Category: Speeches

Richard Fuller – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases the Child Support Agency has started committal proceedings in each of the last five years.

Steve Webb

Pursuant to my Written Answer on Monday 20 January 2014, Official Report, columns 42 – 43W, information on the number of cases in which the Child Support Agency has started committal proceedings is only readily available from 2010. The table below shows the number of cases where committal proceedings were started for each of the last three complete financial years and the current year to date:

Financial Year	Committal Proceedings Started
April 2010 – March 2011	3270
April 2011 – March 2012	3560
April 2012 – March 2013	300
April 2013 – December 2013	10

Notes:

1) Following a Court Of Appeal decision in October 2012, a review of the Commitment to Prison process was carried out to ensure it complied with the terms of the judgement given in that case. Whilst doing so, applications for Commitment to Prison were not brought before the court. Procedures resumed from March 2013.

2) Data sourced from the Tallyman Informer system.

3) Data rounded to the nearest 10.

01/11/2022

Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.

Hugh Robertson

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 434W.

01/11/2022
Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) discussions and (b) correspondence has taken place between (i) his Department, (ii) Royal Mail, (iii) banks acting as bookrunners, co-ordinators and lead managers and (iv) priority investors since the privatisation of Royal Mail took place; and if he will publish any such relevant correspondence.

Michael Fallon

Since the Initial Public Offering, my Department has had discussions with Royal Mail in our continuing role as a minority shareholder in Royal Mail.

There has been ad hoc contact with the Global Co-ordinators primarily to help with enquiries about the IPO but no formal correspondence.

It is not appropriate to publish correspondence relating to the above on the grounds that it relates to our shareholding or has been provided to help develop Government policy and to do so would inhibit the free and frank advice or exchange of views for the purposes of internal deliberation.

This Department has not had discussions or corresponded with the priority investors.

01/11/2022
Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

Mr Alan Duncan

Declaration of ethnicity for staff at DFID is voluntary and it is therefore not possible to confirm the ethnicity of any staff who have been subject to disciplinary proceedings.

01/11/2022
Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who do not meet the income threshold required to pay National Insurance contributions opt to pay national insurance contributions voluntarily.

Mr David Gauke

Estimates of the number of (a) people and (b) women who work in more than one job but do not pay national insurance, even though their total earnings are above the lower earnings threshold; and, of those, how many are women, are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-coverage-lower-earnings-limit-and-multiple-jobs

The rest of the information requested is not available.

“

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 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many officials have acted as Senior Responsible Officer for the Universal Credit project since 2010.

Esther McVey

Five officials have acted as Senior Responsible Officer for the Universal Credit project since 2010.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many vacant premises are currently located at each enterprise zone.

Kris Hopkins

More than 7,600 jobs have been created and 260 new businesses attracted to the 24 Enterprise Zones over the period April 2012- December 2013. However, I am unable to disclose zone-level information as the estimates that Enterprise Zones provide us with may be subject to local commercial sensitivities and disclosure may prejudice commercial negotiations. For this reason, it is for individual zones to determine whether they make this information available.

01/11/2022
Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support autistic adults receive to protect them from abuse and neglect; and whether they have any plans to increase that support.

Earl Howe

The Care Act 2014 sets out the local authority’s responsibility for adult safeguarding for the first time in primary legislation. This is vital to ensure clear accountability, roles and responsibilities for helping and protecting adults with care and support needs, including autistic adults, who are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect.

The Act requires local authorities to carry out a safeguarding enquiry where they have reasonable cause to expect a person is at risk of abuse or neglect. Authorities must consider what if any actions are needed, and who should carry these out, to stop abuse and neglect taking place. The draft guidance clarifies that where a local authority has started a safeguarding enquiry it should continue the needs assessment for care and support in parallel, and determine whether the person has eligible needs which it must meet.

The Act places the establishment of Safeguarding Adults Boards on a statutory footing, so as to ensure local authorities, National Health Service and police (as well as any other agency deemed appropriate) work together to develop and implement adult safeguarding strategies and conduct safeguarding adult reviews in serious cases to ensure lessons are learnt and applied. This will better equip local agencies with relevant care and support functions both to prevent abuse and to respond when it occurs.

Transforming care, the Government’s programme to address issues identified by the abuse of people at Winterbourne View hospital aims to ensure that people with learning disabilities and autism are safe and get good quality care when they are in hospital, and where appropriate following an assessment of their care and needs, they are able to live with support in the community.

01/11/2022
Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what forecast he has made of the effect of the Supplemental Balancing Reserve on the Loss of Load Expectation for winter 2014-15.

Gregory Barker

The Government has not made any forecast of the effect of the Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) on the Loss of Load Expectation for winter 2014-15.

SBR is one of National Grid’s two new balancing services, approved by Ofgem in December 2013. SBR and the Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) will address potential capacity shortfalls in the middle of the decade.

National Grid is currently developing a methodology to determine how much capacity should be contracted via SBR. Once this is approved by Ofgem, National Grid will proceed with the procurement process.

01/11/2022
Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-06-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that cookery is included in the curriculum as part of design and technology lessons.

Lord Nash

All pupils should be taught to cook and to apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Design and Technology (D&T) is compulsory for all maintained schools from key stages 1 to 3 and the new D&T curriculum, which will be in force from September 2014, strengthens the requirements on schools to teach about food at primary and secondary. At primary, the curriculum will ensure pupils are taught about healthy eating, where food comes from and to prepare and cook a range of dishes. At secondary, for the first time, cooking will be compulsory at key stage 3: teachers will be also required to cover nutrition, diet and where food comes from.

01/11/2022