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Tag: 2014

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what outstanding commercial risks that might affect operational security his Department has identified in its relationship with contracted assessment providers.

    Mike Penning

    In the area of contracted assessment providers who are delivering Work Capability Assessments under the Medical Services Contract and Personal Independence Payment Assessments, the Department has no commercial risks that might affect operational security. Any commercial risks that might affect operational security are managed within the Department’s standard risk management framework and procedures.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment assessments were face to face in each month for which information is available.

    Mike Penning

    The Department has not set Personal Independence Payment assessment providers targets for the proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and the average length of time for each assessment.

    Personal Independence Payment started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products each year; and what action they are taking to combat such attacks.

    Lord De Mauley

    The Government has not made any estimate of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products. Any deliberate poisoning of a cat is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 punishable by a fine of £20,000 and/or six months imprisonment.

  • Lord Tyler – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Tyler – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tyler on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether 16 and 17 year olds registered to vote in Scotland for the referendum on the future of the United Kingdom will automatically be registered to vote in United Kingdom elections at their 18th birthday.

    Lord Bates

    There is no provision in UK electoral registration legislation for those who are included on the Register of Young Voters, which was created specifically for the referendum by Act of the Scottish Parliament, to be automatically included in the register of electors for those elections for which the UK Parliament has competence.

    Electoral Registration Officers will be conducting a full Household Enquiry canvass every summer from 2015. Provided that they are eligible, young people who appeared on the Register of Young Voters will be captured by the canvass and invited to register under Individual Electoral Registration.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the financial contributions made by each individual member state of the European Union to the crisis in the Central African Republic.

    Lord Bates

    On 20 January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the EU co-chaired a high-level meeting in Brussels to discuss the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic, its implications and financial requirements. Countries and International Finance Institutions pledged a total of $496m to the appeal: $203m of this is for humanitarian operations in 2014, and $294m for stabilisation and recovery. Member States have to date collectively contributed $87m (£52m) to the crisis in the Central African Republic.

    Contributions by EU Member States include: UK: £18m; Sweden: £9.2m; Denmark: £5.4m; France: £5.3m; Finland: £3m; Luxembourg: £2.3m; Ireland: £2.1m; Germany: £2.0m; Netherlands: £1.7m; Italy: £1.6m; Belgium: £800,000; Austria: £400,000; Czech Republic: £100,000; Estonia: £80,000; Greece: £40,000; Slovenia: £20,000; Malta: £20,000; Lithuania: £16,000.

  • Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Austin Mitchell on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make personal debt charged at an APR of over 30 per cent unrecoverable; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government legislated in the Banking Reform Act 2013 to require the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to introduce a cap on the cost of high-cost short-term credit, including payday loans, in order to protect consumers from excessive costs. In designing the cap, the FCA will take into account the interest rate and other fees and charges which may be incurred in relation to a high-cost loan.

    As part of the FCA’s powers to cap the cost of credit in the Financial Services Act 2012, the Government gave the FCA specific powers to prevent a lender enforcing a credit agreement and recovering the debt, if the agreement contravenes its rules on the cost of credit. It can also require that any money or property transferred under the credit agreement must be returned.

    The FCA is currently conducting analysis to inform the design of the cap; it has committed to publishing its proposed rules which implement the cap in July. The FCA plans to publish final rules in the autumn and all lenders must be compliant with the cap by 2 January 2015. The Government supports the FCA’s proposed timetable for implementing the cap: it allows the FCA appropriate time to conduct analysis, consult on its proposals and ensure that firms are fully compliant by January. It also allows the FCA to draw on the insight of the Competition and Markets Authority’s study into payday lenders in designing the cap.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what he expects the RAB charge to be for extra students entering higher education when the present cap on student numbers is removed in 2014-15.

    Mr David Willetts

    We produce a single RAB charge that is an estimate of the overall cost of issuing loans to students. This charge is currently around 45% for full time students. Similarly, a single RAB charge will be applied to all students entering higher education in 14-15.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider awarding a loan guarantee under the UK Guarantee Scheme to investors in Helius Energy’s proposed biomass energy project in Avonmouth due to concerns surrounding the sustainability of biofuels.

    Danny Alexander

    HM TREASURY

    Charlotte Leslie MP

    BRISTOL NORTH WEST

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider awarding a loan guarantee under the UK Guarantee Scheme to investors in Helius Energy’s proposed biomass energy project in Avonmouth due to concerns surrounding the sustainability of biofuels. 195658

    DANNY ALEXANDER

    The Helius Energy – Avonmouth biomass power generation project has prequalified under the UK Guarantees Scheme and is still subject to the necessary due diligence, commercial negotiation and financial restructuring before any offer of a guarantee is made.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

    Brandon Lewis

    In answering this question, we have used the Cabinet Office definition for contingent labour (temporary staff) which includes admin and clerical agency staff, interim managers and specialist contractors: use of such staff for short-term or specialist work can be better value for money than hiring staff on permanent contracts.

    Details of the five companies that my Department has used most often in the last financial year for the provision of contingent labour are set out below:

    Financial Year 2013-14

    Organisation

    Total Expenditure (excluding VAT)

    Capita Resourcing Ltd

    £1,736,580

    Reed Employment Services

    £172,702

    Reed Specialist Recruitment Ltd

    £136,335

    Manpower UK Ltd

    £40,423

    Premier Employment Group Ltd

    £22,677

    To put this in context, my Department has cut spending on contingent labour from £14.4 million in 2009-10 to £3.3 million in 2013-14 as a result of the tightening of its internal management controls, institutionalising these in its systems and adhering to Treasury and Cabinet Office spending rules. This represents a saving of £11.1 million a year (2013-14 compared to 2009-10)

    In addition to the savings on temporary workers, our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a further saving of £117 million a year.

    These savings also reflect the Coalition Government’s agenda of decentralisation, ending the micromanagement of local government, the abolition of regional government, and the broader need to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by his Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid.

    Anna Soubry

    The top ten companies which provided external assistance to the Ministry of Defence in financial year 2012-13 are listed in the attached table.