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  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the target time is for dealing with passport applications.

    James Brokenshire

    Expected service standards for passport applications are given at
    www.gov.uk.

    Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the
    cost of collating it would be disproportionate.

    The table below shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of
    the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service
    standards.

    2013

    % straightforward applications processed within the published timescales

    % non-straightforward applications processed within the published timescales

    June

    100%

    97.8%

    July

    100%

    96.9%

    August

    100%

    96.4%

    September

    100%

    96.0%

    October

    100%

    95.9%

    November

    99.99%

    96.5%

    December

    99.99%

    96.3%

    2014

    January

    99.99%

    96.8%

    February

    99.98%

    98.1%

    March

    99.95%

    96.8%

    April

    98.59%

    99.6%

    May

    92.26%

    93.9%

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target waiting time is for work capability assessment for both (a) employment and support allowance and (b) incapacity benefit reassessment; and what proportion of such assessments have been carried out within the target timescale in the last four quarters for which figures are available.

    Mike Penning

    We are working closely with our supplier to deliver the best possible service for claimants, driving up performance and quality to help reduce waiting times and process claims as quickly as possible. We are continuing to monitor and robustly manage this contract.

    We do not have a target timescale for waiting time for an Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Reassessment Work Capability Assessment.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households subject to the benefits cap in (a) each parliamentary constituency and (b) each local authority area in Scotland have received transitional support via discretionary housing payment to date.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not available.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review his Department’s policy on issuing travel warrants to rural residents for (a) fortnightly signing-on and (b) other interviews and advisory meetings to take account of the need for such residents to travel further than average to jobcentres.

    Esther McVey

    Jobcentre Plus has flexibility to meet the particular needs of claimants living in rural areas.

    For example postal signing can be offered and claimants attending interviews on days outside their normal day of attendance can have their travelling expenses reimbursed.

    Work Coaches are also able to use the Flexible Support Fund and issue Travel Discount Cards to help claimants with travel expenses.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have been subject to the benefit cap in (a) each parliamentary constituency and (b) each local authority area in Scotland.

    Esther McVey

    Information on the number of households subject to the benefit cap in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland have not yet been published as Official Statistics. We intend to include this information as part of an upcoming release in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Information on the number of households subject to the benefit cap in each local authority in Scotland has been published and is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-march-2014

    “

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many tenants in Scotland arranged mutually exchanges to elsewhere in the UK through Home Swap Direct in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

    David Mundell

    Details of the number of moves that have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct Scheme from Scotland to elsewhere in the United Kingdom in each of the last three years are not held centrally. This information is more likely to be held by social housing providers.

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of refunding travel expenditure by jobseekers to jobcentres in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency was between January 2014 and May 2014.

    Esther McVey

    The cost of refunding travel expenditure by Jobseekers to Jobcentres in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency between January 2014 and May 2014 was :

    January 2014 to May 2014

    £1,456.88

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 7 May 2014, Official Report, column 228W, on social security benefits: disability, if he will take steps to reduce the national average waiting times for work capability assessments for (a) employment and support allowance and (b) incapacity benefit reassessment.

    Mike Penning

    We are working closely with our supplier to deliver the best possible service for claimants, driving up performance and quality to help reduce waiting times and process claims as quickly as possible. We are continuing to monitor and robustly manage this contract.

    We do not have a target timescale for waiting time for an Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit Reassessment Work Capability Assessment.

  • Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many reports on equality information and objectives each category of public authority has published under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 in each year since the regulations came into force; and what the cost of producing those reports was for each category of public authority in each such year.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    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.

  • Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public authorities in each category of public authority published equality information and objectives under the Equality Act (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 in each year since they came into force.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    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.