Category: Speeches

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken is by (a) Concentrix and (b) HM Revenue and Customs to process each tax credit claim adjustment; and what guidance there is in Concentrix’s contract on how long it should take to process each tax credit claim adjustment.

    Mr David Gauke

    The average time taken by Concentrix to carry out a tax credit intervention – from writing to the claimant, receiving and investigating any response, through to closing the case and making any adjustment to the award – is 91 days. The average time taken by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is 64 days, but the figures are not comparable because the profiles of cases worked by Concentrix and by HMRC are different.

    Concentrix are required under their contract with HMRC to complete 80% of High Risk Change of Circumstances interventions (these are a subset of Concentrix’s caseload consisting of the highest risk cases) within 75 days and 100% of such cases within 90 days. So far in 2015/16 they have closed 95.5% of these interventions within 75 days.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many breaches of the School Admissions Code there have been as a consequence of groups and organisations being able to object to schools’ admission arrangements.

    Lord Nash

    The Schools Adjudicator reports annually to the Secretary of State on fair access, and this report includes information on the objections referred to the Schools Adjudicator and the outcomes of those objections. The Department is carefully considering the findings contained in the report and will take these into account, along with other relevant information, as part of the current review of the School Admissions Code.

  • 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 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to increase the number of public appointments of women in the last three months.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and​ has an​ aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women. We are making ​good ​progress, with 44% of new appointments made to women in 2014-2015 and a higher proportion of all public appointments (new appointments and reappointments) went to women last year than at any other point previously recorded.

    The Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office supports departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Steps we are taking to increase diversity include streamlining the application process​, placing an emphasis on ability over previous experience,​ and increasing awareness of opportunities by using a central website, social media.

    I hosted an event in February for a variety of diversity networks to encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply for Public Appointments and to advertise them in their own networks. The Cabinet Office is also represented at events run by diversity networks to raise awareness of the opportunities available.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 31008, how many officials of his Department worked full-time on strategies to tackle homelessness in each of the last five years.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Over the years, this Department always ensured that policy areas, including homelessness, were suitably resourced in order to provide the best possible response to deal with changing priorities.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on British shipping of the decision by the President of Egypt to give control of the expansion of the Suez Canal to the Egyptian armed forces.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are not aware of any impact on British shipping in relation to the Egyptian armed forces’ involvement with the Suez Canal. The New Suez Canal Project, completed in August 2015, has shortened the transit time and has increased the number of ships which the Canal can handle on a daily basis. The Egyptian armed forces continue to provide security for the Canal and support the activity of the Suez Canal Authority as they did before the expansion of the Canal.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016, on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of split-site working and recruiting on a flexible location basis for policy officials.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is implementing its BIS2020 strategy in order to become simpler, cheaper and better. This includes moving to a central policy headquarters based in London.

    An assessment was made of the merits of split site working and of recruiting on a flexible basis through the consideration of alternative options (including maintaining the current model across split sites). This assessment took place throughout the consultation process and prior to the Executive Board’s decision.

    BIS will continue to have many more people based outside London than inside.

  • Richard Bacon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Bacon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Bacon on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has paid Cerner in the last 10 years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department has not, over the last 10 years, made payments to Cerner for National Health Service systems. The Department does not hold information centrally about contracts that are held by NHS Trusts locally.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether public consultations or surveys were undertaken in the former Department for Energy and Climate Change to ascertain whether people trusted and understood the data-sharing element of the Warm Home Discount Scheme in the run-up to implementing that scheme.

    Jesse Norman

    The Warm Home Discount consultation, published in December 2011, included questions on data sharing.

    Prior to the Warm Home Discount, the Energy Rebate Scheme, which ran for one year, used data-matching (of DWP and energy suppliers’ data) to identify a group of pensioners likely to be vulnerable to fuel poverty, so that their electricity supplier could award a one-off rebate to their electricity bill. This earlier scheme ran for one year.

    DWP Social Researchers carried out a small-scale qualitative evaluation of the scheme, involving telephone interviews with customers to investigate reactions to their personal data being used in this way – this includeding issues around privacy, security and data sharing, and the broader concept of data use in Government.

    The findings of the research and consultation responses can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seizures of illegal drugs took place in the UK in each of the last five years; and what the value was of the drugs seized in each such case.

    Mike Penning

    ‘Drug Seizures in England and Wales, 2014/15’ was published on 5 November 2015. This statistical release covers the number of drug seizures made by both police forces and Border Force in England and Wales from 2006/07 to 2014/15. The publication can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2015

    Data specifically on the number of seizures made by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales in 2014/15 can be found in Summary Table 1 of the data tables.

    The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of drug seizures in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

    Border Force publishes the number of seizures of drugs at the UK border on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-august-2015

    The Home Office and Border Force do no hold any information on the value of drugs seized.

  • Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to revise current visa categories to allow non-EU professionals and experts, in particular those in the health and science sectors, to teach one-off classroom sessions in the UK without pay, but receiving funding for their flights and accommodation, without the need for a work permit.

    Lord Bates

    We keep all categories of entry and the application process under regular review. The Home Office recently concluded a wide ranging review and consultation that led to the changes to the Immigration Rules for visitors in April this year. The changes included consolidation and simplification of all visitor categories from fifteen into four routes to provide flexibility on the activities a visitor can do, as well as some expansion of the permitted activities. These included business related activities such as participating in or running training courses, meetings and conferences.

    Under the Immigration Rules visitors are allowed to teach one-off classroom sessions in the UK without pay and their sponsors are welcome to provide funding for flights and accommodation.

    More details on what people can do when visiting the UK and how to apply can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa and the detailed Immigration Rules for Visitors can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules