Tag: 2016

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many rough sleepers have been helped by the No Second Night Out Across England programme; and what proportion of those people were successfully kept off the streets.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Rapid intervention is vital to identifying new rough sleepers and ensuring that the support is in place to help them off the streets quickly. The longer someone sleeps rough, the greater the risk that they will become entrenched on the streets. That is why we invested in rolling out No Second Night Out across England through the £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund. Over two-thirds of rough sleepers in 20 key areas outside London did not spend a second night on the streets.

    The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. But one person without a home is one too many, which is why we will increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. We have also protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

    Data on the number of people helped through the Fund is in an independent evaluation, published by Homeless Link: http://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Three%20Years%20of%20Transition%20-%20summary%20evaluation%20report.pdf.

  • David Rutley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Rutley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Rutley on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect on national security of the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent.

    Michael Fallon

    Successive UK Governments have concluded that for as long as nuclear weapons exist, a nuclear deterrent, based on a continuous at sea deterrence, has a vital role to play in our security and that of our NATO allies. It provides the ultimate guarantee of our national security and way of life.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the tendering process for masts for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme’s Extended Areas Services project.

    Mike Penning

    There has been constant engagement between officials in the Home Office led Emergency Service Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport regarding the new Emergency Services Network (ESN), specifically the Programme’s Extended Areas Services (EAS) project, and DCMS’ Mobile Infrastructure Programme (MIP).

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) councils and (b) other large employers of homecare workers on the payment of workers for their travel time.

    Alistair Burt

    It is for providers to ensure that they are complying with legislation and paying workers for the time they are legally entitled to be paid for.

    The Care Act 2014 is clear that local authorities should ensure that care workers are paid at least minimum wage, and are paid for travel time between appointments.

    We are working with local authorities and the care sector to improve social care commissioning, including supporting the sector to commission in a way that promotes quality, including meeting legal requirements on staff pay in relation to travel time.

    There is clear Government Guidance on the issue of payment for work related travel time. It can be found in full on this website:

    http://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work/overview

    “

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that education and training is available to young offenders to help them access the digital economy.

    Andrew Selous

    Equipping young offenders with the skills to access the digital economy supports their rehabilitation, and computing forms a core part of the education and training provided to young people in custody.

    The Justice Secretary has asked Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of youth justice. His report of emerging findings published in February underlined the importance of education to an effective youth justice system. He will report back this summer with recommendations on how to improve the treatment of young people in our care.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what exemptions there will be from the Government’s proposed enforced sale of high-value council homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    Through regulations, government has the power to exclude categories of housing when calculating local authority’s payment in respect of their higher value vacant housing. During the passage of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, government committed to exclude housing that is in a National Park or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and confirmed that it would consider other suggestions that had been made during the passage of the legislation and by stakeholders for excluding other categories of housing.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the accuracy of labour shortages reported by employers before adding professions to the occupational shortage list.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reviews the Shortage Occupation List when commissioned to do so by the Government.

    The MAC is an independent advisory body consisting of expert labour market economists. It has a clear, published methodology for assessing whether occupations are skilled, in shortage, and whether it is sensible to address those shortages in part through migration, based on a variety of indicators and using national “top down” data as well as “bottom up” evidence from employers.

    The MAC has carried out two full reviews and three partial reviews of the Shortage Occupation List since May 2010. Further information about the MAC’s methodology and the reviews it has carried out are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/migration-advisory-committee

    “

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans for the Reaper User Group to (a) meet and (b) consider training, interoperability or asset-sharing.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Reaper User Group will meet on 14-18 March 2016 and is likely to consider training, interoperability and asset sharing.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria are being employed to determine the accountability of elected metropolitan mayors that have been agreed as part of devolution deals.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Mayors that have been agreed as part of devolution deals will provide accountable, visible and transparent leadership for their local area. They will be directly elected and accountable through the ballot box. Additionally, they will be held to account by the combined authority, who will be able to reject or amend their spending plans and strategies. Their decisions and actions will also be examined by an overview and scrutiny committee and an audit committee, that must be established following the commencement of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. These committees will be able to ‘call-in’ decisions and ask that they be reviewed, they can also demand the mayor to answer questions before them, and these hearings will be open to the public, who will have the legal right to film, blog, tweet or use any other type of social media.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much security guards in his Department are paid.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Only the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency directly employs security guards, employing 54 full time and part time security guards at a total salary cost of £868,475. All other security guards in the Department for Transport are employed and managed under outsourced contracts; pay data in such situations is not held by the Department.