The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of winding up the College of Social Work.
Alistair Burt
The Government agreed to make a grant payment of £225,000 to the College of Social Work for the 2015-16 financial year, to enable completion of existing projects and provide an orderly transfer of functions and resources to other organisations by September 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children in Calais who are waiting to be reunited with their families in the UK.
James Brokenshire
There is no official estimate of the number of children in Calais, this is primarily a matter for the French authorities. It is only possible to assess whether an individual has links to the UK that could enable a transfer on family unity grounds once they make an application for asylum in France.
Once an asylum claim is lodged in France the Dublin Regulation procedure requesting the UK to take charge of a child on family unity grounds takes place very quickly, often in a matter of weeks, subject to consideration of the evidence in each individual case. An average time is not available for each of the last three years.
Since February 2016 the UK has accepted 30 family reunification applications from minors in France of which 23 have already been transferred to the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.
Jane Ellison
The information requested (as at 31 March in each of the two years) is presented below. The figures given take into consideration only information about staff who have formally declared their ethnicity.
|
Average Hourly Rate 2015 |
Average Hourly Rate 2016 |
|
|
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Staff |
£18.50 |
£19.03 |
|
Non-Black and Minority Ethnic (Non-BME) Staff |
£24.23 |
£24.34 |
17% of the Department’s staff are BME which is above the Civil Service average. The difference in average hourly rates between BME and non BME staff is due to there being a higher proportion of BME staff in junior grades at present.
To encourage recruitment and promotion of talented individuals from a BME background, the Department has undertaken several initiatives including, but not limited to, blind recruitment forms, mandatory unconscious bias training for all staff and a suite of other Diversity and Inclusion training, such as Race Awareness, Positive Action Pathways, and Future Leaders Schemes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to safeguard levels of research funding in universities as a result of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.
Joseph Johnson
The Government recognises the importance of our research base, which is why we have protected the science resource budget in real terms from its 2015/16 level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament.
The future of UK access to European research and innovation funding will be a matter for the new Prime Minister and government to decide. The Government is determined to ensure that the UK continues to play a leading role in European and international research and innovation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Byron Davies on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many investigations the International Corruption Unit (ICU) at the National Crime Agency (NCA) inherited from other agencies when it was first established; and how many new investigations the ICU at the NCA has started since it was established.
Mr Ben Wallace
The International Corruption Unit (ICU) at the National Crime Agency (NCA) inherited 23 investigations. Since it was first established it has commenced 24 new investigations. (Figures have been provided by the NCA).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2016-01-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the (a) potential merits and (b) cost to the public purse of extending the class 1 secondary national insurance contributions exemption for employees aged under 21 to include employees aged under 25.
Mr David Gauke
The Government is determined to support young people into work. The existing Employer NICs relief for under 21 year olds recognises that the problem of youth unemployment is most acute for those at the youngest end of the scale. The Employer NICs relief for apprentices under 25 (to be introduced this April) focuses resources on those seeking to gain skills and experience through an apprenticeship to improve their employment prospects.
HM Revenue and Customs does not routinely estimate the cost of extending tax or NICs reliefs, so an accurate assessment of the cost of extending the Employer NICs relief to all under 25s is not available. However, the Government keeps all taxes and tax reliefs under review as a matter of course. Any decision on extending these existing NICs reliefs would depend on whether this would offer value for money in helping young people find and stay in work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-02-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5282), what were the sources and total cost of the non-recurrent deficit support income” used to fund directly the 125 trusts that would otherwise have been in deficit in financial year 2014/15; how many of those deficit trusts continued to require such deficit support during the financial year 2015/16; how many other NHS trusts are likely to receive such support in financial year 2015/16; what is the estimated total cost of such deficit support in financial year 2015/16; and what is the forecast contingency provision for such support in financial year 2016/17.”
Lord Prior of Brampton
To clarify my previous answer on 27 January (HL5282), 15 National Health Service providers received non-recurrent deficit support income from the Department in 2014/15, and without this income seven organisations would have reported a year-end deficit. This would have added to the 118 NHS providers that reported a financial deficit, resulting in a total of 125 NHS providers reporting an underlying deficit.
The total cost of this deficit support income was £176.3 million in 2014/15. Funding for this was provided through releasing resources from areas where there were no clear plans for spending.
The deficit support income does have the presentational effect of reducing or removing the deficit but the underlying deficit position is transparent in reporting and provider accounts and still remains until the trusts are in recurrent balance and are no longer needing financial support.
2015/16 information will be published alongside the Department’s accounts and providers are expected to report this income separately in their accounts.
For 2016/17, the £1.8 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund will help providers to move to a sustainable financial footing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) unaccompanied children and (b) partners of refugees who had already been granted asylum in the UK have a pending application for asylum in the UK.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office publishes quarterly figures on asylum claims from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) in the Immigration Statistics release. This includes information on applications received, decisions made by sex, age and country of nationality.
The Home Office does not centrally record the number of people that apply for asylum who have a partner in the UK who has already been granted. This could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made on the inquiry into alleged child abuse at the Kincora boys home.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
This is a matter for the independent Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry. I can confirm that there will be the fullest possible degree of co-operation by the UK Government and its agencies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were refused entry to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant in each of the last five years.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office does not hold data on those refused entry to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant. Border Force officers have the power to detain an individual subject to an EAW, pending the arrival of the police. Statistics are not kept on EAW arrests made at the border.