Category: Speeches

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on using debt collection agencies in each of the last seven years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department’s policy is to recover outstanding debt whenever possible. Where a person is not in receipt of benefit and all the Department’s attempts at recovery have been unsuccessful, the overpayment will be referred to a debt collection agency. The debtor is always given an opportunity to make an agreement to pay the Department before the debt is sent to a debt collection agency to recover.

    With the exception of one service provider currently being used by the Child Maintenance Group, the Department does not hold extant, direct contracts with any debt collection agencies although the nature of some of the expired contracts means that a number of collections are still being made. DWP now makes use of one main contract with Indesser. The Framework Contract is managed by Cabinet Office. Indesser manage relationships with a number of Debt Collection Agencies on behalf of all Government Customers.

    Under the terms of the Framework Agreement, Indesser and its sub-contractors must comply with relevant industry and public sector standards for service delivery including those of the Credit Services Association, the Code of Practice and the Financial Conduct Authority guidelines. The standards are listed in the DMI Framework Agreement. Indesser reviews subcontractor compliance with these standards through audit and assurance activity, including responsibility for ensuring that they comply with relevant industry standards, managing their performance, and monitoring any complaints. Customer departments (i.e. DWP) in turn receive Letters of Assurance which they review to ensure standards are being achieved and the audits are effective.

    The breakdown of figures you have requested is derived from operational processes and systems designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As it was not originally intended for publication, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.

    The debt collection agency costs of the Child Maintenance Group and DWP are given separately. Please note that the figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000.

    The cost to the DWP of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

    Financial Year

    Spend

    Recoveries

    2009/2010

    £1.59m

    £8.50m

    2010/2011

    £1.33m

    £9.77m

    2011/2012

    £2.11m

    £13.94m

    2012/2013

    £1.95m

    £14.15m

    2013/2014

    £2.12m

    £15.00m

    2014/2015

    £2.52m

    £17.30m

    2015/2016*

    £1.64m

    £11.05m

    *to date

    The cost to Child Maintenance Group of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

    Financial Year

    Spend

    Recoveries

    2009/2010

    £1.25m

    £10.20m

    2010/2011

    £0.56m

    £4.68m

    2011/2012

    £0.35m

    £1.35m

    2012/2013

    £0.21m

    £1.71m

    2013/2014

    £0.05m

    £1.21m

    2014/2015

    £0.10m

    £0.86m

    2015/2016 to date

    £0.07m

    £0.53m

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will suspend the process of determining the application for the licence for ship-to-ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth until he has formally consulted Marine Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are no valid reasons to suspend the process of determining the application for an Oil Transfer licence for ship to ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth.

    Officials from Marine Scotland were sent the application details and information by email on 9 December 2015. A reminder about the deadline for comments on this application was sent to the same officials by email on 3 February, five days before the end of the extended consultation period.

    A Marine Scotland official confirmed to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on 11 February that they had seen the information and had no intention of submitting a response.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many property maintenance requests have been received by CarillionAmey on behalf of his Department in each of the last five years.

    Mark Lancaster

    The National Housing Prime contract was fully implemented on 1 December 2014 replacing the previous separate UK arrangements.

    On that date, CarillionAmey became responsible for the repair and maintenance service. The number of maintenance requests received from that date (by month) is shown in the following table:

    Financial Year 2014-15

    Financial Year 2015-16

    April

    n/a

    21,585

    May

    n/a

    20,020

    June

    n/a

    21,213

    July

    n/a

    22,144

    August

    n/a

    20,945

    September

    n/a

    24,224

    October

    n/a

    23,185

    November

    n/a

    23,627

    December

    13,493

    24,648

    January

    23,205

    24,634

    February

    25,188

    –

    March

    23,520

    –

    Totals

    85,406

    226,225

    Data is not yet available for February or March of financial year 2015-16.

  • Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government made of the effectiveness of the insolvency system after the collapse of Comet in 2012; and what steps he has taken to improve that system.

    Anna Soubry

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent reports he has received on the practice of restricting staff that have recently been on strike from working overtime on (a) Govia Thameslink Railway and (b) other rail franchises.

    Claire Perry

    Management of staff is a matter for the rail operators. I have been assured by the operator of the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise that they are not restricting the staff who have recently been on strike action from working overtime.

  • Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which reports commissioned by his Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by his Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each report.

    Caroline Nokes

    During this period the Department has commissioned a significant number of research reports. Of these, most are either still in progress, or have been completed and published on GOV.UK in line with our standard process. Two publications are currently with the Department awaiting publication. Both comply with the Department’s research publication protocol in accordance with Government Social Research Service guidance. To collate the requested information on all reports commissioned during this period that are yet to be published would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts are being made to tackle rape and sexual and gender-based violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, in the light of the previous attacks on women and girls in that region.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to press the Government of Sudan to tackle sexual and gender-based violence. We raised the situation with the Director of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late October. At the UN, the UK led on Security Council Resolution 2228 which called on all parties to the conflict in Darfur to make and implement specific and time-bound commitments to combat sexual violence. At the Human Rights Council in September we supported the Sudan resolution which condemned violations or abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law with specific reference to sexual and gender-based violence. In addition, UK-funded project work has provided support to over 150 survivors of rape in Darfur and contributed to the successful prosecution of members of the police and armed forces. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the evidential basis is for the reference in his oral contribution of 25 November 2015, Official Report, column 1358, to the north having grown faster than the south; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    This was based on data available from the Office for National Statistics December 2014 release regarding Regional Gross Value Added.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 18488, what amount of funding from the Coastal Communities Fund will be allocated to the Jaywick Coastal Community Team from 2017 to 2021.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Funding from the Coastal Communities Fund is awarded to projects through a competitive bid-led process rather than being allocated directly to specific places or Coastal Community Teams. To date no successful bids have been received from organisations in Jaywick.

    Funds are awarded to projects that best meet the programme’s aims to promote sustainable growth and jobs. Details of the Fund’s next bidding round for projects starting in 2017-18 will be announced in the Spring. The Economic Plan being prepared by Jaywick’s Coastal Community Team will provide an important context for considering bids to the Fund from public, private and voluntary/community sector organisations in its area.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the current projections used by the Environment Agency on the expected frequency of extreme flooding in the Calder Valley in any given year are for a (a) 1.5 , (b) two and (c) four degree rise in average temperatures.

    Rory Stewart

    Current research undertaken jointly by the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggests that corresponding to a 2 degree global average warming, rivers in the area of the Calder could see a 20% increase in typical flood flows by the 2080s compared to current levels.

    The Government’s National Flood Resilience Review will re-examine worst case extreme weather scenarios and the resulting potential flood impacts across the country.