Tag: 2016

Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether union representatives of HM Revenue and Customs employees are permitted to send questionnaires to union members using official email.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

January 1, 2023

Gavin Newlands – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with how many debt collection agencies his Department has a contract.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department’s policy is to recover outstanding debt whenever possible. Where a person is not in receipt of benefit and all the Department’s attempts at recovery have been unsuccessful, the overpayment will be referred to a debt collection agency. The debtor is always given an opportunity to make an agreement to pay the Department before the debt is sent to a debt collection agency to recover.

With the exception of one service provider currently being used by the Child Maintenance Group, the Department does not hold extant, direct contracts with any debt collection agencies although the nature of some of the expired contracts means that a number of collections are still being made. DWP now makes use of one main contract with Indesser. The Framework Contract is managed by Cabinet Office. Indesser manage relationships with a number of Debt Collection Agencies on behalf of all Government Customers.

Under the terms of the Framework Agreement, Indesser and its sub-contractors must comply with relevant industry and public sector standards for service delivery including those of the Credit Services Association, the Code of Practice and the Financial Conduct Authority guidelines. The standards are listed in the DMI Framework Agreement. Indesser reviews subcontractor compliance with these standards through audit and assurance activity, including responsibility for ensuring that they comply with relevant industry standards, managing their performance, and monitoring any complaints. Customer departments (i.e. DWP) in turn receive Letters of Assurance which they review to ensure standards are being achieved and the audits are effective.

The breakdown of figures you have requested is derived from operational processes and systems designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As it was not originally intended for publication, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.

The debt collection agency costs of the Child Maintenance Group and DWP are given separately. Please note that the figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000.

The cost to the DWP of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

Financial Year	Spend	Recoveries
2009/2010	£1.59m	£8.50m
2010/2011	£1.33m	£9.77m
2011/2012	£2.11m	£13.94m
2012/2013	£1.95m	£14.15m
2013/2014	£2.12m	£15.00m
2014/2015	£2.52m	£17.30m
2015/2016*	£1.64m	£11.05m
*to date

The cost to Child Maintenance Group of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

Financial Year	Spend	Recoveries
2009/2010	£1.25m	£10.20m
2010/2011	£0.56m	£4.68m
2011/2012	£0.35m	£1.35m
2012/2013	£0.21m	£1.71m
2013/2014	£0.05m	£1.21m
2014/2015	£0.10m	£0.86m
2015/2016 to date	£0.07m	£0.53m

January 1, 2023

Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the uprating of pensions of British pensioners living in EU member states with which there was no previous bilateral agreement on the uprating of pensions of the UK leaving the EU.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.

January 1, 2023
Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what date a MR44 aircraft was delivered to and accepted by the RAF; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

None of the Nimrod MRA4 aircraft were delivered and accepted by the RAF. At the time the programme was cancelled it was 114 months late and nearly £800 million over budget.

January 1, 2023
Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to ensure that private sector companies are responsible for their off-payroll workers who use personal service companies paying the correct amount of tax.

Greg Hands

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is continuing to tighten rules on personal service companies and off-payroll workers. For example, it has successfully used Managed Service Company legislation to tackle tax avoidance involving personal service companies and intends to pursue people behind the schemes for tax debts.

The 2016 Budget announced changes to improve the effectiveness of the intermediaries rules in the public sector. HMRC is also developing, with stakeholders, a new online tool for the public and private sectors to provide greater certainty about the tax rules.

January 1, 2023
Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) assistance dogs that are in service and (b) people who are waiting for assistance dogs; and if he will take steps to ensure that demand for assistance dogs is met.

Justin Tomlinson

We do not hold any information on either the number of assistance dogs in service or the number of people waiting to receive an assistance dog. Assistance dogs are trained and provided to those that need them, primarily through assistance dog charities. I will shortly be hosting a round table event with assistance dog charities and users, to discuss a variety of issues they have raised.

January 1, 2023
Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish its review into supported accommodation; and whether it has carried out an impact assessment on the extension of the Local Housing Allowance cap.

Caroline Nokes

I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Statement made today by the Secretary of State:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-09-15/HCWS154/

Full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.

“

January 1, 2023
Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the national living wage and the apprenticeships levy on (a) contracted-out services provided to local authorities and (b) the revenue of those local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

The impact of the introduction of the national living wage and apprenticeships levy was considered during the Spending Review as part of the overall assessment of spending pressures on local authorities. However, no assessment has been made on contracted out services or revenue generation as that is for individual local authorities to consider as part of their budget setting process.

January 1, 2023
Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has decided on a date for the conclusion of the public sector spectrum release.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Budget 2016 announces a new government commitment that 750MHz of valuable public sector spectrum in bands under 10GHz will be made available by 2022, of which 500MHz will be made available by 2020. All revenue from spectrum auctions is paid into the Consolidated Fund operated by HM Treasury.

January 1, 2023
Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to encourage body confidence in young disabled people.

Caroline Dinenage

The government wants all young people to be confident and positive about their body image. My department has worked with a range of bodies, including the Advertising Association and the National Citizen Service, to develop materials that support good practice and encourage young people to become more informed and resilient consumers of media content; and with the PSHE Association to provide guidance for teachers on teaching about body image using accredited resources.

January 1, 2023