Category: Speeches

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

Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to deal with emotional neglect of children.

Mr Edward Timpson

Our revised statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013′, includes a definition of emotional abuse which social workers already act on when deciding on what action to take to keep a child safe.

We want social workers and other professionals who work with children and families to recognise the early signs of all forms of abuse and neglect and take appropriate action. To support this, the Department is working on a number of initiatives. We have brought together a panel of experts to review the evidence concerning indicators of neglect that are associated with a likelihood of future harm to babies, pre-school children and school-age children.

We are reviewing the recommendations in the Action for Children report ‘Child Neglect: The scandal that never breaks’ and the Ofsted report ‘In the child’s time: professional responses to neglect’ and will consider how to support professionals in recognising early signs of all forms of neglect. We are also working with the Department of Health on their proposals for the development of a new criminal offence of ill-treatment or wilful neglect. Following the Narey review, we are improving social work training and developing further the skills of social workers in critical areas including neglect and how to undertake a good quality assessment.

We have also published training materials commissioned from Action for Children and the University of Stirling. These materials, ‘Childhood neglect: Improving outcomes for children’, contain guidance and training resources to help staff identify and respond early to all signs of neglect and to know what types of interventions are the most effective.

01/11/2022
Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are enrolled in National Employment Savings Trust (NEST); how many such people enrolled in NEST are making additional payments by direct debit each month; and what the average additional contribution by direct debit each month is.

Steve Webb

The National Employment Savings Trust announced on 1 April 2014 that they have over a million members.

The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information about the number of scheme members making monthly additional payments by direct debit to NEST nor does it hold information on the average additional contribution by direct debit each month to NEST.

01/11/2022
Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in what circumstances he uses a calculation of the (a) value of preventing a fatality, (b) willingness to pay and (c) cost-per-quality adjusted life year approach to quantify the value of a policy intervention; what other tools he uses to quantify the benefit of a policy intervention; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson

The Green Book and associated supplementary guidance is publicly available on the Treasury web site. It sets out a range of approaches and methods that may be appropriate in a number of different appraisal circumstances.

01/11/2022
Biography information for David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for David Amess on International Development.

1

Lynne Featherstone

The Department for International Development (DFID) will provide approximately £45.8m to Marie Stopes International (MSI) during the period 2014-15. DFID adheres to Development Co-Operation Directorate (OACD-DAC) expenditure coding requirements to allow comparison across donor spending towards attainment of the millennium development goal targets. This does not include the facility to calculate spend for individual components of sexual and reproductive health.

DFID assesses the value for money (VfM) of all its expenditure through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on an annual basis. Every project is subject to an annual review and a judgement is made as to whether the funding is achieving good VfM. More generally, investing in reproductive, maternal and newborn health is excellent value for money due to its low cost and far reaching benefits.

01/11/2022
John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

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

Mr David Lidington

Responsibility for stationery is devolved to all posts and directorates and procured as required. Data on levels of stationery is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Stationery in the UK is procured through the Crown Commercial Services frameworks, in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance.

01/11/2022