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  • Paul Blomfield – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants of what grades have been employed on the Crown Oversight Function since its creation.

    Francis Maude

    Prior to the last General Election the Civil Service lacked commercial and procurement skills. This Government’s commercial and procurement reforms saved taxpayers £3.8 billion last year alone. The Government is strengthening central procurement skills to ensure further savings can be realised. The Crown Oversight Function was created on 1 November 2013 and has 52 Civil Service roles. Further details will be available via the department’s organogram. Consultants were not employed at Government expense.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many consultants have been engaged in the Crown Oversight Function since its creation; what each of their job roles were; and how much has been paid in consultancy fees to date.

    Francis Maude

    Prior to the last General Election the Civil Service lacked commercial and procurement skills. This Government’s commercial and procurement reforms saved taxpayers £3.8 billion last year alone. The Government is strengthening central procurement skills to ensure further savings can be realised. The Crown Oversight Function was created on 1 November 2013 and has 52 Civil Service roles. Further details will be available via the department’s organogram. Consultants were not employed at Government expense.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average annual salary and expenses paid to (1) members of the House of Commons, and (2) members of the European Parliament.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The determination and administration of the pay, pensions and expenses for Members of Parliament is the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). The current salary of a Member of Parliament is £66,396. IPSA publish the salary and total business costs and expenses paid to each MP.

    Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) paid by the European Parliament under the Statute for Members of the European Parliament are paid at 38.5%of the basic salary of a judge at the Court of Justice of the European Communities, which is currently € 7.956,87 a month before EU tax and accident insurance contribution. Those British MEPs who are not paid under the Statute for Members of the European Parliament are paid at the same rate as MPs.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of European Union regulations requiring black market activities, including prostitution and illegal drug dealing, to be taken into account in the calculation of the United Kingdom gross domestic product.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what sanctions have been applied in the last 12 months for poor quality performance on the Birmingham Cross City line by London Midland.

    Baroness Kramer

    We have applied no sanctions against London Midland in regard to performance on the Birmingham Cross City line; we do not disaggregate performance by the train operators to that level. In the autumn of 2012 London Midland experienced a high number of cancellations, largely due to issues with availability of train crew. As a result, they breached the terms of their Franchise Agreement, and a remedial plan and package of benefits was agreed with the Department. As the Secretary of State for Transport announced to the House on 20 December 2012, this package included passenger benefits of: 500,000 discounted tickets, free travel for season ticket holders (worth up to c.£5.4m), capital investment, and additional driver training investment worth a combined £6.25m

  • Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Tebbit – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total yearly extra cost to schools of educating children whose first language is not English.

    Lord Nash

    We do not collect this data centrally. It is for individual schools to decide how much extra they choose to spend on educating pupils whose first language is not English.

    Through their local funding formulas, local authorities may allocate funding to schools on the basis of the number of pupils in the school who speak English as an additional language and entered the state school system in the past three years. Local authorities allocated £233 million in this way in 2013-14. The funding is not ring-fenced within a school’s budget so this figure may not be a reliable indicator of actual spending.

  • Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Leader of the House what steps he has taken to ensure that Ministers make sure, before signing replies to Questions for Written Answer, that the replies answer the questions which have been put.

    Lord Hill of Oareford

    It is the responsibility of individual ministers to decide what answers they give to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs), and they are of course accountable to the House for those answers. The importance of this direct accountability is such that I recently decided, following the introduction of a new system for answering QWAs electronically, to require Ministers in this House to continue providing personally signed answers to noble Lords. The Ministerial Code states that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”.

  • Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 10 March (WA 342), whether they will now answer the questions.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    Cabinet office does not hold data centrally on the transfer of civil servants across regions and it could only be collected centrally at disproportionate cost. Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each individual Department to determine. It is for individual departments to provide such information, where it exists.

  • Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Jopling – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 10 March (WA 348), whether they will now answer the question.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    As I stated to the House on 23 January 2014, Official Report, column 846, and
    repeated in my reply to the noble lord, Lord Vinson on 10 March (WA 348), the
    Government remains committed ‘to holding another vote on the final package of
    measures that we will apply to rejoin’.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Prime Minister discussed with Chancellor Merkel during her recent visit to the United Kingdom the proposal by the European People’s Party that students should be given a European Union education”.”

    Lord Nash

    The Prime Minister did not discuss the proposal by the European People’s Party that students should be given a ‘European Union education’ with Chancellor Merkel during her recent visit.