Category: Speeches

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.

01/11/2022

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.

01/11/2022
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.

01/11/2022
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.

01/11/2022
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.

“

01/11/2022
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.

01/11/2022

Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls the Child Maintenance Options Service received in each month in the last year.

Steve Webb

The number of successful inbound calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service in each month of the last year is available in the table below.

Month	Number of calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service
May-13	7,845
Jun-13	8,915
Jul-13	10,360 ¹
Aug-13	11,990
Sep-13	13,835
Oct-13	14,835
Nov-13	21,375 ²
Dec-13	22,760
Jan-14	26,515
Feb-14	25,875
Mar-14	26,865
Apr-14	24,565

Notes:

– Data Sourced from CMO Monthly MI Service Pack

– Data rounded to nearest 5

¹Child Maintenance Options started providing a ‘soft gateway’ to the 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme, offering parents applying to the 2012 Scheme the opportunity to explore the full range of options before making an application, including considering making their own arrangements.

²Child Maintenance Options became the automatic ‘gateway’ to the statutory 2012 child maintenance scheme, ensuring all parents who wish to access the 2012 Scheme are making a fully informed decision and have considered making their own arrangements first.

01/11/2022

Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider awarding a loan guarantee under the UK Guarantee Scheme to investors in Helius Energy’s proposed biomass energy project in Avonmouth due to concerns surrounding the sustainability of biofuels.

Danny Alexander

HM TREASURY

Charlotte Leslie MP

BRISTOL NORTH WEST

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider awarding a loan guarantee under the UK Guarantee Scheme to investors in Helius Energy’s proposed biomass energy project in Avonmouth due to concerns surrounding the sustainability of biofuels. 195658

DANNY ALEXANDER

The Helius Energy – Avonmouth biomass power generation project has prequalified under the UK Guarantees Scheme and is still subject to the necessary due diligence, commercial negotiation and financial restructuring before any offer of a guarantee is made.

01/11/2022
Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of zero hour contracts on workers’ wellbeing.

Jenny Willott

No assessment of the effects of zero hours contracts on worker’s wellbeing has been made by this Department. However the Workplace Employers Relations Study (WERS) found that overall well-being of employees increased between 2004 and 2011 despite the recession. Overall job satisfaction also increased and is very high by international standards.

Zero hour contracts have a place in today’s labour market, supporting business flexibility, making it easier to hire new staff and providing pathways to employment for young people.

Following a public consultation, which closed in March this year, this Government has introduced legislation via the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to ban the use of exclusivity clauses in contracts which do not guarantee any hours.

01/11/2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

Brandon Lewis

In answering this question, we have used the Cabinet Office definition for contingent labour (temporary staff) which includes admin and clerical agency staff, interim managers and specialist contractors: use of such staff for short-term or specialist work can be better value for money than hiring staff on permanent contracts.

Details of the five companies that my Department has used most often in the last financial year for the provision of contingent labour are set out below:

Financial Year 2013-14

Organisation	Total Expenditure (excluding VAT)
Capita Resourcing Ltd	£1,736,580
Reed Employment Services	£172,702
Reed Specialist Recruitment Ltd	£136,335
Manpower UK Ltd	£40,423
Premier Employment Group Ltd	£22,677

To put this in context, my Department has cut spending on contingent labour from £14.4 million in 2009-10 to £3.3 million in 2013-14 as a result of the tightening of its internal management controls, institutionalising these in its systems and adhering to Treasury and Cabinet Office spending rules. This represents a saving of £11.1 million a year (2013-14 compared to 2009-10)

In addition to the savings on temporary workers, our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a further saving of £117 million a year.

These savings also reflect the Coalition Government’s agenda of decentralisation, ending the micromanagement of local government, the abolition of regional government, and the broader need to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration.

01/11/2022