Category: Speeches

  • Pete Wishart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Pete Wishart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pete Wishart on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have applied for passports using the (a) fast track and (b) premium service in the last month; and how many recent passport applications will receive compensation from her Department.

    James Brokenshire

    In June 2014, (a) 59, 692 people applied and paid for fast track and (b) 31,
    289 applied for premium service. Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) only
    normally offer compensation for financial loss as a result of delays in their guaranteed
    (Fast Track and Premium) services. HMPO does not have an estimate of how much
    compensation may be paid this year in line with their policy. As the Home
    Secretary announced on 12 June 2014, customers who need to travel within 7 days and who
    have waited more than the three weeks service standard for a straightforward application to
    be processed through no fault of their own, are fast-tracked free of charge.
    To 15 July, HMPO has issued 13, 461 passports as a result of this change of
    policy.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products each year; and what action they are taking to combat such attacks.

    Lord De Mauley

    The Government has not made any estimate of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products. Any deliberate poisoning of a cat is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 punishable by a fine of £20,000 and/or six months imprisonment.

  • Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne McIntosh on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received on the incorrect 0870 telephone number being given out to applicants seeking advice on their applications with UK Visas and Immigration; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    We are aware that some UK Visas and Immigration letters may still contain the
    0870 contact number, and this is being addressed. A small number of
    representations have been received on this matter.

  • Lord Tyler – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Tyler – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tyler on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether 16 and 17 year olds registered to vote in Scotland for the referendum on the future of the United Kingdom will automatically be registered to vote in United Kingdom elections at their 18th birthday.

    Lord Bates

    There is no provision in UK electoral registration legislation for those who are included on the Register of Young Voters, which was created specifically for the referendum by Act of the Scottish Parliament, to be automatically included in the register of electors for those elections for which the UK Parliament has competence.

    Electoral Registration Officers will be conducting a full Household Enquiry canvass every summer from 2015. Provided that they are eligible, young people who appeared on the Register of Young Voters will be captured by the canvass and invited to register under Individual Electoral Registration.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of staff employed (a) directly and (b) indirectly by his Department were employed on (i) short term and (ii) zero hours contracts in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    We are unable to provide the number of staff and proportion of those employed by a third party to work indirectly by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). This information is partially held centrally and to collate all of this information as a whole would incur disproportionate costs.

    However figures that are held on the MoJ central systems on staff directly employed by the MoJ and its agencies from 2008 to 2014 on (i) short term and (ii) zero hour contracts can be found in the tables below.

    MoJ Staff with Fixed Term Contracts (SFTC) of 12 months or less as per the Office on National Statistics definition can be found below.

    SFTC

    % of SFTC Workforce in MoJ

    31-Mar-08

    2,087

    3%

    31-Mar-09

    1,489

    2%

    31-Mar-10

    1,305

    2%

    31-Mar-11

    1,025

    1%

    31-Mar-12

    409

    1%

    31-Mar-13

    1,372

    2%

    31-Mar-14

    637

    1%

    MoJ Staff recorded as having no fixed hours of employment i.e. zero hour’s contracts.

    Staff on Zero Hours contract

    % of ‘Zero hour’ Workforce

    31-Mar-08

    158

    0.25%

    31-Mar-09

    208

    0.29%

    31-Mar-10

    188

    0.26%

    31-Mar-11

    204

    0.26%

    31-Mar-12

    158

    0.21%

    31-Mar-13

    133

    0.17%

    31-Mar-14

    123

    0.16%

    The percentage of MoJ staff on zero hour contracts has been decreasing since 2009.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the financial contributions made by each individual member state of the European Union to the crisis in the Central African Republic.

    Lord Bates

    On 20 January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the EU co-chaired a high-level meeting in Brussels to discuss the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic, its implications and financial requirements. Countries and International Finance Institutions pledged a total of $496m to the appeal: $203m of this is for humanitarian operations in 2014, and $294m for stabilisation and recovery. Member States have to date collectively contributed $87m (£52m) to the crisis in the Central African Republic.

    Contributions by EU Member States include: UK: £18m; Sweden: £9.2m; Denmark: £5.4m; France: £5.3m; Finland: £3m; Luxembourg: £2.3m; Ireland: £2.1m; Germany: £2.0m; Netherlands: £1.7m; Italy: £1.6m; Belgium: £800,000; Austria: £400,000; Czech Republic: £100,000; Estonia: £80,000; Greece: £40,000; Slovenia: £20,000; Malta: £20,000; Lithuania: £16,000.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which 100 wards in which town, county and constituency in Northern Ireland had (a) the highest electoral registration rate and (b) the lowest registration rate in the latest period for which information is available.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not hold information about ward electorates for Northern Ireland. This information is held by the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.

  • Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Austin Mitchell on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make personal debt charged at an APR of over 30 per cent unrecoverable; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government legislated in the Banking Reform Act 2013 to require the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to introduce a cap on the cost of high-cost short-term credit, including payday loans, in order to protect consumers from excessive costs. In designing the cap, the FCA will take into account the interest rate and other fees and charges which may be incurred in relation to a high-cost loan.

    As part of the FCA’s powers to cap the cost of credit in the Financial Services Act 2012, the Government gave the FCA specific powers to prevent a lender enforcing a credit agreement and recovering the debt, if the agreement contravenes its rules on the cost of credit. It can also require that any money or property transferred under the credit agreement must be returned.

    The FCA is currently conducting analysis to inform the design of the cap; it has committed to publishing its proposed rules which implement the cap in July. The FCA plans to publish final rules in the autumn and all lenders must be compliant with the cap by 2 January 2015. The Government supports the FCA’s proposed timetable for implementing the cap: it allows the FCA appropriate time to conduct analysis, consult on its proposals and ensure that firms are fully compliant by January. It also allows the FCA to draw on the insight of the Competition and Markets Authority’s study into payday lenders in designing the cap.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has given to the tribunals service of how many appeals will be brought by universal credit claimants in each of the next five years.

    Esther McVey

    We announced our plans for the implementation of Universal Credit on 5 December, and these were set out in a written ministerial statement Official Report 5 Dec 2013, Column 65WS. The WMS can be found here:

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/wmstext/131205m0001.htm#13120551000006

    Official statistics on Universal Credit were most recently published on 14th May and can be found at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics

    Our estimates of the number of appeals will depend on the details of the migration schedule which will be determined in due course.

    “

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what he expects the RAB charge to be for extra students entering higher education when the present cap on student numbers is removed in 2014-15.

    Mr David Willetts

    We produce a single RAB charge that is an estimate of the overall cost of issuing loans to students. This charge is currently around 45% for full time students. Similarly, a single RAB charge will be applied to all students entering higher education in 14-15.