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Tag: 2014

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department collects on the number of men in prison who have been victims of sexual abuse.

    Jeremy Wright

    Prisoners are assessed on entry to prison for addiction problems and there is a package of support available to them. The MoJ’s Transforming Rehabilitation programme will provide individual support to all released prisoners. This will include identifying risks and needs for individual ex-prisoners, and providing services to address them.

    The Ministry of Justice does not collect these data centrally on a regular basis. However, a survey of 1,435 adult prisoners sentenced to between one month and four years in 2005 and 2006 (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction – SPCR) provides self-reported estimates for each question.

    The full reports can be accessed on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/surveying-prisoner-crime-reduction-spcr

    “

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will bring forward delegated legislation under the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 enabling complaints against claims management firms to be heard by the Legal Services Ombudsman.

    Lord Faulks

    The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 provides the necessary enabling powers to put in place the funding arrangements for the Legal Ombudsman to deal with complaints against claims management companies. These provisions were commenced on 21 March 2014. They include a power for the Lord Chancellor to make Regulations to charge fees to recover the costs he has incurred in meeting the expenditure of the Legal Ombudsman in relation to claims management complaints.

    The Government consultation on the proposed structure of the Lord Chancellor’s cost recovery fee ended on 6 June and the responses are being analysed. Once the fee structure is finalised, the Fee Regulations will be laid in Parliament for approval. Following this, an order to commence section 161 of the Legal Services Act 2007 will be laid. This will extend the remit of the Legal Ombudsman to enable it to deal with complaints about authorised claims management companies.

    The government is committed to enabling this as soon as possible.

  • Mr Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Jim Murphy on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in housing benefit payments was paid to recipients in (a) Glasgow, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Dundee and (d) Aberdeen in the last year.

    Steve Webb

    The amount paid in Housing Benefit in 2012/13 can be found in the table below.

    2012/13

    £m

    HB

    Glasgow City

    348

    City of Edinburgh

    200

    Dundee City

    77

    Aberdeen City

    55

    Source: Local authority statistical data and subsidy returns.

    Note: Expenditure is shown for the last complete financial year. Benefit expenditure for Housing Benefit can be found in the Local Authority tables as per link https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266828/la-tables-201213.xls

    “

  • Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Priti Patel on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has provided to each local authority for highways in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    I have placed a table in the Libraries of the House which sets out how much each local highway authority has been allocated for highways in the last ten years.

    This table includes funding we have provided through a number of funding streams including Highways Maintenance Integrated Transport Block, Local Major Projects, Local Pinch Point Fund and Community Infrastructure Fund projects.

    Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways. Neither revenue nor capital highways maintenance block funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services that they provide.

    The Department is also funding local highways maintenance projects in Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Isle of Wight and the London Borough of Hounslow through the Private Finance Initiative.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been signed off work in the UK as a result of having obsessive compulsive disorder.

    Mike Penning

    The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on the number of people taking sickness absence from work as a result of having obsessive compulsive disorder.

  • Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dominic Raab – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding for the extraction of North Sea oil has come from (a) the Government, (b) the Scottish Government and (c) the private sector in each year from 1984.

    Michael Fallon

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

    Government departments and agencies, including notably the Department of Energy and Climate Change and its predecessor departments, have for many years supported research aimed at identifying UK hydrocarbon potential and finding ways of finding and extracting it more cost-effectively. Comprehensive records of the amount spent on such activities by year across Government are not available.

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have detailed information on the annual expenditure of the Scottish Government.

    Estimates of total annual pre-tax expenditure in £ billions by the private sector on finding and developing UK hydrocarbons (oil and gas, in the North Sea as well as elsewhere in the UK and on the UK Continental Shelf) for the period 1984–2013 are given in the table below. More detailed information through to 2012 is available online at https://www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data#ukcs-income-and-expenditure.

    1984

    1985

    1986

    1987

    1988

    1989

    1990

    1991

    1992

    1993

    6.3

    6.5

    5.6

    5.0

    5.3

    6.1

    8.0

    10.4

    10.2

    9.5

    1994

    1995

    1996

    1997

    1998

    1999

    2000

    2001

    2002

    2003

    8.5

    9.4

    9.4

    9.6

    9.9

    7.8

    7.5

    8.3

    8.6

    8.2

    2004

    2005

    2006

    2007

    2008

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    8.4

    9.9

    12.0

    12.4

    13.1

    13.3

    14.9

    18.3

    21.8

    25.8

    “

  • Ian Murray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Murray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2014-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the future use of the Post Office Card Account.

    Steve Webb

    The Post Office card account (POca) contract expires in March 2015 with the possibility of a 2 year extension beyond that date.

    The POca is a very simple account designed for the receipt of pensions and legacy benefits. It cannot be used for the payment of wages/salaries and does not offer transactional services such as direct debits so will not be suitable for the majority of working age claimants eligible for Universal Credit.

    No decision has been made on the future of the POca but discussions are currently taking place between DWP, Post Office Ltd and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider the future needs of customers beyond 2015 and any announcement on this matter will be made in due course.

    Ministers and Officials have also met with relevant stakeholders, including the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters to discuss POca related issues.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of welfare reforms since May 2010 on levels of child poverty.

    Esther McVey

    The Government has not made an assessment of the effect of welfare reforms on levels on child poverty. Given the large number of reforms and variables involved, the impact of welfare changes cannot be seen in isolation.

    However, the guiding principles of all of this Government’s welfare reforms are to get more people into work by making work pay.

    A key component of the Welfare Reform is Universal Credit. Universal Credit is expected to improve work incentives by allowing individuals to keep more of their income as they move into work, and by introducing a smoother and more transparent reduction of benefits when they increase their earnings.

    We estimate this new reform will lift around 300,000 children out of poverty.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of European Union regulations requiring black market activities, including prostitution and illegal drug dealing, to be taken into account in the calculation of the United Kingdom gross domestic product.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlie Elphicke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlie Elphicke on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to promote discussions between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Network Rail on the construction of new parking facilities for Dover Priory Railway Station on land currently owned by HMRC.

    Mr David Gauke

    Previous replies have explained that HMRC does not own the Priory Court Site but occupies it as part of the STEPS PFI agreement with Mapeley. However, HMRC have taken part in discussions between Mapeley and Network Rail at the Priory Court Dover site on proposals for the construction of a multi storey car park on land adjacent to Priory Court not owned by either Mapeley or HMRC. Further discussions of future proposals have been between Mapeley as the freehold owner of Priory Court and Network Rail.