Category: Speeches

Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of merging the e-borders programme into the border system programme.

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

01/11/2022

Andrew Turner – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the proposals on medals policy put forward by Sir John Holmes will be published.

Mr Francis Maude

The next set of reviews is to be discussed by the Committee on the Grant of Honours this month.

An announcement will be made once the full set of reviews is complete and has been approvedin the usual way.

01/11/2022
Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of reasons for differential turnout between socio-economic groups.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that it has not made its own assessment of the reasons for differential turnout between socio-economic groups. However, the Commission is aware of the fact of differential turnout between not only social but demographic and other groups and targets its campaigns accordingly.

For instance, the Commission ensures that its campaigns reach young people by advertising on channels used by that demographic, including Facebook and video-on-demand services, and that its television adverts are frequently placed during programmes with a high viewership amongst young people.

01/11/2022

Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases against the Home Office were funded by legal aid in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) cannot separately identify legal aid cases against the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office. Opponents are not systematically recorded against Legal Aid cases.

The net payments to Public Interest Lawyers over the past ten tears were:

Financial Year	Net Payments
FY2003-2004	£139,620.72
FY2004-2005	£158,282.52
FY2005-2006	£251,844.27
FY2006-2007	£299,667.99
FY2007-2008	£577,263.60
FY2008-2009	£628,527.75
FY2009-2010	£267,433.88
FY2010-2011	£439,268.02
FY2011-2012	£331,238.85
FY2012-2013	£50,633.27

These payments cover all work undertaken by the firm under legal aid. The payments made will be offset by recoupment on successful cases where the opponent has paid the costs.

01/11/2022

Jonathan Edwards – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will meet the Electoral Commission to discuss the suitability of the chief executives of Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council for their roles as returning officers at the forthcoming European election.

Greg Clark

I have regular meetings with the Chair of the Electoral Commission.

Cabinet Office officials have been working closely with the Electoral Commission, and have discussed a range of issues, to support the efficient and effective administration of the forthcoming European Parliamentary election.

01/11/2022
Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the time taken to prescribe drugs for heart disease.

Jane Ellison

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made no recent assessment of the time taken to prescribe drugs for heart disease. All drugs should be prescribed in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

01/11/2022
Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions an individual on licence for an attempted murder conviction has been granted permission to enter an exclusion zone which has been formed as part of their licence arrangement in each of the last 10 years.

Jeremy Wright

Unfortunately, it is not possible to answer these questions without carrying out a manual search through all relevant individual offender files, at disproportionate cost.

Conditions such as an exclusion zone may be applied to an offender’s licence where it is necessary to manage the risk that the individual offender poses following release into the community – and where it is proportionate to that risk. Where qualifying victims have exercised their statutory right to make representations about the offender’s licence conditions, the exclusion zone set will take into account those representations. In each case, the supervising officer proposes conditions as appropriate and requests these from the appropriate authority, which applies it to the licence on behalf of the Secretary of State. In the case of determinate sentence prisoners, the authority is the prison governor; in the case of indeterminate sentence prisoners, or others whose release is on the direction of the Parole Board, the authority is the Parole Board.

These conditions must be kept under review, and are intended to be flexible to the possible resettlement needs of an offender in the community and any new risks that arise.

An exclusion zone will rarely be absolute, as it is recognised that there may be exceptional reasons why the offender needs to enter the exclusion zone. Thus, where an exclusion zone is included in the offender’s licence, it will usually be open to the supervising officer to grant the offender permission to enter the exclusion zone, for a temporary period and for a specific purpose.

As this is a purely localised decision, there is no national record of the number of occasions such permission has been given. It is, therefore, not possible to answer the questions regarding how many times an offender has been granted permission to enter the exclusion zone applied to his licence.

Data from the last 10 years is not available in the required electronic format to answer the question relating to numbers of offenders with exclusion zones included in their licence. To provide such information would again require a manual interrogation of offenders’ records and this would incur disproportionate cost.

01/11/2022
Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to liaise with the Secretary of State for Health over publication of reports into historic child abuse.

Mr Edward Timpson

Officials from the Department for Education are already working closely with other relevant departments to ensure that there is a consistent approach to investigations into allegations of historical child abuse, including on the publication of reports.

01/11/2022
Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has for the future use of Post Office card accounts.

Steve Webb

The Post Office card account (POca) contract expires in March 2015 with the possibility of a 2 year extension beyond that date.

No decision has been made on the future of the POca but discussions are currently taking place between DWP, Post Office Ltd and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider the future needs of customers beyond 2015.

01/11/2022
Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme awarded to local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods has been (a) allocated to and (b) received by local authorities to date.

Brandon Lewis

£73.5 million has been allocated to, and received by, local authorities for costs incurred during the recent floods under the first phase of the Severe Weather Recovery Scheme. The closing date for the second tranche of the funding was 6 June.

01/11/2022