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  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-03-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their plans to introduce new electrified railway lines between Manchester and Liverpool in December, whether they have taken into account the availability of electric trains as part of their negotiations to procure rolling stock.

    Baroness Kramer

    As announced today (27 March) the Department for Transport has granted a Direct Award to Northern for 22 months and is working with them to ensure rolling stock is available for a phased rollout of electric services between Liverpool and Manchester from the December 2014 timetable.

    The Department takes account of availability of electric rolling stock in its decisions and the stock for this route will be modern, cascaded stock from other routes.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether members of the Carrington Wire Pension Fund are able to access the Pension Protection Fund.

    Steve Webb

    The Carrington Wire Defined Benefit Pension Scheme entered a Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment period in February 2013.

    During a PPF assessment period the PPF establishes whether the scheme can afford to secure benefits which are at least equal to the compensation that the PPF would pay. The scheme will transfer to the PPF unless it has sufficient assets to pay benefits greater or equal to PPF compensation levels or it is rescued, for instance, by another employer taking responsibility for it.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that any foreign company found to have abandoned its pension responsibilities to UK pension holders can be made to refund that pension deficit.

    Steve Webb

    I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave him on 23 January 2014, Official Report, Column 267W.

  • Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in discretionary housing payments has been allocated in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency for those affected by the under-occupancy penalty in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Steve Webb

    Discretionary Housing Payments(DHP) are allocated by Local Authority not parliamentary constituency. The table below details the overall DHP allocation and the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) element for Corby and East Northhamptonshire local authorities.

    Government allocation of DHP by Local authority

    2013/14

    2014/15

    RSRS

    Total DHP

    RSRS

    Total DHP

    Corby

    £25,669

    £92,250

    £92,809

    £134,854

    East Northamptonshire

    £24,304

    £85,490

    £59,253

    £99,565
  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the differential payment regime in the Work Programme in reducing creaming and parking.

    Esther McVey

    The independent evaluation explores the pricing structure of the Work Programme. The Department will publish findings once the independent evaluation of the Work Programme is complete.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on the Jobcentre estate in 2012-13.

    Mike Penning

    It is not possible to provide a figure specifically for the delivery of Jobcentre business, as other parts of the Department, such as staff from the Corporate Centre, the Pensions Service and Child Maintenance Divisions are co-located in Jobcentre sites, and each business unit pays for their space proportionate to their occupancy.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many postal votes there were as a proportion of those issued in the top 100 constituencies in turnout ranked order at the 2010 General Election.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that a table showing the a) number of postal votes issued as a proportion of the total electorate and b) number of postal votes returned as a proportion of the number issued, across the 100 constituencies with the highest turnout at the 2010 General Election, has been deposited in the Library.

  • Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.

    Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls

    The ward results for Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council were as follows:

    Ward

    Green matches

    Amber matches

    Red matches

    ABERTILLERY

    82.4%

    3.0%

    14.6%

    BADMINTON

    87.9%

    1.4%

    10.7%

    BEAUFORT

    86.1%

    1.6%

    12.3%

    BLAINA

    83.0%

    2.3%

    14.7%

    BRYNMAWR

    82.1%

    2.3%

    15.7%

    CWM

    85.4%

    1.6%

    13.0%

    CWMTILLERY

    84.9%

    1.9%

    13.2%

    EBBW VALE NORTH

    85.1%

    1.8%

    13.1%

    EBBW VALE SOUTH

    81.2%

    2.0%

    16.8%

    GEORGETOWN

    85.4%

    1.0%

    13.7%

    LLANHILLETH

    82.8%

    2.1%

    15.0%

    NANTYGLO

    83.3%

    2.6%

    14.2%

    RASSAU

    86.7%

    1.7%

    11.6%

    SIRHOWY

    85.3%

    1.7%

    13.0%

    SIX BELLS

    82.8%

    2.6%

    14.6%

    TREDEGAR CENTRAL & WEST

    84.0%

    1.9%

    14.1%

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the (a) capacity and (b) population of each (a) secure training centre, (b) young offender institution and (c) secure children’s home on 1 March (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    Overall crime and proven offending by young people has fallen in recent years. Fewer young people have entered the criminal justice system, and as a result fewer young people have ended up in custody. This has allowed excess capacity in the youth secure estate to be decommissioned.

    The Table below shows the (a) capacity and (b) population of each Secure Children’s Home, Secure Training Centre and under-18 Young Offender Institution at the end of February in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 and at the end of January in 2014 (this is the latest available published data for 2014). This relates to either the last Friday of the month in question, or the first Friday of the following month, depending on which is closest to final day of the month. Data for the end of February therefore offers the closest available published data to 1 March.

    The “capacity” figure relates to the number of beds available, allowing for any “out of commission” beds due to for example, damage to rooms or contractual changes.

    This information comes from the Youth Justice Board’s Secure Accommodation Clearing House System (SACHS) database and eAsset database. The January 2014 database is provisional. The final 2013/14 figures will be finalised in 2013/14 Youth Justice Statistics to be published in January 2015.

    These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.

  • Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Barry Sheerman on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what contact his Department has had with the largest 10 academy chains to confirm whether they plan to make an application for a free school in the next (a) year, (b) two years and (c) three years.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education has not asked academy chains to confirm whether they plan to make any applications for a free school in the next year, two years or three years.