Tag: 2015

Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with West Yorkshire Police on the review commissioned by the Office of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, and conducted by Greater Manchester Police, into the conviction of Mr Danny Major.

Mike Penning

The Home Secretary cannot comment on individual cases. This remains a matter for the Office of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and West Yorkshire Police.

January 1, 2023
Neil Coyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the judgment in the case of R v Secretary of State [2015] EWHC 3382 (Admin).

Justin Tomlinson

The Government is considering the judgment and will set out its position in due course.

January 1, 2023
Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recommendations his Department has made to the government of (a) Guernsey and (b)Jersey on the definition of legitimate interest in the management of central registers of beneficial ownership.

Dominic Raab

The Prime Minister has made clear that he would like a publicly accessible central register of company beneficial ownership to be the new international standard.

The Government is in dialogue with the Crown Dependencies about UK policy in this area and progress on the wider G20 transparency agenda.

The role of my Department is to manage the constitutional relationship between the UK and the Crown Dependencies.We have discussed the subject of beneficial ownership with the Crown Dependencies where it impacts on that relationship but it is not my Department’s role to make specific recommendations.

The Crown Dependencies are not part of the United Kingdom. They are self-governing Dependencies of the Crown with their own legislative assemblies, administrative, fiscal and legal systems and courts of law.

January 1, 2023
Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provisions the contract with Concentrix regarding child tax credits and other benefits makes concerning the time within which decisions must be made about the eligibility for such benefits once they have been withdrawn, and what assessment they have made of how the company has performed against any such requirements in respect of the number of cases in which that period has been exceeded.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix UK Limited, signed in May 2014, provides additional capacity to review and correct tax credit claims that are potentially based on incorrect information.

Full details of the contractual arrangements, including agreed performance indicators put in place in respect of the intervention service, can be found on gov.uk.

HMRC regularly monitors the performance of contractors but, due to the commercially sensitive nature of this information, it does not disclose such information.

January 1, 2023

Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) complaints have been made about and (b) investigations have been conducted into bus companies by the North East Traffic Commissioners in each year since 2010; and what enforcement action has been taken as a result following each such complaint or investigation.

Andrew Jones

The Traffic Commissioner for the North Eastern Traffic Area role is defined in the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 and is a regulatory role as opposed to an investigatory role. When complaints regarding the operation of Public Service Vehicles are received they are forwarded to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) who may carry out an investigation and provide a report to the Traffic Commissioner, should concerns be identified. Complaints and investigations may relate to issues of vehicle maintenance, driver behaviour or the reliability of local bus services. The Traffic Commissioner can request that DVSA conduct an investigation or DVSA may carry out an investigation under their own initiative. Between April 2010 and March 2015, 91 complaints have been received by the Traffic Commissioner relating to PSV operators.

The table below shows the number of public inquiries held between April 2010 and March 2015 at which the Traffic Commissioner considered regulatory action against the holder of a PSV operator’s licence.

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	Total
Number of public inquiries completed	19	26	19	35	50	149
Licence revocations	7	10	7	9	25	58
Licence suspensions	0	4	2	3	3	12
Reduction of vehicles authorised on licence	3	3	4	2	2	14
Other conditions imposed on licence	0	0	3	3	0	6
Formal warning given	8	9	7	11	12	47
Disqualification of licence holder under the 1985 Act	0	1	2	4	4	11
No action taken	2	1	2	7	6	18
Penalty imposed under Section 155 of the 2000 Act	1	0	0	0	0	1

Note: the figures in the last 8 rows may not equal the number of public inquiries held, as more than one action may betaken against a licence holder.

DVSA started to investigate Bus complaints, under the BOAM (Bus Operator Account Management) scheme in 2012. The first recorded compliant is dated 04/01/13. The BOAM scheme covers complaints for late and early running services, under the Traffic Commissioner’s statuary guidance of up to 1 minute early and 5 minutes late. If a service fails to operate or if the services either cuts short a route or diverts from a route.

Between 2012 up to the present date DVSA received, 97 complaints. Out of those complaints DVSA investigated 94. Three complaints did not fall under BOAM, so were not investigated.

12 complaints were referred to the Office of the Traffic Commissioners once the complaint was investigated.

January 1, 2023

Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote gender, orientation and ethnic diversity in the workplace, in particular in the architecture profession.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

This government is committed to promoting equality in all professions, including architecture. The Equality Act 2010 provides a strong legislative framework to prevent and tackle discrimination, harassment, and victimisation in the workplace. The government also funds the Equality and Advisory Support Service, which provides an accessible and inclusive source of advice for people who may have been discriminated against.

We have committed to closing the gender pay gap in a generation. We will soon require larger employers to publish the difference between the average pay and bonuses of their male and female employees. We are also tackling the root causes of gender pay gap with the introduction of Shared Parental Leave, the extension of flexible working and the offer of 30 hours free childcare.

The government is proud of its record to support LGB&T people and the UK continues to be recognised as a leader in this area. However, we know there is more to do which is why we have recently published guidance for employers on the recruitment and retention of trans employees in the workplace.

Finally, the Prime Minister has underlined the government’s commitment to increasing racial diversity in the workplace in his 2020 Vision, in which he made a commitment to increase BME employment by 20% by 2020.

January 1, 2023
Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the contribution of competition between airports to the future development of the aviation industry in the South East; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out when making a decision on additional runway capacity.

January 1, 2023
Lord Brabazon of Tara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brabazon of Tara on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the 31 safety recommendations made by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) in its report on the accident to Boeing 737-236 series 1, G-BGJC at Manchester International Airport on 22 August 1985 remain extant, or have been improved, within current UK or EU aircraft airworthiness requirements or operational procedures; and what specific procedures are in place consistently to monitor the implementation of all of those AAIB recommendations.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

After detailed analysis of the 31 recommendations made by the AAIB to the CAA, 28 were implemented and another was partially implemented. The CAA’s initial response to the AAIB’s recommendations, including any resulting changes to requirements or operational procedures, were published in their publication CAP593 ‘Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) Recommendations: Progress Report 1990’.

Recommendations are not tracked once implemented as routine regulatory oversight arrangements will then apply.Changes to legal requirements or guidance introduced as a result of a recommendation may be superseded as aircraft design, technology and legislation develops.

January 1, 2023
Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of benefit fraud in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2013-14; and what proportion of total expenditure on housing benefit that cost represented in each of those years.

Justin Tomlinson

Overpayments in the benefit system have fallen to a record low of 1.8% for 2014-15.

In 2013-14 total benefit expenditure excluding housing benefit was £140bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.77bn (0.55%). Similarly, Housing Benefit expenditure was £24.2bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.43bn (1.78%).

In 2014-15 total benefit expenditure excluding housing benefit was £144bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was £0.71bn (0.49%). Similarly, Housing Benefit expenditure was £24.3bn, of which the cost of benefit fraud was 0.59bn (2.43%).

January 1, 2023
Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce planning and building regulations to ensure that within public and private buildings the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants do not exceed safety standards.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

There are already strong protections in place to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution. National planning policy in England is clear that new development should be appropriate for its location, taking proper account of the effects of pollution on people’s health, and building regulations require adequate means of ventilation for people in buildings. This requirement applies when new buildings are constructed or work is carried out on existing buildings.

January 1, 2023