The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the date set for the implementation of the personal independence payment programme has changed since that policy was introduced.
Mike Penning
Personal Independence Payment was introduced, as planned, to a limited geographical area from 8 April 2013 for new claimants. As further planned, it was extended nationally from 10 June 2013 for new claimants.
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 his Department made of Capita’s ability to handle large numbers of personal independence payment (PIP) claims before award of the PIP contract.
Mike Penning
The assessment of Capita’s ability to manage PIP claimant volumes was undertaken as part of the PIP Assessment Procurement exercise, conducted in line with Cabinet Office Guidelines.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people registered as self-employed claimed tax credits in each of the last five years.
Nicky Morgan
The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available is 2011-12.
|
Tax Year |
Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed |
|
Thousands |
|
|
2007-08 |
820 |
|
2008-09 |
860 |
|
2009-10 |
910 |
|
2010-11 |
950 |
|
2011-12 |
910 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nursing staff were in post in each year since 1999.
Dr Daniel Poulter
The annual National Health Service workforce census, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows the numbers of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the NHS in England as at 30 September each year. The Department does not hold information on the number of nursing staff in post in other settings.
The number of qualified nursing staff in each year from 1999 to 2013 is shown in the attached table. The latest data in the table relates to September 2013 and is taken from the annual census. The monthly workforce statistics provides more recent data but does not include primary care staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will consider the merits of ring-fencing funds allocated by his Office to local government for the purpose of voter registration.
Greg Clark
Both the paper forms and the new online registration channel to be used under Individual Electoral Registration have been designed to meet a wide range of accessibility needs. The Government has no current plans to commission such research, but the Electoral Commission is currently aiming to publish its assessment of registration rates under individual electoral registration in July 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 6 September 2010, Official Report, column 302W, on electoral register, what additional research has been conducted into the reasons for the apparent decline in registration levels and the growth of local and regional variations in electoral registration.
Greg Clark
The Electoral Commission is currently conducting research into the completeness and accuracy of Electoral registers which will be published in Summer 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the Answer from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Constitutional and Political Reform of 11 October 2011, Official Report, column 344W, on electoral register: standards, what assessment she has made of the effects of the visits of electoral registration officers in Northern Ireland to schools with 10 or more pupils between the ages of 16 and 17 on electoral registration for that age group in Northern Ireland.
Mr Andrew Robathan
Concerns about under-representation of attainers were raised following the introduction of individual registration in Northern Ireland in 2002. The registration of attainers improved significantly with the introduction of the Chief Electoral Officer’s Schools Initiative. The Electoral Commission’s 2012 report on continuous electoral registration in Northern Ireland estimated that 66% of attainers were registered.
Although the number of attainers registered in December 2013 fell to 9,945 from 11,477 in December 2012, the Electoral Commission’s recent report on the electoral registration canvass suggests that this can be partially explained by the fact that the Electoral Office did not conduct any activity with schools to register attainers in autumn 2013 due to canvass activity. The Electoral Office will commence school visits in September 2014 for the academic year 2014-15 and will also take applications from those pupils not visited last year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-12.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people eligible to be on the (a) most recent census and (b) most recent electoral register who were not recorded.
Greg Clark
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to disseminate the lessons learned from the data mining pilots for the introduction of individual electoral registrations; and if he will make a statement.
Greg Clark
The Government published its results in March 2012 and July 2013 and can be found at:
The Electoral Commission also produced their assessment of the pilots. Their reports can be found at:
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.
Norman Lamb
The Department has worked closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the development of the Measuring National Wellbeing Framework. Given the experimental nature of the data it is too early to use it specifically to formulate policy. However, some examples of relevant work taken forward by the Department include:
– working in partnership with ONS to include a measure of mental wellbeing into the Measuring National Wellbeing Framework;
– including wellbeing questions on a range of health surveys, for example the Health Survey for England, Health Behaviours of School-aged Children, the trial of a local level survey of 15 year olds, and the current wave of the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey;
– including wellbeing as a key indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework;
– publishing a narrative and a series of factsheets on why wellbeing matters to health policy;
– publishing a report on the predictors of wellbeing across the lifecourse;
– conducting two wellbeing workshops with policy makers to allow them to consider their policies from a wellbeing perspective; and
– co-founding a collaborative studentship with the University of Warwick on positive genetics using twin data to explore how genetics are related to wellbeing.
Wellbeing will also be considered in the forthcoming Chief Medical Officer’s annual report.