The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what contingency arrangements his Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.
Stephen Crabb
I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wasserman on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Police and Crime Commissioners who are unsuccessful in seeking re-election in May will receive financial support from the public purse, as is the case with MPs who are unsuccessful in a General Election; and if so, how much.
Lord Bates
Police and Crime Commissioners who are unsuccessful in seeking re-election in May will not receive any direct financial payment from the public purse as a result. Police and Crime Commissioners are eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme and those that have done so may be able to access money paid into that scheme in line with its rules.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total budget for the National Benefit Fraud Hotline in 2014–15; how many allegations of suspected benefit fraud were reported via that hotline or the online reporting form in 2014–15; what was the total cost of investigating those allegations; and how much was identified in recoverable overpayments by those investigations.
Lord Freud
The Fraud and Error Service (FES), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the prevention, detection and where appropriate, investigation of Fraud and Error against all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.
The National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH) is outsourced; therefore there is a yearly cost for outsourcing as opposed to a budget. The total outsourcing cost the NBFH for 2014/15 is £303,480. This figure covers the 52 week period commencing 31 March 2014.
The available data on allegations of benefit fraud reported via the NBFD or online only covers incidents recorded on the internal FES Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS.) It does not give the total volume of enquiries and calls made to NBFH, only those that were entered onto FRAIMS. There are various reasons for allegations not being entered onto FRAIMS, including the fact that not all enquiries and calls are of an appropriate nature. In 2014/15 there were 207,600 cases of suspected benefit fraud reported via the NBFH that were entered onto FRAIMS or reported online.
We are unable to provide a precise response on the cost of investigating these allegations because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still on going. We are able to provide an estimate of the cost of investigations that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. We cannot distinguish the exact costs of investigating NBFH allegations from the total cost of investigating all allegations and so this figure is an estimate, calculated by apportioning total costs of Local Service that were undertaken in 2014/15 on the basis of Positive Outcomes as this is the main cost driver. This was estimated to be £16.9m. This figure only includes direct costs of Investigations – there are no overheads included.
As with the cost of investigation, we are unable to provide a precise response on the amount identified in recoverable overpayments because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still ongoing. We have instead provided the value of overpayments that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. £46,068,848 was identified as recoverable.
Note that identifying overpayments also prevents a significant amount of future losses which are not included in the value of recoverable overpayments identified shown here. Referrals from members of the public therefore provide good value for money.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an impact assessment has been carried out on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Survey and Inspection Transformation Programme.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Guidance from Cabinet Office indicates that there is no requirement to complete a Business Engagement Assessment on this activity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effectiveness of auto-enrolment onto the electoral roll for all UK citizens eligible to vote.
John Penrose
I have considered a range of proposals from local authorities and civil society organisations that could change how registration is currently delivered.
We are keen to explore further possibilities in this area but are concerned there may be tension between some forms of automatic registration and the principles underpinning Individual Electoral Registration, namely individual responsibility and ownership over registering to vote.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue Govia Thameslink Railway has paid to the Government since taking up its franchise in 2014.
Claire Perry
Passenger Income by Train Operating Company is published annually in August by the Office of Road and Rail. It is available online at: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/21039/gb-rail-industry-financial-information-2014-15.pdf (Table 5.1).
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence permitting the control of up to 10 buzzards, if her Department will take steps to ensure that the granting of such licences does not endanger the buzzard population.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
Buzzards are now widespread in England, with over 60,000 pairs in the UK (British Trust for Ornithology). The removal of a small number of birds will have no impact on the national population. Moreover, Natural England would not license any activity that would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the Government plans to re-apply for World Trade Organisation membership upon leaving the EU; and what assessment he has made of the length of time it would take for such an application to be successful.
Greg Hands
The UK is already a member of the WTO in its own right and will not need to re-apply upon leaving the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Prime Minister, how many mental health services he has visited since May 2010; and what the (a) date and (b) location was of each such visit.
Mr David Cameron
Details of my visits within the United Kingdom are published on the gov.uk website.
Most recently, on 11 January I visited Family Action in London where I announced £290 million of new investment over the next 5 years to provide mental healthcare for new mums, £247 million to invest in liaison mental health services in emergency departments, over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital and expanded services to help teenagers with eating disorders. This builds on previous government funding commitments for mental health over the last 12 months, including £150 million for young people with eating disorders and £1.25 billion for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of benefit payments to EU immigrants during the last two years for which data are available.
Lord Freud
The information on benefit receipt by nationality is not available.
The Department has published statistics on working age benefit recipients claiming within 6 months of National Insurance Number (NINO) registration. This information is known as “Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP benefit claimants” and is included in the “Statistical Bulletin on National Insurance Number Allocations to Adult Overseas Nationals”.
The Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.