The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to contact people whose personal details have been stolen as a result of the cyber-security breach of the Government Gateway system.
Matthew Hancock
To date the security reports on the Government Gateway system do not show a cyber-security breach.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the effect of changes to the policing budget on the number of police negotiators in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.
Mike Penning
The Home Secretary has not made any such estimates. It is a matter for Chief Constables, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners to determine the levels of any particular specialist resources required in their forces, and how these should be deployed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency planning his Department is undertaking to prepare for the possibility of a leave vote in the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Mr Julian Brazier
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016 to Question 21931.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the budget was for the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) was formed on 1 April 2013; below are budgets for the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) for each year since PHE’s formation. The RIPL was previously part of the Health Protection Agency, whose functions transferred to PHE.
|
2013/14 (Actual) |
2014/15 (Actual) |
2015/16 (Budget) |
|
£3,491,300 |
£3,667,600 |
£3,465,300 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people automatically enrolled into workplace pensions between October 2012 and October 2013 have since withdrawn from that scheme.
Justin Tomlinson
The Information requested is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Research from 2013 shows that between nine and ten per cent of automatically enrolled workers had opted out of their pension scheme. Our latest figures show that since the roll out of automatic enrolment, nearly 6 million people have now been automatically enrolled, and opt outs have remained much lower than were originally anticipated. We expect that around nine million workers will be newly saving or saving more by 2018. The Department is doing further analysis into workplace pension participation and opt out rates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department sets targets related to the closing of benefit claims of people referred to the work programme.
Priti Patel
There are no targets set for providers in relation to the closing of benefit claims, though for a job to be eligible for outcome payments, providers must support people into enough work to take them off out-of-work benefits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the devolution of business rates on business growth in (a) former steel works and coalfield areas and (b) other local authority areas with a depleted industrial base.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Government intends to move to 100 per cent business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. The new system will have stronger incentives to boost growth, and areas that take bold decisions to further increase growth will see the benefits. We will be giving councils the power to cut the business rates multiplier to improve the business environment for enterprise and attract further businesses to their area. But we recognise that not all councils are the same. In setting up this system we will ensure that there is redistribution between councils so that areas do not lose out just because they currently collect less in local business rates, and will put protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of a quadrivalent vaccine programme for school-aged boys equivalent to that in place for school-aged girls; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
An estimate of the cost of extending the current programme to boys has not been made. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is currently considering the option of extending human papilloma virus vaccination to adolescent boys. Once the JCVI has reviewed the available evidence it will report its recommendations. This will inform any future policy to extend the current programme to adolescent boys.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward primary legislation to regulate the taxi and private hire vehicle industries in the current session.
Andrew Jones
Clause 145 of the Policing and Crime Bill currently being considered by Parliament would enable the Secretary of State to issue Statutory Guidance to taxi and private hire licensing authorities so as to protect children, and vulnerable individuals who are 18 or over, from harm.
There is at present no plan to bring forward further primary legislation to reform the legislative framework for taxis and private hire vehicles in the current session.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-10-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they set in respect of the requirement for transparency and openness in the decision-making processes of all public and publicly-funded bodies.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
As a matter of principle, members of the public should be able to routinely access information that is in the public interest and is safe to disclose. Access to information helps ensure accountability for public authorities and facilitates better informed and more productive public debate.
All public bodies have a publication scheme, which outlines what they will publish. The Information Commissioner’s Office provides guidance on the publication scheme for each body. This covers evidence of decision making, board meeting minutes, agendas, consultations and datasets, including those pertaining to public spending and to public service function, in an accessible format. Datasets are published on the data.gov.uk website, while other evidence is available on individual body websites.
All central government departments are required to publish information about key aspects of their management and operations, including details of senior staff salaries and departmental expenditure.
The Cabinet Office also publishes guidance for departments on transparency for their arm’s length bodies. This guidance states that they should:
Statements by Accounting Officers are published in arm’s length body annual reports. The publication of these statements demonstrates how Accounting Officers have fulfilled his or her personal responsibility to manage and control the resources in the organisation.
In its annual Public Bodies Reports the Cabinet Office sets out high-level information on arm’s length body transparency in areas including publication of annual reports and open board meetings.
The transparency data published by government does not disclose personal data. Where necessary, minutes and papers which detail decision-making are edited to remove data which could be used to identify individuals.
Transparency information published by the local government is governed by the transparency code. The principles that underpin the code are the same, and similarly, data pertaining to function and spend data must be disclosed. The code has just undergone consultation. Proposed changes include altering the way transparency data is published and presented to increase accessibility.