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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Ward on 2014-02-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) contract staff in his Department as paid the living wage or above.

Andrea Leadsom

100% of permanent and temporary staff at HM Treasury are paid the Living Wage or above.

HM Treasury fully complies with EU procurement directives and awards contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer. Nevertheless, we have encouraged contractors to commit to paying a living wage and expect all employers to pay at least the national minimum wage.

The Government supports businesses that choose to pay the Living Wage however the Government’s main policy on wages is the National Minimum Wage, which has continued to protect the relative wages of the low paid. This is independently set by the Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises their wages without reducing employment prospect. It is for workers and employers to decide the level of wages above the minimum wage based on current circumstances. This includes the Government as a procurer and an employer. Over 95%, around 20 million employees earn above the minimum wage and the majority of public sector workers currently earn above the Living Wage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Mark Prisk on 2014-02-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the additional revenue secured since 2010 as a result of changes to the IR35 tax regulations affecting the self-employed.

Mr David Gauke

The intermediaries’ legislation, known as IR35, does not apply to the self-employed, rather it applies to those providing their services through an intermediary (normally a limited company) who if it were not for the intermediary would otherwise be considered an employee of the client. IR35 ensures that under such circumstances broadly the same tax and National Insurance contributions are paid as if the individual were directly employed.

A very minor change to the IR35 legislation was made in 2010 in consequence of the Corporation Taxes Act 2010.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have currently four specialist compliance teams which undertake investigations of intermediaries (commonly called personal service companies) operating across all sectors where potential non-compliance with IR35 is suspected. These teams form part of a restructuring of HMRC’s administration of IR35 following recommendations in March 2011 by the Office of Tax Simplification. Revenue secured under IR35 from this direct compliance activity between 6 April 2010 and 5 April 2013 is £2.519m. Figures for 2013/14 are not currently available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Simon Burns on 2014-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many families were based in temporary accommodation in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex in each quarter of the last five years.

Kris Hopkins

[Holding Reply: Monday 27 January 2014]

The Department does not collect constituency level data. A table has been placed in the Library of the House with data for Chelmsford City Council and Essex. To assist my rt. hon. Friend, I have provided quarterly data back for the last ten years; the table illustrates how there are fewer households in temporary accommodation than the average under the last Administration.

This Government has retained a strong homelessness safety net protected in law, supported by £470 million in the current Spending Review period to prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We are seeing this investment making an impact with households now spending on average 7 months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.

We have also made some changes to the rules under the Localism Act to enable local authorities to end the main homelessness duty by arranging an offer of suitable accommodation in the private rented sector. This means households are likely to spend less time in temporary accommodation waiting for social housing to become available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Barry Sheerman on 2014-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to promote gas safety among leaseholders in local authority-managed properties.

Kris Hopkins

The Department does not provide advice on gas safety specifically for leaseholders in local authority–managed properties. However, the lease of a property will set out the responsibilities of the freeholder and the leaseholder, including responsibility for maintenance of gas appliances.

In the private rented and social rented sectors, landlords are required by law to: repair and maintain gas pipework, keep flues and appliances in safe condition; ensure an annual gas safety check on each appliance and flue; and keep a record of each safety check.

For the social housing sector, the Homes and Communities Agency ‘Home Standard’ says that registered providers must “meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of the occupants in their homes”. The Homes and Communities Agency has recently issued three ‘serious detriment’ notices against Gallions, Your Housing Group and the Guinness Partnership for failing to maintain gas safety and they have all had their Governance ratings downgraded partly based on that.

The Home Standard is a ‘consumer’ standard and therefore applies to all registered providers, including local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to investigate the English language test results of students who completed English language tests organised by ETS in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office has suspended acceptance of all ETS tests taken and used in the
UK whist the scope of the issue is ascertained and to determine the number of people who
have taken a test and been involved in fraud. We have specialist teams in place
to undertake this analysis.

We are looking at all current and past applications. Anyone who is found to
have used or is currently trying to use evidence that they obtained dishonestly
can expect to have their leave curtailed and be removed from the UK or have any
outstanding application refused and leave the UK. We will also seek criminal
prosecution where appropriate and use all of the measures that we have
available.

Our reforms have curbed abuse by closing bogus colleges, making the application
process more rigorous and imposing more rules on colleges to improve course
quality. However, as the recent BBC Panorama programme highlighted, much more
needs to be done.
The Government will take all necessary steps, but our approach also requires
the education sector, particularly private or further education colleges and
those providing secure English language testing, to take on their
responsibility to tackle abuse.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Kevan Jones on 2014-02-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of his Department’s Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of his Department’s Ministers.

Andrea Leadsom

I can confirm that Ministers have a total of 256.08 sq m of office space currently assigned to them.

In total, there are 35staff working in ministerial offices, compared to 38 members of staff in 2009. This is as follows:

Range B: 6

Range C: 8

Range D: 13

Range E: 5

Range E2: 2

SCS: 1

These figures are based on the latest data available for staffing numbers for HMT Treasury as of May 2014.