The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2014-06-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families whose head of household was (a) a Polish, (b) a Lithuanian, (c) a Latvian, (d) a Czech, (e) a Slovak, (f) a Portuguese and (g) an Estonian national resident in the Peterborough city council area were in receipt of child benefit in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan
This information is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by her Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
Because of the devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010, my Department does not hold details for the periods prior to 2010; attempting to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost. The contracts awarded by my Department since April 2010 are as follows:
|
Name of Contract |
Award Date |
Estimated Total Value |
|
Finance Platform – System Support Agreement |
1 April 2013 |
£18k |
|
Finance Platform – Managed Service |
2 July 2013 |
£6k |
|
Preventative Maintenance for Hillsborough Castle |
4 September 2013 |
£9.5k |
|
Hillsborough Castle Gardening |
1 December 2013 |
£50k |
|
Name of Contract |
Award Date |
Estimated Annual Value |
|
File and Document Storage |
January 2013 |
£40k |
The majority of contracts used by my Department are awarded by the Department of Finance and Personnel Central Procurement Directorate or the Central Government Procurement Service. These are generally awarded for a range of Northern Ireland Civil Service or Whitehall Departments which enable NIO to draw services from them.
Should you wish to establish details of these contracts you should contact these organisations directly at the following addresses:
DFP Central Procurement Directorate – www.dfpni.gov.uk/cpd
Central Government Procurement Service – www.civilservice.gov.uk/networks/gps
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether Ministers or officials of his Department have (a) met the Attorney General of Nigeria since January 2012 and (b) had any conversations about the sale of the OPL 245 oil concession in Nigeria involving Shell and ENI with (i) the Attorney General of Nigeria and (ii) any other senior official of the Nigerian government.
Jeremy Wright
I have met with the Nigerian Attorney General twice on 1 October 2013 and 9 January 2014 to discuss justice issues and was accompanied by officials on both occasions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion and number of jobs currently advertised through Jobcentre Plus are on zero-hour contracts.
Esther McVey
We do not advertise in jobcentres, all vacancies are now advertised on Universal Jobmatch. JSA claimants are not required to apply for zero-hour contract jobs and are not penalised if they leave such a job
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the cost to the public purse of litigation associated with the declaration of the Marine Protected Area on 1 April 2010 are to date.
Mark Simmonds
Though some final costs from Counsel on the recently concluded Court of Appeal hearing are yet to be received, the costs of domestic litigation to date is £325,444.42. We understand the litigant, Mr. Olivier Bancoult, has also been in receipt of legal aid. HM Government has been successful in defending all such litigation, and has therefore been awarded full costs in the Divisional Court, and half of our costs in the Court of Appeal, though these are still subject to assessment.
In respect of the recently concluded challenge by Mauritius in an arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, various costs matters are still ongoing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Attorney General, what the average timescale was for the Crown Prosecution Service to provide the Metropolitan Police Service with advice on criminal charges against members of the public suspected of involvement in serious crimes in (a) 2011 to 2013 and (b) 2008 to 2010.
Oliver Heald
The table below shows, for the CPS in London, the average number of calendar days which have elapsed since the first decision was sought by the police to the date in which the last decision made was to charge. The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) do not identify the number of cases referred to it for advice, by the alleged offence(s).
|
Average Time to a Decision to Charge |
|
|
2008 – 2010 |
6.7 |
|
2011 – 2013 |
6.2 |
The CPS in London deals with cases referred to it by both the Metropolitan Police Force and the City of London Police Force and it is not possible to further break down the figures provided without incurring a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 6 May (WA 444), whether they will place in the Library of the House correspondence between the Intellectual Property Office and the Department of Health regarding the proposed introduction of standardised tobacco packaging.
Earl Howe
The Department has no current plans to publish information on the development and formulation of Government policy on standardised packaging of tobacco products
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2014-04-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that the Excise Payment Security System is available to small and medium-sized enterprises in the oil products sector.
Nicky Morgan
This information is held on a HMRC database and includes excise identification and approval numbers unique to the traders listed. For taxpayer confidentiality reasons this information is not publically available, and there is no intention to publish it.
Eligibility criteria for a duty deferment guarantee waiver under the Excise Payment Security System do not apply to or exclude particular sectors. These criteria are published by HMRC, and apply to all applicants.
HMRC is considering the future of the vapour recovery scheme as part of the wider work programme to determine the appropriate course of action in respect of all their extra-statutory concessions.
The Government’s policy is not to allow duty suspended movements within the UK, this is both for administrative simplicity and to reduce the opportunities for criminal activity and fraud.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Countess of Mar on 2014-06-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for signing off Department for Work and Pensions training guidelines and manuals used by Atos and Capita.
Lord Freud
In the contract with Atos to deliver the Work Capability Assessment, Health and Wellbeing Directorate (HWD) within DWP sign off all training and guidance material. For Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Atos and Capita develop training and guidance based on policy documentation provided by DWP. The PIP contract requires Atos and Capita to involve DWP in the quality assurance process for their training and guidance but DWP does not sign off this material.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Huppert on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure courses equivalent to those on the list of prescribed courses in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 are not excluded from Higher Education Funding Council for England funding by virtue of coming into existence following the introduction of that Act.
Mr David Willetts
Our higher education reforms have transferred money from Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) block grant to support Government backed loans which students now use to pay fees at the institution of their choice. The most recent figures show that, for the first time, the majority of HE funding is now determined by the choices students make rather than coming directly from Government. In this context, we have no plans to extend HEFCE’s statutory funding remit.
Students are able to take a range of qualifications for which they can access higher education student support, 24+ advanced learning loans, or professional and career development loans. We are currently looking at a number of options to ensure that we have effective progression pathways to support the development of higher level skills, particularly at levels 4 and 5. This includes having the right supporting funding mechanisms in place to deliver quality and value for money.