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  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35019, on social fund, for what reasons management information is only held from 2013.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 the information previously provided was extracted from the current live Operational Activity Based Management Information System.

    The information from 2010 until 2013 is not readily available as it is archived. However we have now been able to extract the historical data which is displayed in the table below.

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    Bereavement Benefit

    145

    130

    116

    106

    94

    84

    78

    Maternity Allowance

    108

    82

    77

    75

    70

    66

    72

    Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

    309

    243

    241

    226

    192

    166

    148

    Social Fund

    4321

    2480

    1968

    1552

    798

    411

    349

    Notes: The table above shows average Full Time Equivalent for each financial year from April to March.

    Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management System (L1A) and Operational Activity Based Management Information System (L1A)

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35018, how many funeral expense payments were processed by his Department in 2015-16; and what proportion of such applications were processed within (a) 15, (b) 20 and (c) 25 working days.

    Justin Tomlinson

    For 2015/16 the Department processed 45,467 applications for Funeral Expense Payments with 69.7% cleared within 15 working days and 83.4% cleared within 20 working days. We are unable to provide data on how many applications were processed within 25 working days as the Management Information system that the Department uses for Funeral Expenses does not provide this level of detail.

    Source:

    Number processed – Department for Work and Pensions – Management Information System Program (MISP) – Management Information Portal

    % processed – Department for Work and Pensions – Office Print Report Tool (OPRT) – Management Information Statistics

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people found a lost pension scheme through the Pension Tracing Service in each of the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Pension Tracing Service (PTS) located the following number of schemes:

    2011/12 Successful Traces 69,143

    2012/13 Successful Traces 93,975

    2013/14 Successful Traces 125,502

    2014/15 Successful Traces 107,834

    2015/16 Successful Traces 133,702

    These numbers represent the number of schemes PTS located for customers but PTS have no way of knowing how many customers went on to find a lost pension.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will name those businesses that are known to have changed the terms and conditions of their low-paid workers in order to recover some of the costs of paying an increased minimum wage; and what steps they plan to take to discourage businesses from taking such steps.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government believes that it is essential for employers to ensure that their reward packages are competitive, in order to retain and develop the staff who are fundamental to their success. In a growing economy, the National Living Wage should represent an opportunity to invest in talented staff and improve productivity.

    The Government does not plan to operate a formal scheme to name employers who change employees’ terms and conditions. But we will continue to be clear that reducing wider remuneration packages and blaming the National Living Wage is short-sighted and not in the spirit of the introduction of the National Living Wage.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have not prosecuted the reported 350 Jihadis who have returned to the UK and are suspected of having fought in Syria or Iraq.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has successfully prosecuted 35 cases involving 54 defendants who have returned to the UK and are suspected of having fought in Syria and / or Iraq. It currently has 13 such ongoing prosecutions involving 30 defendants. The Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland (PPSNI) is also dealing with one ongoing Syria-related prosecution. If there is evidence that people are going abroad to engage in terrorist activity, they can be arrested and prosecuted. They can also be arrested and prosecuted if they return to the UK. There are a wide range of offences that can be used to prosecute such individuals but each case has to be considered individually on its merits and whether an arrest or prosecution can take place will depend on the evidence available. If the police refer a case to the CPS, they consider whether the test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors is met. That is, whether there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence and, if so, whether it is in the public interest to prosecute.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the advice given in the Dancing To Our Own Tunes guidance by the National Survivor User Network, what assessment they have made of the involvement of black and minority ethnic service users in Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department is committed to involving patients and service users in the development of national mental health policy. However, it does not monitor this engagement centrally.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the guidance to health commissioners to mandate providers to complete minimum data sets, what assessment they have made of whether high quality, safe and non-discriminatory care is being provided to black and minority ethnic groups.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    As reflected in the first principle of the NHS Constitution, the National Health Service is committed to providing high quality, safe and non-discriminatory care for its users irrespective of their of protected characteristics. NHS organisations are subject to the public sector equality duty and other provisions of The Equality Act 2010 in carrying out their public functions and services. This means that they must think about the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic, such as race, and those who do not. Compliance with equality duties is embedded in the NHS regulatory framework and NHS organisations can be challenged in the courts if they fail to comply. As part of their enforcement powers, the Equality and Human Rights Commission can also take action against NHS organisations to ensure compliance.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of investment in public mental health intervention in each of the last three years.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Previously, spend on public mental health has been a sub-category of the miscellaneous reporting category and most councils would have captured this spend locally. From 2016-17, mental health spend from the public health grant has its own dedicated reporting category and the information will be available nationally.

  • Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Boateng – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the guidance for commissioners of mental health services to people from black and minority ethnic communities on inequalities in access, experience and outcomes in mental health care.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department is committed to involving patients and service users in the development of national mental health policy. It does not monitor this engagement centrally.

    The Department commissioned the Mental Health Providers’ Forum and the Race Equality Foundation to gather and review evidence of effective mental health service for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. The review Better practice in mental health for black and minority ethnic communities was published in May 2015.

    The report found that organisations that were successful in providing mental health services that meet the needs of BME groups had developed local community-based approaches to service delivery which addressed cultural and linguistic differences and sought to actively engage hard to reach groups.

    The Department has also supported guidance published by the Joint Commissioning Panel in 2014 A guide for commissioners of mental health services for people from black and minority ethnic communities. http://www.jcpmh.info/good-services/black-minority-ethnic-communities/

    The guide set out 10 key messages for commissioners to improve services. These included: commissioning equitable access to mental health services for people regardless of ethnicity and identify and taking action to reduce ethnic inequalities; better local data collection to build understanding and competencies in commissioning services that meet the needs of BME groups; clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and health and wellbeing board developing strategies for BME groups; and involving and engaging service users in commissioning decisions.

    Copies of these reports are attached.

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  • Baroness Buscombe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Buscombe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Buscombe on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 22 April (HL7592), notwithstanding the British Nationality Act 1981, on what basis they are continuing to grant British citizenship to EU migrants who already possess citizenship of another EU member state.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    British Nationality legislation is set out in the British Nationality Act 1981, and so decisions to grant or refuse citizenship must be made in accordance with that legislation. The 1981 Act does not differentiate between nationals of EU and non-EU countries: citizenship is granted where a person fulfils the statutory requirements.