Tag: 2016

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proposals he has to enhance and extend neighbourhood plans.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Government is fully committed to neighbourhood planning and recently introduced regulations that implement powers in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to speed up and simplify the neighbourhood planning process. To support the Government’s approach, the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which went through Second Reading in Parliament on 10 October, contains measures to further strengthen neighbourhood planning.

    We are also supporting neighbourhood planning through a £22.5 million support programme which has made over 1,500 payments to groups since April 2015. All groups can apply for a grant of up to £9,000. Additional grant and technical support is available to priority groups, including those in urban and more deprived areas. Groups can also access a range of tools and templates, and a dedicated advice service, to help them prepare their plans.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what grounds it was decided that compliance checks for tax credit applications would be outsourced to Concentrix.

    Mr David Gauke

    Reducing tax credits fraud and error is a top priority for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The contract with Concentrix offers additional capacity to help build on HMRC’s own work, which has reduced tax credits fraud and error to the lowest ever level. Using a private company provides a cost-effective way to reach additional claims that need checking.

    The checks are to ensure that people are paid the correct amount of money to prevent them from getting into debt which they may find difficult to repay and protect losses to taxpayers.

    Concentrix operate under the same powers and processes as HMRC. Concentrix select cases to be checked using information provided by HMRC. Concentrix decide how best to achieve the expected benefits, including the number and type of cases and number of staff employed. HMRC closely monitors their performance.

    The contract uses a payment by results model, which means Concentrix is only paid based on the money it saves the Exchequer as a result of correcting claims that are incorrect. They will not be paid if the decisions they make about claimants’ awards are incorrect.

    The contract was signed on 6 May 2014. The contract was awarded to Synnex-Concentrix UK Ltd in April 2014, following a procurement exercise advertised under the open procedure. Information about the contract value and contract award is already in the public domain.

    https://www.deltaesourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=97910033

    “

  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on implementing its response to the Eleventh Report from the International Development Committee, Session 2013-14, on Disability and development, HC 947.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    In December 2014 DFID published a Disability Framework which set out how the International Development Committee’s recommendations would be addressed. In December 2015 the Secretary of State launched an updated Framework which set out how DFID would continue to build on this work. DFID recently produced a detailed review of progress on disability which will be shared with the International Development Committee soon.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to Question 18949, tabled by the hon. Member for Halifax on 7 December 2015.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    I can confirm that the answer to PQ 18949 was given on the 29th February 2016.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release by her Department of 17 March 2016, how much of the £33 million funding for flood defence schemes in Cumbria will be spent in Flimby.

    Rory Stewart

    Flimby has been allocated £1.1 million of the £33 million funding for flood defence schemes in Cumbria.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Karen Bradley

    Performance data for the Disclosure and Barring Service for March 2016 indicates that average processing time for DBS applications was 14.8 days. Certificates dispatched to applicants by the DBS in March 2016 involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service took an average of (a) 24 days and (b) 122 days.

    Protecting the public is a priority for this Government and it is important that checks undertaken are thorough; a proportion of the applications received by the DBS must be referred to one or more police forces as part of the enhanced disclosure process. In the vast majority of cases these checks are completed within target. The DBS is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of visits to hospital Accident and Emergency departments during 2015 resulted in admission to hospital.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In 2015 there were 22,434,007 attendances at accident and emergency departments in England. For 18.2% of these attendances, the patient was admitted as an emergency.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to introduce a government-run website for the purpose of advertising teacher vacancies so as to reduce the cost for schools of advertising such vacancies.

    Nick Gibb

    In the March 2016 white paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, the Department announced the following intention: “To reduce costs of recruitment for schools in a more challenging labour market, we will create simple web tools to enable schools to advertise vacancies more easily and a new, free national teacher vacancy website so that aspiring and current teachers can find posts quickly and easily – transforming the current system and reducing the burden on schools when budgets are tight”.

    Following the white paper publication, the Department has begun to deliver this in the way that meets the needs of schools and teachers and offers best value for money for the taxpayer.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether BT contributed funding to the phase 1 roll-out of superfast broadband.

    Matt Hancock

    BT made a total capital commitment for Phase 1 of the programme of £348 million.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £2.1 billion Joint Security Fund allocation his Department will receive in each year up to 2020.

    Michael Fallon

    The annual profile of defence spending against the Joint Security Fund is subject to formal confirmation of the Spending Review settlement for all Departments which is expected shortly.