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  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the destinations of (a) people referred to the Mandatory Work Activity scheme who did not join that programme, (b) people who joined the Mandatory Work Activity scheme but did not complete the full length of their placement and (c) people who left the Mandatory Work Activity scheme after completing the full length of their placement.

    Priti Patel

    Mandatory Work Activity is a supportive programme designed to help claimants who need extra support from a short work placement to re-focus their job search activity and gain further experience of work. Unemployed Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit claimants are referred for up to 4 weeks work experience and will participate on the placement for up to 30 hours a week.

    The number of referrals and starts is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working.

    An impact assessment of Mandatory Work Activity was published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-work-activity–2) which considered referrals to the programme in the period May to July 2012. An evaluation of Mandatory Work Activity also published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-mandatory-work-activity-rr823) which included a telephone survey of participants who had been referred to and started an Mandatory Work Allowance placement.

    The evaluation and impact assessment were conducted in 2012 and does not cover the period of the Official Statistics from May 2011 to August 2015.

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  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what feedback his Department has received from (a) service users, (b) employers and (c) GPs on the Fit for Work service since its launch.

    Justin Tomlinson

    An evaluation strategy is in place for Fit for Work. As part of this, a formal process evaluation is being undertaken. The formal evaluation will include feedback from employee users of the service, GPs and employers. Return to work will also be covered. Monthly performance group meetings take place between the Department and the providers in both England/Wales and Scotland together with weekly meetings to discuss management information and performance issues.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2015 to Question 6809, what progress his Department has made on allocating funding for investment into ultra low emission vehicles and the infrastructure to support such vehicles.

    Andrew Jones

    The government allocated more than £600 million to support the uptake and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles in the 2015 Spending Review. This represents an increase of over £100 million on the Government’s previous commitment and means the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will continue to provide one of the most comprehensive packages of support for ultra low emission vehicles in the world.

    On 17 December the Government announced it has allocated £400 million so that the Plug-in Car Grant will continue to at least 2018, well beyond the previous guarantee of February 2016, and which will mean more than 100,000 people will benefit over the coming years – double the number who have already claimed the grant since 2011. The Government also announced the continuation of the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which will provide £500 towards the cost of installing a domestic chargepoint.

    We will provide further details about the wider OLEV programme during the first part of 2016.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) staff are working temporarily at a higher grade to cover a vacancy; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such arrangements on the relationship between DVSA staff and management.

    Andrew Jones

    Temporary promotion allows the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to develop people and give them opportunities to gain new skills and experiences; it would always seek to make use of this opportunity.

    At the last quarter 376 people within DVSA were on a form of temporary promotion, this includes opportunities to cover vacancies but also to conduct fixed term projects at a higher grade.

    Since the creation of DVSA there have been a greater number of people on temporary promotion than normally expected and has started to address this with permanent recruitment.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to implement the review of staffing and deployment agreed with trades unions in February 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly shares staffing data with the Trade Union Side (TUS) and has met them on many occasions since February 2014 to discuss matters including, but not limited to, staffing and deployment. A timeline was agreed with the TUS for these discussions to conclude on 23 September 2015 in order for them to ballot members on the position reached. Despite the final position on these talks being rejected by the TUS DVSA offered to continue discussions, on an ongoing basis, about staffing and deployment.

    DVSA is currently engaged in talks via ACAS with the Prospect Union, who have suspended industrial action, and hopes to be able to do the same with the Public and Commercial Services Union.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to implement the review of staffing and deployment agreed with trades unions in February 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly shares staffing data with the Trade Union Side (TUS) and has met them on many occasions since February 2014 to discuss matters including, but not limited to, staffing and deployment. A timeline was agreed with the TUS for these discussions to conclude on 23 September 2015 in order for them to ballot members on the position reached. Despite the final position on these talks being rejected by the TUS DVSA offered to continue discussions, on an ongoing basis, about staffing and deployment.

    DVSA is currently engaged in talks via ACAS with the Prospect Union, who have suspended industrial action, and hopes to be able to do the same with the Public and Commercial Services Union.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential economic benefit to the north of England of faster rail links between north and south and better connectivity within the north of England.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department and Transport for North (TfN) are currently developing options for delivering the transformational rail connectivity in the north of England set out in the Northern Transport Strategy, and aim to have an understanding of the relative scale of costs and benefits of these options in autumn 2016.

    As outlined in the recent HS2 Economic Case published in November 2015, the benefits of the full HS2 Y-Network are estimated to be £72.8bn (2011 prices, PV). This analysis calculated that the benefit cost ratio (BCR) of HS2 is 2.2 for the full Y-network, including wider economic impacts. Therefore, over £2 worth of benefits are expected for every £1 spent which represents high value for money.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make a comparative assessment of the potential economic benefit of High Speed 2 plans and the proposals by Transport for the North.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 will dramatically improve connectivity from north to south. Northern Powerhouse Rail will do the same from east to west. These two ambitious programmes, developed side-by-side, will help to rebalance the economy by transforming rail travel to, from, and within the North.

    The Department and Transport for the North (TfN) are currently developing options for delivering the transformational rail connectivity in the north of England set out in the Northern Transport Strategy, and aim to have an understanding of the relative scale of costs and benefits of these options in autumn 2016.

    As outlined in the recent HS2 Economic Case published in November 2015, the benefits of the full HS2 Y-Network are estimated to be £72.8bn (2011 prices, PV). This analysis calculated that the benefit cost ratio (BCR) of HS2 is 2.2 for the full Y-network, including wider economic impacts. Therefore, over £2 worth of benefits are expected for every £1 spent which represents high value for money.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the latest date is on which he could announce his decision on airport expansion in the south east consistent with meeting the timetable for delivering capacity set out by the Airports Commission.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    On 10 December, the Government accepted the Airports Commission’s case for expansion in the South East. We agree with the Commission’s shortlist of three options, all of which it concluded were viable. The Government will now conclude a package of further work by the summer, and will ensure that the timetable for delivering additional capacity set out by the Commission does not alter.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding (a) in total and (b) by region of Road User Satisfaction Report was paid to AECOM from the public purse for those reports published by the Highways Agency on 11 December 2015.

    Andrew Jones

    The total contractual amounts Highways England pays are as follows:

    • £274,129 for the National Road User Satisfaction Survey from April 2015 to March 2016.
    • £376,846 for the Area Road User Satisfaction Survey from April 2015 to March 2016.

    Costs are not split by region.