The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Government plans to publish its green paper on disability employment.
Penny Mordaunt
We will publish a Green Paper later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of local authority social housing residents have access to the internet at home.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.
The honourable member will be pleased to hear that in her Great Grimsby constituency, 96 per cent of homes and businesses can already access superfast broadband – and it is estimated that coverage will rise to98 per cent by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the £129 million of gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Great Grimsby and the rest of the area covered by the North Lincolnshire broadband project.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.
Joseph Johnson
If staff are on a detached duty or overseas postings they can claim for certain travel expenses. Out of 2514 employees in BIS HQ, fewer than 20 employees are paid reasonable extra travel costs. These are paid for a limited period.
There are no BIS policies that allow the payments of car allowances or subsidised health insurance to employees. However BIS has a legal obligation to honour contractual arrangements when staff join through a TUPE transfer including car allowances and subsidised health cover. Due to TUPE transfers, there are fewer than 20 employees paid car allowances or subsidised health cover. These benefits would not be renewed for new employees.
As the number of payments are so low, exact numbers have not been provided to ensure that individual employees are not identifiable.
The requested information is not held by BIS in respect of non-Departmental Public Bodies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-08.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 28993, whether he plans to give Ministerial approval to relax the restrictions of the public sector exit cap on employees of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Greg Hands
The power to relax restrictions on exit payments imposed by the cap will enable decisions to be taken on individual or collective cases where there may be exceptional circumstances that justify the cap being relaxed. This would be subject to scrutiny and approval by the relevant Minister in accordance with directions issued by the Treasury. The relevant Minister for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority would be the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
The Government can confirm that the regulations detailing the relaxation provisions will not come into force before 1 October 2016 and therefore all exits before that date will not be within the scope of the public sector exit payment cap.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employees of his Department are employed to investigate benefit fraud; what the estimated cost to the taxpayer is of such fraud; and if he will make a statement.
Priti Patel
As of March 2016, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employed around 3,765 staff involved in work relating to investigation of benefit fraud and error.
The information requested on the estimated cost to the taxpayer is published and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33136, whether her Department provides guidance to academies on the consultation of local people on admission policies.
Nick Gibb
All state funded schools, including academies, are required to comply with the Statutory School Admissions Code. The Code provides clear guidance on how admission authorities are required to consult on their admission arrangements, including the requirement to consult locally, for a minimum of six weeks, before making any changes to admission arrangements, and where no changes are proposed, the requirement to consult at least once every seven years, to ensure that the admission arrangements continue to meet local need.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspectors are employed by her Department to monitor the health of bee colonies across the UK.
George Eustice
The National Bee Unit (NBU), part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), currently employs 1 National Bee Inspector, 7 Regional Bee Inspectors and 45 part-time, seasonal Bee Inspectors to monitor honey bee health in England. All Seasonal Bee Inspectors are employed throughout the beekeeping season (April to September) to look for bee pests and diseases and provide training to beekeepers on good husbandry practices. The NBU’s inspectorate carries out a total of over 5,000 apiary inspections each year.
Bee Health is a devolved matter. However, there are currently 10 bee inspectors who are contracted by APHA to carry out bee inspections and training in Wales. They are funded by the Welsh Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received from (a) employees of and (b) agencies connected with ARM Holdings plc on the takeover of that business; and if he will make a statement.
Margot James
I have not received any such representations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times unsanctioned Russian military aircraft have been detected entering UK airspace in the last 12 months.
Penny Mordaunt
In the last 12 months there have been no unauthorised incursions by any foreign military aircraft into sovereign UK air space, which projects 12 miles off shore or to mutually agreed mid-points between adjacent nations over narrow straits such as the Straits of Dover. Russian military aircraft activity has remained in international airspace at all times. The UK civil air traffic region and the NATO Air Policing Area, for which the UK have responsibility for monitoring, include large areas of international air space through which foreign military traffic may legally transit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the procedures set out in the procurement policy note, Measures to promote tax compliance published in February 2014.
Matthew Hancock
These new measures on tax compliance, introduced in 2013, enable government departments to exercise their power to exclude firms bidding for government contracts where they have been non-compliant in meeting their legal tax obligations.
The policy is compatible with the existing procurement process and is being updated to clarify the use of mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria, contained in the new Public Contracts Regulations 2015, concerning tax compliance.