Tag: 2014

  • Lord Empey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Empey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of the compensation paid to former members of the Ulster Defence Regiment who have made claims for hearing loss; and how many successful claims there have been to date.

    Lord Astor of Hever

    Claims for damages brought against the Ministry of Defence are not recorded in a manner that enables the specific regiment or unit of a claimant to be identified without incurring disproportionate cost. 10,148 such claims have been received in the last six years from current and former Service personnel serving in Northern Ireland. Around 7,500 such claims have been successful to date, and the total value of compensation paid as a result has been around £62.3 million.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

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

    To ask the Attorney General, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for the Law Officers’ Departments in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

    Oliver Heald

    The following table lists the top five companies used by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol), to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. TSol financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and the associated agency fee. TSol data also covers any expenditure incurred by HM Crown Prosecution service inspectorate and the Attorney General’s Office.

    Firm

    Amount spent (net of VAT)

    Capita Resourcing Ltd (Staff)

    £5,404,407

    Kelly Services (UK) Ltd

    £1,711,926

    Experis (Elan Computing Ltd)

    £634,916

    Hudson

    £347,834

    Methods Consulting Ltd

    £168,256

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has spent the following amounts with four companies during 2013/14 in relation to the provision of temporary workers. The expenditure includes the cost of temporary staff. It is not possible to separately identify the agency element of the payments.

    Firm

    Amount spent (including VAT)

    Brook Street (UK) Limited

    £99,423

    Reed Employment Plc

    £52,718

    Badenoch and Clark

    £31,739

    Hays Accountancy Personnel

    £19,832

    This information has been produced from the CPS accounting system.

    The following table lists the top five companies used by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. SFO financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and any associated agency fee.

    Firm

    Amount spent (including VAT)

    Adecco

    942,075

    Alvarez and Marsal

    609,499

    Crowe Clarke Whitehill

    590,264

    Mazars LLP

    567,627

    FTI Consultancy

    207,354

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 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.

    Jenny Willott

    Under this Government’s transparency programme, details of spend are published on GOV.UK which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills

    To provide the level of detail requested in relation to agency fees would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on how building regulations can contribute to his Department’s Building Information Modelling Smart City project.

    Mr Francis Maude

    As was the case under previous administrations details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.

  • Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregg McClymont on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish an impact assessment of planned changes to pensions from 2015 as announced in the 2014 Budget.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM TREASURY

    MP Gregg McClymont MP

    CUMBERNAULD, KILSYTH AND KIRKINTILLOCH EAST

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish an impact assessment of planned changes to pensions from 2015 as announced in the 2014 Budget 195423

    DAVID GAUKE

    The expected Exchequer impacts over the forecast period of the changes made to private pensions taxation as announced at Budget 2014 were included in the Taxes Information and Impact Note “Increasing Pension Flexibility” published on 19 March 2014 and can be found in Table 2.1 (p.56) of the Red Book.

    The Treasury announced in paragraph 1.13 of “Freedom of Choice in Pensions” that “it intends to publish draft legislation for a short technical consultation prior to the introduction of the legislation that will enact the changes from April 2015”. A consultation impact assessment will be published alongside this draft legislation.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s notice 2014DIN01-021, Revision of cost-of-living addition salary bands.

    Anna Soubry

    Copies of the Department’s notice on the revision of the cost of living addition salary bands (2014DIN01-021) and the increase in the rate of excess fares allowance from 6 April 2014 (2014DIN01-032) have been placed in the Library of the House.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether academies are permitted to (a) sell and (b) otherwise financially profit from their holding of school title deeds which were formally held by local authorities.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust.

    There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available at:

    www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice

    A copy of the guidance has been placed in the House Library.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps the Government has taken to protect the UK’s honeybee population.

    Dan Rogerson

    Recent steps taken by Defra to protect the UK’s honeybee population include the launch of the National Pollinator Strategy and conducting a 12 month policy review, in collaboration with stakeholders, on the pests and diseases affecting honeybees. Longer term initiatives include the Healthy Bees Plan and continued funding of the National Bee Unit.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Iranian counterpart for the release of Shahrokh Zamani.

    Hugh Robertson

    We remain deeply concerned about the detention and treatment of labour activist Shahrokh Zamani. Unions and labour organisations have been heavily repressed in Iran, and many members have been arrested, jailed or harassed. We have called on Iran to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to allow freedom of expression to all Iranians.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of levels of satisfaction with Cafcass among younger children who do not complete formal feedback forms.

    Simon Hughes

    While complaints made to Cafcass by children and young people are monitored nationally, it collects, monitors and acts on feedback at a local level. Cafcass has commissioned the Family Justice Young People’s Board to review how children and young people provide feedback to Cafcass and advise on ways to encourage more feedback both via formal and informal routes. Cafcass now has various methods of obtaining feedback from the children and young people it works with which include more formal methods such as feedback forms and more informal and child-friendly methods such as ‘feedback trees’. Feedback trees encourage children to write out or draw their feelings on how Cafcass has worked with them, allowing Cafcass practitioners to build on this feedback. There is no central or national monitoring of this informal feedback.