Tag: 2016

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to increase the amount of housing stock owned by councils; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Local housing authorities have a wide range of discretion in building and running their housing stock. The Housing Revenue Account self-financing settlement was a good deal for local authorities; it put them in charge of their own finances and allowed them to decide how they wanted to invest in both their existing stock and in new council homes.

    Local housing authorities have accumulated general housing revenue account reserves of almost £2.5 billion (in addition to over £1billion in the Major Repairs Reserve) and have borrowing headroom approaching £3.4 billion. In addition, almost £222 million of extra borrowing headroom has been allocated to 36 councils in England to specifically support around 3,000 new affordable homes in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

    More council housing has been built since 2010 than in the previous 13 years. 2014 saw the highest number of council housing starts for 23 years.

  • Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Social Fund funerals were made in each year between 2010 and 2015; how many such applications were refused; and what the (a) budget and (b) lowest payment made was.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Table 1 shows the number of applications for Funeral Expenses Payments which were made and the number refused in the financial years 2010/11 to 2014/15.

    Table 1

    Applications (000)

    Initial Refusals (000)

    2010/11

    69

    34

    2011/12

    69

    36

    2012/13

    66

    34

    2013/14

    59

    27

    2014/15

    51

    24

    Data sourced from the DWP policy, Budget and Management Information System and is published in the Annual Report by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the Social Fund for the relevant year.

    The budget for the Social Fund, Funeral Expenses Payment (FEP) expenditure is demand-led. Legislation prescribes that payments are made to all eligible applicants. That is people responsible for arranging a funeral who meet the rules on relationships with the deceased and receive a qualifying benefit. Provision for FEPs is made by central Government through the supply estimate process, but these figures are not translated into an operational budget and do not impact eligibility or award amounts.

    In a minority of cases funeral expense payments are subsequently recovered from the deceased’s estate and in these cases the net amount can be very small. Given the small numbers involved it is not appropriate to release figures as there is a risk of identifying individuals.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25153, on which Type 45 Destroyers all 16 recommendations of the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review have been implemented in full; when he expects the implementation of all 16 recommendations to be completed across the class; and if he will publish the recommendations made by the review.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Fourteen of the recommendations involved a modification to the Power and Propulsion system and all fourteen have been completed across all six ships in the class.

    The remaining two recommendations, involving changes to existing training procedures and documentation, have also been adopted. As these two recommendations are administrative in nature, they do not require physical modification of the ships.

    With regard to the request to publish the recommendations made by the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman) to question 25234 on 8 February 2016.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 25741, what criteria the Government plans to use to allocate the funds secured from the European Social Fund for the period 2014-2020.

    Anna Soubry

    EU regulations require the United Kingdom to spend at least 45.9 per cent of its national allocation for structural funds for the period 2014-2020 on the European Social Fund (ESF). The United Kingdom’s Partnership Agreement with the European Commission, which can be found on GOV.UK at ‘European Structural and Investment Funds: UK Partnership Agreement’, sets out how the requirement was met.

    Within England, notional allocations for the European Regional Development Fund and ESF were made on the basis of Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas. The total allocations to each LEP area for the 2014-2020 period can be found on the GOV.UK website at ‘EU Structural Funds: UK allocations 2014 to 2020’. Each LEP area was asked how much it wanted to devote to the ESF, drawing on guidance issued by Government to ensure compliance with the regulatory requirements at national level. The guidance can also be found on the GOV.UK website. Iinformation on the Strategies for 2014-2020 prepared by each LEP area can be found on the website ‘The Network of LEPs-LEP Network’, searching by European funding. These set out how much each proposed should be spent on ESF in their area.

    Management of EU structural funds is devolved. The Devolved Administrations decide the criteria for allocation of ESF within their remits, taking account of the need to meet EU regulatory requirements.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the specification for the Work and Health Programme to provide specialist support for long-term unemployed and claimants with health conditions and disabilities will require (a) autism and (b) other conditions of claimants to be recorded by both providers and Jobcentre Plus; and what discussions he has had about which conditions will be recorded.

    Priti Patel

    Development of the Work and Health Programme design is well underway, including engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. The Department has commenced the commercial process for the programme by releasing the Prior Information Notice for potential providers on 28 April.

    Decisions on what the information reporting requirements will be for people with a disability or health condition are yet to be made.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in his Department in 2015-16.

    Guto Bebb

    The Wales Office spent £56,561 on non-payroll staff in 2015-16.

    In 2015-16, the Department used non-payroll (agency) staff to cover for staff on maternity leave and for vacant posts.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure assessment centres for work capability assessment and personal independence payment consultations are fully accessible to people using different kinds of mobility assistance devices.

    Penny Mordaunt

    All assessment centres meet accessibility standards under the Equality Act 2010.

    Before attending an assessment, claimants are given the opportunity to alert the assessment provider to any additional requirements they may have and the providers will endeavour to meet any such reasonable requests.

    If a claimant is unable to travel to, or access an assessment centre as a result of their health condition or impairment, a home visit may be offered.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service proceeded to formal Stage 2 during each of the last three years.

    Robert Buckland

    The following table shows the number of complaints escalated to Stage 2 in the past three years:

    Year

    Stage 2 Complaints

    2013/14

    245

    2014/15

    264

    2015/16

    254
  • Harry Harpham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Harry Harpham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harry Harpham on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost to the public purse was of developing proposals for a new carbon capture and storage project at Peterhead.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors and we are engaging closely with the Peterhead developer and wider CCS industry. The Department has paid £28.5 million between 2011/12 and November 2015 on developing proposals for a new carbon capture and storage project at Peterhead. This included the investment in Front End Engineering and Design work to determine the cost and feasibility of the project, independent professional technical, legal, financial and commercial advice and civil service staff.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have labelled the national minimum wage of £7.20 an hour as the national living wage” when it falls below the UK Living Wage and London Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation.”

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The National Living Wage will come into force on 1 April 2016. We estimate that a full-time National Minimum Wage worker will earn over £4,400 more by 2020 from the National Living Wage in cash terms.

    This Government is committed to improving living standards, particularly for the low paid. Guided by a proportion of median earnings which leading experts recommend, the National Living Wage recognizes the balance needed of an affordable rate for businesses with achieving a significant increase in minimum pay.

    The Low Pay Commission will continue to make recommendations on the appropriate rate for the National Living Wage going forward, to make sure that wages rise to reward workers while considering the impact on the economy.