Category: Speeches

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many members of the armed forces have been recruited into teacher roles under the Troops to Teachers initiative to date.

    Mr David Laws

    The Troops to Teachers undergraduate programme is a new programme, which started in January 2014. 41 service leavers joined the Troops to Teachers programme in January 2014. Recruitment is almost complete for the second cohort of the programme and more service leavers will start their training in September 2014. The first successful graduates of the programme will be employed as teachers, subject to achieving Qualified Teacher Status and a degree, in 2016.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the performance of Capita in the delivery of personal independence payments in Wales.

    Mike Penning

    Personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit and processes are currently bedding in. The Department’s contracts with Capita and Atos Healthcare for the delivery of assessments for personal independence payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department’s expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department.

    Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. We are closely monitoring their progress against the Department’s expectations for service delivery and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards. In particular, for both providers, the end-to-end process for many claimants is taking significantly longer than originally anticipated. We are working with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. Special rules claims for terminally ill claimants are dealt with urgently by our assessment providers. The latest published statistics show that over 99% of people with terminal illnessess who have applied have been awarded the benefit, which means over 9,500 terminally ill claimants are now receiving personal independence payment.

    Although limited data has started to feed through, we need to wait until the Department has quality assured, meaningful figures for publication. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy. An ad-hoc release of PIP information was published on 11 February 2014.

  • Annette Brooke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Annette Brooke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Annette Brooke on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will take steps to make consumer policies for energy more accessible to park home residents.

    Gregory Barker

    Energy Performance Certificates can now be generated for park homes and the Energy Company Obligation is leading to improvements. For example, 200 park homes have had solid wall insulation under this scheme..

    We will be consulting later this year on ways in which we could help park home rersidents access the Warm Home Discount.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to inform claimants about delays they may experience while plans to improve performance of personal independence payment take effect.

    Mike Penning

    The Department does not have a target for completion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims whilst processes are bedding in. Clearly, we want to minimise the length of time claimants have to wait for assessments but the key requirement is to produce high quality assessments, to enable DWP decision makers to make the right decisions about benefit entitlement.

    We are committed to driving up PIP performance and are in regular contact with our assessment providers to do this. We already monitor performance closely and liaise with assessment providers on a daily basis, supplemented by formal monthly performance review meetings. We will continue to work closely with assessment providers on an ongoing basis to monitor quality.

    Our original Departmental operational delivery plans assumed a larger volume of assessment provider referrals than we are currently receiving and we have retained this surplus capacity using it to consolidate learning or carry out other duties. This will be available for deployment as cases are returned to the Department for decision maker action. The Department has contingency plans in place to secure additional capacity from other areas of the Department should assessment provider volumes exceed plans.

    From 10 March we have included with the PIP2 ‘How your disability affects you’ questionnaire, issued to PIP claimants, communications explaining how long they might be expected to wait for a PIP assessment. This information is also available on Gov.uk.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gareth Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political situation in Bahrain.

    Hugh Robertson

    We believe that the only way to promote peace and stability in Bahrain and address the legitimate aspirations of all Bahrainis is through dialogue leading to an inclusive political settlement. With elections in October, we hope that this is an opportunity to reach a deal. We encourage all sides to engage constructively in this process.

  • Baroness Uddin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Uddin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that young people with autism are accurately assessed and supported into work; and whether they plan to ensure guaranteed access of such young people to trained careers and employment advisers.

    Lord Freud

    DWP is committed to supporting disabled people to find a suitable, sustainable job in their local area, and delivers support through its network of advisers, including Disability Employment Advisers. All advisers in Jobcentres receive training enabling them to support people with disabilities, including those with autism. They help people identify and overcome their personal barriers to work rather than assessing disabled people purely according to their health condition. We ensure that anyone with autism and/or other hidden impairments can access the services of the Disability Employment Adviser and will continue to do so.

    Those customers with autism spectrum conditions who require greater support have access to specialist services including specialist provision or the support of Work Psychologist services via the Disability Employment Adviser.

    As part of the “Think Autism” review DWP has been involved in a number of stakeholder consultation events at which people with autism and other interested stakeholders were given the opportunity to put forward their views and opinions on how DWP could improve its services for people with Autistic Spectrum Conditions and associated Hidden Impairment Conditions.

    DWP is the Lead Department supporting the Disability Confident campaign. This is a positive action campaign launched by the Prime Minister to promote the skills, talents and abilities of disabled people, including those with autism, to the widest possible business community.

    Access to Work provides additional support for individuals whose health or disability affects the way they do their job. It provides individuals and their employers with advice and support with extra costs which may arise because of an individual’s needs.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 486W, on health: business, what assessment his Department makes of the annual updates; and what estimate he has made of the number of hours of officials’ time spent assessing those updates.

    Jane Ellison

    Officials review annual updates to Responsibility Deal pledges on receipt and liaise with partners directly if any clarification is required.

    The Department does not record separately the spent on reviewing annual updates to the Responsibility Deal.

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that claimants of benefits who are subject to sanctions know that they may apply for hardship payments; and what is the median time between such applications being made and cash payments being received.

    Lord Freud

    Where a benefit doubt is identified and the case is being referred to a decision maker, claimants are given information (verbally and in writing) about the doubt in question, what happens next, what they can do if a sanction is applied and the availability of hardship provision. Once a decision is made and a sanction applied, a formal notification is issued to the claimant, which includes information about how to apply for hardship.

    The Department does not record information about the length of time it takes to make a Hardship payment following receipt of an application.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings have taken place since the beginning of 2014 between departmental officials and the NSPCC; who attended such meetings; what the purpose was of such meetings; and if she will make a statement.

    Norman Baker

    Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of
    international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public
    and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
    Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are
    passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently
    published on the Cabinet Office website which is available here:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-ministers-gifts-and-hospi
    tality-oct-2012-to-dec-2012

  • Baroness Golding – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Golding – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Golding on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their announcement on 11 June 2013 of plans to establish pilot schemes under section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 in Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston-upon-Thames, whether they have drawn any conclusions from those pilot schemes; if so, what are those conclusions; what plans they have for change on the basis of those conclusions; and when a formal announcement will be made.

    Lord Faulks

    The Ministry of Justice started piloting Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 in Leeds, Liverpool and Kingston-upon-Thames on 30 December, with the identification of suitable cases by the police for the measure.

    The first recorded pre-trial cross-examinations have started and will run until October 2014, followed by an evaluation period to assess the effectiveness and success of the pilot before decisions on how best to implement the measure more widely will be made.