The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value of outstanding property development proposals on Network Rail land is.
Stephen Hammond
Network Rail is currently a private sector company limited by guarantee and the development of its property portfolio is a matter for the company, within the regulatory and incentives framework established for it by the independent Office of Rail Regulation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheila Gilmore on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 103W, on separated people: finance, whether the proposed external independent evaluation of the Help and Support for Separated Families Innovation Fund projects will include as a consistent measure across the different projects the increase in the number of children benefiting from regular child maintenance payments to meet their day-to-day living costs as a result of the interventions being tested.
Steve Webb
External independent evaluation of the Innovation Fund projects will measure improvement in the relationship between parents, and therefore, their likely ability to reach agreement on a range of issues affecting their children, including agreeing financial arrangements. As the primary aim of these projects is helping parents to resolve conflict and work together, we will not specifically be measuring the number of children benefiting from regular child maintenance payments
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the savings to the public purse from the personal independence payment programme; and what assessment he has made of the long-term risks to that programme.
Mike Penning
The National Audit’s Office (NAO) report acknowledged that it is too early to make judgements about value for money.
Both the NAO and Office for Budget Responsibility noted that the introduction of Personal Independence Payment is expected to deliver very significant savings for the taxpayer, estimated to be £3bn per year by 2018 as well as delivering fairer outcomes for disabled people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hywel Williams on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the level of need in rural communities for discretionary housing payments beyond 2014-15.
Steve Webb
An assessment has not yet been made about the level of need in rural communities for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) beyond 2014/15. DHP funding after 2014/15 will be agreed in due course and will be informed by evidence on the use and demand for DHPs, including in rural communities. The Department is currently collecting data on the use of Discretionary Housing Payments in the 2013/14 financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to widen the terms of reference of the independent review of the operation and extent of the administrative scheme for dealing with so-called on the runs” to cover the question of what understandings or guarantees of immunity from prosecution may have been given to facilitate the talks leading to a ceasefire by IRA/Sinn Fein and to the Belfast Agreement.”
Lord Bates
The Prime Minister set out the terms of reference for Lady Justice Hallett’s review on 27 February. How those terms of reference are delivered is a question for Lady Justice Hallett, who has full access to government officials and documentation in order to fulfil her remit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Morgan of Huyton on 2014-04-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether prison governors have targets for the improvement of literacy skills of prisoners; and whether those targets are monitored.
Lord Newby
We are taking a number of steps to enhance and build upon the current learning and skills offer to prisoners. We firmly believe that giving offenders the skills and training they need to get and keep jobs on release reduces their likelihood of re-offending.
Officials from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) are working with the Skills Funding Agency and providers of the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) to continually improve the quality of the teaching and learning experienced by prisoners through the development and dissemination of good practice. New approaches to literacy in particular include an increase in the use of peer mentors, embedded learning as part of other regime activities, and the introduction of aNational Reading Network in association with the Shannon Trust.
Later this year we will be introducing mandatory education assessment by the OLASS providers for all newly-received prisoners. This will ensure that all prisoners, not just those who go on to learning, receive a learning assessment (focused around literacy and numeracy but also covering learning difficulties and disabilities). NOMS and its partners are also working towards implementing better data-sharing arrangements between prisons and OLASS providers, so that more is known about prisoners’ previous assessments, progress, and achievements, as well as their current educational needs.
Intensive literacy and numeracy courses, based on the Army’s model, have also been piloted in prisons, particularly to address the needs of prisoners serving short sentences. Prison Governors and OLASS providers are working together to deliver such courses where appropriate.
Prison Governors do not have targets regarding the improvement of prisoners’ literacy skills. As noted previously, we are taking considerable steps both to further identify literacy learning needs and then to address them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what category of investor Lansdowne Partners was with regard to the sale of Royal Mail.
Michael Fallon
All investors in Royal Mail – whether individuals or institutions – have a reasonable expectation of privacy: therefore we have not disclosed the names of specific investors and their involvement in the IPO process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will break down by component elements the increase in the RAB charge from 33 per cent to 45 per cent.
Mr David Willetts
The increase in the RAB charge has been due to:
– macroeconomic effects – earnings growth has been lower than expected since the £21,000 threshold was set making it more generous in real terms than was expected at the time it was set; and
– modelling changes – we have made methodological improvements to our modelling of individual borrower’s earnings over time. We have done this through a new approach that takes greater account of an individual’s past earnings and of Student Loans Company data on actual loan repayments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many jobs have been transferred from the public to private sector from (a) his Department and (b) the Office of the Leader of the House as a result of privatisation or outsourcing since May 2010.
Mr Francis Maude
The Leader of the House’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
Since May 2010, twenty-two jobs have been transferred to the Private Sector.
Six posts through the SWIRL joint venture and 16 posts with the mutual joint venture of the Behavioural Insights Team.
We know that joint ventures and mutuals can help drive up productivity and we will continue to support innovative business models.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2014-04-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times failure to pay the minimum wage has been (a) reported, (b) prosecuted and (c) penalised in the maritime sector since the Equality Act 2010 came into force.
Mr David Gauke
The Government takes the enforcement of national minimum wage (NMW) legislation very seriously and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforce the NMW legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and has done so since the introduction of NMW in April 1999.
HMRC investigates all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.
Since 2006, HMRC started considering prosecution for minimum wage offences. Since then, there have been 7 investigations into employers in the Water Transport sector. None of these were identified as having failed to pay the minimum wage.