The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.
Harriett Baldwin
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Libraries of the House and on-line at
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each member of his Department’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Harriett Baldwin
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the role of special advisers and describes the range of activities they may undertake. Copies of the Code of Conduct are available in the Libraries of the House and on-line at
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the reduction in the amount of child benefit spend on those EU migrants with a child resident in another country as a result of proposals to index the claims to the country where the child is resident.
Damian Hinds
The Government’s new settlement means that EU nationals whose children live abroad will ultimately receive Child Benefit at a rate that reflects the conditions – including the standard of living and child benefit paid – of the country where their child lives. This will restore fairness to the system.
Savings relating to the indexation of Child Benefit will be confirmed once the rates have been finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the administration costs of the proposals in which child benefit for EU migrants would be indexed to the country where the child is resident for new claimants.
Damian Hinds
The Government’s new settlement means that EU nationals whose children live abroad will ultimately receive Child Benefit at a rate that reflects the conditions – including the standard of living and child benefit paid – of the country where their child lives. This will restore fairness to the system.
Savings relating to the indexation of Child Benefit will be confirmed once the rates have been finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the savings to the public purse of the proposed reduction of child benefits paid overseas.
Damian Hinds
The Government’s new settlement means that EU nationals whose children live abroad will ultimately receive Child Benefit at a rate that reflects the conditions – including the standard of living and child benefit paid – of the country where their child lives. This will restore fairness to the system.
Savings relating to the indexation of Child Benefit will be confirmed once the rates have been finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people automatically enrolled into workplace pensions between October 2012 and October 2013 have since withdrawn from that scheme.
Justin Tomlinson
The Information requested is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Research from 2013 shows that between nine and ten per cent of automatically enrolled workers had opted out of their pension scheme. Our latest figures show that since the roll out of automatic enrolment, nearly 6 million people have now been automatically enrolled, and opt outs have remained much lower than were originally anticipated. We expect that around nine million workers will be newly saving or saving more by 2018. The Department is doing further analysis into workplace pension participation and opt out rates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many investigations have been opened by HM Revenue and Customs under IR35 in the last two years.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opened 216 interventions under IR35 in the year 2013/14 and 199 in the year 2014/15. HMRC has increased the number of IR35 inquiries in recent years and has at least 250 open at any one time.
The Government published a discussion document on 17 July 2015, inviting views on options for reforming IR35. The discussion period closed on 30 September and the Government will announce next steps in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many publicly-funded jobs relating directly to the Northern Powerhouse there are in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) London and (e) other regions of England.
Greg Hands
The latest regional public sector employment survey figures are available online at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q3-2015/index.html, the figures for Barnsley and Barnsley East can be found in the Annual Population Survey (Oct 2014-Sep 2015): https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West dated 11 January 2016 on the Connaught Income Fund, reference ZA2351.
Harriett Baldwin
I have replied to the hon. Member.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.
Matthew Hancock
The Cabinet Office takes the well-being of its employees seriously and provides a range of support, including the recent launch of the Cabinet Office Listening Service, resourced by staff who have been trained in active listening and emotional support. The service can provide upfront support to Cabinet Office staff dealing directly or indirectly with specific issues in their personal or working life or to help them to cope with mental health issues of any kind including depression, anxiety or stress. Listeners can also signpost individuals onto other relevant services such as the external Employee Assistant Programme which offers counselling, impartial advice and access to online health and wellness related resources.
The department has established an employee led WorkWell community to further develop and implement a strategy for wellness. Progress to date includes establishing resilience training for senior leaders and their teams, signing up to the Time to Change pledge on mental health, providing access to coaching and training in skills to improve wellbeing such as mindfulness. WorkWell are also seeking to increase awareness of opportunities to improve physical wellbeing at work including provision of on-site health checks.