Tag: Chris Ruane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent assessment he has made of the compatability of software used by local authorities for electoral registration and that used by (a) the Electoral Commission and (b) his own Department.

Greg Clark

In developing the digital service which supports the implementation of Individual Electoral Registration (IER), the Government has ensured the compatibility of Election Management System (EMS) software used by local authorities and valuation joint boards with the mechanisms which will manage the transfer and matching of data. This has been achieved by developing an interface which standardises the communication of data between EMS software and the IER Digital Service. This has been fully and successfully tested.

The Electoral Commission has no direct responsibility for the processing or determination of registration applications and therefore has no requirement to interact with the digital service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Answer of 13 June 2011, Official Report, column 586W, on electoral register, how many (a) written and (b) oral representations the Electoral Commission has received on electoral registration matters from hon. Members from the (i) Labour, (ii) Conservative and (iii) Liberal Democrat parties in each year since 2010.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that it no longer holds information in the format requested. However, the Commission answers parliamentary questions about all aspects of its work and meets regularly with a range of honourable members to discuss issues relevant to its work, including on registration matters. This includes meetings with Parliamentary parties, a range of meetings with individual MPs and meetings with its Parliamentary Advisory Group, minutes of whose meetings can be found on its website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/who-we-are/governance-and-decision-making/parliamentary-advisory-group.

Details of the Chair of the Commission’s external meetings are also published on an annual basis and can be found on its website here:

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/who-we-are/executive-and-management-team

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-12.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use in Northern Ireland of prize draws to increase voter registration.

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 Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, 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.

Nicky Morgan

As the Prime Minister has said “we’ll start measuring our progress as a country not just by how our economy is growing, but by our quality of life.”

The National Wellbeing Index and Measures of Wellbeing provides a rich contribution to the debate about the health and happiness of the people of the United Kingdom.

These are relatively new statistical series, meaning that the evidence base on wellbeing, and the implications for policy making, are still being developed. The ONS Wellbeing statistics released on the 4^th June made a helpful contribution to this debate. They revealed for example, that those households that receive more of their income from benefits are more likely to have lower life satisfaction. This government has overseen record employment levels and is reforming the benefit system so that it always pays to work and people are not trapped in a life on benefits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, 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.

Gregory Barker

The National Wellbeing Index contains two measures directly related to DECC’s priorities: “Energy consumed within the UK from renewable sources” and “Total greenhouse gas emissions”, where latest data shows the positive impact being made by DECC. For example in 2013, provisional data shows 15% of electricity being produced from renewable sources – a new high. To provide further support for renewable and other forms of low carbon generation DECC is implementing Electricity Market Reform, in particular provisions for Feed-in-Tariffs with Contracts for Difference. Since 2010 DECC has also launched the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme to provide support for renewable heat in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors.

More broadly, a number of DECC’s policies, such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which funds efficient boilers and insulation measures to low income and vulnerable households and is now guaranteed until at least 2017, contribute toward other aspects of the National Wellbeing Index, for example “Getting by financially”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the relationship between the length of time of GP patient consultation and patient satisfaction.

Dr Daniel Poulter

Overall patient satisfaction is driven by a range of factors, including accessing general practitioner (GP) appointments at a convenient time, the ability to see a preferred GP and the quality of the conversation with the GP.

Data is not held centrally on the average length of a GP appointment, and we are not aware of any formal assessment being made of the relationship between the length of time of a GP patient consultation and patient satisfaction.

However, the GP Patient Survey includes the following question:

“Last time you saw or spoke to a GP from your GP surgery, how good was that GP at each of the following?

– Giving you enough time

– Listening to you

– Explaining tests and treatments

– Involving you in decisions about your care

– Treating you with care and concern”

In the most recent GP Patient Survey, published in December 2013, 85.8% of respondents said that their GP was either ‘very good’ or ‘good’ at giving them enough time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of staff employed (a) directly and (b) indirectly by his Department were employed on (i) short term and (ii) zero hours contracts in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Shailesh Vara

We are unable to provide the number of staff and proportion of those employed by a third party to work indirectly by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). This information is partially held centrally and to collate all of this information as a whole would incur disproportionate costs.

However figures that are held on the MoJ central systems on staff directly employed by the MoJ and its agencies from 2008 to 2014 on (i) short term and (ii) zero hour contracts can be found in the tables below.

MoJ Staff with Fixed Term Contracts (SFTC) of 12 months or less as per the Office on National Statistics definition can be found below.

	SFTC	% of SFTC Workforce in MoJ
31-Mar-08	2,087	3%
31-Mar-09	1,489	2%
31-Mar-10	1,305	2%
31-Mar-11	1,025	1%
31-Mar-12	409	1%
31-Mar-13	1,372	2%
31-Mar-14	637	1%

MoJ Staff recorded as having no fixed hours of employment i.e. zero hour’s contracts.

	Staff on Zero Hours contract	% of ‘Zero hour’ Workforce
31-Mar-08	158	0.25%
31-Mar-09	208	0.29%
31-Mar-10	188	0.26%
31-Mar-11	204	0.26%
31-Mar-12	158	0.21%
31-Mar-13	133	0.17%
31-Mar-14	123	0.16%

The percentage of MoJ staff on zero hour contracts has been decreasing since 2009.