Category: Speeches

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average cost is of recovery of £1 of debt by HM Revenue and Customs debt management staff.

    Mr David Gauke

    HMRC collects about £475 billion of tax revenue every year. 90% of this is collected by the due date; just 10% of it becomes overdue and a debt that HMRC has to recover/enforce.

    It would be misleading to attribute the effect of enforcing tax that is not paid on time outside the context of collecting tax that is collected on time.

    Accordingly, we do not routinely measure the ‘average’ cost of collecting £1 of debt.

    HMRC uses a number of different methods to recover outstanding debts ranging from automated processes to more targeted enforcement tools as well as partnering initiatives with private sector companies. The application of specific interventions depends on a number of factors including customer behaviour, the economic climate, and our overall approach to maintaining the health of the tax system and tackling non-compliance.

    In 2011 HMRC published the results of an international benchmarking study which compares HMRC’s operational performance to nine other international tax administrations. Results from this study showed HMRC had the lowest cost of all ten countries.

    Over the long term 99% of taxes due are collected with only 1% being lost to the Exchequer, almost all of which is due to insolvency.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many registered nurses were made redundant by each NHS health trust in England in 2013.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The number (Headcount basis) of Qualified Nursing Staff made redundant, from National Health Service trusts, during 2013 is estimated in the attached table.

    In November 2013 there was a record full time equivalent number of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the NHS of 312,900.

    The 489 redundancies represent just 0.14 % of the total Qualified Nursing workforce in Hospitals and Community Health Services.

    The data used in this reply has been extracted from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Data Warehouse which is a monthly snap shot of the live ESR system. This is the Human Resources and payroll system that covers all NHS employees other than those working in General Practice, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and organisations to which functions have been transferred, such as local authorities. ESR was fully rolled out across the NHS in April 2008. The ESR data used in this response is not centrally validated and its reliability is subject to local coding practice.

    Redundancies are identified as those individuals with a reason for leaving of either voluntary or compulsory redundancy. Only those individuals coded as Qualified Nurses, Midwives or Health Visitors are included in the figures. Only redundancies from NHS Trusts are included in these figures, it is possible that Qualified Nurses were also made redundant from other NHS bodies.

    ESR reports based on the current organisation structure. This means that if organisations merged during 2013 it is possible that redundancies from, now defunct, organisations are recorded as being from the newly created organisation.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of his Department’s staff excluding non-departmental public bodies were (a) women in top management posts women, (b) women, (c) black and minority ethnic and (d) disabled.

    Brandon Lewis

    The current proportion of women in DCLG top management posts is 36.8%. Whilst there is more to do to ensure the Civil Service has the very best possible mix of existing and future talent, I would observe that this is an increase from 33.0% from 2009-10, and is higher than the Civil Service workforce target of 34.0%.

    I also refer the rt. hon. Member to my answer of 17 March 2014, Official Report, Column 398-400W.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she expects to respond to the recommendations of the Report by the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill by the time of Second Reading of that Bill.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government’s response to the report from the Joint Committee on the draft
    Modern Slavery Bill was published on 10 June 2014. Copies of the report are
    available in the House Library.

    The response was also published on the Gov.UK website:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-modern-slavery-bill–2

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of readiness to defend its Overseas Territories in the event of attack.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly consults with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other Government Departments and intelligence agencies, as well as our allies and partners, constantly to review or identify potential threats to UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs). In the first instance the MOD seeks to deter such attacks using deterrence measures including, where necessary, permanently based military garrisons or dedicated patrols, visits by deployed military forces, and more broadly the maintenance of world class deployable military forces. Should deterrence fail to prevent an attack, the Department remains confident that it has the necessary contingency plans and high readiness deployable forces in the UK and elsewhere to respond accordingly to any attack on a UKOT.

  • Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what the criteria were for the choice of members of the panel of selection to consider the appointment of the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive; and who selected those members.

    John Thurso

    The selection panel that will consider the appointment of the next Clerk of the House was chosen by Mr Speaker and its composition was considered by the House of Commons Commission at its meeting on 16 June. The criteria for selection of panel members included party balance, gender balance and the need for external independent input.

  • John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what levels of stock his Department holds of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables.

    Gregory Barker

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not keep a central record of stock levels for stationery, treasury tags or any other office consumables. This is because individual teams within the Department are responsible for their own particular needs (with weekly deliveries when required), negating the need for an overall ‘Departmental’ store.

    However, printer cartridges are procured and stored by the Departmental IT team. The stock is regularly checked with an aim to ensure there are always approximately 80 cartridges on site (of varying types and colours) to cover four Central London buildings/offices.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many non-disclosure or compromise agreements have been included in the departure packages of former employees of probation trusts since 1 January 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    There have been no non-disclosure or compromise agreements included as part of the departure packages of the Trust Chief Executives who have taken early retirement. The terms of departure for other former Trust staff were agreed through their own local arrangements.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Russian counterpart on the situation in Ukraine.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) discussed the situation in Ukraine with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on 23 April. The Foreign Secretary pressed for the immediate implementation of the 17 April Geneva agreement. He urged Russia to take steps to de-escalate the situation in eastern and southern Ukraine, including making a clear public statement calling for illegally armed groups in eastern Ukraine to disarm and vacate occupied buildings. He also invited Russian diplomats to join efforts by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine.

  • James Duddridge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    James Duddridge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Duddridge on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received about deaths of young people in traffic accidents; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The number of young people being killed on our roads is far too high and we are determined to tackle this issue. It is an issue which, understandably, features prominently in the range of representations which we receive about road safety generally.

    As part of our consideration of the way forward, we met the insurance industry on 27 January 2014 to discuss novice drivers and, in particular, our proposed research into the role which telematics can play in changing the behaviours and attitudes of new drivers. My officials regularly talk to the insurance industry and current discussions are aimed at encouraging participation in the research project before we can get it underway. We will publish the results of the research when they are available.

    We will also publish the findings of the focus groups comprising parents, young people and employers which we undertook in order to get a better understanding of the issues from their perspective.