Tag: Alison McGovern

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of former jobseeker’s allowance claimants moving into work from the Work Programme in Merseyside, Halton, Cumbria and Lancashire contract area started work on a zero-hours contract in the last 12 months.

Esther McVey

Information published by the Office for National Statistics suggests zero-hours contracts make up a small part of the overall labour market, accounting for about 2-4% of all people in work.

Jobseekers claiming Jobseekers Allowance are not required to apply for zero-hours contract vacancies, they will not be sanctioned as a result of not applying. UC claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction as UC automatically adjusts benefit payments depending on the number of hours a person works – whatever the type of contract. However a UC claimant will not be sanctioned for refusing to take a zero hours contract with an exclusivity clause. UC is about enabling people to make a smooth transition back into work and off benefits.

Work Programme providers are not required to submit job start information until they claim a job outcome; only then are they requested to input a job start date which helps secure the validity of the job outcome payment. The type of employment is not a condition for a job outcome payment, although they must be working enough hours to leave benefit and therefore trigger the job outcome payment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what effect he expects the judgement in Edenred (UK Group) v HM Treasury & Ors to have on the timescale for roll-out for the tax free childcare scheme contract.

Priti Patel

Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) will provide support to hard-working families for childcare costs. The introduction of TFC will give almost two million families the opportunity to receive up to £2,000 per annum of support per child, via a new simple online system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many people have applied for the Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Fund in each year since its establishment; and what estimate she has made of the total grants from that date to May 2015.

Jo Swinson

The number of people who have made applications to the Access to Elected Office fund by year is in the table.

Financial Year	Number of applicants
2012/13	27
2013/14	34
2014/15 (to date)	34

The total value of Grants awarded to date (from July 2012 to January 2015) is £399,061, and applications totalling £92,442 are currently pending. Total grant expenditure will depend on the final number of successful applications between now and the end of March 2015, after which date the fund will cease to take applications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to adopt the measures contained in the Football Governance Bill.

Mrs Helen Grant

In recent years, the football authorities have introduced greater independence to the FA’s main Board, stricter rules around club ownership, and improved financial transparency and reporting rules to ensure clubs are sustainably run.

Government is allowing the football authorities more time to make the necessary reforms to the game themselves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of fresh produce supplied to the NHS through NHS supply chain contracts in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 was produced in the UK.

Dr Daniel Poulter

NHS Supply Chain estimate that the proportion of fresh produce supplied to the National Health Service through NHS Supply Chain contracts in both 2013 and 2014 that was United Kingdom country of origin was 73%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the guaranteed fulfilment period is for (a) issuing new and (b) renewing (i) children’s and (ii) adult passports.

Mike Penning

The gov.uk website sets out expected turnaround times for applications made in
the UK and, on a country-by-country basis, for applications made overseas. HM
Passport Office aims to deal with applications within published turnaround
times, but this is a guideline only as there are a number of factors that can
affect how long it takes to process an application.
The premium and fast track service provide a guaranteed turnaround period of
four hours and seven days respectively on payment of an additional fee,
provided the applicant has submitted all the relevant information and the
necessary security requirements are met.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government and Merseyrail on electrification of the Wrexham to Bidston railway line.

Claire Perry

The proposals to electrify the Wrexham to Bidston rail line are a local matter and being led by Merseytravel and the Welsh Government. My Department has not been involved at this stage in the proposals. The Welsh Government is considering the economic benefits of investment on a number of lines in North Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the change in real terms of the cost of travelling by (a) private car, (b) bus, (c) train and (d) domestic air flight between (i) 2000 and 2010 and (ii) 2010 and 2014.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport published statistics on travel costs, based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the Transport Statistics Great Britain compendium.

Data from the independent ONS suggests that:

(i) Between 2000 and 2010 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, declined by 8%, bus and coach fares increased by 20% and rail fares increased by 15% in real terms.

(ii) Between 2010 and 2014 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, decreased by 5%, bus and coach fares increased by 2% and rail fares increased by 6% in real terms.

(iii) The costs of travelling by air are not available from ONS data. However information is available based on fare data from the Civil Aviation Authority. The real cost of the average UK one-way air fare, including taxes and charges, covering domestic flights from 2000 to 2010 declined by 41% and from 2010 to 2013 declined by 4%, reflecting a range of factors including increased competition between airlines. Estimates for 2014 are not yet available.