The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The cost of Employment Tribunals can be found within the HMCTS annual accounts published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433948/hmcts-annual-report-accounts-2014-15.pd
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.
Mr Edward Vaizey
We do not have any information on civil law suits have been brought against the Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Sums paid to Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) staff for overtime for the last 24 months, for which figures are available, were as follows:
|
£000s |
January |
February |
March |
April |
May |
June |
July |
August |
September |
October |
November |
December |
|
2014 |
– |
5.1 |
10.9 |
2.6 |
6.8 |
4.3 |
7.3 |
23.7 |
7.0 |
7.1 |
3.7 |
10.8 |
|
2015 |
2.2 |
3.9 |
28.0 |
6.2 |
31.0 |
5.8 |
4.3 |
8.3 |
6.6 |
4.3 |
8.6 |
7.1 |
|
2016 |
6.3 |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
DCMS is the smallest government department, with 509 full time equivalent (FTE) permanent employees (as of 31 January 2016). Overtime is a cost-effective way of managing peaks in workload in order to reduce the need for contractors or adding to the department’s headcount. Annual expenditure on overtime accounts for just under 0.3% of the DCMS paybill.
DCMS has responsibility for high profile policy, which includes staging national First World War commemoration events – this is reflected in our overtime figures for August 2014 and May 2015.
Recent machinery of government changes has also seen DCMS take on additional policy areas, including the digital economy unit, digital inclusion, data protection, the sponsorship of the National Archives and the Information Commissioner. The figure for March 2015 reflects the addition of the 2014-15 total overtime cost for the Digital Economy Unit following its Machinery of Government transfer to DCMS; monthly analysis of this sum is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.
Brandon Lewis
The Department already publishes spend on overtime on a monthly basis as part of wider transparency publications. The Department’s workforce management publications can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workforce-management
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.
Brandon Lewis
The information requested is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made by the Commissioners appointed by his Department to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets of the level of fraud in that borough.
Mr Marcus Jones
My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Greg Clark) has received no formal assessment from the Tower Hamlets Commissioners regarding the level of fraud in the borough. The Secretary of State is aware that the Commissioners have contributed both written and oral evidence to my rt. hon. Friend, the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir Eric Pickles’) review on electoral fraud.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what work the Ministerial Working Group for Homelessness has conducted since its last meeting.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness re-convened on 13 January, bringing together key Departments to coordinate policy across Government to prevent more households becoming homeless. The group will meet again shortly to agree its priorities and future work programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the prevalence of reckless driving.
Andrew Jones
The Road Safety Statement published on 21 December 2015 outlines what the Department is currently doing to improve road safety. For example, we are currently consulting on increasing the penalty points and financial penalty for those who commit the offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving.
We have previously introduced fixed penalty notices in order to assist the police in dealing more effectively with careless driving. This would enable more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat such behaviour.
Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March 2015 it has been an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits. I have provided £1million to further increase enforcement during the THINK! campaign that commenced on 29 February and will run through March thus coinciding with the 1st anniversary of the commencement of the new offence.
Sentencing and enforcement policy issues are matters for the Ministry of Justice and Home Office respectively.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many social worker vacancies remained unfilled in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.
Alistair Burt
The Department of Health has responsibility for adult social care policy which includes the activities of social workers in adult settings. The Department for Education has responsibility for the activities of social workers in children’s services.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre has recently published its report “Personal Social Services: Staff of Social Services Departments, England, as at September 2015”. This shows that the vacancy rates for adult social workers in local authorities are as follows:
2014 there were 1,100* vacancies (8%)
2015 there were 1,700** vacancies (12%)
*2014 based on 121 councils with vacancies data recorded.
**2015 based on 133 councils with vacancies data recorded.
Source: Skills for Care – NMDS-SC
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the decisions of the Electoral Court’s ruling on the 2014 mayoral election in Tower Hamlets.
Mr Marcus Jones
My rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Greg Clark) meets with my rt. hon. Friend, the Home Secretary (Theresa May) on a regular basis to discuss a range of government matters.