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Tag: 2014

  • Biography information for Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Biography information for Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Henry Smith on Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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    Mark Simmonds

    In my answer in the House on 17 June I spoke about the key factors that the Government will consider in coming to a policy decision on resettlement of the Territory – value for the UK taxpayer, long-term contingent liabilities, and defence requirements of Diego Garcia to the UK and our allies. This consideration will clearly be driven by the report on the feasibility of resettlement by the independent consultants, which will provide us with a factual analysis of the practicalities that any resettlement might involve, including the economic sustainability of a resettled population, and its environmental impact, and of course the views of Chagossians themselves about what they want to see from our policy. We look forward to the final report which is expected by January 2015.

  • Guy Opperman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Guy Opperman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guy Opperman on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he has made any assessment of the appointment of former Senator Daniel Filmus as head of the Malvinas Secretariat in Argentina.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We do not judge that Mr Filmus’ appointment marks a significant change in Argentina’s policy towards the Falkland Islanders. Rather we understand that Mr Filmus is accountable to Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who retains overall responsibility for Falklands policy within the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

  • Biography information for Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Biography information for Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Christopher Chope on Work and Pensions.

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    Mike Penning

    Further to my letter of 4 June Ms E Stewart’s assessment was completed on 16 June and a decision made on 23 June. Ms Stewart will be notified of this decision on 24 June.

  • Ian Murray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Murray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to increase or lower the level of fees in the employment tribunal system.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Lord Chancellor is committed to reviewing the impact of the introduction of fees in the employment tribunals system. The Ministry of Justice is currently finalising arrangements for the timing and scope of this review, to enable the impacts to be properly assessed, and we will be making an announcement in due course.

  • Biography information for Geoffrey Cox – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Biography information for Geoffrey Cox – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Geoffrey Cox on Energy and Climate Change.

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    Gregory Barker

    The supply of LPG is subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority.

    The study by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into the off-grid energy market, published in October 2011, found that there is a generally positive initial impact of the Competition Commission (CC) Orders from 2009 to make it easier for consumers to switch Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supplier.

    In April 2012, the OFT also secured voluntary agreements from the major LPG suppliers to make changes to their domestic bulk customer contracts and improve transparency around switching and cancellation rights. These changes apply for both individual tank and metered estate customers.

    The Competition and Markets Authority will continue to keep the Orders under review.

  • John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    John McDonnell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John McDonnell on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the assessment and allocation tools to be used by probation staff in England and Wales from 1 April 2014 have been finalised.

    Jeremy Wright

    We are carrying out extensive local testing of the key elements of the new Transforming Rehabilitation systems across a number of Probation Trusts. Findings are helping us to refine the associated tools and guidance. We have now completed testing of the new Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR) tool, which will be used to inform the allocation of cases to new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) or the National Probation Service (NPS), and we have begun the roll out of the current version of the tool to all Trusts.

  • Biography information for Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Biography information for Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Greg Knight on Transport.

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    Stephen Hammond

    We have been involved in negotiations on the Commission’s proposal to amend the General Circulation Directive (maximum weights and dimensions) since they commenced in January, in which we have supported the proposals to enable the introduction of more rounded front designs of HGV lorry cabs to increase fuel efficiency.

    Political agreement on the Presidency text was reached in the Transport Council on 5 June.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any jobseeker’s allowance claimant was sanctioned for not signing on Christmas Day.

    Esther McVey

    It is not Jobcentre Plus policy to sanction jobseeker’s allowance claimants for not signing on Christmas Day. Jobcentres are closed as this is a Public Holiday.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued on the amount of time to be taken for an individual to be assessed for a personal independence payment.

    Mike Penning

    The Department does not have a target for completion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims whilst processes are bedding in. Clearly, we want to minimise the length of time claimants have to wait for assessments but the key requirement is to produce high quality assessments, to enable DWP decision makers to make the right decisions about benefit entitlement.

    We are committed to driving up PIP performance and are in regular contact with our assessment providers to do this. We already monitor performance closely and liaise with assessment providers on a daily basis, supplemented by formal monthly performance review meetings. We will continue to work closely with assessment providers on an ongoing basis to monitor quality.

    Our original Departmental operational delivery plans assumed a larger volume of assessment provider referrals than we are currently receiving and we have retained this surplus capacity using it to consolidate learning or carry out other duties. This will be available for deployment as cases are returned to the Department for decision maker action. The Department has contingency plans in place to secure additional capacity from other areas of the Department should assessment provider volumes exceed plans.

    From 10 March we have included with the PIP2 ‘How your disability affects you’ questionnaire, issued to PIP claimants, communications explaining how long they might be expected to wait for a PIP assessment. This information is also available on Gov.uk.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the contract for the introduction of personal independence payment included targets for the (a) proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and (b) average length of time for each assessment.

    Mike Penning

    The Department has not set Personal Independence Payment assessment providers targets for the proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and the average length of time for each assessment.

    Personal Independence Payment started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy.