Tag: Alan Brown

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35019, on social fund, for what reasons management information is only held from 2013.

Justin Tomlinson

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 the information previously provided was extracted from the current live Operational Activity Based Management Information System.

The information from 2010 until 2013 is not readily available as it is archived. However we have now been able to extract the historical data which is displayed in the table below.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Bereavement Benefit	145	130	116	106	94	84	78
Maternity Allowance	108	82	77	75	70	66	72
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit	309	243	241	226	192	166	148
Social Fund	4321	2480	1968	1552	798	411	349

Notes: The table above shows average Full Time Equivalent for each financial year from April to March.

Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management System (L1A) and Operational Activity Based Management Information System (L1A)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-06-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to change the pension freedoms rules to allow people to withdraw a lump sum after drawing down their pension.

Harriett Baldwin

The Chancellor announced at the March Budget 2015 that the government intends to remove the restrictions on the sale of existing annuities. This will allow pensioners to sell the income they receive from their annuity. Subject to agreement from their annuity provider and there being a willing buyer, people will then be able to access their money either as a lump sum or arrange for it to be put into a drawdown product to use the proceeds more gradually.

In December 2015, the government published its response to its initial consultation on these proposals confirming that the government intends to implement these proposals from April 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the recent fall in the value of sterling on the cost of constructing the Successor submarines.

Harriett Baldwin

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 October 2016 to Question 48369 to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13632, on what dates in September 2015 he met (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) other ministers in HM Treasury to discuss the potential effects in Scotland of a carbon price support exemption scheme.

David Mundell

As indicated in my previous answers on this issue, I have had a number of meetings and discussions this year, both formal and informal, on the important issue of opencast restoration and in particular the proposal for a carbon price support exemption. These have included discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Scottish Government and Local Authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of retaining the Vanguard submarines in service for approximately five years longer than envisaged in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Mr Philip Dunne

As set out in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we have assessed that we can safely manage and maintain the Vanguard boats until the Successor submarines are introduced into service in the early 2030s. The marginal costs associated with maintaining the submarines can be contained within the existing running cost of the deterrent, which is around 6% of the defence budget per year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant the Answer of 4 December 2015 to Question 18424, whether the Syrian-led negotiations under UN auspices have begun; what the status is of these talks; and which parties are involved in such talks.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

UN Security Council Resolution 2254 of 18 December has set out a timeline for the commencement of Syrian-led negotiations, for January 2016, under UN auspices, building on an agreement reached in the International Syria Support Group. The date for the commencement of negotiations will be proposed by the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. Representatives of all Syrian parties will be invited, with the exclusion of UN designated terrorist groups including Daesh and Al Qaeda affiliated groups.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Housing Statistical Release Right to Buy Sales October to December 2015, published on 24 March 2016, what the average length of time was from a start on site to occupancy.

Brandon Lewis

This information is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35018, how many funeral expense payments were processed by his Department in 2015-16; and what proportion of such applications were processed within (a) 15, (b) 20 and (c) 25 working days.

Justin Tomlinson

For 2015/16 the Department processed 45,467 applications for Funeral Expense Payments with 69.7% cleared within 15 working days and 83.4% cleared within 20 working days. We are unable to provide data on how many applications were processed within 25 working days as the Management Information system that the Department uses for Funeral Expenses does not provide this level of detail.

Source:

Number processed – Department for Work and Pensions – Management Information System Program (MISP) – Management Information Portal

% processed – Department for Work and Pensions – Office Print Report Tool (OPRT) – Management Information Statistics

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 41415, what assistance the Government provides for UK coal and gas producers seeking to export their fuels overseas to the (a) EU and (b) rest of the world.

Amber Rudd

In the case of gas, UK Trade and Investment is active in helping the UK oil and gas sector do more business internationally. In addition the remit of the new Oil & Gas Authority, established in 2015, is to work with government and industry to make sure that maximum economic benefit is derived from the UK’s oil and gas reserves.

UK companies are freely able to export and import coal as part of normal market operators.

UK demand for both coal and gas outweighs domestic supply, therefore the UK imports the vast majority of its coal needs and around half of its gas supply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the number of British jobs involved in the Trident successor programme as a result of the recent decision to use French steel in the Successor submarines.

Harriett Baldwin

The Successor programme represents billions of pounds of investment in thousands of British jobs, across hundreds of firms, from Scotland to the South of England.

Other stages of construction will include grades of steel manufactured by British suppliers and we encourage them to take the opportunity to bid.

85% of BAE Systems supply chain for the new submarines is based in the UK.