Category: Speeches

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to secure continued funding for the Short Breaks pathfinder initiative.

    Edward Timpson

    The Short Breaks pathfinder initiative was part of Aiming High for Disabled Children and ran in 21 local authorities from 2008. Since the pathfinder initiative, funding has been provided to support short breaks provision in all English local authorities. For example, between 2011-12 and 2014-15, short breaks were supported by £800m in the Early Intervention Grant. In 2011-12, and again in 2012-13, local authorities benefitted from an additional £40m per annum of capital funding for short break services.

    Since 2011, local authorities have also been under a duty to provide a range of short breaks services and to publish a local Short Breaks Duty Statement showing what services are available; how they are responding to the needs of local parent carers; and how short breaks can be accessed, including any eligibility criteria. Local authorities are responsible for funding this short breaks provision.

    This year, the Department for Education has awarded £250,555 to the Short Breaks Partnership (a consortium made up of Contact a Family, the Council for Disabled Children, Action for Children and KIDS) to provide information and advice to those involved in designing, commissioning, providing and taking up short breaks for disabled children.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Concentrix on compliance checks for tax credits includes payments by results.

    Mr David Gauke

    Reducing tax credits fraud and error is a top priority for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The contract with Concentrix offers additional capacity to help build on HMRC’s own work, which has reduced tax credits fraud and error to the lowest ever level. Using a private company provides a cost-effective way to reach additional claims that need checking.

    The checks are to ensure that people are paid the correct amount of money to prevent them from getting into debt which they may find difficult to repay and protect losses to taxpayers.

    Concentrix operate under the same powers and processes as HMRC. Concentrix select cases to be checked using information provided by HMRC. Concentrix decide how best to achieve the expected benefits, including the number and type of cases and number of staff employed. HMRC closely monitors their performance.

    The contract uses a payment by results model, which means Concentrix is only paid based on the money it saves the Exchequer as a result of correcting claims that are incorrect. They will not be paid if the decisions they make about claimants’ awards are incorrect.

    The contract was signed on 6 May 2014. The contract was awarded to Synnex-Concentrix UK Ltd in April 2014, following a procurement exercise advertised under the open procedure. Information about the contract value and contract award is already in the public domain.

    https://www.deltaesourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=97910033

    “

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much revenue from (a) CRB checks and (b) Disclosure and Barring Service checks has been raised for the public purse in each of the last 10 years.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service was established on 1 December 2012 when the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged. The table below shows total fee income from disclosures for the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2015 collated from the Annual Reports for the period. DBS is self-funding and operates on a full cost recovery basis.

    Financial Year

    Total Fee Income

    £(000)

    2005 – 06

    75,494

    2006 – 07

    93,042

    2007 – 08

    97,765

    2008 – 09

    113,117

    2009 – 10

    125,883

    2010 – 11

    117,898

    2011 – 12

    105,253

    2012 – 13

    115,193

    2013 – 14

    135,878

    2014 – 15

    145,773
  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the £390 million funding referred to in paragraph 0.5 of his Department’s paper, Infected blood: reform of financial and other support, published in January 2016, was spent in each year to date; and what the average spend per recipient in each such year was.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department only holds finance data for payments under the Schemes back to 2007. This information is provided below.

    2014-15 £22,278,096

    2013-14 £27,043,569

    2012-13 £22,052,458

    2011-12 £27,192,232

    2010-11 £39,805,667

    2009-10 £22,461,057

    2008-09 £19,240,337

    2007-08 £20,532,461

    The figures above include the annual payments to those with HIV and hepatitis C stage 2, and the lump sum payments made on joining the scheme and progressing to hepatitis C stage 2. The fluctuation in amounts between the years reflects the variance in number of people newly coming forward or progressing to hepatitis C stage 2 in each year.

    The payments to individuals included both discretionary and non-discretionary payments, data on which is only held by the trusts and funds. Therefore, the Department is unable to estimate the levels of individual payments.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings she or officials of her Department have had on the future of (a) Halewood Academy and (b) sixth form provision in the Borough of Knowsley.

    Nick Boles

    Following discussions with Halewood Academy Centre for Learning Trust, the RSC, advised by her Head Teacher Board, agreed that Halewood Academy would transfer to Innovation Enterprise Trust. The transfer is due to happen in September 2016.

    An Area Review covering Liverpool City Region is due to take place this academic year. This will include sixth form provision, as well as sixth form colleges and Further Education, in its analysis phase. The RSC for Lancashire and West Yorkshire is involved in the review.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average level of funding for GPs in (a) Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group, (b) comparator clinical commissioning groups and (c) England was in each of the last 3 years.

    Alistair Burt

    Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that the funding for general practitioners (GPs) in Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was £31,892,320 in 2013/14 and £33,578,245 in 2014/15.

    The comparator CCGs fall into the area of Wessex. The average level of funding for GPs in comparator CCGs was £40,243,811 in 2013/14 and £43,300,640 in 2014/15.

    The average level of funding for GPs in England was £36,169,099 in 2013/14 and £37,868,835 in 2014/15.

    Data is not available for earlier years.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase exports.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer given in response to the member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun question on 7 June in Oral questions.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2016 to Question 41528, which government departments the Civil Service Chief People Officer, Rupert McNeil, has met in order to discuss future plans for those departments’ skills and staff planning.

    Ben Gummer

    The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda. Civil Servants regularly meet with external organisations and stakeholders to discuss how best to deliver that agenda, including seeking advice and assistance where appropriate. Following the decision to exit the European Union, Rupert McNeil, the Chief People Officer, is working closely with departments and functions across government to understand the capabilities required, including considering what new skills the Civil Service may require. To do that, he is in the process of meeting all Departmental Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Function.

    Work is on-going to establish the new Department for Exiting the European Union and the new Department for International Trade and all departments are currently reviewing their own structures and resources to ensure we get the best deal for the whole of Britain.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-10-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in (a) Cardiff Central constituency and (b) Cardiff County local authority area have had a tax credit claim stopped by Concentrix; and how many such claims were subsequently reinstated by HM Revenue and Customs.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold data broken down specifically by constituency areas.

    HMRC is currently focussed on resolving the outstanding cases but will be preparing regional analysis, which will be available in due course.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the World Health Organization research showing that eating processed meat increases the risk of cancer.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The World Health Organization published its conclusions on the carcinogenicity of eating red and processed meat on 26 October. The detailed evaluations will be published in the future; until these are available, we cannot assess them in detail.