The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish a list of all secondees to his Department from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.
Caroline Nokes
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to promote the welfare of members of the armed forces.
Mark Lancaster
The Armed Forces Covenant ensures that those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. In June 2013 the Chancellor announced that the financial commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant would be made permanent through a £10 million fund per annum in perpetuity from 2015-16.
The Annual Report on the Armed Forces Covenant from December 2015 detailed a number of achievements of which this Government can be proud, including allocating £40 million for accommodation projects for veterans; the £200 million Forces Help to Buy Scheme; and a world class centre for excellence for the training and delivery of Defence Medical Services.
In 2016 to date under the large grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £7.5 million to 24 projects supporting community integration, criminal justice system initiatives and the co-ordination and delivery of support. Under the small grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £2.4 million to 150 community integration projects. Depending on the quality of the bids, we hope to be able to announce the preferred bidder for the Veterans Gateway Service in November, as well as further tranches of Covenant Grant funding.
In January 2016, the Department published the first ever Armed Forces Families Strategy, embracing seven key themes – partner employment, accommodation, children’s education and childcare, community support, specialist support, health and wellbeing, and transition. This is now routine business supporting our families.
We have reviewed our casualty and compassionate processes, and this autumn we are introducing a new reserves welfare health-check. In the last year Defence has enabled payroll deductions for Service personnel to take advantage of the savings and cheap loan facilities from selected credit unions. This facility was extended to veterans in receipt of a pension in March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to improve access to Welsh subtitling for learners and people with accessibility needs.
Mr Edward Vaizey
According to the Television Access Services report of October 2015, S4C provides subtitles on over 75% of required programmes, against the Ofcom quota of 53%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the government has initiated legal action against any law firms for abuse of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team inquiry.
Penny Mordaunt
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into two firms – Leigh Day & Co, and Public Interest Lawyers – as a result of concerns about their conduct in the Al-Sweady Inquiry and associated litigation. Among other things, it is investigating how these firms obtain instructions from claimants in Iraq – a matter that is directly relevant to the unprecedented number of allegations with which the Iraq Historic Allegations Team is contending.
The Government welcomes the SRA’s decision to refer Leigh Day & Co to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, and awaits its decision with regard to Public Interest Lawyers. We will decide what further action may be appropriate in the light of the results of this process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much and what proportion of his Department’s overseas development assistance budget his Department spent was subject to the International Development Act 2002 in each of the last three years.
Mr Julian Brazier
Ministry of Defence (MOD) expenditure on overseas development assistance is governed by the Supply and Appropriation Acts.
MOD spending on overseas development assistance over the last three calendar years has been £3.0 million in 2013 and £2.2 million in 2014. The 2015 figure is currently undergoing an assurance process and is scheduled to be published on 1 April 2016. This expenditure has mainly been on humantarian assistance and defence education.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on small and medium-sized enterprises of the decision to replace research grants for companies with loans.
Joseph Johnson
Like many of our competitor economies, we are looking to provide a range of innovation finance products to meet the needs of businesses; this will still include grant funding. Some countries (like France, Finland, or the Netherlands) make use of a variety of financial instruments to support innovative businesses. We have been working to understand how we can apply these established approaches to support, drive and encourage innovation in the UK. In the coming months we will be conducting market research to engage with, and fully understand the needs of, innovative businesses of all sizes in the UK. As part of the first phase of implementation the Government will announce the details of a pilot and accompanying evaluation in late 2016. The pilot will test specific financial products ahead of progressing to full roll-out.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of dairy products procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
Details of dairy products procured for use in in the Department’s catering contract and sourced from British producers for the last reporting period, January to March 2016, are as follows:
|
Dairy sub-category |
Total spend |
British Spend |
|
|
Butter |
£297.30 |
£0.00 |
0% |
|
Cheese |
£4,244.55 |
£2,547.61 |
60% |
|
Cream |
£184.59 |
£184.59 |
100% |
|
Milk |
£7,148.74 |
£7,148.74 |
100% |
|
Yoghurt |
£1,997.24 |
£1,997.24 |
100% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what proportion of staff in his Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
David Mundell
The proportion of Scotland Office staff who were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16 is shown below.
|
Year |
Payroll |
Non-payroll |
|
2010-11 |
100% |
0% |
|
2011-12 |
96% |
4% |
|
2012-13 |
97% |
3% |
|
2013-14 |
98% |
2% |
|
2014-15 |
91% |
9% |
|
2015-16 |
93% |
7% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish data on the number of (a) low, (b) medium and (c) high level sanctions applied to universal credit claimants (i) before and (ii) after challenges.
Damian Hinds
The Department updated its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in February 2016. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently assessing the data for UC and will only release information once the necessary quality assurance work has taken place. These statistics will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.
Universal Credit official statistics and the Departments release strategy can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Royal Air Force F35B Lightning II jets have completed testing for shipborne rolling vertical landing in cooperation with US Air Force and US Navy assets.
Harriett Baldwin
|
UK F-35B simulation trials for Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing (SRVL) are ongoing. SRVL trials at sea are scheduled to commence as part of the UK’s First of Class Flying Trials aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in late 2018. |
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