Category: Speeches

  • Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Barry Sheerman on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 816W, on community schools, how many maintained schools his Department believes to be underperforming.

    David Laws

    Of the 4,125 maintained mainstream secondary schools, 154 were classified as underperforming in the 2012/13 academic year. Of the 15,351 maintained mainstream primary schools, 767 were classified as underperforming in the 2012/13 academic year.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what annual percentage increases in starting rates of pay (a) lieutenant colonels, (b) majors, (c) captains, (d) lieutenants, (e) sergeants, (f) corporals and (g) privates in the Army have received since 1982.

    Anna Soubry

    The annual percentage increases awarded by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body for the starting rates of pay of the specified ranks are shown in the table below. There was no annual percentage increase in 2011 and 2012 but all privates were awarded a £250 rise.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2014-03-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have asked departments to end the system of check-off for trade union subscriptions for civil servants.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The deduction of Trade Union subscriptions from payroll through check-off is a matter delegated to individual Departments in the Civil Service.

  • David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many claims management companies were operating in the Yorkshire and Humber region in each year from 2008 to 2014.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    With rigorous new measures being brought in across the board, we are taking strong action to rein in the rogue firms operating in this sector.

    Continued action to remove licenses from companies with poor practices alongside forthcoming Claims Management Regulation reforms, proves just how much work is going on to get tough on companies that defy the rules and bombard the public with unwelcome calls and misleading information.

    We are changing the law to further toughen the regime, including introducing fines, and ensuring firms cannot buy in any contact details which have been gathered unlawfully.

    The number of claims management companies (CMCs) operating in each region between April 2008 and April 2014 were as follows:

    Regional Analysis

    Apr-08

    Apr-09

    Apr-10

    Apr-11

    Apr-12

    Apr-13

    Apr-14

    East

    107

    134

    165

    173

    146

    138

    114

    East Midlands

    56

    97

    131

    139

    152

    137

    120

    London

    253

    378

    545

    531

    524

    444

    340

    Northern Ireland

    0

    0

    5

    3

    3

    6

    4

    North East

    30

    71

    95

    98

    76

    68

    49

    North West

    514

    685

    784

    803

    775

    706

    576

    Overseas

    6

    11

    9

    6

    3

    16

    13

    Scotland

    21

    26

    30

    32

    28

    29

    33

    South East

    193

    294

    358

    370

    361

    326

    267

    South West

    62

    81

    100

    113

    113

    100

    93

    Wales

    61

    73

    95

    81

    101

    88

    66

    West Midlands

    206

    321

    408

    404

    358

    292

    208

    Yorkshire & Humbers

    230

    316

    366

    387

    329

    245

    176
  • Mr Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Jim Cunningham on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of initial teacher trainees were service leavers in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, (d) 2011-12, (e) 2012-13 and (f) the current academic year to date.

    David Laws

    The Department for Education does not hold this information prior to March 2011. Between 2010 and 2012/13, 0.12% of initial teacher training (ITT) trainees declared themselves as having an armed forces background. ITT census information and performance profiles can be found online at:

    http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/traininganddevelopment/initial/b00204146/itt-data-and-surveys/trainee-census

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles-2013-for-the-academic-year-2011-to-2012

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census

    “

  • Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each (a) region of England and (b) London borough had been waiting six months or longer for a medical examination as part of their assessment of entitlement to a personal independence payment on 1 May 2014; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    We are committed to ensuring personal independence payment (PIP) claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments. Since the introduction of PIP new claims in April 2013, we have been closely monitoring all aspects of the process.

    As personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit, processes are currently bedding in. Our latest analysis is telling us that the end-to-end claimant journey is taking longer than expected. We are working closely with the assessment providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. We are also seeking to ensure that all the steps in the process run as smoothly as possible and that there are no barriers in our processes and systems that contribute to claims taking longer than necessary to progress.

    The first official statistics for the number of people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was published on 5th June alongside updated statistics on PIP new claim registrations, decisions and awards.

    Statistics on clearance times are not being published at this stage. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication but releasing them at this stage would give a skewed representation of the process since steady state has not yet been reached and natural reassessment has yet to rollout across the country.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the proportion of calls made to the NSPCC reporting female genital mutilation cases that have been passed on to the police.

    Norman Baker

    [holding answer 18 March 2014]

    The NSPCC’s FGM helpline received 174 contacts between its launch in June 2013 and 28 February 2014. Of this number, 75 have been referred on to the relevant police force. There were 35 contacts from professionals seeking advice on the correct procedures to follow in regard to a child at risk of FGM. The other 64 contacts were more general enquiries relating to FGM.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress departments have made on implementing the Guidance on Customer Service Lines published in December 2013.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The guidance we published in December 2013 set out that departments should use prefixes offering a geographic call rate as a default policy position for the provision of core public services. This was not the case in the past.

    My officials are working with the cross-Whitehall group on customer service lines.

    We will publish information from departments on their customer telephone lines later in the summer.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he received the Work Programme Evaluation: Interim meta-report; what his plans are for its publication; and if he will make a statement.

    Esther McVey

    Draft findings from the phase of the evaluation covered by the interim report were received by the Department in August 2013. The Department will publish findings once the independent evaluation of the Work Programme is complete.

  • Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases funded by legal aid taken against her Department where public interest lawyers have represented clients were won by her Department each of the last 10 years.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not keep a central record of which cases brought against
    it are legally aided, or of the law firms that represent litigants.