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Tag: 2014

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 7 April (WA 249), whether they have set a fixed date in September 2014 by which HM Prison The Verne will be re-designated to an immigration removal centre; if not, why not; and what action they will take if the re-designation has not been completed by the agreed date.

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire

    HMP The Verne started taking immigration detainees as scheduled from 24 March 2014.

    Our current plans remain that by the end of September 2014, at the latest, HMP The Verne will be re-designated to an immigration removal centre

  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2014-04-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what effect they expect that the recently announced St Helena hotel investment initiative by a British consortium will have on the Tourism Economic Development Plan of the St Helena Government.

    Lord Bates

    The UK Government expects tourism to be a driver of growth on St Helena once the airport opens in 2016. Any hotel investment which improves the quality and quantity of visitor accommodation is expected to have a positive impact on tourism and, over time, on St Helena’s economic development.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many secondments from the private sector to his Department and its agencies the secondee’s work-related (a) wholly, (b) partly or (c) incidentally to the privatisation of Royal Mail; from which firms those secondments were made; and on what dates they began and ended.

    Michael Fallon

    In the Shareholder Executive teams are put together to work on specific projects bringing together appropriate skills and experience; such teams regularly include secondee appointments. Three secondees from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lazard and KPMG spent varying degrees of time working at the Shareholder Executive on the Royal Mail IPO. The Freshfields secondee worked on various projects, and worked wholly on the Royal Mail privatisation for the second half of the secondment. The Lazard and KPMG secondees were engaged to work principally on Royal Mail. No secondee held a senior position in the team.

    The KPMG secondment started in June 2013 and is continuing. The Freshfields secondment started in December 2012 and ended in November 2013. The Lazard secondment ran from January 2013 to January 2014.

  • Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Karen Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will rank each English local authority by the (a) percentage and (b) actual change in (i) total and (ii) per capita expenditure on all provisions for young people since 2010.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested is collected by Department for Education and published on gov.uk. I have asked that this information for each year since 2010 is placed in the Library of the House as soon as is practicable.

    Figures for actual spend by local authority in 2013-14 will be available in December 2014.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect the introduction of seven-day bank account switching has had on the number of people changing bank account provider; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Current Account Switching Service launched in September of last year, and has had a very positive impact. Early signs are positive, with switching numbers in Q4 of 2013 up by 17 per cent compared to Q4 of the previous year.

    The Financial Conduct Authority will carry out a review in September of this year into the effectiveness of the Current Account Switching Service. This will include an assessment of the effect the introduction of seven day account switching has had on the number of people changing bank account provider.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

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

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

    Mrs Helen Grant

    The 10 professional services firms that were paid the most in 2013/14 are listed in the table below:

    Supplier Name

    Total paid in 2013-14 (£)

    KPMG LLP

    1,934,209.35

    Pinsent Masons

    950,789.80

    Local Partnerships

    429,919.24

    Grant Thornton UK LLP

    401,867.88

    Regeneris Consulting Ltd

    75,187.00

    Andrew Dumbreck Media Limited

    62,165.60

    National Centre for Social Research

    70,732.00

    Deloitte (LLP No 2 a/c)

    49,480.00

    CLAS Co-operative Ltd

    29,820.00

    SQW Limited

    29,413.00

    These are unaudited figures from the Department’s financials systems, net of recoverable VAT. The department uses professional services firms for a variety of purposes. In addition to consultancy services, they include expenditure on external legal support and advice on programmes, research fieldwork, evaluation, specialist technical advice and the provision of interim managers. Legal services from the Treasury Solicitors and providers of recruitment services have been excluded in order to arrive at a list of firms that are predominantly providers of consultancy.

  • Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, 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.

    Elizabeth Truss

    Under this Government’s transparency programme, details of spend for the Department for Education are published on gov.uk which are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-education

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

    “

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to deter inappropriate development in National Parks in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Policy on national parks and planning are devolved matters. For Wales, they are a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government. National parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty are given the strongest protection from damaging development through the National Planning Policy Framework.

    Defra works closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure planning policies take account of the special character of England’s protected landscapes. For example, as made clear on 6 March by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Nick Boles, the extended permitted development rights for conversion of agricultural buildings to a dwelling house will not apply in national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty (6 Mar 2014, Official Report, column 50WS).

  • Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has asked President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka to resign as Chairperson in Office of the Commonwealth in the light of the decision to investigate potential human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

    Mr William Hague

    Any decision on the Chair-in-Office role is for all Commonwealth Heads of Government to take by consensus.

  • Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to (a) criminalise a pattern of partner abuse and (b) ensure that the police are not required only to treat each incident comprising such a pattern as a separate crime.

    Norman Baker

    Domestic abuse is already a crime. There are a number of offences that make domestic abuse illegal, including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and assault. The cross-Government definition is clear that domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.

    Assault can extend to non-physical harm, and this can include psychological, financial, and emotional abuse. Stalking and harassment legislation, which criminalises a course of conduct, can apply to intimate partner relationships.

    Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse across all police forces. HMIC published its findings in March 2014, emphasising that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is, and pointing out that the police use the full range of tools already available to them.

    The Home Secretary will chair a national oversight group to oversee delivery against each of HMIC’s recommendations on which I will also sit.