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  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how (a) much funding has been paid to and (b) many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Advisory. Conciliation and Arbitration Service in each year since 2009-10.

    Nick Boles

    Set out below is the amount of funding paid to Acas and is full-time equivalent staff for each year since 2009-10.

    Financial year

    Staff no. (FTE)

    Grant in Aid (£’000)

    2009-10

    880

    55,687

    2010-11

    876

    47,200

    2011-12

    827

    48,009

    2012-13

    787

    46,450

    2013-14

    787

    45,800

    2014-15

    784

    44,240

    2015-16

    782 (end Feb)

    44,478
  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential costs and benefits of making available to the public country-by-country taxation reports submitted to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by multinational companies; and whether HMRC plans to make those reports available to taxation authorities in other countries.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated the international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting to tax authorities during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a template for this as part of the BEPS project. The UK was also the first to commit to implementing the OECD model with legislation in Finance Act 2015. We signed the OECD agreement to share the CbC reports with other tax authorities in January 2016 and issued our final CbC reporting regulations on 26 February 2016.

    HMRC is committed to sharing the information reported by MNEs with other relevant tax jurisdictions to assist in assessing international tax avoidance risks.

    The Government believes that there is scope for greater transparency by pressing the case for public CbC reporting on a multilateral basis. As the Chancellor has said, this is something that the UK will seek to promote internationally.

    The European Commission is preparing an impact assessment of public CbC reporting. We look forward to seeing the outcome of this analysis, which we expect to be published early next month, and will consider any proposal put forward by the Commission in due course.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the proportion of total duty paid on alcohol in the EU that is paid by people in the UK.

    Damian Hinds

    HM Treasury has made no such estimate.

  • Lucy Allan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lucy Allan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Allan on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date the leases for HM Revenue and Customs offices Abbey House and Parkside Court will end.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) occupies Abbey House, Telford, under the terms of its property outsourcing contract (STEPS) with Mapeley rather than under a traditional lease. The STEPS contract expires in April 2021, and includes flexibility for HMRC to vacate properties prior to 2021 as well as rights of occupation beyond this date.

    HMRC occupies Parkside Court, Telford under the terms of an inter-departmental accommodation sharing arrangement with the Land Registry. The arrangement is due to expire on 4 January 2017 and includes rights of renewal for HMRC in line with the over-arching departmental estate strategy.

  • Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Robinson on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help people with disabilities with the cost of housing in the private rented sector.

    Justin Tomlinson

    There are a number of ways the Department helps people with disabilities who are entitled to Housing Benefit and are renting in the private sector.

    The enhanced package of Discretionary Housing Payments funding (£870 million over 5 years) will enable LAs to protect vulnerable claimants and support households affected by the Housing Benefit reforms.

    In addition to this, single disabled people under 35 years of age who are in receipt of the severe disability premium are exempt from the shared accommodation rate under the Local Housing Allowance scheme.

    Disabled people with overnight care needs may be eligible for an additional bedroom for a non-resident carer under the size criteria rules.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are required to consider environmental factors when awarding contracts.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The over-riding procurement policy requirement is that all public procurement must be based on value for money, defined as the best mix of quality and effectiveness for the least outlay over the period of use of the goods or services bought. This includes taking environmental issues into consideration.

    The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires all public authorities, to have regard to economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public services contracts; and for connected purposes. In addition under the Duty of Best Value, local authorities should consider overall value, including environmental value when reviewing service provision.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to make available to the Northern Ireland Executive funds received from the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

    Brandon Lewis

    These statistics relate to absences recorded as “Mental Disorders” under the World Health Organisation categories of absence, which includes non-stress related absences such as depression. The figures therefore should not be read as being fully related to stress caused absence and it should also be noted that non-work related stress absences would also be recorded here.

    Sickness absence due to mental health absences, in the Department were as follows:

    Year

    Number of Officials Absent due to ‘Mental Disorders’ (Headcount)

    Proportion of Total Officials (Headcount)

    Absences due to ‘Mental Disorders’ as a Proportion of Total Working Days Lost

    2011

    109

    4.0%

    18.3%

    2012

    92

    4.2%

    25.0%

    2013

    104

    5.2%

    24.3%

    2014

    98

    4.8%

    20.1%

    2015

    113

    5.3%

    32.8%

    Back in the Summer of 2014 DCLG paid for two staff to become mental health first aid Instructors so that a programme of mental health first aid could be rolled out across the Department. 32 staff have since become mental health ambassadors. The increase in the level of absences due to mental disorders in 2015 is likely to reflect more honest and open reporting of absence by staff following the work done by our Mental Health First Aiders to reduce the stigma that is sometimes felt by sufferers of poor mental health.

    For the 12 month period ending December 2015, the Department’s overall absence rate was 6.5 average working days lost per member of staff. This is lower than the Civil Service average of 7.4 days, the public services average of 8.4 days and private sector services average of 8.2 days (figures from the October 2015 CIPD annual absence management survey).

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The average days’ sickness absence per full time equivalent employed by DCMS during the last financial year was 2.0 days.

    The Civil Service takes a holistic approach to managing sick absence and improving wellbeing and we have focussed on specific actions to reduce the incidence of mental disorders, including stress related absence. This includes

    • early referral to occupational health experts, particularly for mental health, stress or musculoskeletal conditions,

    • early referral to Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) for CBT based counselling support for mental health issues,

    • workplace adjustments that help to prevent conditions from developing or worsening, whilst reducing the barriers to work for those affected by mental or physical impairments,

    • extensive training for managers and employees including on disability and mental health awareness, well-being, resilience and stress.

    Financial Year

    Number of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress

    Proportion of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress

    Proportion of total sick such sick leave was in the department

    Apr 14 – Mar 15

    1

    0.2%

    0.5%

    Apr 13 – Mar 14

    2

    0.5%

    0.9%

    Apr 12 – Mar 13

    3

    0.8%

    1.2%

    Apr 11 – Mar 12

    5

    1.1%

    2.1%

    Apr 10 – Mar 11

    6

    1.4%

    2.5%

    Background

    We have reported on the average sickness absence in the annual report (link) and do not specifically report on sickness absence due to stress.

    The DCMS sick absence data is low in comparison with the Civil Service average of 7.4 Average Working Days Lost. We do not have any evidence to know why this is. HR continues to remind all staff and managers of the importance of accurate and prompt recording on the HR system.

    Financial Year

    Number of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress

    Proportion of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress

    Department FTE

    Total sickness in department

    Percentage of staff who took Stress Related Absence against total staff who recorded a sick absence

    Apr 14 – Mar 15

    1

    0.2%

    461

    203

    0.5%

    Apr 13 – Mar 14

    2

    0.5%

    381

    234

    0.9%

    Apr 12 – Mar 13

    3

    0.8%

    376

    259

    1.2%

    Apr 11 – Mar 12

    5

    1.1%

    457

    243

    2.1%

    Apr 10 – Mar 11

    6

    1.4%

    443

    242

    2.5%

    ¹Department FTE from DCMS Annual Report & Accounts 2010-11 and 2014-15

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  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people learn to swim.

    David Evennett

    Swimming is an important life skill and one which we are keen is available to as many people as possible. This is why the Government’s new sport and physical activity strategy ‘’Sporting Future: a New Strategy for an Active Nation’, (www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation) includes a commitment to ensure that every child leaves primary school able to swim.

    Swimming is part of the national curriculum and Government are committed to ensuring that all children are able to meet the minimum standard of capability and confidence in swimming. Sport England is developing a number of pilot projects which aim to encourage adults to take up swimming. It is also investing £20 million between 2013-17 in the Amateur Swimming Association and in other projects, such as the innovative ‘This Girl Can Swim’, to get more people right across the country swimming. In addition, it has invested over £330 million to create modern, safe and attractive swimming pool facilities in England.