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Tag: 2014

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress is being made in ensuring that all eligible employees have been offered automatic enrolment into a workplace pension scheme with minimum employer contributions.

    Mike Penning

    So far automatic enrolment has been a stunning success. The latest information published by the Pensions Regulator on 12 June 2014 showed that more than 15,000 employers have completed the automatic enrolment process and 3.6 million eligible workers have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension.

    Around 99 per cent of employers who have completed registration have done so without the need for the Pensions Regulator to use their statutory powers. Employers have understood that providing a workplace pension and helping their workers plan for retirement is the now the norm.

    Preliminary findings from the 2013 Employers’ Pension Provision survey show that around 90 per cent of automatically enrolled workers have remained members of a pension scheme.This early success has led the Government to revise down its opt out predictions. Instead of the anticipated 30 per cent opt out rate the Government now expects only 15 per cent of individuals will opt out once automatic enrolment is fully rolled out.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what her Department’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my Rt hon Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 26 March, Official Report, Column 300W.

  • Ben Wallace – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ben Wallace – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Wallace on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assistance his Department makes available to schools to survey for and remove asbestos.

    Mr David Laws

    The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 set out the standards and duties to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises including schools. This includes the need to assess and manage the risks through the formulation of a site-specific asbestos management plan.

    On 24 January I announced the 2014-15 maintenance allocations, which are released as a non-ringfenced capital grant. The priorities for its use are decided locally and this can include supporting schools with asbestos issues.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons he has not yet placed the business case for universal credit in the public domain.

    Esther McVey

    In line with standard practice, as the Universal Credit Business Case includes details of a sensitive nature the Department will not be putting the Business Case into the public domain.

  • Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Graham Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with training providers on changes to apprenticeship funding.

    Matthew Hancock

    Discussions have been held with a wide range of training providers as well with the Association of Training Providers and Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) about our apprenticeship funding reforms. I spoke about this issue at the AELP’s National Conference earlier this month.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Stornaway, was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in March 2014.

    Stephen Hammond

    During March 2014 Stornoway Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 6 occasions out of 62 shifts.

    Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty’s Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects his Department’s review of unpublished datasets to be completed.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Department of Transport completed a comprehensive review of datasets held in August 2013 and this was made available via www.data.gov.uk on 2nd September 2013. This included details of 470 datasets including full metadata for all unpublished datasets.

    “

  • Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2014-03-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 20 March, whether they will now detail which specific and itemised duties were performed by each former Prime Minister in each year that the Public Duty Costs Allowance was awarded to them.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    The Public Duty Cost Allowance exists as a reimbursement of incurred expenses for necessary office costs and secretarial costs arising from their special position in public life. The allowance is not paid to support private or parliamentary duties.

  • 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 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the initial estimate of the additional costs of reverting to the fallback position of a hosting solution provided by Capita for the Recruiting Partnering Project increased from £47.7 million to £70 million; and who was responsible for these estimates.

    Anna Soubry

    My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Philip Hammond) set out on 14 January 2014 (Official Report, column 716) the cost of Capita providing a new Information Technology platform as part of the Recruiting Partnering Project. At the time, these costs were expected to be around £47.7 million directly linked to the change of hosting provision. Since this statement, the £47.7 million has reduced to £42.9 million.

    As previously stated by the Secretary of State on 14 January, there has been an additional cost of around £1 million per month to run the Capita system. This includes costs for additional manpower.

    The Recruiting Partnering Project remains within the overall agreed cost of £1.360 billion.

  • Lord Ezra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Ezra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ezra on 2014-03-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect a demonstration plant for carbon capture and storage to be in operation in the United Kingdom.

    Baroness Verma

    The first commercial scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Plants in the UK are being brought forward through the Government’s CCS Commercialisation Programme. The Government has set aside £1 billion to support the first CCS projects in the UK, and is investing around £100m now to take two innovative projects forward into the detailed engineering and design phase known as FEED.

    The Peterhead and White Rose FEED studies have now commenced. We have taken time to develop a detailed FEED programme that will deliver the outputs necessary to take a final investment decision with confidence. The companies involved will take investment decisions in late 2015, with Government taking decisions shortly after. We expect projects to be under construction as soon as possible after the necessary consents and financing are in place.