The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2014-04-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the planned hull life of the Type 23 frigate.
Lord Astor of Hever
Following a decision in 2005, to extend the service life of the current class of Type 23 frigates to 35 years the hull life of the class now ranges between 34 and 37 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ruffley on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) new national insurance numbers registered and (b) new workers in (i) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (ii) Suffolk and (iii) England and Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.
Esther McVey
Information on the number of National Insurance Numbers registered to individuals including new workers, via constituency, county and country, can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-01.
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) barristers, (b) solicitors and (c) witness care staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service at the end of (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2009-10.
Oliver Heald
The information requested is contained in the following table.
|
Barristers |
Solicitors |
Witness Care |
|
|
2009-10 |
853 |
2,353 |
228 |
|
2012-13 |
677 |
1,867 |
131 |
|
2013-14 |
645 |
1,771 |
100 |
| Notes:Data extracted from the CPS HR Database iTrent as at the 31st March in each year |
| Data may be subject to change due to retrospective changes in the HR database |
| Data may differ from previously published data due to differing specifications |
.
Notwithstanding the staff reductions, conviction rates have remained broadly unchanged since 2009/10.
Witness attendance remains constant over the last two financial years (to February 2014).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which charitable projects in Scotland have received funding from the Armed Forces Covenant (LIBOR) Fund to date.
Anna Soubry
The allocation of some £35 million in LIBOR fines to the Ministry Of Defence to support the Armed Forces community is just one example of the importance this Government places on the Armed Forces covenant.
We have provided £5.5 million of funding for 12 Scottish projects. In addition, the Armed Forces community in Scotland will benefit from a number of UK-wide projects which have been allocated over £16 million of LIBOR funding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Government invested in highway and infrastructure construction in the North West in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.
Stephen Hammond
HM Treasury’s Country and Regional Analysis November 2013 states that identifiable public capital expenditure on transport in the North West of England was: 2009/10 £1,229m, 2010/11 £1,268m, 2011/12 £1,261m, 2012/13 £1,257m.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of all UK visa applications processed by TPContact in (a) Israel, (b) Russia, (c) South Africa and (d) Ukraine have been subject to delays outside the stated service standards.
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many concluded applications for personal independence payment there have been to date, by parliamentary constituency.
Mike Penning
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Liverpool, West Derby and the hon Member for Airdrie and Shotts, official report, 5 March, column 850W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on agency workers to cover clerical staff in each month since January 2014.
Andrew Selous
Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m. We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our use of contractors and look for further reductions.
In responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff. As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.
Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term. Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.
Uniform operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors and their vehicles.
1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on clerical agency staff across –
January 2014 – £2,983,633.14 (5 week period)
February 2014 – £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)
March 2014 – £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)
April 2014 – £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)
May 2014 – £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)
June 2014 – £658,700.28 (1 week period)
2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational support staff –
January 2014 – £1,082,247 (5 week period)
February 2014 – £1,420,329 (4 week period)
March 2014 – £1,137,834 (4 week period)
April 2014 – £1,249,908 (4 week period)
May 2014 – £2,282,468 (5 week period)
The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible workers from 1st April 2014.
3) The following number of clerical agency staff have been utilised –
January 2014 – 1571 (Average headcount)
February 2014 – 1634 (Average headcount)
March 2014 – 1624 (Average headcount)
April 2014 – 1578 (Average headcount)
May 2014 – 1644 (Average headcount)
June 2014 – 1674 (Average headcount)
4) The following number of uniform operational support staff have been utilised –
January 2014 – 697 (Peak worker number)
February 2014 – 845 (Peak worker number)
March 2014 – 867 (Peak worker number)
April 2014 – 853 (Peak worker number)
May 2014 – 855 (Peak worker number)
June 2014 – Peak worker number not available yet.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HM Revenue and Customs’ consultation document, Tackling marketed tax avoidance, published on 24 January 2014, whether consideration was given to (a) running the consultation for longer than one calendar month and (b) initiating it earlier, to allow more time for the decision-taking process in advance of the March 2014 Budget Statement.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been successful in challenging tax avoidance and, in relation to avoidance cases that go to litigation, around 80% of cases litigated resulting in the tax being due. This led to around £1.7 billion of tax being protected in 2013. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of the range and frequency of amounts of tax due without causing undue cost on the department to provide the information.
The Government considered different options for the consultation period for the proposals but concluded that the time period made available was reasonable. There were a very large number of responses, which suggests that the timescale did not cause any undue impediment to those who wished to give their views in response to the consultation. ‘Tackling Marketed Tax Avoidance’ followed on from the earlier consultation over the summer of 2013 ‘Raising the Stakes on Tax Avoidance’, which consulted in detail on the initial proposal for the Follower Notice measure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what scope there is for amending an individual’s claimant commitment after it has first been drawn up.
Esther McVey
Once in place, both the claimant and Jobcentre Plus work coach can ask for the Claimant Commitment to be changed at any time.