Category: Speeches

  • Naomi Long – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Naomi Long – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naomi Long on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review his decision not to carry out a cumulative impact assessment on the effect of welfare reform on people with disability.

    Mike Penning

    The Government regularly produces analysis of the cumulative impact of all Coalition changes, including welfare, on households across the income distribution. This information is produced by the Treasury and is published alongside every Budget and Autumn Statement, in the interests of transparency. The previous government did not provide this type of analysis. The most recent update was published with the Budget on 19 March 2014, and can be found using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293738/budget_2014_distributional_analysis.pdf

    Distributional analysis is provided for the whole population on the basis of household income and household expenditure. However this is not disaggregated to the level of household characteristics such as disability status or lower level geographies. No organisation is able to do this robustly.

    This analysis estimates the effect of Coalition measures from all fiscal events from the Budget in June 2010 to the Budget in 2014. It also includes changes that were announced before the Budget in June 2010 that have been implemented by this Government. Current Coalition policies are compared with what might have happened if the previous Government’s policies had continued into the future without any further fiscal consolidation.

    The Government currently has no plans to undertake a review or change the decision on cumulative impact assesments.

    “

  • Caroline Flint – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Caroline Flint – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding his Department has allocated to (a) solid wall insulation, (b) other energy efficiency and insulation measures from his Department’s approved list and (c) refunds for Green Deal assessments under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16, (iii) 2016-17 and (iv) over the lifetime of the fund.

    Gregory Barker

    Up to £120 million has been allocated to the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund in 2014-15. DECC has not allocated specific levels of funding to (a) solid wall insulation, (b) other energy efficiency and insulation measures from his Department’s approved list and (c) refunds for Green Deal assessments under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16, (iii) 2016-17 or (iv) over the lifetime of the fund.

  • Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance HM Treasury has given to the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority on the use of selective press briefing of unannounced policies or position statements on matters judged to be market price-sensitive.

    Lord Newby

    The Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are operationally independent of Government. HM Treasury does not issue them with operational guidance about how they should discharge their statutory duties.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department takes to ensure that TPContact achieves and maintains high standards of customer service.

    James Brokenshire

    Any failure against the contractual critical service levels may result in
    deductions against their submitted invoices. In the event of continuous and
    unacceptable failures the Department has the ability to terminate the contract.

    The performance of Teleperformance as with all of our contracts is subject to
    close Home Office scrutiny. The governance processes include regular meetings
    at all levels, from local operational teams up to senior official levels, to
    allow in-depth reviews of performance against the service standards set out in
    the contract, and to provide an escalation route to resolve any issues that may
    arise. We also expect suppliers to provide continuous improvement in delivery
    of customer services over the course of the contract, which is also monitored
    through these processes.

    The Department withheld payment of the contractual transitional payment until
    transition was complete in each country where Teleperformance operates. This
    has now been has now been approved for payment in countries where visa
    application centres (VACs) are operational but withheld in locations still to
    be transitioned. Ongoing contractual payments will be subject to the service
    credit process outlined above.

    The data required to judge performance against contractual service standards is
    not yet available. We are not aware of any withdrawn applications linked to
    delays in processing at the identified visa application centres since they took
    over this service. The Home Office is currently collating data on complaints
    for the period since Teleperformance commenced operations and it is not
    available for publication.

    UK Visas & Immigration has worked closely with Teleperformance from the point
    at which contracts were awarded to prepare for live operations, including the
    summer peak. Annual and monthly application volumes and forecast figures for
    2014 were provided to Teleperformance as part of the tender process and local
    discussions have taken place to determine the number of appointment slots
    available. Opening hours have been extended and appointment availability has
    been increased in a number of locations to prepare for the summer period. Where
    VACs are open every day, the availability of appointment slots is continually
    monitored, with further measures being taken if appointments are consistently
    fully booked.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Northover on 18 March (WA 16), how many programmes are already being implemented to tackle violence against women in Afghanistan; and how many programmes focussing on the other strategic priorities of the Department for International Development in Afghanistan are being implemented.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    Two programmes directly address violence: £3M towards a joint programme with Australia to improve the implementation of laws designed to protect women and girls affected by violence; and £19.9M DFID support to the Tawanmandi programme with grants to Civil Society Organisations, where at least £2M of grants from 2014 will go to organisations primarily focused on the elimination of violence against women and girls.

    Violence is also indirectly addressed through a long term approach of promoting women’s rights, empowerment and education. DFID has a wide range of programmes supporting this agenda, e.g. £4.5M nation-wide support to women’s political participation and the £47M Girls Education Challenge fund improving access to education for 250,000 marginalised girls.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Prime Minister, if he will refer the matter of the release of correspondence between the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Education on preventing extremism to the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Barnsley East on 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 338W.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Bridgen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many consultation requests from local planning authorities under the safeguarding directions for Phase One have been received by HS2 Ltd since 9 July 2013; and from which local planning authorities such consultation requests have been received.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Since 9 July 2013, HS2 Ltd received 60 consultation requests from local planning authorities under the safeguarding directions for the London to West Midlands section of HS2. The requests were received from the following local planning authorities:

    Birmingham City Council,

    Hertfordshire County Council,

    London Borough of Brent,

    London Borough of Ealing,

    London Borough of Hillingdon,

    Lichfield District Council,

    London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham,

    North Warwickshire Borough Council,

    Oxfordshire County Council,

    Stratford-upon-Avon District Council,

    Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

    South Northamptonshire Council,

    Warwickshire County Council,

    Westminster City Council,

    Aylesbury Vale District Council,

    London Borough of Camden.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morrow on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated current backlog of persons waiting to be assessed by Atos Healthcare for (1) Employment Support Allowance, and (2) Disability Living Allowance, broken down by region of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales; what action they are taking to address the backlog; and on what evidence they base their attribution of the delays to failings within Atos.

    Lord Freud

    The table below shows outstanding Employment and Support Allowance new claims, existing Employment and Support Allowance recipients awaiting a review and Incapacity Benefit claimants awaiting reassessment, at the end of April 2014 for England, Scotland and Wales. The figures exclude cases referred to Atos Healthcare where the claimant has yet to return their ESA50 questionnaire.

    Region

    ESA New claims awaiting a Work Capability Assessment

    Existing ESA recipients awaiting a review Work Capability Assessment

    Incapacity Benefit recipients awaiting reassessment

    England

    333,000*

    201,000*

    74,000*

    Scotland

    34,000*

    13,000*

    2,000*

    Wales

    28,000*

    20,000*

    7,000*

    * Note: figures are based on operational management information received from Atos Healthcare and are rounded to the nearest thousand.

    The total Disability Living Allowance claimants’ awaiting an assessment at the end of April 2014 nationally was 800. Figures are based on operational management information received from Atos Healthcare and are rounded to the nearest hundred.This information is not routinely collated to regional area.

    The Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland has a separate contract with Atos Healthcare for the delivery of assessments in Northern Ireland. Therefore, questions relating to waiting times in Northern Ireland should be addressed to the Minister for Social Development in Northern Ireland.

    We are working closely with our supplier to deliver the best possible service for claimants, driving up performance and quality to help reduce waiting times and process claims as quickly as possible. We are continuing to monitor and robustly manage this contract.

    Identification by the Department of a reduction in Atos Healthcare’s quality led to decisive action in the form of a retraining and re-accreditation exercise and an overhaul of audit arrangements when we instructed Atos Healthcare to introduce an improvement plan in July 2013. The quality of reports provided by Atos Healthcare has improved significantly but the Department continues to monitor quality closely.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle pensioner poverty; and if he will make a statement.

    Steve Webb

    This Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We have restored the link to earnings for the Basic State Pension and also introduced the ‘triple lock’, the guarantee that the Basic State Pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases or 2.5 per cent. We have protected key benefits for older people including: free eye tests; free NHS prescriptions; free bus passes; free television licences for those aged 75 and over and Winter Fuel Payments.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking in South Sudan to prevent famine, to prevent the spread of cholera, and to promote humanitarian access.

    Baroness Northover

    The UK is a leading donor to the humanitarian response in South Sudan. We have announced £82.5 million for support inside the country, and £12.5 million for support to refugees. Improved access is critical to the effectiveness of the humanitarian response. At the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on 20 May, the DFID Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State called on all parties to facilitate safe and speedy access. The FCO Minister for Africa also raised this with senior Ministers when he visited Juba in April. UK officials raise our concerns regularly with the parties in Juba and Addis Ababa.

    The UK is actively supporting work to help tackle the food security crisis and cholera. We are providing £16 million of funding to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help provide food aid or cash for around 160,000 people, and £8.3 million to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to help provide livelihoods support for 40,000 households. To help counter the growing cholera epidemic our support through the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF – £4 million) will include funding for the UNICEF cholera response and for critical Water, Sanitation and Hygiene supplies. We are also funding two technical experts in the World Health Organisation (WHO) who are currently supporting the cholera response.