Tag: 2016

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect of the HM Revenue and Customs Location Strategy on future tax revenues.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

    HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

    Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on using debt collection agencies in each of the last seven years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department’s policy is to recover outstanding debt whenever possible. Where a person is not in receipt of benefit and all the Department’s attempts at recovery have been unsuccessful, the overpayment will be referred to a debt collection agency. The debtor is always given an opportunity to make an agreement to pay the Department before the debt is sent to a debt collection agency to recover.

    With the exception of one service provider currently being used by the Child Maintenance Group, the Department does not hold extant, direct contracts with any debt collection agencies although the nature of some of the expired contracts means that a number of collections are still being made. DWP now makes use of one main contract with Indesser. The Framework Contract is managed by Cabinet Office. Indesser manage relationships with a number of Debt Collection Agencies on behalf of all Government Customers.

    Under the terms of the Framework Agreement, Indesser and its sub-contractors must comply with relevant industry and public sector standards for service delivery including those of the Credit Services Association, the Code of Practice and the Financial Conduct Authority guidelines. The standards are listed in the DMI Framework Agreement. Indesser reviews subcontractor compliance with these standards through audit and assurance activity, including responsibility for ensuring that they comply with relevant industry standards, managing their performance, and monitoring any complaints. Customer departments (i.e. DWP) in turn receive Letters of Assurance which they review to ensure standards are being achieved and the audits are effective.

    The breakdown of figures you have requested is derived from operational processes and systems designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As it was not originally intended for publication, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.

    The debt collection agency costs of the Child Maintenance Group and DWP are given separately. Please note that the figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000.

    The cost to the DWP of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

    Financial Year

    Spend

    Recoveries

    2009/2010

    £1.59m

    £8.50m

    2010/2011

    £1.33m

    £9.77m

    2011/2012

    £2.11m

    £13.94m

    2012/2013

    £1.95m

    £14.15m

    2013/2014

    £2.12m

    £15.00m

    2014/2015

    £2.52m

    £17.30m

    2015/2016*

    £1.64m

    £11.05m

    *to date

    The cost to Child Maintenance Group of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

    Financial Year

    Spend

    Recoveries

    2009/2010

    £1.25m

    £10.20m

    2010/2011

    £0.56m

    £4.68m

    2011/2012

    £0.35m

    £1.35m

    2012/2013

    £0.21m

    £1.71m

    2013/2014

    £0.05m

    £1.21m

    2014/2015

    £0.10m

    £0.86m

    2015/2016 to date

    £0.07m

    £0.53m

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will suspend the process of determining the application for the licence for ship-to-ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth until he has formally consulted Marine Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are no valid reasons to suspend the process of determining the application for an Oil Transfer licence for ship to ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth.

    Officials from Marine Scotland were sent the application details and information by email on 9 December 2015. A reminder about the deadline for comments on this application was sent to the same officials by email on 3 February, five days before the end of the extended consultation period.

    A Marine Scotland official confirmed to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on 11 February that they had seen the information and had no intention of submitting a response.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the expected value is of offset work resulting from contracts for the (a) F35 and (b) P-8A; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    For P-8A I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 April 2016 to Question 33059 to the hon.Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock). There are no offset agreements in relation to the UK’s F-35 programme. However, studies have estimated that through competition UK industry has won approximately 15% by value of each F-35 aircraft that is manufactured. The F-35 programme is predicted to reach a fleet size of circa 3,000 aircraft.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Civil Contingencies Unit has made an assessment of the current levels of radioactive contamination existing in upland areas across the UK as a result of radioactive fallout in May 1986 following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in April 1986.

    Matthew Hancock

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations for re-assessments of entitlement to disability living allowance for children were (a) upheld and (b) rejected in the last three years for which figures are available.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The table below shows the number of Mandatory Reconsiderations received for the last three years.

    Disability Living Allowance

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    Child Mandatory Reconsiderations received

    18,543

    21,647

    27,015

    The information for the second question could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.

    Notes: Mandatory Reconsiderations were introduced from October 2013 as part of Appeals Reform. The figures shown in the table above for 2013/14 include reconsideration clearances (pre-reform) to enable the full year to be provided.

    Source: Department of Work and Pensions, Disability Living Allowance Computer System

    This type of internal management information does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice and should be used with caution.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will exempt crisis, refuge and homeless accommodation from any extension to the Local Housing Allowance cap.

    Caroline Nokes

    I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Statement made today by the Secretary of State:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-09-15/HCWS154/

    “

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish its response to its consultation on the use of restrictive covenants for pubs which closed in September 2011.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We intend to publish the Government response to the consultation on whether the use of restrictive covenants in the pubs sector was having a negative impact upon communities and will do so in due course.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the current projections used by the Environment Agency on the expected frequency of extreme flooding in the Calder Valley in any given year are for a (a) 1.5 , (b) two and (c) four degree rise in average temperatures.

    Rory Stewart

    Current research undertaken jointly by the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggests that corresponding to a 2 degree global average warming, rivers in the area of the Calder could see a 20% increase in typical flood flows by the 2080s compared to current levels.

    The Government’s National Flood Resilience Review will re-examine worst case extreme weather scenarios and the resulting potential flood impacts across the country.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on reducing Air Passenger Duty.

    Damian Hinds

    In the absence of any taxation of international aviation fuel and no VAT on international or domestic flights, Air Passenger Duty (APD) ensures that the aviation sector plays its part in contributing towards general taxation and helping to bring down the deficit. In 2014-15, APD raised £3.2bn, an important part of the Government’s tax revenues.

    Nevertheless, the Government has recently made reforms to APD to cut the longest haul rates and exempt children, reducing the tax burden by £1.5 billion over the period 2015-2020.

    Like all taxes, APD is kept under review with any changes announced at fiscal events.