Tag: 2016

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has a range of policies, procedures and other materials to promote and support the health and wellbeing of its employees.

    The Department’s Wellbeing Group runs regular events and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of wellbeing. There is also a wellbeing week and an annual wellbeing award that recognises not just the promotion of wellbeing, but also how it has improved the wellbeing of others.

    An Employee Assistance Programme is available to all staff and provides support, information, and advice on a range of issues, including health and wellbeing, problems at work, relationships, legal matters, debt management. Telephone and face to face counselling is also available.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by Professor Walton, entitled The likely effect of the Jackson reforms on insolvency litigation – an empirical investigation, published in 2013, what the evidential basis is for his policy on each of the conclusions of that report.

    Dominic Raab

    Ministry of Justice officials met Professor Walton and others on 12 October last year to discuss his report, but the Ministry of Justice did not agree with his conclusions. Our changes to no win no fee deals have tackled the increasing costs of litigation. We delayed bringing the law in for insolvency proceedings to allow the industry time to prepare. The no win no fee reforms in Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will come into force for insolvency proceedings on 6 April this year.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they anticipate being in a position to reply to the representations made to Lord Bates and to Lord Keen of Elie about Syrian Christian families seeking asylum after the beheading of family members.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    I understand the Noble Lord is referring to correspondence dated 25 April from a member of the public on behalf of people they believe are at risk in Syria.

    I can confirm that a response was sent on 9 May.

  • 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 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of apprenticeship pay rates for young people in supported accommodation.

    Nick Boles

    The Department has not made any assessment of the pay rates for this specific group.

    We are increasing the National Minimum Wage for people on apprenticeships by 3.0 per cent to £3.40 per hour in October 2016. Most apprentices receive more than the minimum; the median basic hourly pay rate is £6.31 for Level 2 and 3, and £9.68 for Level 4 and 5 Higher Apprentices.

    The Apprenticeship National Minimum Wage applies equally to all apprentices (for the first year if aged 19 – then the appropriate NMW for age applies). For younger workers, the priority in those first years is to secure work and gain experience – something that is already reflected in the National Minimum Wage rate structure.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to include proposals relating to personal independence payments in his Department’s Green Paper on the disability employment gap.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Later this year, we will produce a Green Paper and conduct a consultation on a wide range of issues.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-10-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who had completed their VAT return through the Government Gateway by the deadline date received an incorrect late-filing penalty of £100 in each financial year since 2010-11.

    Jane Ellison

    VAT does not have a £100 penalty for late filing of returns. Nevertheless, the number of surcharges reviewed, varied and cancelled are published in the ‘Tax Assurance Commissioner’s Annual Report’, which can be found on gov.uk at; https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-we-resolve-tax-disputes.

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  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the evaluation and recommendations of the Law Commission on the Advice Services Transition Fund.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The aim of the Advice Services Transition Fund (ASTF) was to support the sector to be able to respond with confidence to the challenges presented by the changing funding environment.

    The Fund was always intended to support time limited transformational activity. Cabinet Office is not in a position to commit longer-term funding to support the core-running costs of advice services. However, the fund has supported organisations to transition to more collaborative working. We will also be working with the Big Lottery Fund to ensure that learning is identified and shared across the advice services sector. This work aligns with recommendations outlined in the Low Commission report.

  • Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Green of Deddington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many asylum seekers have been transferred from the UK to other EU member states under the Dublin Regulations owing to (1) family reasons (Articles 8, 9 and 10), and (2) irregular entry (Article 13.1), in each of the years for which data are available.

    Lord Bates

    Data is available from 2007. In those years there have been no transfers to other EU member states under the Dublin Regulations owing to family reasons (Articles 8, 9 and 10). The table below indicates those years and numbers where we have transferred cases for reasons of Irregular Entry (Article 13.1)

    Year of Return

    Returns

    2014

    20

    2015

    75
  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs on the restricted breed list were destroyed in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    Numbers of dogs destroyed as a result of being a dog of a specified type (section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991) are not held centrally. Such records would be held by each police force.

  • Alan Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alan Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Johnson on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on sending out information on the Right to Buy scheme to people who are not housing association or council tenants.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department is committed to ensuring eligible council and housing association tenants have up-to-date information about their Right to Buy, so they can make an informed decision as to whether it is the right choice for them. A direct marketing campaign, to social housing tenants who could be eligible for the scheme, has proved a very effective way to reach them with this information.

    Total spend on direct marketing from 2012 is £280,773 in 2012/13, £334,163 in 2013/14, £329,165 in 23014/15 and £195,757 to date in 2015/16. The 2015/16 figure does not include final costs for the most recent wave of direct marketing that took place in February 2016.