Tag: 2014

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by her Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

    Karen Bradley

    The information requested is shown in the following table:

    The volume and value of duplicate supplier payments identified since the 2010-11 Financial year up to June 2014 is 54 payments for a total value of £2,495,793.63. We have recovered 53 payments totalling £2,494,661.63; the remaining payment was partially recovered and the company went into liquidation with the balance outstanding.

    In the last two financial years the proportion of duplicate payments recovered by value was:
    2013-14: 100%
    2012-13: 99.53% (amount outstanding is for a company that went into liquidation after partial payment).

    The volume and value of duplicate payments since 2010 have decreased significantly compared to the financial years prior to 2010-11.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether courts link maintenance and contact with respect to children following the separation of the parents; and if he will make a statement.

    Simon Hughes

    The payment of child maintenance and the operation of children arrangements are two separate issues which are both vitally important for separated parents. Children have a right to care and support and parents have a responsibility to provide it, regardless of whether they are separated. There is also great benefit to most children of continued contact with both parents, regardless of the financial circumstances. A dispute about child maintenance should not therefore deprive a child of meaningful contact with the other parent and vice-versa.

    The purpose of the child maintenance scheme is to make sure that parents fulfil their financial obligations to make provision for children with whom they no longer live. The Government believes that this is something parents should be able to manage for themselves through a family-based arrangement (in the vast majority of cases). The Department for Work and Pensions provides support to help them do so through the Child Maintenance Options Service (contactable on 0800-988-0988 or via www.cmoptions.org).

    The family courts deal with arrangements for children where parents have been unable to come to an agreement themselves. Here again, parents are encouraged to resolve their differences themselves. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced, from April 2014, a legislative requirement on those who seek to issue certain family proceedings to first attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) to find out about family mediation. The other party is also expected to engage in the process.

  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Welsh Government and (b) Secretary of State for Wales on improving rail connectivity with north Wales utilising the Halton Curve.

    Claire Perry

    The Secretary of State for Transport met with Edwina Hart the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, National Assembly for Wales on 16th July 2014, to discuss the rail connectivity in North Wales which included Halton Curve.

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

    Steve Webb

    This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Twitter accounts are run by his Department; how much his Department spends annually on (a) Twitter accounts and (b) all social media; and how many people in his Department are employed to work on social media.

    Mr Francis Maude

    A list of official Twitter accounts run by Cabinet Office, including those used by senior officials, can be found at https://twitter.com/cabinetofficeuk/cabinet-office-teams/members. The department also runs the @Number10gov and @Number10press accounts.

    No member of staff is employed to specifically work on social media.

    “

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library correspondence he has received from Essex County Council and Brentwood Council on changes to councillors’ eligibility for the Local Government Pension Scheme.

    Kris Hopkins

    Brentwood Borough Council did not send in a response to the consultation on “Taxpayer-funded pensions for councillors and other elected local office holders”. A copy of Essex County Council’s response is attached.

    This differential interest no doubt reflects the fact that Brentwood Borough Council did not have any councillors in the Local Government Pension Scheme (a consequence of the decision of my hon. Friend, the Member for Great Yarmouth, when he was leader of the Council not to join the scheme), whereas Essex did. Non-participating councils tended not to respond to the consultation.

    Prior to the consultation, only 16 per cent of councillors were actually members of the scheme and only 55 councils actually responded. The majority of Councils and Councillors submitted no objection to the Government’s proposal to end Councillor’s access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

    Such taxpayer-funded local government pensions have now been abolished, subject to practical transition measures introduced as a result of the consultation. These reforms will save taxpayers’ money, strengthen the independence of councillors, and reflects that the fact that councillors are not salaried employees of the council. Nothing prevents councillors from contributing to their own private personal pension, receiving tax relief like any other member of the public.

    The suggestion by some that these changes would discourage people from running for election has not been borne out. In last year’s London borough elections, all candidates nominated in the knowledge that there would be no taxpayer-funded pensions if they were elected; yet more candidates ran for election in London in 2014 than in 2010 (source: London datastore).

    I suspect that the council tax-paying public would be less than impressed at the Labour Party’s calls to reintroduce such taxpayer-funded pensions.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what risk rating was placed on a collision involving a Tornado and another aircraft in (a) 1991, (b) 1998 and (c) 2010.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The risk rating placed on a collision involving a Tornado for the years 1991 and 1998 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. For 2010 the risk placed on a collision involving a Tornado classifies the severity of Mid Air Collision as ‘Catastrophic’, and the likelihood as ‘Remote’. Nevertheless, we have initiated a programme to fit Tornado aircraft with a collision warning system, which is currently being trialed on two aircraft and a third has been fitted for further development. On current planning, we intend to introduce this capability in stages from later this year.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will publish all documentation relating to the nuclear power investment signed with the Prime Minister of China covering Chinese state companies on 17 June 2014; and if he will publish all subsequent documentation.

    Michael Fallon

    On June 17 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

    “

  • Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adults with autism in England receive support under the current social care system; and how many such adults will receive support under the system proposed in the Care Act 2014 Part 1 regulations.

    Norman Lamb

    The Care Act 2014 will reform the care and support system for everyone, including adults with autism. The core principles of the Care Act 2014 and the regulations and statutory guidance which support its implementation are to maintain the wellbeing of people who have care and support needs and support them in living independent lives.

    The draft regulations and guidance were co-produced with stakeholders, and this included engaging with the National Autistic Society. The Department is currently consulting on the regulations and statutory guidance that will support the implementation of the Care Act 2014. The public consultation started on 6 June and runs until 15 August 2014.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre does not collect any data on the number of adults with autism receiving support under the current, or proposed, social care systems and therefore are unable to provide a response. The national eligibility criteria being introduced under the Care Act 2014 will allow local authorities to maintain levels of access for service users when they move from the current framework to the new care and support system in April 2015.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the explicit monetary value per quality-adjusted life was in the context of Advice on Nuclear power, centre for infections and modelling, as quoted as part of his Department’s submission to the Inter-Departmental Group from the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    I refer my Rt. hon. Friend to the answer given on 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 283W.