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, how many zero-hours contracts were advertised on Universal Jobmatch in each of 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.

There are a broad range of vacancies available on Universal Jobmatch, offering various types of contracts to jobseekers. Universal Jobmatch (UJ) was designed to be a self-service job posting and matching service. Before employers can access the service and start advertising job vacancies they are required to subscribe to specific Terms and Conditions. The Terms and Conditions state, that job postings must provide a full, clear and accurate job description of an actual (genuine) job or work opportunity. Further, there is also the requirement that all job postings comply to employment related legislation such as Working Time Legislation and National Minimum Wage.

When a job is being advertised on behalf of another employer (e.g. recruitment agency or job board) a contract should be in place with the end employer. The onus is upon the employer / agency to conform to the Terms and Conditions. DWP and the UJ Service Provider work collaboratively and proactively to ensure system compliance and where an employer is identified as breaching Terms and Conditions, appropriate action is taken. If the employer continues to breach Terms and Conditions, the circumstances will be investigated and access to UJ may be withdrawn.

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. However a UC claimant will not be sanctioned for refusing to take a zero hours contract with an exclusivity clause.

UC automatically adjusts benefit payments depending on the number of hours a person works – whatever the type of contract. Where Universal Credit claimants refuse to apply for a role, including a Zero Hours Contract role when mandated to do so or refuse to accept a job offer, they can be sanctioned. People on UC will not be required to sign up to zero hours contracts which require exclusivity, so they will always have the opportunity to gain more hours elsewhere.

Universal Credit (UC) will substantially improve incentives to work, allowing people to keep more of the money they earn before it has any impact on the amount of UC they receive.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Access to Work programme has spent on British Sign Language interpreters to date.

Mr Mark Harper

Since 1^st April 2007 and up to 30^th September 2014, the Access to Work programme has spent £150m on British Sign Language interpreters.

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.