The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what target she has set for the time in which applicants should receive a call back from the Passport Office when making enquiries about applications.
James Brokenshire
Her Majesty’s Passport Office’s current guideline for returning calls is to do so within 48 hours. Her Majesty’s Passport Office gives priority to those with the most immediate travel plans.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Attorney General, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by the Law Officers’ Departments’ were in each financial year since 2009-10.
Oliver Heald
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to her by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the
2nd April 2014 (Official Report, Col 721W).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many 16 year olds claimed employment and support allowance in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.
Esther McVey
The information as requested is shown in the table below:
Number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants aged 16 Great Britain, 2010 – 2013
Total
Nov-10 1,220
Nov-11 1,210
Nov-12 1,120
Nov-13 1,030
Source: DWP Information Governance and Security Directorate 100% WPLS.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to ten.
2. Incapacity Benefit was replaced by Employment Support Allowance (ESA) from October 2008.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.
Dan Rogerson
The 20 highest and 20 lowest value contracts awarded by Defra for the respective financial years are set out in the table attached.
We are unable to provide data for 2009/10 as we did not have a central contracts management system in place prior to April 2010.
The lowest value for contracts shown here is £10,000. Any purchasing below that level is made under standard purchase order terms and conditions rather than through a specific contract. These are not recorded on our central system.
The data does not included contracts for research and development which are not held centrally and could only be included at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willis of Knaresborough on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many 18–21 year olds and 22–24 year olds in England are (1) employed, (2) employed and claiming housing benefit, and (3) employed and claiming housing benefit and on an apprenticeship.
Lord Freud
Since May 2010, the number of out-of-work Housing Benefit claimants has fallen. Action this Government has taken is bringing the ballooning housing benefit bill under control – saving the taxpayer around £6bn by the end of this Parliament
Housing benefit has always helped those in and out of work. The average rate of increase of housing benefit claimants in work has slowed under this Government, having increased by more than 50% in just 18 months under the last Government. And we have seen a fall in the number of housing benefit claimants in the last year.
(1) Analysis of the Labour Force Survey for the most recent period Jan-Mar 2014 shows that:
Of those aged 18-21 in England, around 1,567,000 are employed.
Of those aged 22-24 in England, around 1,242,000 are employed.
(2) (3)The information for those in work or undertaking apprenticeships, is only available for HB recipients whose claim is not passported: that is for those who do not receive the following benefits: Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income-Based), Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Based), or Pension Credit (Guaranteed Credit).
The information that shows those in work for HB recipients whose claim is not passported can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm
Those in apprenticeships are recorded as being in work and cannot be separately identified.
The economic status of all Housing Benefit (HB) recipients is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date he expects all peak services provided by Southeastern to be formed of 12 car trains.
Stephen Hammond
We do not expect all peak services provided by Southeastern to be formed of 12 car trains as demand on some routes does not require this level of capacity provision. It is for the Train Operating Company running the service to best match its rolling stock with passenger demand.
Through the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy we are investing in additional capacity across the country, for where it is most needed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with their European partners with regard to listing Israeli settler groups such as Hilltop Youth as terrorist groups, following the United States State Department’s description of recent settler acts of violence as terrorist incidents.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.
A decision to proscribe an organisation must be based on a belief that it is concerned in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, and it must be proportionate.
The list of proscribed terrorist organisations can be found at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Alan Whitehead on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what research his Department has conducted on the accuracy of assumptions made in the National Housing Condition Survey that all stone properties built before 1920 are of solid wall construction.
Gregory Barker
DECC has not undertaken any research into the accuracy of the assumptions made in the English Housing Survey that all stone properties built before 1920 are of solid wall construction.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2014-06-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding was provided to the London Borough of Croydon in 2010–11 to host Andy Gale as a homelessness advisor and what work was required under the terms of that contract.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
Under this and the last Administration, the Department for Communities and Local Government has provided grant funding to a number of local authorities to support the provision of advice on preventing homelessness to complement the funding we provide to the voluntary sector.
The London Borough of Croydon received £1,591,050 in grant in 2010-11 for homelessness prevention, which was intended to support a range of activities including a contribution to the costs of providing homelessness advice to local authorities in London. The payment to Croydon was made under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 (the general power to pay grant to local authorities towards expenditure incurred or to be incurred). The grant was unring-fenced and not subject to any conditions.
As was the position with funding provided to Newham, as set out in the answers to the noble Lady on 13 February 2013, Official Report, column WA165 and of 27 March 2013, Official Report, column WA247, there was no contract either between the Department and the London Borough of Croydon or the Department and Andy Gale.
While departmental officials had discussions with Croydon about how the grant was to be spent, Ministers in this Administration had no involvement with local authorities on commissioning such services.
A copy of the The Homelessness Revenue Grant Determination 2011-12 (31/1974) dated 1 March 2012 which lists the amount of funding received by 47 local authorities in 2011-12 for homelessness prevention work has been placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report of 31 March 2014 on Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; and if he will make a statement.
Dan Rogerson
Both of these reports make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the impacts of climate change. We are considering them with keen interest and will take full account of them when we publish the UK’s next Climate Change Risk Assessment, which in turn will inform the next National Adaptation Programme report.