Tag: Chris Leslie

Chris Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the contribution of the Corsellis Brain Collection to medical research and health improvement in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

Started in the early 1950s by Professor Nick Corsellis at Runwell Hospital, in recent years the Corsellis Collection of brain pathology specimens has been managed and maintained by West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT). The excess costs of maintaining the collection can only be supported by WLMHT from funds received for patient care. Therefore WLMHT has decided to dispose of the collection by seeking expressions of interest in the brain tissue of value for research, mainly sub-collections of the less common pathologies, and to respectfully dispose of that tissue for which no scientific purpose could be envisaged.

WLMHT has received expressions of interest, but none in taking the complete collection. The original timescale for closure was by the end of March 2016, but WLMHT will support a further three months activity to meet the additional requests for tissue samples. The collection will close by the end of June.

The Department and NHS England have not made any specific assessment of the contribution of the collection to medical research and health improvement in the United Kingdom, or undertaken any specific analysis of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the collection.

The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.

January 1, 2023
Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2013-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, his Department made in each year since 2010; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Ministry of Justice has reduced the overall cost of air travel by almost half since 2009, and our total spend on all travel has fallen by more than 40 per cent in the same period – a saving of more than £9m.

Furthermore, this year, the Justice Secretary toughened up the rules to ban first and business class travel for Ministers and officials in the department other than in exceptional circumstances where this is required to meet business need.

Overseas travel makes up a small proportion of the Department’s overall travel requirement. Flights and travel by Eurostar are booked through our contracted supplier, and whilst the MoJ records data on transactions, it does not hold details of the cost or destination of individual trips centrally. The cost of breaking down all travel in the ways requested would be disproportionate, as managers across the Department would have to create a breakdown of every trip taken, itemised by the different kinds of expenditure.

December 1, 2022
Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-01-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion and value of his Department’s contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years.

Andrea Leadsom

Since January 2011, central government departments have been required to publish on Contracts Finder information on the tenders issued and contracts they award with a value over £10,000 (excluding VAT) (www.gov.uk/contractsfinder).

Public Procurement Regulations require that prescribed procurement procedures are used when procurements exceed the EU contract threshold values. This legal framework helps to ensure that public procurement is conducted in a fair and open manner both within the UK and across the EU.

Less than two percent of all contracts were let under the restricted procedure in each of the last three years.

In 2010/11 there was one contract let under the restricted procedure. This was for actuarial support to the independent commission on Equitable Life Payments that was set up by this government to recommend how best to fairly allocate funds provided for the Equitable Life Payments Scheme (ELPS) and had a contract value of £1million.

In 2011/12 there were two contracts let under the restricted procedure. They were (i) Corporate Financial Advice framework contract (estimated contract value of £5 million over the 2 years but no guaranteed spend)and (ii) a contract for actuarial support for (ELPS) in making fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policyholders who suffered financial losses as a result of Government maladministration which occurred in the regulation of Equitable Life. The contract value was £5.4 million.

The information requested for the proportion and value of HM Treasury contracts that have been let via framework agreements and where a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

December 1, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2013-11-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, his Department has made in each year since 2010; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip.

Brandon Lewis

Role of the Department

Reflecting our responsibilities for local government, housing, planning and communities across England, the work of the Department involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.

Improved procurement has reduced our average domestic hotel rate in the UK by 8% between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Moreover, domestic flights for longer journeys can avoid the need for paying for staff to stay in a hotel overnight.

Since 2011-12, the Department accepted responsibility for some new functions outside of London, including residual functions following the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions and then oversight of the European Regional Development Fund following the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside of London and to the European Commission, this has therefore increased our travel spend compared to the base of 2010-11. However, this is far more than offset by the very significant savings to taxpayers of the abolition of these regional bodies.

Based on current estimates (which reflect accounting consequences from machinery of government changes) the DCLG Group is reducing its annual running costs by around 40% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This equates to net savings of at least £532 million over this spending review period and includes savings of around £420 million from the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions.

In addition to this, I note that the Regional Development Agencies were spending in the region of £246 million a year on administration (as cited in 11 March 2009, Official Report, Column 592W).

Spending data

The tables below list spending on travel by financial year. Figures for 2009-10 are from July 2009, as this is when the department’s current approved travel agent contract commenced; those figures are therefore only for three-quarters of the financial year, and the full year is likely to be proportionately higher.

	Overseas Travel	Overseas Accommodation	Overseas Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£408,621	£19,847	£79,574	£508,042 (part-year)
2010-11	£56,304	£21,759	£27,798	£105,861
2011-12	£69,463	£21,204	£19,946	£110,613
2012-13	£78,474	£29,224	£21,911	£129,609

	UK Travel	UK Accommodation	UK Subsistence	Total
July 2009 – March 10	£621,028	£309,260	£174,888	£1,105,176 (part-year)
2010-11	£434,467	£199,563	£81,315	£715,345
2011-12	£980,307	£162,544	£71,913	£1,214,764
2012-13	£1,030,710	£166,149	£74,424	£1,271,283

Explanatory notes:

– Overseas subsistence costs can include accommodation, meals and travel tickets purchased locally.

– The costs of internal travel abroad are not routinely recorded in the form requested and this information could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

– Data on cost per trip is not centrally held in the form requested.

– For car hire, the data from our finance systems do not separate out expenditure for domestic and international car hire and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

– For helicopter hire, our records show that the Department has incurred no expenditure on this since 2010-11.

– Figures contained in this answer may differ from previous answers to Parliamentary Questions, as the data extracts have been re-run and reflect ongoing accruals and data. Delays in billing or crediting transactions can sometimes have an effect on the spend data between the financial years.

Taken in the whole, we have reduced overall travel spending compared to the last Administration, and delivered substantive savings for taxpayers’ from the abolition of regional government in England.

December 1, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will meet representatives of the British Muslim charities sector to discuss concerns about the level of prejudice and unfair stigmatisation they may encounter in the course of their work; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations and individuals. Details of these meetings are published on the Cabinet Office website on a quarterly basis.

I would be happy to consider further engagement as appropriate.

November 3, 2022
Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on the merger of further education colleges in Nottingham; and what options are under consideration for broadening and improving the governance of that new institution.

Nick Boles

Following a city-wide review of further education provision in Nottingham by the Further Education Commissioner, the Boards of Governors of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham have agreed to pursue a merger of their colleges to take effect from September 2016.

Colleges are independent corporations and responsible for their own decision making, including the governance arrangements that will apply to the merged entity.

November 3, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what types of offence resulted in confiscation orders being made in 2012-13; and how much was collected as a result of those orders.

Mike Penning

The table below shows the primary offence type for all confiscation orders made between 01/04/2012 and 31/03/2013 and the current amount paid against those impositions as of 16/01/2015. The ‘Amount Paid’ does not include any sums of interest that may have been collected on those orders.

Primary Offence Type	Amount Paid
Arms Trafficking	£ 2,274.00
Bribery and Corruption	£ 724.00
Burglary / Theft	£ 5,178,518.99
Counterfeiting / Intellectual Property / Forgery	£ 3,482,693.99
Drug Trafficking	£ 27,142,467.06
Excise Duty Fraud	£ 1,250,612.62
Handling Stolen Goods	£ 778,521.81
Intellectual Property Crime	£ 390,863.43
Money Laundering – Drugs	£ 8,183,885.75
Money Laundering – Other	£ 18,291,592.71
Other Crime	£ 8,045,149.97
Other Fraud / Embezzlement / Deception / Crimes of dishonesty	£ 22,650,449.84
People Trafficking	£ 281,589.31
Pimps and Brothels / Prostitution / Pornography	£ 965,260.92
Robbery	£ 167,503.53
Tax and Benefit Fraud	£ 9,078,615.86
Terrorism	£ 39,945.15
Trading Standards Offences	£ 435,591.73
Unknown	£ 125,986.91
VAT Fraud	£ 10,548,046.91
Vehicle Offences	£ 917,892.02
Grand Total	£ 117,958,186.51

Confiscation orders are one of the key mechanisms available to the Government to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes. They are based on the notional benefit attributed to the crime and may, therefore, exceed the value of realisable assets that are known to the Court at the time of imposition. Crucially, an order that is outstanding stops the criminal benefitting from the proceeds of crime and ensures that, if assets are discovered in the future, they can be seized.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and other agencies involved in confiscation order enforcement take the recovery of criminal assets very seriously and are working to ensure that clamping down on defaulters is a continued priority.

The amount defendants repaid from their criminal activity across all agencies has increased for the last five consecutive years and we are currently on course to have another highly effective year. £137.2million was collected in 2013/14 (which represented a 4% increase on the total recovered during 2012/13); as at the end of December 2014, £113 million had been recovered, which is an increase of 10% on the same period last year.

November 2, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to page 77 of the British Council’s Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14, what the value is of each tangible fixed asset worth more than £250,000.

Mr Hugo Swire

The net book value of the British Council’s tangible fixed assets as at 31 March 2014 was £165,850,000. Individual valuations per asset cannot be provided as this information is commercially sensitive.

November 2, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by her Department in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid.

Mrs Helen Grant

The 10 professional services firms that were paid the most in 2013/14 are listed in the table below:

Supplier Name	Total paid in 2013-14 (£)
KPMG LLP	1,934,209.35
Pinsent Masons	950,789.80
Local Partnerships	429,919.24
Grant Thornton UK LLP	401,867.88
Regeneris Consulting Ltd	75,187.00
Andrew Dumbreck Media Limited	62,165.60
National Centre for Social Research	70,732.00
Deloitte (LLP No 2 a/c)	49,480.00
CLAS Co-operative Ltd	29,820.00
SQW Limited	29,413.00

These are unaudited figures from the Department’s financials systems, net of recoverable VAT. The department uses professional services firms for a variety of purposes. In addition to consultancy services, they include expenditure on external legal support and advice on programmes, research fieldwork, evaluation, specialist technical advice and the provision of interim managers. Legal services from the Treasury Solicitors and providers of recruitment services have been excluded in order to arrive at a list of firms that are predominantly providers of consultancy.

November 1, 2022

Chris Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

Anna Soubry

The Ministry of Defence uses a process called “manpower substitution” to engage temporary staff at agreed fixed rates on a national basis through a number of contracts. Manpower substitutes are employed for up to 11 months to fill vacant, funded posts. The majority are brought in to fill medical and dental requirements at military medical centres to cover for military positions that are vacant due to deployment into operational theatre. This enables the medical services to continue to provide the best possible care to members of the Armed Forces.

The five companies most frequently used by the Ministry of Defence in Financial Year 2013-14 to provide temporary workers, and the associated fees paid to each, are presented in the following table:

Company	Type of worker	Number of Temporary Workers	Fees Paid
HoneyBee	Medical & Dental	790	£3.46m
CastleRock Ltd	Medical & Dental	490	£2.61m
Capita Resourcing	Interim Professionals	320	£2.07m
Hayes	Medical & Dental	190	£0.59m
Reed	Clerical & Admin	160	£0.11m

The figures provided for Capita Resourcing cover the period from April 2013 to March 2014. All other data cover the period April 2013 to February 2014. Data is extracted from the MOD’s centralised Manpower Substitution Service database and does not include any localised arrangements that individual Top Level Budget holders may have with other companies.

November 1, 2022