Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of (a) each of the Directorates-General and (b) other services of the European Commission in each year since 2010.

    Mr David Lidington

    The European Commission publishes data on its permanent EU officials (excluding seconded national experts) broken down by nationality and by each of its Directorates-General and services at the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/about/figures/index_en.htm

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what severance pay has been granted to the special advisers that left his Department in the last week.

    Ben Gummer

    Severance payments are in the process of being calculated. Details of the costs will be published in due course.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost of unfreezing UK-issued pensions in those British Overseas Territories where they are frozen.

    Richard Harrington

    The Government has a clear position, which has remained a consistent policy of successive Governments for around 70 years. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and are uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so; for example in the European Economic Area, or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating, and so annual increases are paid to UK State Pension recipients in Gibraltar and in Bermuda. We have no plans to change this policy.

    Were this to occur, liabilities for pensioners who live in other countries and territories would also have to be met. The estimated cost of increasing pensions in those countries where they are not currently uprated would be over £0.5 billion a year. This would be financially unaffordable.

    The annual additional cost of up-rating the State Pensions of those recipients who are resident in the British Overseas Territories was estimated at approximately £1million in 2015/16.

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to change how take-away food delivery drivers are regulated.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    This is not a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners undergoing a transition from male to female gender have been placed in the female estate prior to receiving legal recognition of that change of gender.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This information is not held centrally and as my Honourable Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, committed to the House on 20 November, my Department will publish data on the number of trans people in prison in due course.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to answer the letter to his Department from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, dated 16 November 2015 with regard to Mr M Bolton.

    George Freeman

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health replied to the hon. Member’s letter of 16 November 2015 on 16 December 2015.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kit Malthouse on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 22515, if he will estimate the amount paid out in supplements following the late payment of VAT returns in (a) 2015-16 and (b) each of the previous 10 years.

    Mr David Gauke

    The following table shows HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) estimates of the total amount of Repayment Supplement it has paid on VAT repayments. The estimates draw on management information that is available from 2010-11 onwards.

    .

    Date

    Total VAT repayment supplement

    2015-16 (to 31.12.15)

    £9.0m

    2014-15

    £14.2m

    2013-14

    £15.0m

    2012-13

    £10.9m*

    2011-12

    £11.8m*

    2010-11

    £6.7m*

    * In order to provide a more meaningful time series of data, totals for 10-11, 11-12 and 12-13 include estimated amounts from within total payments of £12.1m that relate to accounting periods in these years but were not paid until 2015, following discovery of a systems error.

    In 2014-15, HMRC paid Repayment Supplement in 0.3% of all cases.

    In the first half of 2015-16, HMRC carried out an extensive review of its repayment process with a view to minimising delays in cases where repayments are not authorised automatically. Following the review, new processes have been introduced and HMRC expects to reduce the incidence of Repayment Supplement as a result.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of tax credit investigations carried out by Concentrix under its contract with his Department have resulted in findings of (a) fraud and (b) error in the claim.

    Mr David Gauke

    As at 21 February 2016 Concentrix had closed around 440,000 cases. Around 390,000 of these resulted in no amendment to the award. Around 50,000 awards have been amended, though HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold information on how many of these were cancelled and how many adjusted.

    HMRC does not separate out the number of awards that were amended for error and from the number amended for fraud.

    On appeals, I refer the member to the answer I provided on 15 February 2016 to question 26041.

  • Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he took to take into account the rules on conflicts of interest set out in (a) Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies, (b) Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Rules of Conduct and (c) Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct in the recruitment process for the recently-appointed Pubs Code Adjudicator; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    • Paul Newby was appointed in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA) Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies.
    • His prior experience of the pubs sector as a surveyor and arbitrator and his ability to forge trusted relationships with both tenants and PubCos is an asset, not a conflict of interest.
    • The appointment panel discussed conflicts of interest with him at interview. The Panel was satisfied there were no conflicts of interest, and put this advice to ministers.
    • Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators membership were not requirements for this post, so the documents referred to are not directly relevant to the appointment process.
  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support prisoners with mental health problems.

    Andrew Selous

    Providing appropriate treatment at the right time is vital to improve outcomes for people with mental health problems. All new prisoners accepted by a prison are assessed on reception by a health care professional on arrival at the prison. Where appropriate, prisoners may be referred to a range of individual or group mental health interventions. In the most serious cases, prisoners may be transferred to secure hospital on the recommendation of two psychiatrists