Tag: 2014

  • 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 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 22 Janaury 2013, Official Report, columns 131-3W, on the electoral register, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the reasons for the increase from 8 to 58 in the number of electoral registration officers who failed performance standard 3 between 2010 and 2011.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it has previously corresponded with the honourable member on this issue.

    Within that correspondence the Electoral Commission set out that following its 2010 report assessing the performance of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) it became aware of anecdotal evidence suggesting that for various reasons, including local authority budget reductions, there may have been a greater number of EROs who were not meeting performance standard 3. Therefore, in addition to the 2011 performance standard return, the Commission asked all EROs for the first time to confirm specifically whether or not they carried out a personal canvass of all non-responders and, if not, to provide an explanation as to the reasons why.

    The Commission subsequently requested further data from EROs who had not confirmed that they carried out a personal canvass of all non-responders in order to make a better-informed assessment of performance against performance standard 3. This data included the number of non-responding households that were not contacted by a personal canvasser or by any other method (not including forms and reminders); how many of these households had entries confirmed by other records; and how many of those households had entries that could not be confirmed and were removed.

    Following this process, the Commission revised the assessments of 51 EROs to ‘below’ the standard. This meant that, including the seven EROs who originally reported that they did not meet the standard, there were 58 EROs who did not meet this standard in 2011.

  • Nigel Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nigel Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what change there has been in police dog numbers in (a) Ribble Valley constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK in the last five years.

    Damian Green

    The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2014, Official Report, column 570W, on the electoral register: young people, how many times the student forum has met since its creation; and what the main outcomes of the forum have been in the last three years.

    Greg Clark

    The Student Forum has met 16 times across all regions since its launch on 18 July 2013.

    The Forum has secured the involvement of the Higher Education sector to support Electoral Registration Officers in reaching students on an individual basis after the transition to Individual Electoral Registration and promoting the use of online electoral registration after it is launched in England and Wales in June.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria his Department uses to evaluate tenders to provide Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    Norman Lamb

    NHS England has responsibility for commissioning Tier 4 (in-patient) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Tiers 1-3 CAMHS are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

    As with all procurement exercises undertaken by the National Health Service, there will be a clear service specification and evaluation criteria will be developed specific to the requirements of the service being tendered. Providers will then be able to submit a response, which NHS England or the CCG will assess and make a decision based on the outcome.

  • 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 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 20W on the electoral register, whether measurements of the effectiveness of electoral registration officers’ implementation of Electoral Commission advice on increasing the number of attainers registered includes changes in the number of attainers registered.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that its monitoring of EROs does not include measuring changes in the number of attainers registered.

  • Elfyn Llwyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Elfyn Llwyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Elfyn Llwyd on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of probation staff have received training in sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

    Jeremy Wright

    Sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, which were inserted by virtue of section 111 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012,have been included in the curriculum of the Probation Qualification Framework since 2012.

    The Home Office has funded the development and delivery of a training package on stalking for frontline professionals which is been delivered by Women’s Aid, in collaboration with Paladin, the National Stalking Advocacy Service. This training is currently taking place nationwide. The training material is also available for use by organisations and agencies to deliver sessions themselves.

    Training details relating to probation staff are held locally, but have not been collected centrally and could not be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the annual cost of transporting children from secure children’s homes in London and the South East to elsewhere in the UK.

    Edward Timpson

    The financial responsibility for transporting welfare young people to and from secure children’s homes is a matter for the placing local authority.

    The financial responsibility for transporting justice young people to and from secure children’s homes is a matter for the Youth Justice Board (YJB).

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of each type of benefit were sanctioned and for what period by Warrington Jobcentre in each year since 2010.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested on the duration of benefit sanctions is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    The available information on the number of individuals with an adverse benefit sanction is shown in the table below.

    Number of individuals with an adverse benefit sanction in Warrington Jobcentre Plus office: 2010 – 2013

    Year

    Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)

    Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

    2010

    1,121

    146

    2011

    912

    45

    2012

    1,436

    36

    2013

    1,488

    55

    Source: DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate: Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database.

    Notes:

    1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to protect against the identification of individual claimants.

    2. Figures for Income Support Lone Parents are not available by Jobcentre Plus office.

    3. The number of benefit sanctions applied is the number of sanction or disallowance referrals where the decision was found against the claimant.

    4. Data refers to January to December in each year shown.

    5. New regulations introduced a new revised sanctions regime for JSA and ESA claimants from 22nd October and 3rd December 2012 respectively.

    6. This data is published at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

    “

  • 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 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on the Jobcentre estate in 2012-13.

    Mike Penning

    It is not possible to provide a figure specifically for the delivery of Jobcentre business, as other parts of the Department, such as staff from the Corporate Centre, the Pensions Service and Child Maintenance Divisions are co-located in Jobcentre sites, and each business unit pays for their space proportionate to their occupancy.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make representations to RBS and all its subsidiaries on making their services available at post offices.

    Jenny Willott

    Since September 2011, the customers of RBS, Ulster Bank, and NatWest have been able to withdraw cash free of charge at all post office branches across the UK. With around 11,700 branches – more branches than all the high street banks and building societies combined – the Post Office is the largest retail network in the UK. It is also the only retail network that meets the Government’s strict access criteria that see, for example, 99% of the national population live within three miles of an outlet. With 95% of all UK debit card holders able to access cash at Post Office counters, the Post Office is in many communities the only source of free to access cash.

    The Post Office is also a major provider of personal financial services. In partnership with its banking partner, the Post Office provides a wide range of financial services including mortgages, credit cards, and savings products. The Post Office is currently trialling its own current account products.