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  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate how many (a) people and (b) organisations will be affected by the interim guidance on the new anti-lobbying clause in government grant agreements.

    Matthew Hancock

    The information requested is not held centrally. We are currently working on improving the data collected on grants through the development of an internal Government Grants Information System. The clause will apply to all grants except in exceptional circumstances as set out at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-grants-register.

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  • Stephen Metcalfe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Metcalfe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Metcalfe on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) human resources, (b) communications, (c) grant administration, (d) building and estates management and (e) other administrative functions are shared by the seven research councils; and which such services are delivered independently by each research council.

    Joseph Johnson

    The seven Research Councils currently operate their own corporate functions, with separate Human Resources, Finance, Communications and IT operations.

    The Research Councils are working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on a new digital grants system and common technology platform.

    The Research Councils share a number of services including a main campus in Swindon at Polaris House; access to the London base of the Medical Research Council (MRC); and Internal Audit and Assurance functions, which are hosted by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). BBSRC also operate the estates and facilities management of Polaris House.

    All seven Councils have their transactional HR, finance, payroll, systems and grants administration provided by UK Shared Business Services and six of the seven Councils share a pension scheme and its administration, with MRC running its own pension scheme.

    The Government is implementing Sir Paul Nurse’s report, which recommended an evolution of the Research Councils into a formal organisation with a single Accounting Officer. Sir Paul advised that a new Research UK body could support the whole system to collectively become more than the sum of its parts, including by simplifying transactional operations, reducing the burden of administration currently placed on each individual Research Council, and enabling a stronger focus on multi-disciplinary research. We also want to strengthen collaboration between the research base and the commercialisation of discoveries in the business community and this is why we are looking to integrate Innovate UK into Research UK. Innovate UK will retain its clear business focus and separate funding stream.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to employment and support allowance for new claimants in the work-related activity group on the mental health of those affected.

    Priti Patel

    We have fully assessed the impacts on equality of the welfare measures in the Bill and the wider budget, meeting our obligations as set out in the Public Sector Equality Duty. An impact assessment was published on 20 July last year.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many housing providers made representations to his Department about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    Justin Tomlinson

    So far representations have been made by 93 individuals and 16 housing providers about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    DWP Ministers and officials will continue to have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have made representations to his Department about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    Justin Tomlinson

    So far representations have been made by 93 individuals and 16 housing providers about the proposed change of social sector housing benefit to the level of local housing allowance.

    DWP Ministers and officials will continue to have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s plans are for the delivery of IT and digital services after the end dates of current contracts.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department anticipates a shift in the way in which citizens will engage with the Department – with greater digital interaction in the future. Digital Technology, Data and Security capabilities are a key enabler of this shift. The Department is progressing its strategy to deliver the underpinning technology requirements, and this includes both in-house services and externally provided services through procurement exercises using open competitions under the EU Procurement Directives and call-off competitions under Government Frameworks, such as GCloud and Crown Hosting.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the end-dates are of his Department’s contracts with Hewlett Packard Enterprise; which such contracts he plans to extend, for what reasons and to what dates; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department has four contracts with Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Application Development and Application Maintenance & Support – these two contracts expired on 29/02/2016 and an extension has been agreed to 28/02/2018. Hosting – this contract runs till 23/02/2018. Desktop – this contract runs till 08/01/2017. DWP future contracting plans are commercially sensitive. The Department is progressing its strategy to deliver its technology requirements, and this includes both in-house services, and externally provided services sourced through procurement exercises using open competitions under the EU Procurement Directives and call-off competitions under Government Frameworks.

  • Philippa Whitford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Philippa Whitford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philippa Whitford on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides to (a) claimants of universal credit while the benefit is assessed and dispatched and (b) people becoming unemployed from low-paid and temporary jobs who have no redundancy payments or other income.

    Priti Patel

    Advance payments of up to 50% of their Universal Credit award are available to all new Universal Credit claimants who are in financial need.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many people in supported housing specifically designated for (a) disabled people, (b) victims of domestic violence, (c) people with substance misuse problems and (d) others will be affected by the change in housing benefit to the Shared Accommodation Rate.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not available.

  • David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the (a) time taken to introduce and (b) cost of introduction of a system of in-work benefits for newly-arrived EU nationals as envisaged in Section D of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016.

    Priti Patel

    These are issues to be answered as part of the implementation process.