Tag: Chris Law

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what redundancy packages will be offered to HM Revenue and Customs staff at Sidlaw House and Caledonian House in Dundee.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills they need to continue their transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC plans to open two new Regional Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with a combined total of between 5,700 and 6,300 posts.In Dundee, Caledonian House is planned to close in 2018 and Sidlaw House will transfer to the administering of Universal Credit. HMRC will be holding individual meetings with every member of staff prior to any office closures or moves, to discuss what these plans mean for them and their choices.‎

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of HM Revenue and Customs staff in Scotland are deemed to be within reasonable daily travel distance of the two proposed regional centres; and on what assumptions those estimates were based.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional funding will be provided to HM Passport Office for the development of new technology for remote interview sites after the proposed closure of 15 HM Passport Office interview offices.

James Brokenshire

Her Majesty’s Passport office currently offers passport application interviews via secure link from 25 locations. From May 2016 there will be an additional five locations offering video interviews.

The cost of establishing video interview services at these additional five locations is estimated to be £15,000 per site. This cost will be met by our existing budget with no additional funding required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

Amber Rudd

I visited Scotland in May 2016 for the inauguration of the Shetland Gas Plant, and again in June 2016 to attend the Oil and Gas Industry Conference. Details of meetings with external organisations will be published in due course at www.gov.uk.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on having independent witnesses and monitoring groups aboard mass deportation charter flights.

James Brokenshire

Home Office records indicate that there were at least 1999 foreign nationals who, having been detained in a UK prison, were removed on charter flights in the past 5 years; 367 in 2012, 424 in 2013, 498 in 2014, 486 in 2015 and 224 in 2016 to date.

This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

Immigration Enforcement charter flights are regularly monitored by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2015-12-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs staff at Sidlaw House, Dundee will have the same terms and conditions if they are transferred to the new regional centres.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills they need to continue their transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC plans to open two new Regional Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with a combined total of between 5,700 and 6,300 posts.In Dundee, Caledonian House is planned to close in 2018 and Sidlaw House will transfer to the administering of Universal Credit. HMRC will be holding individual meetings with every member of staff prior to any office closures or moves, to discuss what these plans mean for them and their choices.‎

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect of the HM Revenue and Customs Location Strategy on future tax revenues.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of interviews for a first-time adult passport application was conducted on a face-to-face basis in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales.

James Brokenshire

In 2015, Her Majesty’s Passport Office interviewed 222,264 adult customers applying for their first passport. Of these 218,742 (98.41%) were face-to-face interviews in person. The remainder were carried out using our Video Interview Service, typically used in the more remote parts of the country. The interview is undertaken by Her Majesty’s Passport Office staff over a video link, and the customer is accompanied at all times by one of our partner organisations.

This is broken down by country to:

England: 189,252 (99.99%) in person interviews

Northern Ireland: 3,965 (100%) in person interviews

Scotland: 15,496 (85.83%) in person interviews

Wales: 10,029 (91.24%) in person interviews

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.

George Eustice

The Secretary of State has visited Scotland on two separate occasions since the 2015 General Election and met:

Diageo

Scotch Whisky Association

Scotland Food and Drink

NFU Scotland

Quality Meat Scotland

Ian Duncan MEP

Ruth Davidson MSP

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has issued written guidance to providers of the work capability assessment informing them not to direct customers to appeal decisions on their entitlements in any circumstances.

Justin Tomlinson

Information on appeals rights are made available to claimants on the relevant benefit helpline and online on Gov,UK where they can also begin their online application. Claimants are also made aware of their appeal rights when they receive their initial decision notice, which explains there is right of appeal after an application for Mandatory Reconsideration, and again when they receive the decision notice sent in response to their application for Mandatory Reconsideration. An online and postal option is provided to make their appeal.

The guidance issued to the provider by the Department is clear in that the provider should not advise the claimant on any issue relating to their benefit entitlement including the right or appropriateness of an appeal. If the claimant were to bring this up, the advice is for the provider to signpost them to the Department.