Tag: 2015

Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on (a) temporary agency staff, (b) consultants, (c) non-payroll staff, (d) administration and (e) marketing and advertising in real terms in each year since 2010-11.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department’s spend on temporary agency staff, consultancy and administration for the financial years from 2010/11 to 2014/15 is published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts and is included in the tables below.

(a) Temporary Agency Staff

Temporary Agency Staff (£m)	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Department for Transport (central)	6.87	4.10	6.85	12.80	15.77
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	3.70	1.00	3.13	1.22	0.98
Driving Standards Agency	0.34	0.00	0.01	0.13	0.80
Highways Agency	3.76	2.45	1.01	5.83	9.82
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	0.48	0.17	0.14	0.57	1.07
Vehicle Certification Agency	0.15	0.12	0.17	0.36	0.14
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	1.00	1.59	2.28	3.02	5.39
Department Total	16.30	9.43	13.59	23.93	33.97

(b) Consultancy

Consultancy (£m)	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Department for Transport (central)	5.54	5.57	10.30	8.12	19.25
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	0.76	0.48	0.56	0.70	0.12
Driving Standards Agency	0.10	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.31
Highways Agency	3.87	0.30	0.19	0.27	0.00
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	0.13	0.05	0.10	0.13	0.00
Vehicle Certification Agency	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.05	0.00
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	0.39	0.01	0.07	0.97	0.09
Department Total	10.79	6.41	11.22	10.28	19.77

The figures for temporary staff and consultancy have been produced based on Cabinet Office definitions for these categories of expenditure. Consultancy is defined as work of an advisory nature designed to inform policy or to assist with strategic decisions and complex legal issues. Temporary Staff category includes expenditure where it is clear that specific individuals are being engaged to work on projects and ‘business as usual’ functions.

Please see (d) Administration for further information

Most non-payroll expenditure is included as either Temporary Staff or Consultancy answered in parts (a) and (b) above, with the exception of:-

Non-Payroll Staff (£M)	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)	1.68	1.76	2.05	2.18	3.04

VCA figures include overseas contractors and locally employed staff. There was a large increase 2013/14 to 2014/15 as they took over a Turkish contract.

(d) Administration

Administration costs reflect the costs of running the Department, including staff, accommodation, IT costs, and operating lease rentals. The administration budget figures below are substantially lower than the 2009-10 figure of £297m.

Department for Transport Spend Category (£m)	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Total Administration Budget	276.26	216.74	242.93	240.08	271.38

To ensure that the Department was resourced to deliver its agenda, particularly around letting and managing rail franchise contracts following the Laidlaw and Brown reviews, HM Treasury agreed to switch £25m from DfT’s Programme to Administration budgets, increasing the Department’s 2014-15 Administration budget to £275m, plus £13m for depreciation.

The increases in (a) temporary staff and (b) consultancy spend was covered in this switch.

Notes:

1. Government Car & Despatch Agency disbanded during 2012/13 following which the work has been undertaken within the Department. The Administration therefore falls under Central Administration section from

2013/14 onwards.

2. General Lighthouse Authorities consolidated into the Department’s accounts for 2013/14 and beyond.

(e) Marketing and Advertising

Spend on marketing, including marketing related advertising, by the Department and its Executive Agencies for the financial years 2012/13 to 2014/15 is set out in the table below.

Marketing spend in 2014/15 is 83% less than the £48.4 million recorded for 2009/10.

Marketing related expenditure (£m)	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Department for Transport (central)	3.47	4.79	5.96
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	0.56	Nil	Nil
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency¹	–	–	0.23
Driving Standards Agency¹	0.04	0.03	–
Government Car and Despatch Agency²	Nil	–	–
Highways Agency	0.46	0.43	1.91
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	0.18	0.16	0.21
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency¹	0.06	0.06	–
Vehicle Certification Agency	0.04	N/A	0.05
Department Total	4.80	5.47	8.36

Notes:

1. The Driving Standards Agency and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency became the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in April 2014.

2. The Government Car and Despatch Agency ceased on 30 September 2012.

Most of the additional spend in 2014/15 compared to the previous year is attributable to the THINK! Drug Drive campaign in March 2015 supporting the implementation of new enforcement regulations and the Highways Agency public information campaign on the implementation of new traffic management and payment methods at the Dartford Crossing.

Figures for 2010/11 and 2011/12 were not prepared and could be compiled now only at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023

Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department spent on educational materials for prisons in 2014-15.

Nick Boles

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills funds the Skills Funding Agency to administer and deliver education in the majority of adult prisons in England via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS).

The OLASS budget for 2014-15 was £145.6m. This figure includes funding for the National Careers Service in custody. It excludes a number of private prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service.

The OLASS budget includes funding to cover the provision of educational materials. The costs of those materials are not collected separately.

01/01/2023
Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that residents in council areas with low levels of business rates are protected from the effects of the change to funding council tax benefit by retained business rates in 2020.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

By the end of this Parliament, when local government will keep 100% of the £26 billion of business rates they raise locally, our ambition is that local councils will meet their spending needs, including local council tax support, from local taxation and other locally raised income. At the point that we introduce 100% business rates retention, there will continue to be a measure of redistribution to ensure that no authority loses out just because it starts from a relatively weaker position.

01/01/2023
Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many assaults there were on staff working for (a) London Underground, (b) London Overground, (c) London buses, (d) Docklands Light Railway and (e) Tramlink in each hour of the day in 2014.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport does not collect this information.

However, I am able to say that the British Transport Police will shortly be launching Project Servator, which aims to detect and deter crime on the railways. It deploys highly visible and unpredictable police patrols to prevent a range of criminal activity, from pickpocketing and theft to more serious crimes including terrorism.

01/01/2023
Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of climate change on the food security situation in the Horn of Africa.

Baroness Verma

DFID is committed to supporting vulnerable people affected by food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and to supporting governments in the region to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of the climate on food security.

Making a robust assessment of the impact of climate change in the horn of Africa is challenging due to data limitations., The UK is undertaking a range of research that seeks to strengthen our understanding of climate in the region which will in turn assist with improving our assessment of likely impacts and working to help improve the early warning tools. For instance in Ethiopia through our support to ClimDev, DFID has supported the strengthening of Ethiopia’s hydro-meteorological network enabling more accurate measurement and prediction of extreme weather and flooding.

However, we know that the Horn of Africa is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and disaster resilience work is crucial in mitigating effects. In Ethiopia, DFID’s Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP) has helped turn desert land into land that can be farmed again. In Kenya, the Hunger Safety Net Programme has helped to protect household assets of the poorest people in Northern Kenya and can scale up to protect those at risk from droughts and floods. This helps families recover more quickly and get back on their feet. DFID is at the forefront of resilience work to prevent and reduce the impact of crises in developing countries.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what conditionality is attached to disbursements from the Joint Security Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands

The Spending Review set out the allocation of the Joint Security Fund for the Ministry of Defence and the Intelligence Agencies totalling £3.5bn over 5 years.

The Joint Security Fund will be used to deliver the investments set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The allocation of funding is conditional on annual spending limits that were agreed at the Spending Review. As with all public expenditure, Managing Public Money sets out how public funds must be spent, including the principles of regularity and propriety.

01/01/2023
Anna Turley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps (a) he and (b) his Department made to secure a buyer for Redcar coke ovens and blast furnace before the Official Receiver called for a hard closure.

Anna Soubry

Commercial decisions on the purchase of assets are the prerogative of the companies involved and government has no powers to oblige companies to purchase assets.

On liquidation of a company, it is the responsibility of the liquidator to sell the free assets of the company. In the case of SSI UK, this was the Official Receiver.

I am informed that the Official Receiver did maintain operations at SSI, including the coke ovens, for a period while he tried to find purchasers for the assets of SSI UK but as of the 12 October, no purchaser had been found and the Official Receiver ceased operations of the coke ovens and blast furnace.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.64 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how she plans to make £600 million savings from the Education Services Grant; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Savings of £600 million will be made by reducing the Education Services Grant (ESG), including phasing out the additional funding that goes to schools and local authorities. We will be making a small efficiency saving (around £80 million) from the ESG in 2016-17, and will be setting out our proposals for savings from 2017-18 in the New Year. This will include consulting on the details of the statutory duties that will be removed.

01/01/2023

Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which regulations his Office introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015 to date; which regulations his Office expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2016 and (ii) 2017; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Matthew Hancock

No regulations were introduced by the Cabinet Office as a result of EU legislation in 2013 and 2014.

So far in 2015 the Cabinet Office has introduced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which have estimated net annual savings of £3.6 Billion. No further regulations arising from EU legislation are planned for introduction in 2015.

Looking ahead to 2016 two regulations are expected to be implemented by the Cabinet Office as a result of EU legislation. These are the Utilities Contract Regulations and Concessions Contract Regulations.

Details of all the estimated costs to the Public Purse and Private Sector are provided in the table below:

Year	Title of Regulation	Cost to Business	Cost to Public Purse
2013	None
2014	None
2015	Public Contracts Regulations 2015	£3.6Billion saving
2016	Utilities Contract Regulations	£0.14M	£0.09M
	Concessions Contract Regulations	£0.3M	£0.85
2017	None

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01/01/2023

Mike Weir – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will assess the expected cost to UK consumers who elect to cancel booked package holidays to Sharm el Sheikh and other destinations in the Middle East scheduled to depart during the months of December 2015 and January 2016 where such cancellation is not penalty-free; and if he will make it his Department’s policy to issue travel advice which will allow penalty-free cancellation for travel booked to depart during those months.

James Duddridge

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice provides information and advice so that British nationals can make their own better informed decisions about foreign travel. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills is responsible for regulation of the travel industry and it is not the role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to intervene in the regulation of this market. British nationals who have booked package holidays should contact their travel company if they wish to cancel their booking. These holidays will be subject to the terms and conditions of the booking and the provisions of the Package Travel Regulations, which cover among other things changes between the time of booking and the time of travel. Where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against travel since a holiday has been booked, such as Sharm el Sheikh, it is unlikely that a penalty will be incurred.

01/01/2023