Category: Speeches

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the evidential basis was for the decision to change the Access to Work scheme in regards to deaf people having to employ a full-time salaried support worker.

    Mike Penning

    The Access to Work programme has not been changed in this way. No customers are required to employ a full-time support worker, their employers and support providers and we are not prescriptive on this.

  • 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 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the extent of (a) fraud, (b) duplication of job entries and (c) entries for non-existent jobs in the Universal Jobmatch website.

    Esther McVey

    Today, many jobs are only advertised on the internet. That’s why we are doing everything we can to give those looking for work the skills and the opportunities to access them. Universal Jobmatch is a powerful tool for successfully connecting people to jobs, and it is delivering.

    The website launches a public service into the digital age, allowing people to search for work from their home, handheld devices, local libraries, as well as the traditional Jobcentre. It allows employers to match jobseekers to their vacancies and gives our customers access to a greater number of opportunities. It puts them on an equal footing with everyone else seeking a new job in the UK. With over 6 million job searches per a day, the service is clearly popular, successful, and value for money.

    At 18 March 2014, there were 507,474 vacancies on the service.

    All internet job sites face the issue of duplicate vacancies. We take this issue very seriously, and whenever we have a doubt about the validity of a job offer we will intervene, suspend the vacancy and investigate. If an employer breaches our terms and conditions we remove their right to advertise. Our continuing removal of such employers or jobs demonstrates that our system of checks works.

    Since Universal Jobmatch was launched in November 2012, we have removed 1216 employer accounts that did not comply with our terms and conditions. That figure is equivalent to 0.2% of the total number of registered employer accounts.

    Universal Jobmatch has revolutionised the way we deliver the public employment service. With over 6,000,000 job searches per day at a cost of far less than 1 pence each, it represents excellent value for money.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues the HM Revenue and Customs’ Scrutiny Committee has addressed since its establishment in 2013.

    Mr David Gauke

    The remit of the Scrutiny Committee is to advise the Board and Principal Accounting Officer on issues referred by the Board for in-depth review, challenge or assurance. Since its establishment in 2013, the Committee has reviewed the departmental security strategy as well as the department’s complaints handling processes.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many postal votes there were as a proportion of those issued in the top 100 constituencies in turnout ranked order at the 2010 General Election.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that a table showing the a) number of postal votes issued as a proportion of the total electorate and b) number of postal votes returned as a proportion of the number issued, across the 100 constituencies with the highest turnout at the 2010 General Election, has been deposited in the Library.

  • Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve support for carers.

    Norman Lamb

    Carers are central to the Government’s reform of social care and support, with significant improvements in the Care Act which extends carers rights to an assessment which will be based on the appearance of a need for support. For the first time, local authorities will be required to meet carers’ eligible needs for support.

    We have provided £400 million to the National Health Service over four years from 2011 for carers to have breaks from their caring responsibilities. For 2015-16, the carers’ breaks funding will be in the Better Care Fund.

    We have also provided more than £2 million in recent years to the professional bodies such as the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, Carers UK and the Carers Trust to develop initiatives to raise early awareness of carers among healthcare professionals and to help identify and support carers. We have committed more than £1 million in 2014–15 to enable these organisations to build on this work and to develop new initiatives.

    We set out our vision for transforming primary care in Transforming Primary Care: Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most. It recognises the importance of involving and supporting carers and sets out a clear expectation for general practitioners to identify carers as a matter of course.

    Carers are also central to the work that NHS England is leading to improve the quality of life of people with long term conditions. Their action plan, NHS England’s Commitment to Carers includes a series of commitments around eight priorities, including raising the profile of carers.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average earnings of full-time employees in Denton and Reddish constituency were in April (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011, (d) 2012 and (e) 2013.

    Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received about the publication of personal and business lending data by postcode; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In July 2013 the Government announced that it had reached an agreement with the major UK banks to publish lending data across 10,000 individual postcodes.

    The first dataset was published in December 2013 and shows the outstanding stock of lending that has been committed to customers across three categories; loans and overdrafts to SMEs, mortgages and unsecured personal loans (excluding credit cards).

    The data will allow challenger banks, smaller building societies, credit unions and community development finance institutions (CDFIs) to find areas where there is a lack of lending so they can offer finance to those customers who are crying out for support to help their business grow.

  • Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which local authorities are participating in the vulnerable persons relocation scheme.

    James Brokenshire

    The Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme has been put in place to relocate to the UK some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees, displaced to neighbouring countries by the on going conflict. We anticipate that it will support several hundred people over the next three years. On-going discussions with a number of local authorities regarding participation in the scheme will determine exact numbers to be relocated between 29 January 2014 and 30 May 2015. Given the continuing nature of these discussions, it is therefore too early to have a clear indication of the type of accommodation that will be available to house the relocated refugees.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications processed by the Passport Office between 1 January and 31 May 2014 which missed the three week target for processing.

    James Brokenshire

    Table A sets out the requested information in respect of how many telephone
    calls were received during the requested periods.

    Table B shows income received in fees for premium and fast track services.

    Table C provides information on the number of full time equivalent staff
    employed by HM passport Office on 31 December for each of the years from 2010 –
    2013.

    Table D sets out the number of first time passport applications and the number
    of passport renewals received during each month between January 2013 and May
    2014.

    In the period between 1 January and 31 May 2014, 31,188 straightforward
    passport applications processed by Her Majesty’s Passport Office were not
    processed within the 3-week target.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if he will list the registration rates for students in higher education institutions in the UK in ranked order for the most recent period available.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not hold data on the registration rates of students by higher education institution.

    The Commission has conducted an analysis of the results of the dry run of the confirmation process to be used during the transition to IER. This indicated that students were one of the groups less likely to be matched against the Department of Works and Pensions database.

    This analysis and all the associated data is available to EROs across the country. This has allowed them to identify areas, such as those with large student populations, where they may need to target more of their resources in order to maintain or improve levels of registration.