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  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will amend the terms of reference for the independent review of the state pension age to exclude the existing timetable up to 2028 from the scope of the review.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government has no plans to make changes for those reaching State Pension age before 2028.

    The State Pension age review will be forward looking and focussed on the longer term. It will not cover the existing State Pension age timetable up to April 2028 which is already legislated for.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what feedback his Department has received on its trial of work coaches in foodbanks.

    Priti Patel

    Early feedback suggests that this has resulted in strong working relationships between Jobcentre Plus and local partners.

    It has shown that it can have a positive impact in supporting people who have a range of complex needs to access in work and out of work support.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s legal costs were in the Supreme Court cases UKSC 2016/0029 and UKSC 2016/0025.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government has incurred approximately £52,299 to date on legal costs in the joined cases of MA, A & Rutherford v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions at the Supreme Court (UKSC 2014/0129, UKSC 2014/0139, UKSC 2016/0029 and UKSC 2016/0025). Due to the way in which the cases are billed, it is not possible to provide a separate figure for UKSC 2016/0029 and UKSC 2016/0025.

    It should be noted that this figure includes VAT where this is payable (e.g. on Counsel’s fees) and disbursements but does not include costs attributable to the time spent by Government advisory lawyers, as time spent by such advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributed to individual cases.

    It should also be noted that this figure does not include all of Counsel’s fees incurred in relation to proceedings during February and March which have not yet been billed.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of his Department’s (a) Senior Civil Servants and (b) core policy civil servants are based in London.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Within the Department for Work and Pensions – 112 (51%) of Senior Civil Servants and 627 (68%) of core policy civil servants are based in London. 84,761 staff were in post within the department on 29 February 2016.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the gender pay gap for women over 40.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government is committed to full gender equality in the workplace. We will be introducing gender pay gap reporting for companies with at least 250 employees and will provide £500,000 in support to help business calculate, understand and address their gender pay gaps. The Government expects employers to start publishing the required information from April 2017.

    The Government’s ambition is to unlock the skills, talents and experience of older workers. Working with business, International Women’s Day 2016 saw the Women’s Business Council launching a toolkit to encourage older women to enter and stay on in the workplace. The Women’s Business Council has established a working group on older women workers to address how business can offer practical support to older workers.

    This builds on action the Government has already taken to ensure an effective framework to help women return to and progress in work. These measures include introducing shared parental leave, extending the right to request flexible working to all employees and increasing support for childcare costs.

  • Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve safety for horses and riders on roads.

    Andrew Jones

    Rule 215 of The Highway code gives specific advice on approaching and overtaking horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles safely and with consideration. The theory test contains questions about how drivers should interact with horse riders and the hazard perception test includes a number of clips where horse riders are the hazard.

    The “Have Some Horse Sense on the road campaign was launched as part of the THINK! Road Safety Campaign and encouraged drivers to approach horses slowly and give them a wide berth when overtaking. This has been supplemented more recently by the THINK! Rural Roads campaign which reminds drivers to take particular care when driving along country roads.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many journeys have been made by each government minister using the Government Car Service since May 2015; and how many such journeys have been made for the transportation of a red box.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government Car Service provides a Departmental Pool Car service to its customers. Departments manage the use of the vehicle by their Ministers and individual trips are not recorded.

    In addition, GCS offers a small pre booked service. The IT system used for this service is in the process of renewal and so the information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason a feasibility study on improving the A595 was not included in the Northern Transport Strategy Spring 2016, published on 7 March 2016.

    Andrew Jones

    The Northern Transport Strategy Spring report did not make any announcements on new feasibility studies on the strategic road network (SRN), but reported on progress made on previously announced strategic studies for the northern trans-Pennine, M60 Manchester north-west quadrant and the trans-Pennine tunnel studies. Consideration of the need for improvements of any part of the SRN will be a matter for forthcoming work by the Department and Highways England Route strategies in coordination with Transport for the North when preparing the next Road Investment Strategy.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many incidents of aggressive behaviour of passengers have been recorded on commercial flights travelling (a) to, (b) from and (c) within the UK in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government does not collect specific data on the frequency of incidents involving drunk or aggressive passengers.

    If serious enough such incidents would be counted amongst data for safety related events. In accordance with (EU) Regulation No 376/2014, safety-related events which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority as part of the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MORS). The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk.

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  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department collects on drunkenness of passengers on commercial flights.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government does not collect specific data on the frequency of incidents involving drunk or aggressive passengers.

    If serious enough such incidents would be counted amongst data for safety related events. In accordance with (EU) Regulation No 376/2014, safety-related events which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority as part of the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MORS). The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk.

    “