Category: Speeches

Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what budget is allocated to each Jobcentre Plus office to reimburse jobseekers’ travel expenses; and how each such budget is decided.

Esther McVey

Each jobcentre is allocated funding to support claimants move towards and into work, and this could include meeting their travel expenses. For internal planning purposes each District Manager will estimate of the likely number of claimants requiring additional support and the cost within that locality but the information is not routinely collated and reported centrally. District plans are reviewed regularly to ensure they make best use of available funding and all local priorities can be met.

01/11/2022

Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) amount and (b) proportion of Public Health England’s marketing budget has been allocated to each of the six Big Ambitions referred to in its 2014-15 business plan.

Jane Ellison

The core Public Health England (PHE) marketing budget for 2014-15 is £53 million. The allocation to each of the six big ambition areas is as follows:

Ambition	Campaign	Budget for 2014-15	Percentage of total budget
Tobacco	Smokefree	£11,689,200	21.72
Obesity	Change 4 Life	£9,360,000	17.39
Dementia	Vascular dementia programme and dementia friends	£5,460,000	10.14
Best start in life	Start4Life and Information Service for Parents	£3,450,000	6.41
Alcohol	Alcohol	£2,000,000	3.72
Tuberculosis (TB)		£0	0.0
		£31,959,200	59.38

The current assessment of the evidence shows that a national marketing campaign on TB would not be a cost effective investment so there is no marketing budget allocation to this ambition area.

In addition to the individual campaign costs stated above an additional £3.3 million is also spent on call centres and £2.6 million is also spent on infrastructure costs such as evaluation. The final budget will be subject to clearance by the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group.

PHE’s 2014-15 Marketing strategy is due for publication in early July and will provide more detailed information on the full marketing programme.

01/11/2022

Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many disqualification reports were submitted by each Official Receiver’s office in the year ending 31 March 2014.

Jenny Willott

Detailed in the following table is the office breakdown for the number of disqualification reports submitted in the year ended 31 March 2014.

OR Offices	Number of reports submitted

Anglia	20
Central Midlands	25
East Midlands & S Yorks	29
Greater Manchester	13
Humber and E Yorks	20
Kent	9
London – Essex	5
London – Herts, Bucks	20
Mid West and N Wales	21
North	5
North East	19
North West	20
South Central	9
South Wales	26
South West	7
Surrey and Sussex	24
West England	17

Total	289

PIU

North	71
South	36

Total	107

01/11/2022

Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to reimburse people who have had to pay to upgrade to the premium one-day service to secure a (a) new or (b) renewed passport; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

There are no plans to reimburse customers who choose to use the four hour
premium service.

On 12 June, the Home Secretary announced in the House of Commons that where
people have an urgent need to travel, and their application has been with Her
Majesty’s Passport Office for longer than the standard processing time of three weeks
through no fault of their own, they will be able to upgrade their application
without charge. After their application has been through the proper checks, the
processing, printing and delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for
free. To qualify, customers must be booked to travel within the next 7 days.
Customers will be asked to provide details – such as flight numbers and the
name of the travel company – to confirm their travel plans.

This policy came into effect immediately after being announced and will be
available until further notice. This policy will not be applied
retrospectively.

01/11/2022
Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions the Office for National Statistics has had with EU counterparts about differences in the way projected growth is estimated.

Mr Nick Hurd

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

01/11/2022
Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department takes to ensure that asylum seekers in COMPASS accommodation are able to register complaints quickly and easily.

Karen Bradley

The COMPASS contracts lay down requirements for the management of enquiries and
complaints received in respect of accommodation services provided to asylum
seekers.

COMPASS providers have a complaints service in place through which the asylum
seeker, their representative, the voluntary sector or local authorities can
raise concerns or issues direct. Providers also provide asylum seekers with a
detailed briefing on how they can raise a complaint as part of the move in
process. Asylum seekers can raise a complaint in a confidential way, and with
the assistance of an interpreter when required.

The complaints process is subject to performance management under the Key
Performance Indicators regime. Providers are required to report their
performance in terms of dealing with complaints on a monthly basis. In
addition, the Home Office has a team of 17 contract compliance officers who
also closely monitor complaints made to providers or made direct to the Home
Office as part of their contract compliance and assurance role.

Any failure of the critical service levels may result in financial penalties.

01/11/2022
Rushanara Ali – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure continuity in local authority provision of youth services during commissioning processes to tender those services.

Mr Nick Hurd

Local authorities are expected to make arrangements for continuity of provision of services and activities to young people throughout any commissioning activity. Statutory guidance on this duty was issued by the Department for Education in July 2012.

Local authorities are required to submit to Government separate budget and outturn statements outlining planned and actual expenditure for their education and children’s social care functions annually. This includes spend information on youth work and youth services, however this information does not allow a complete breakdown by different categories of organisation to be calculated.

01/11/2022
David Nuttall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on what earliest date a still unresolved investigation by the Claims Management Regulation Unit under regulation 35 of the Compensation (Claims Management Services) Regulations 2006 was begun; and on what earliest date such an investigation was begun but no proceedings have yet commenced.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The CMR Unit aims to conduct all investigations in a proportionate and efficient manner. This means determining as quickly as possible whether a CMC under investigation is in breach of the conditions of its authorisation. If following an investigation it is clear that those conditions have been breached and there is a public protection issue, any proposed enforcement action will be expedited.

(1) 6 June 2013 was the earliest date from when the Claims Management Regulation (CMR) Unit began an investigation under regulation 35, which remains unresolved but no enforcement proceedings have yet commenced.

(2) Information is available for the period, 12 months to 18 June 2014. The CMR Unit conducted 46 investigations under regulation 35, which took an average of 5 months, 21 days before enforcement proceedings were taken, and an average of 2 months, 8 days before being closed without the requirement for enforcement proceedings.

(3) As at 18 June 2014, the CMR Unit was investigating 24 CMCs under regulation 35.

01/11/2022
John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what levels of stock his Department holds of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables.

Mrs Helen Grant

DCMS holds a minimal stock of stationery to supply staff, and orders items as required.

01/11/2022

Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child victims and witnesses have given evidence from a remote site in each of the last five years.

Damian Green

We must do everything we can to support child witnesses and help them give their best possible evidence to bring offenders to justice.

The department does not hold data on the number of child victim and witnesses that use video links to give evidence (either a court building, or from a remote site).

The list below sets out the number of courthouses in each of the seven HMCTS Regions in England & Wales; criminal justice is a devolved matter for Scotland and Northern Ireland. These facilities enable any victim or witness to appear by video link from a different court location to that of the trial court; it is also possible for third party users to access the court system through a secure bridge.

HMCTS Region	Number of courthouses enabled for remote video link.
Wales	22
London	32
South East	52
South West	35
Midlands	40
North West	31
North East	37
Total	249

01/11/2022