The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the percentage cost over-run established by the management board for any budget in the Department for Transport to merit being tabled at the departmental management board; and how many times in the last 12 months that has occurred.
Baroness Kramer
The department’s financial position is reviewed on a regular basis by the Department for Transport’s Board and Executive Committee.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide additional funding for Cleveland Police to assist in (a) retaining and (b) increasing the number of police officers in operation in Hartlepool constituency.
Damian Green
Like all parts of the public sector the police must play their part in
reducing the deficit and the vast majority of forces are rising to the
challenge of reducing costs, maintaining services and cutting crime.
Ultimately what matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them
there are and, in Cleveland, police recorded crime has fallen by 14 per cent
since 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims for hearing loss they have received from former members of the Ulster Defence Regiment.
Lord Astor of Hever
Claims for damages brought against the Ministry of Defence are not recorded in a manner that enables the specific regiment or unit of a claimant to be identified without incurring disproportionate cost. 10,148 such claims have been received in the last six years from current and former Service personnel serving in Northern Ireland. Around 7,500 such claims have been successful to date, and the total value of compensation paid as a result has been around £62.3 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pete Wishart on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much HM Passport Office has paid in compensation for delays in customers receiving passports in each year since 2004.
James Brokenshire
Her Majesty’s Passport Office began recording data on complaints and compensation paid by various categories in 2005 so data is not held relating to 2004. Compensation paid to
passport applicants relating to complaints concerning application processing
delays amounted to:
|
2005 |
£13,064 |
|
2006 |
£18,684 |
|
2007 |
£1,888 |
|
2008 |
£2,090 |
|
2009 |
£1,504 |
|
2010 |
£11,978 |
|
2011 |
£933 |
|
2012 |
£2,999 |
|
2013 |
£1,445 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what effect they expect that the recently announced Elephant Protection Initiative will have on the illegal wildlife trade; and what support they are giving to the Initiative.
Lord De Mauley
The Government warmly welcomes the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI), launched at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 by the Presidents of Botswana, Chad, Gabon and Tanzania, and the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia.
Through the EPI, these Governments are committing to:
· observing an extended moratorium on consideration of future international ivory trade
· closing domestic ivory markets
· putting all ivory stockpiles (both seized ‘illegal’ and ‘legal’ ivory accrued from elephant mortality) beyond economic use.
In response to these bold commitments, the EPI is intended to provide participating Governments with access to a fund to support the implementation of the measures contained in the Africa Elephant Action Plan. The UK Government has committed to supporting this fund, in the first instance by matching the first tranche of private sector funding amounting to around £1m.
The text of the Elephant Protection Initiative can be accessed through the following link: www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-agreed-on-illegal-wildlife-trade.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how he plans to allocate National Probation Service staff to new community rehabilitation companies.
Jeremy Wright
On 1 June, as part of our ongoing Transforming Rehabilitation Programme of reform, the new National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) formally commenced operation. All probation staff were allocated to either the NPS or CRC and many have been working in their new teams since April.
The probation workforce was allocated to the new organisations in line with future capacity needs. This was calculated on the basis of existing staffing needs for the different operational functions. The process was based on an objective consideration of the future functions and offender groups that each organisation will be responsible for.
There are no plans to allocate NPS staff to CRCs. However to help ensure effective working relationships between the bodies, we are in favour of an arrangement that would facilitate interchange between the NPS and CRCs where it was in the interests of both employers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many projects in Ashfield constituency have been selected to receive funding from the Regional Growth Fund in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many projects from Ashfield contituency have received final offer letters from the Regional Growth Fund in the latest period for which figures are available.
Michael Fallon
There was one Round 4 Regional Growth Fund (RGF) project award from the Ashfield constituency. However, the postcode of the project has changed since and the project now falls under a different constituency.
There are two awards made to RGF programmes to which small and medium-sized enterprises in the Ashfield constituency may bid.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of offenders present at parole board hearings when a victim personal statement is read.
Jeremy Wright
The victims of serious violent and sexual offences, where the offender has been sentenced to 12 months or more, may opt into the statutory Victim Contact Scheme, operated by the National Probation Service. Where they do so, they will be informed of a Parole Board review and offered the opportunity to make a Victim Personal Statement (VPS). The VPS provides victims with a valuable opportunity to tell the Parole Board how the offence has affected them or their family, both at the time it was committed and since, and how they think the offender’s release would affect them. The VPS can contribute to a better and more informed hearing, as it may enable more robust questioning of the offender about the offence, remorse and victim empathy.
The independent Parole Board is responsible for the conduct of parole hearings. The normal practice is that the offender will not be present when the victim reads his/her VPS, but there may be circumstances where he/she will be. In many cases, the victim does not wish the offender to be present during the reading. Whilst the conduct of an individual hearing is for the Chair of the Panel of the Parole Board, the Chair cannot insist that the prisoner attends to hear the VPS being read if s/he does not wish to do so. No estimate has been made centrally of the proportion of offenders present at the hearing when the VPS is read out.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.
Mr Francis Maude
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.
That’s all changed and ministers – supported by Cabinet Office officials – now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.
We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.
We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Dobson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what form he expects the Chinese investment in High Speed 2 to take.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The 2013 Spending Review provided a long-term funding commitment of £50bn to deliver HS2. We are continuously seeking ways to reduce costs to the taxpayer, and we are very open to proposals around including elements of private financing, including Chinese investment.
Opportunities for external investment might exist in relation to rolling stock and development and regeneration around stations. This could provide benefits to both taxpayers and investors.