Tag: Chris Ruane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 28 Janaury 2014, Official Report, column 510W, on the electoral register, what estimate his Department has made of the number of young people registered through Bite the Ballot; what the average cost to the public purse was of each registration through Bite the Ballot; and what the average cost to the public purse has been of each registration arising from the registration campaigns of (a) the Electoral Commission and (b) his Department.

Greg Clark

The government has made available £4.2 million funding to all 363 local authorities (LAs) and valuation joint boards (VJBs) in Great Britain. The Government has written to Electoral Registration Officers and encouraged them to use this funding to support the delivery of Rock Enrol! in their area. Officials will continue to work closely with LA/VJBs in order to monitor and measure the outcomes.

The Government is supportive of organisations that promote democratic engagement such as Bite the Ballot and welcomes lessons from their experiences.The Rock Enrol! learning resource is freely available on the gov.uk and Times Education Supplement websites amongst others. The Government is also working with a range of organisations, including the Association of Citizenship Teachers, to promote the use of Rock Enrol!

For details of the Electoral Commission’s registration activities I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by the Hon. Member for South West Devon on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 209W [183573].

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the size of the electorate was (a) the year before and (b) two years after the coming into force of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001.

Nick Hurd

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a copy of the newly-designed Household Registration Form and the Invitation to Register forms.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that these forms have been formally approved by the Minister of State, and as such the Cabinet Office will be placing them in the Library shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-26.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2013, Official Report, columns 455-6W, on the Electoral Register, for what reasons the electoral commission has no plans to undertake a direct assessment of registration rates in specific university towns and cities.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that it will undertake analysis of the impact of the transition to IER for all local authorities, which will include all university towns and cities, throughout the transition period. This will include publishing data by local authority, and in some cases by electoral ward, at several points during the transition period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what his Office’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.

Mr Nick Clegg

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 26 Mar 2014, Column 300W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the performance of Capita on the delivery of personal independence payments for those who are terminally ill.

Mike Penning

Personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit and processes are currently bedding in. The Department’s contracts with Capita and Atos Healthcare for the delivery of assessments for personal independence payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department’s expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department.

Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. We are closely monitoring their progress against the Department’s expectations for service delivery and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards. In particular, for both providers, the end-to-end process for many claimants is taking significantly longer than originally anticipated. We are working with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. Special rules claims for terminally ill claimants are dealt with urgently by our assessment providers. The latest published statistics show that over 99% of people with terminal illnessess who have applied have been awarded the benefit, which means over 9,500 terminally ill claimants are now receiving personal independence payment.

Although limited data has started to feed through, we need to wait until the Department has quality assured, meaningful figures for publication. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy. An ad-hoc release of PIP information was published on 11 February 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the contract for the introduction of personal independence payment included targets for the (a) proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and (b) average length of time for each assessment.

Mike Penning

The Department has not set Personal Independence Payment assessment providers targets for the proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and the average length of time for each assessment.

Personal Independence Payment started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy.