Tag: 2014

  • Geraint Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geraint Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geraint Davies on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funds have been provided from his departmental expenditure limit to meet the costs of (a) clinical negligence and (b) NHS litigation in this financial year.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    £1.2 billion has been budgeted by the National Health Service Litigation Authority for the current 2014-15 financial year. £1.1 billion of this is allocated to clinical negligence, by far the most significant proportion of which is funded by members’ contributions, rather than allocated directly from the Department’s expenditure limit.

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when the standard individual export licence granted in May 2011 to permit tear gas ammunition to be exported to Turkey expired.

    Michael Fallon

    The licence expired on 4th May 2012. Temporary export licences are issued for a period of 12 months, with a condition that the goods are returned to the UK within the validity of the licence. The goods were returned to the UK on 23 May 2011.

  • Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Bob Ainsworth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the reporting of domestic and sexual violence offences by victims.

    Norman Baker

    Domestic and sexual violence are devastating crimes and are not acceptable
    within our society. The Coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling
    such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls
    Action Plan, updated in March 2014.

    Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving
    victims more confidence to report, and it is encouraging that police recorded
    crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.

    The Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010
    up to 2015 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services,
    rape crisis centres, the national domestic violence helplines and stalking
    helpline.

    Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28 million provides
    for:
    144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers, 87 dedicated Independent
    Sexual Violence Advisers, 54 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
    Co-ordinators, and funding to Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
    to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme
    of quality assurance and £1.2 million for three years from 2012 to improve
    services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.
    £900,000 a year is used towards the running costs of national helplines for
    victims of domestic violence and stalking.

    In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
    domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In
    response to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National
    Oversight Group, which she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s
    recommendations are acted upon. The Group met for the first time on 10 June.

    The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that
    every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to
    improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Debbie Abrahams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects to publish his Department’s response to the consultation on Building a responsible payment culture.

    Matthew Hancock

    We are currently analysing responses to the Government’s discussion paper on building a more responsible payment culture and will publish the response shortly.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what definition is used by HM Passport Office of a straightforward application for passports for the purpose of setting internal targets; and if this definition has been amended since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    A straightforward application is one where all the required information,
    including supporting documentation, is provided, the application is signed and
    no further enquiries are required in order to progress the application.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff have (a) taken voluntary redundancy or (b) been made compulsorily redundant from his Department since May 2010; and how many of these (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.

    Brandon Lewis

    [Holding Reply: Monday 7 April 2014]

    The number of staff that left the Department on (a) voluntary redundancy and (b) compulsory redundancy terms from May 2010 to March 2014 is set out below.

    May 2010 to March 2014

    Compulsory Redundancy

    8

    Voluntary Severance or Redundancy

    522

    Total

    530

    None of these staff (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.

    Exit figures through 2010 – 2012 reflect the completion of the Department’s major restructuring programme. Our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that total staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a saving of £117 million a year. The number of staff has been reduced from 3,781 full-time equivalent in 2009-10 to 1,681 in 2012-13, a reduction of 56%.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on non-disclosure or compromise agreements for former employees of probation trusts since 1 January 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    There have been no non-disclosure or compromise agreements included as part of the departure packages of the Trust Chief Executives who have taken early retirement. The terms of departure for other former Trust staff were agreed through their own local arrangements.

  • David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Blunkett on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Written Statement of 27 March 2014, Official Report, columns 35-6WS, on primary and 16-to-19 assessment and accountability, how the progress of pupils with severe educational needs will be taken into account in his Department’s accountability reform programme.

    Mr David Laws

    We plan to continue to publish information on attainment and progress of pupils with special educational needs at national and local authority level. A new web portal, which is under development, will improve access to 16-18 performance data, including the core demographic information such as special educational needs that is currently available for primary and secondary schools.

    Any pupils not able to access the relevant end of key stage test will continue to have their attainment assessed by teachers, and we will retain P scales for reporting teachers’ judgements.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many of the six million people identified as missing on the electoral register by the Electoral Commission in 2011 have been registered to vote in each year since 2011.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that its last GB wide study into the completeness of electoral registers was completed in 2011. This type of research does not specifically identify unregistered individuals but provides an assessment of the overall accuracy and completeness of the registers. The Commission’s next study is being published in July and this will update the picture on levels of completeness in 2014.

  • Mark Tami – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mark Tami – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Tami on 2014-04-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage change there has been in the average cost of a water bill in each year since 2011.

    Dan Rogerson

    Water prices in England and Wales are reviewed by the independent economic regulator Ofwat every five years. Water prices for the 2010 to 2015 period were set in Ofwat’s 2009 water price review.

    The percentage change in the average cost (in real prices) of a combined water and sewerage bill in England and Wales during the 2010-2015 period is as follows: -0.6% (2010/11), 0.2% (2011/12), -0.1% (2012/13). The forecast for 2013/14 is 0.5% and for 2014/15 around 2%. The changes year on year usually relate to the profile of water industry investment agreed in the 2009 price review. For 2014/15, water companies are taking steps to hold customer bills down and in some cases are giving up price increases that were allowed for in 2009.

    Ofwat’s 2014 water price review is now underway and will determine water prices for the 2015 to 2020 period. Most water companies are proposing flat or declining bills from 2015.