m Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund addresses the job market challenges faced by poor women, enabling 150,000 women to work, grow their business and increase their voice, choice and control over economic activities. In the humanitarian context, in response to the Syria crisis, DFID funding is enabling INGOs and UN agencies to provide specialist assistance to those affected by sexual-and gender-based violence through clinical care, case management, counselling, reproductive health care and cash assistance to vulnerable households.

The Department does not collect this information. We see houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) as one of the most accessible tenures, especially for young professionals.

We are working to increase supply by accelerating the development of a new market for private renters, including the £1 billion Build to Rent Fund, which funds development of new purpose-built privately rented homes, alongside a £10 billion debt guarantee programme.

The Ministry of Defence does not directly tackle political instability. As part of the United Kingdom's policy of countering shared threats in the region, supporting democratic and accountable governments, and promoting sustainable development, the Department works with other parts of Her Majesty's Government in assisting the countries of East Africa, as well as the United Nations and the African Union, to maintain security and to conduct peace support operations.

NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England are working together to improve hospital standards in Essex. Three hospital trusts – Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – are part of the Success Regime and are working closely together with the aim of improving outcomes for patients.

At Colchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a long-term partnership has been agreed with Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust to bring about sustainable improvement for patients.

I pay tribute to Prime Minister Davutoğlu for his partnership with the UK both as Prime Minister and previously as Foreign Minister. Turkey is a vital friend and ally with whom we cooperate on a host of issues, including tackling the migration crisis. We look forward to continuing that strong cooperation with President Erdoğan and a new Prime Minister once installed.

We are increasing our capacity to deal with protracted and multiple crises. We have set up a new team to develop thinking on our overall approach to protracted crises, and are working across the department to share lessons and build on best practice.

We are also working with international partners to develop solutions for protracted crises – and more appropriate medium term financing. The UK co-hosted the “Supporting Syria and the Region” conference in London on 4 February 2016 which raised over $12bn in pledges, of which $6.1 billion has been committed for 2017-20 to enable partners to plan ahead. We are approaching the UN World Humanitarian Summit 2016 with an ambitious set of objectives to secure commitment to implementing a new approach to protracted displacement.

Investment protection provisions in trade and investment treaties such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aim to protect international investors from discriminatory or unfair treatment by a state. Their investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions allow international investors to bring claims if they think the obligations set out in the treaty have been breached by the host state. As such, Governments cannot initiate claims against investors. Under the European Commission’s proposals for TTIP, in line with normal investment treaty practice, UK investors would be able to bring ISDS claims against the US Government.

The jurisdiction of any ISDS tribunal established in TTIP will be set out in the investment protection and ISDS provisions of the agreement. The aim of the European Commission’s proposals for investment protection provisions in TTIP is to clearly define the scope for ISDS claims and tribunal jurisdiction, including protecting the right of governments to regulate lawfully in the public interest. If an ISDS tribunal did exceed its jurisdiction in making an award, typically those elements of the resulting award would not be enforceable.

Investment protection provisions in trade and investment treaties such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aim to protect international investors from discriminatory or unfair treatment by a state. Their investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions allow international investors to bring claims if they think the obligations set out in the treaty have been breached by the host state. As such, Governments cannot initiate claims against investors. Under the European Commission’s proposals for TTIP, in line with normal investment treaty practice, UK investors would be able to bring ISDS claims against the US Government.

The jurisdiction of any ISDS tribunal established in TTIP will be set out in the investment protection and ISDS provisions of the agreement. The aim of the European Commission’s proposals for investment protection provisions in TTIP is to clearly define the scope for ISDS claims and tribunal jurisdiction, including protecting the right of governments to regulate lawfully in the public interest. If an ISDS tribunal did exceed its jurisdiction in making an award, typically those elements of the resulting award would not be enforceable.