Tag: 2014

Mike Weir – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of the total costs incurred (a) in his Department and (b) in the Government of the creation and production of the booklet, What staying in the United Kingdom means for Scotland.

David Mundell

The total UK Government cost to-date of ‘What Staying in the United Kingdom Means for Scotland’ is £723,501 (plus VAT).

This works out at the equivalent of 30p per household for the entire process of design, production and delivery. Further detail will be published in the usual fashion in the Cabinet Office transparency returns.

The Scotland Office incurred no costs in the production or creation of the booklet. Staffing costs were taken from existing Scotland Office budgets.

01/11/2022
Vernon Coaker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in how many joint NATO training exercises in which countries the UK plans to participate in the next six months.

Dr Andrew Murrison

In the next six months the UK is planning to participate in thirty-seven joint and multinational training exercises in a NATO context.

These exercises will take place on the territory of, in the waters around or in the skies above the following countries:

Canada

Croatia

Denmark

Estonia

France

Germany

Greenland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Norway

Poland

Slovenia

Spain

Turkey

UK

USA

01/11/2022
Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the additional costs to claimants living in rural communities of travel to attend jobcentre interviews for (a) fortnightly signing and (b) other interviews and advisory meetings.

Esther McVey

The department has not made an estimate regarding the additional costs for claimants living in rural communities. Providing such an estimate would require the DWP to differentiate the costs to rural claimants from those elsewhere. This can only be done at disproportionate cost to the department. However, the department does have some flexibility to meet the needs of those living in rural areas: for example, postal signing can be offered and claimants attending interviews on days outside their normal day of attendance can have their travelling expenses reimbursed. Additionally, Work Coaches are also able to use the Flexible Support Fund and issue Travel Discount Cards to help claimants with travel expenses.

01/11/2022
Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to whom the National Panel on Serious Case Reviews is accountable; and what the terms of reference of that Panel are.

Mr Edward Timpson

The members of national panel of independent experts on Serious Case Reviews (SCR) were appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and are ultimately accountable to him, though they operate independently.

The role of the panel is set out in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ as follows:

“The role of the panel will be to support Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) in ensuring that appropriate action is taken to learn from serious incidents in all cases where the statutory criteria are met and to ensure that those lessons are shared through publication of final SCR reports. The panel will also report to the Government their views of how the SCR system is working”.

The panel’s remit will include advising LSCBs about:
1. application of the SCR criteria;

2. appointment of reviewers; and

3. publication of SCR reports.

01/11/2022
Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress he has made in providing funding to assist East Ayrshire Council with the restoration of former open-cast sites in East Ayrshire; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon

Proposals have been put to me by Scottish Government Ministers asking Her Majesty’s Government to provide a financial contribution towards the costs of restoring abandoned opencast coal mining sites in East Ayrshire and other areas of Scotland. I continue to give consideration to those proposals against the backdrop of other issues currently affecting the coal industry and of spending priorities more generally.

01/11/2022
Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2014, Official Report, column 238W, on driving: licensing, what proportion of new drivers obtaining driving convictions were offered speed awareness courses in each year since 2010.

Damian Green

I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 27th March 2014, Official Report,
column 372W.

The number of drivers who opted for a speed awareness course rather than
accept penalty points on their driving licence in 2010 is 447,724, 2011 is
772,430, 2012 is 926,101 and 2013 is 953,428. The offer of a speed awareness
course is at the discretion of the police. To be deemed eligible there must be
no excessive speed or other offences committed at the same time. Information on
previous motoring convictions is not taken into account.

01/11/2022
Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints she has received about UK visa applications processed by TPContact in (a) Israel, (b) Russia, (c) South Africa and (d) Ukraine to date.

James Brokenshire

Any failure against the contractual critical service levels may result in
deductions against their submitted invoices. In the event of continuous and
unacceptable failures the Department has the ability to terminate the contract.

The performance of Teleperformance as with all of our contracts is subject to
close Home Office scrutiny. The governance processes include regular meetings
at all levels, from local operational teams up to senior official levels, to
allow in-depth reviews of performance against the service standards set out in
the contract, and to provide an escalation route to resolve any issues that may
arise. We also expect suppliers to provide continuous improvement in delivery
of customer services over the course of the contract, which is also monitored
through these processes.

The Department withheld payment of the contractual transitional payment until
transition was complete in each country where Teleperformance operates. This
has now been has now been approved for payment in countries where visa
application centres (VACs) are operational but withheld in locations still to
be transitioned. Ongoing contractual payments will be subject to the service
credit process outlined above.

The data required to judge performance against contractual service standards is
not yet available. We are not aware of any withdrawn applications linked to
delays in processing at the identified visa application centres since they took
over this service. The Home Office is currently collating data on complaints
for the period since Teleperformance commenced operations and it is not
available for publication.

UK Visas & Immigration has worked closely with Teleperformance from the point
at which contracts were awarded to prepare for live operations, including the
summer peak. Annual and monthly application volumes and forecast figures for
2014 were provided to Teleperformance as part of the tender process and local
discussions have taken place to determine the number of appointment slots
available. Opening hours have been extended and appointment availability has
been increased in a number of locations to prepare for the summer period. Where
VACs are open every day, the availability of appointment slots is continually
monitored, with further measures being taken if appointments are consistently
fully booked.

01/11/2022
Stephen Mosley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Mosley on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many students sat A-levels in (a) mathematics, (b) further mathematics, (c) physics, (d) chemistry and (e) biology in (i) Flintshire Council area and (ii) Wrexham council area in (A) 2009 and (B) 2013.

Mr David Jones

This information relates to a devolved matter and is not held by the UK Government. I have therefore written to the Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Government seeking the information requested.

I will write to the hon Gentleman when further information is received, and place a copy in the Library of the House.

01/11/2022
Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many agency workers have been employed as cover for clerical staff in each month since January 2014.

Andrew Selous

Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m. We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our use of contractors and look for further reductions.

In responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff. As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.

Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term. Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.

Uniform operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors and their vehicles.

1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on clerical agency staff across –

January 2014 – £2,983,633.14 (5 week period)

February 2014 – £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)

March 2014 – £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)

April 2014 – £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)

May 2014 – £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)

June 2014 – £658,700.28 (1 week period)

2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational support staff –

January 2014 – £1,082,247 (5 week period)

February 2014 – £1,420,329 (4 week period)

March 2014 – £1,137,834 (4 week period)

April 2014 – £1,249,908 (4 week period)

May 2014 – £2,282,468 (5 week period)

The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible workers from 1^st April 2014.

3) The following number of clerical agency staff have been utilised –

January 2014 – 1571 (Average headcount)

February 2014 – 1634 (Average headcount)

March 2014 – 1624 (Average headcount)

April 2014 – 1578 (Average headcount)

May 2014 – 1644 (Average headcount)

June 2014 – 1674 (Average headcount)

4) The following number of uniform operational support staff have been utilised –

January 2014 – 697 (Peak worker number)

February 2014 – 845 (Peak worker number)

March 2014 – 867 (Peak worker number)

April 2014 – 853 (Peak worker number)

May 2014 – 855 (Peak worker number)

June 2014 – Peak worker number not available yet.

01/11/2022

Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-03-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel are taking part in the Seedcorn initiative; what the location is of each such person; and with what equipment such personnel are training.

Anna Soubry

As announced in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review the UK retains Seedcorn Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) capability with personnel embeded in MPA capabilities of our closest allies. The number and location of personnel and equipment are as follows:

Location	No of Seedcorn Personnel	Aircraft
Canada	Royal Canadian Air Force Greenwood	6	CP-140 Aurora
New Zealand	Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Whenuapai	4	P-3K Orion/P-3K2 Orion
Australia	Royal Australian Air Force base Edinburgh	2	AP-3C Orion
United States	Naval Air Station Patuxent River	9	P-8 Poseidon 1 qualified on RQ-21A Blackjack UAV 4 are scheduled to train on the MQ-4C Triton during June-August 2014
United States	Naval Air Station Jacksonville	11	P-8 Poseidon

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01/11/2022