The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects Atos to appoint new agency staff to administer appeals on reassessment of eligibility for disability benefits.
Mike Penning
Appeals on the disability benefits are administered and heard by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. Atos has no role to play.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 20W on the electoral register, whether measurements of the effectiveness of electoral registration officers’ implementation of Electoral Commission advice on increasing the number of attainers registered includes changes in the number of attainers registered.
Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that its monitoring of EROs does not include measuring changes in the number of attainers registered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects to transfer (a) the first and (b) the last Community Rehabilitation Company to an external provider.
Jeremy Wright
The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme is opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers, so that we can harness the best that the private and voluntary sectors has to offer to reduce reoffending. In mid December 2013, the bidders who passed the first stage of the competition to bid for the rehabilitation contracts were announced. The list includes a mix of private and voluntary sector partnerships with more than 50 organisations represented. We expect to announce the winners of these contracts by the end of 2014 and are committed to the roll out of payment by results by 2015.
The Government has been clear that we want to see a diverse market delivering probation services, rather than being dominated by just a few providers. We have set a market share restriction whereby bidders can win a maximum of 25% of market share based on the indicative contract values set out in the competition documentation. Bidders will be allowed to win multiple contracts up to the point at which their market share cap would be breached subject to meeting any other requirements set out by the Authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the annual cost of transporting children from secure children’s homes in London and the South East to elsewhere in the UK.
Edward Timpson
The financial responsibility for transporting welfare young people to and from secure children’s homes is a matter for the placing local authority.
The financial responsibility for transporting justice young people to and from secure children’s homes is a matter for the Youth Justice Board (YJB).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to section 3 of the guidance issued by Monitor on the Commissioning of Radiosurgery Services on 4 April 2014, if he will require NHS England to publish the evidence on which it based its decision not to allow patients to be treated with the gamma knife at University College Hospital London.
Jane Ellison
Section 3 of Monitor’s substantive guidance on The National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No.2) Regulations 2013 provides guidance to commissioners on publishing new contract opportunities for National Health Service health care services.
On page 42 of the guidance, it states that "a commissioner may decide to carry out a detailed review of the provision of particular services (for example, A&E services) in its local area in order to understand how those services can be improved in the interests of patients. The review may involve extensive public consultation and engagement with existing and potential providers and other stakeholders. Reviewing available services and providers in this way is good commissioning practice and something that commissioners should consider doing as a matter of course."
In its role as commissioner, NHS England is currently undertaking such a review of stereotactic radiosurgery services. This will inform procurement decisions for these services.
University College London Hospitals is not contracted by NHS England, nor was it contracted by former primary care trusts, to provide Gamma Knife services. It is for this reason that NHS patients cannot normally be treated at this facility. Instead, NHS patients requiring Gamma Knife treatment should be treated by the Gamma Knife services commissioned by the NHS, that have been shown to meet NHS England service specifications. These can be accessed by patients in London without a waiting time, fully maintaining the continuity of their care and normally with the same consultant and clinical team.
Until the capacity requirements are made clear as part of the review being undertaken, NHS England has said that it would be inappropriate to encourage new market entrants to provide this service as it cannot be clear what the potential consequential impacts on service quality, sustainability (financial and clinical) and potential unintended changes to patient pathways will be. Until the review is complete NHS England has said no substantive changes will be made to the current provision.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether members of the Carrington Wire Pension Fund are able to access the Pension Protection Fund.
Steve Webb
The Carrington Wire Defined Benefit Pension Scheme entered a Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment period in February 2013.
During a PPF assessment period the PPF establishes whether the scheme can afford to secure benefits which are at least equal to the compensation that the PPF would pay. The scheme will transfer to the PPF unless it has sufficient assets to pay benefits greater or equal to PPF compensation levels or it is rescued, for instance, by another employer taking responsibility for it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of how many claim management companies operated in each region since 2008.
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 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2014-03-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which contractors will be responsible for the professional skills test for initial teacher training entrants for the 2014-15 academic year.
David Laws
No contract has been agreed with any contractor as yet. The Department for Education is in the process of negotiating a contract through a framework agreement. Once a contract has been signed we will make public the identity of the contractor.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many mortgage possession claims were approved by the courts in each (a) region of England and (b) London borough in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The Ministry of Justice collects data on mortgage possession claims and these are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics
The tables provided give figures on the number of mortgage claims in the County Courts from 2011-12 to 2013-14.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department of each grade have worked on the e-borders programme in each year since 2010.
James Brokenshire
The activities of the e-Borders programme have been absorbed into the Border
Systems Programme. The estimated cost to close the e-Borders programme and
define the Border Systems Programme was £340,000. These costs are attributable
to civil servants already in post and there has been no additional expenditure
or procurement in order to move the work from e-Borders to Border Systems.
The procurement approach to replacing the primary border security elements of
the Border Systems Programme will reflect broader Government ICT and Commercial
strategy, and there will be no single, large supplier. The Home Office will
lead development, with services procured from a range of providers, potentially
including small and medium enterprises; no tenders have been received at this
time.
By March 2015 the Border Systems Programme aims to:
• Complete resilience of all current business critical systems;
• Develop replacement primary border security systems;
• Provide the capability to support commitments on exit checks;
• Establish a programme for the next generation of Radiological and Nuclear
detection (Cyclamen);
• Continue the implementation of second generation e-Gates across the estate;
• Develop and implement new freight targeting capability for Sea Containers;
• Establish contracts to purchase new detection equipment;
• Continue to assure live operations of existing systems.
The breakdown of FTE Civil Servants engaged by the e-Borders and subsequently
the Border Systems Programme in each year since 2010, is:
| Dec-10 | Dec-11 | Dec-12 | Dec-13 | |
| SCS PB 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SCS PB 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| G6 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 9.8 |
| G7 | 11.8 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 17.8 |
| SEO/HMI | 33.5 | 34.7 | 48.8 | 49.7 |
| HEO/CIO | 26 | 25.4 | 22.5 | 30.9 |
| EO/IO | 22 | 19.3 | 25 | 20.8 |
| AO/PS | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 |