Category: Speeches

Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

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, columns 20-1W, on electoral registration, which electoral registration officers and local authorities had the biggest improvement in registering attainers between 2008 and 2013.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not collect data on the number of attainers registered as part of its monitoring of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Through its performance standards framework the Commission monitors whether EROs are encouraging participation in the registration process by having in place an effective and appropriate public awareness strategy and working with partners where appropriate to promote registration.

The Commission informs me that there has been a significant improvement made by EROs in this area.

Between 2008 and 2012 the number of EROs meeting or exceeding the standards relating to public awareness and working with partners increased from 34% to 99% and from 67% to 100% respectively.

The Commission’s report on EROs’ performance in 2013 will be published at the end of March 2014.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many reports on equality information and objectives each category of public authority has published under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 in each year since the regulations came into force; and what the cost of producing those reports was for each category of public authority in each such year.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The specific information requested is not collected or held centrally.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent statutory body, is responsible for the enforcement, monitoring and assessment of how public bodies comply with the public sector Equality Duty (PSED) and specific duties. The EHRC has published two reports to date which look at the performance of public bodies in England under the PSED and specific duties:

• ‘Publishing equality information: Commitment, engagement and transparency’ was published in December 2012. This report looked at how public authorities had performed with regard to the first specific duty (publication of equality information). Data for this assessment was collected between February and April 2012 and covered 1,159 public authorities in England. The report indicated that about half of the public authorities reviewed were publishing equality information on their workforce and service users by April 2012. Many more (78%) were publishing information on either their staff or their service users.

• ‘Assessment of the publication of equality objectives by English public authorities’ was published in Autumn 2013. This report sets out the findings of an assessment of how public authorities in England are publishing equality objectives. Data for the assessment was collected between September and December 2012 and covered 2,010 public authorities.

These reports do not estimate the associated costs of producing and publishing equalities information.

01/11/2022
Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, column 510W, on the electoral register: young people, what estimate he has made of the number of young people who have been added to the electoral register as a result of Rock Enrol!

Greg Clark

The government has made available £4.2 million funding to all 363 local authorities (LAs) and valuation joint boards (VJBs) in Great Britain. The Government has written to Electoral Registration Officers and encouraged them to use this funding to support the delivery of Rock Enrol! in their area. Officials will continue to work closely with LA/VJBs in order to monitor and measure the outcomes.

The Government is supportive of organisations that promote democratic engagement such as Bite the Ballot and welcomes lessons from their experiences.The Rock Enrol! learning resource is freely available on the gov.uk and Times Education Supplement websites amongst others. The Government is also working with a range of organisations, including the Association of Citizenship Teachers, to promote the use of Rock Enrol!

For details of the Electoral Commission’s registration activities I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by the Hon. Member for South West Devon on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 209W [183573].

01/11/2022
Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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.

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

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.

01/11/2022
Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

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.

01/11/2022
Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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).

01/11/2022
Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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.

01/11/2022
Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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.

01/11/2022

David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

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

01/11/2022