Tag: 2016

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2015 to Question 3343, if she will commission an independent review of the reasons for the refusal of visa applications by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq over the last three years.

    James Brokenshire

    There are no plans to commission an independent review into visa refusals of applications made by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

    UKVI places great importance of the quality of all entry clearance decisions. All applications are assessed against the Immigration Rules. Decision quality is assured both by local managers and as part of the overall Home Office audit and assurance framework to make sure that the correct decision is reached on all visa applications.

    Further assurance is provided by regular third party inspections and audits.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was of producing single departmental plans for each central government department.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    All departments undertake business planning and performance management as part of business-as-usual to ensure the effective delivery of government. Single departmental plans have been introduced in this Parliament to be a common framework by which departments manage this business and the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury tracks progress against its commitments to the public.

    The production of plans is part of this routine business planning, rather than an additional activity at additional cost. By rationalising reporting, we expect the process to become more efficient as it embeds.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on the Port and Marine Safety Code.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are no plans to make the Port Marine Safety Code mandatory. The non-statutory status of the Code is vital to its success, enabling port operators to apply industry-agreed good practice flexibly in ways most appropriate to the size and operations of their facility.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding the demolition of Palestinian houses in al-Sowana neighbourhood and Shu’fat village.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Whilst we have not raised these specific demolitions, our Ambassador in Tel Aviv has raised our concerns on demolitions with the Israeli authorities, most recently on 15 May, and urged them to provide a legal route for Palestinians to obtain building permits.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    David Mowat

    No civil servants employed by the Department or its executive agencies: Public Health England and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

    The Department currently has no agency worker paid less than the living wage. As at 22 July 2016, 23 people employed via outsourced contract companies were paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, none of these were on zero hours contracts. Six other people, on zero rated hours are paid the Living Wage or more.

    The Department’s executive agencies do not routinely collect information on the salaries of employees working for their contracted companies. However, all service providers are required to comply with the law in respect of the ‘National Living Wage’ or the ‘minimum wage’ where appropriate.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2016 to Question 44352, for what contracts the largest three total payments were made to (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG in the last three years.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Details of the Ministry of Defence contracts with the highest expenditure over the past three years, with PwC, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, and KPMG are provided in the following table.

    Contract title

    Supplier

    Total expenditure – 2013-14 to 2015-16 £

    MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDER CONTRACT FOR HUMAN RESOURCES

    PWC LLP

    11,866,144

    PROVISION OF EXTERNAL SUPPORT TO DEFENCE INTERNAL AUDIT

    PWC LLP

    7,453,821

    SUPPLY OF CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE DELIVERY OF DE&S RECRUITMENT AND DELIVERY PROGRAMME

    PWC LLP

    7,395,956

    EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE PROVISION OF IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT FOR THE DEFENCE INFRASTRUCTURE ORGANISATION TRANSFORMATION LOT 1 & 2

    DELOITTE LLP

    11,274,792

    HUMAN RESOURCES EXTERNAL SUPPORT FOR DE&S

    DELOITTE LLP

    3,900,000

    EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT THE DELIVERY OF THE DE&S OUTPUT REVIEW PROGRAMME

    DELOITTE LLP

    3,360,000

    INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TRANSFORMATION PHASE 3

    ERNST & YOUNG LLP

    38,215,660

    EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE SUPPORT FOR LOGISTIC COMMODITIES AND SERVICES INVENTORY MANAGEMENT OPTIMISATION PHASE 2 PROJECT

    ERNST & YOUNG LLP

    7,000,888

    EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE SUPPORT FOR LOGISTICS, COMMODITIES AND SERVICES PROJECT

    ERNST & YOUNG LLP

    3,546,641

    MOD COST ASSURANCE AND ANALYSIS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

    KPMG LLP

    56,484,928

    MATERIEL STRATEGY-PROVISION OF FINANCIAL ADVISOR

    KPMG LLP

    18,161,930

    COST ASSURANCE AND ANALYSIS SERVICE (CAAS) DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME – COST ESTIMATING

    KPMG LLP

    4,905,124

    The information provided reflects the fact that we are making fundamental changes to the way we manage the business of Defence, and independent experts with specialist skills are making a valuable contribution to this work. They benefit our permanent workforce by making us more self-reliant and resilient in providing the cutting-edge capabilities our Armed Forces need to keep our country safe.

  • John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Redwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many miles of rivers and waterways the Environment Agency is responsible for.

    Rory Stewart

    The Environment Agency’s flood risk management powers cover over 22,600 miles of ‘Main River’. They are also the navigation authority for over 621 miles (1000km) of waterways in England.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22908, on prisoner escapes, if he will place a copy of the letter to the hon. Member for Romford in the Library.

    Andrew Selous

    Once the information requested is available I will write to the hon. Member for Romford and place a copy of that reply in the Library.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many concerted indiscipline incidents of each type have occurred in each prison establishment in each month since May 2005.

    Andrew Selous

    Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of new psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to the problems we face but we are making progress.

    We have launched a two year Violence Reduction project to help us to gain a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of violence. We are also trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, training sniffer dogs to detect new psychoactive substances and have made it an offence to smuggle new psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively reform and rehabilitate offenders.

    Many Concerted indiscipline incidents vary widely in nature and duration and many of these incidents are relatively minor and of short duration and cause little disruption to the prison regime.

    Note: The figures included in the table attached, have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.

  • David Winnick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Winnick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will arrange for HM Revenue and Customs to acknowledge or reply to the letter of 24 February 2016 from the hon. Member for Walsall North concerning a constituent.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 14 March 2016.