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Tag: Chris Ruane

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

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

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the introduction of online voting in (a) Australia and (b) South Africa and its relevance to the UK.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it monitors developments in voting technology in other countries, including the limited online voting pilot schemes which have so far taken place at an individual state level in Australia. South African overseas voters can go online to register to vote, but cannot actually vote online.

    The Commission will continue to take account of relevant experience from other comparable democracies as it develops a strategy for modernising voting at elections in the UK.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    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 in the delivery of personal independence payments in Wales.

    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.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment claimants faced travel times to assessments greater than 60 minutes; and what proportion of those claimants were mentally ill.

    Mike Penning

    The Department does not hold central records on claimants travelling time to a Personal Independence Payment consultation, nor is it gathered by health condition, this information could only be collated at disproportionate cost.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the percentage annual canvass return rate was for each local government area in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    A copy of the information requested by the hon. Gentleman has been placed in the Library.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

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

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, which local authorities who have failed one or more Electoral Commission performance indicators for electoral registration did not apply for the additional funding his Office has put in place.

    Greg Clark

    In 2013 five Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) reported that they did not meet performance standard 3, relating to house-to-house enquiries: Mid Devon; Taunton Deane; Torridge; West Devon; and West Somerset. One ERO, Basildon, reported that they did not meet standard 1, relating to information sources.

    The Electoral Commission is in the process of carrying out a detailed analysis of EROs’ electoral registration data from the 2013 canvass, following which it will publish its final assessment of EROs’ performance in 2013.

    No authorities who failed one or more Electoral Commission performance indicators in Financial Year 13-14 have applied for the additional funding.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    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 14 June 2010, Official Report, column 324W, on the electoral register, who is responsible for assessing the performance of the Electoral Commission in (a) monitoring and (b) increasing the electoral registration rates of individual local authorities.

    Greg Clark

    The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000) established the Electoral Commission as independent of Government. It is accountable to Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    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, which electoral registration officers identified themselves as below standard at using information services to verify entries in the register of electors and identify potential new electors in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that in 2013 no Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) reported performing below the standard for performance standard 1, which aims to ensure that EROs use appropriate sources of information to verify records on the register of electors and to identify and contact potential new electors throughout the year.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

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

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2014, Official Report, column 971W, on the Electoral Administration Act 2013, whether non-individual electoral registration entries will be included on the register by the time of the freeze date for the next boundary review on 1 December 2015.

    Greg Clark

    It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    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 length of cables between onshore windfarms and connecting sub-stations has been placed (a) above ground and (b) underground in each of the last five years.

    Michael Fallon

    The Department does not hold this information. Windfarms usually own the cables connecting them to substations. Gathering the information requested would, therefore, require contacting individual windfarm developers at a disproportionate cost.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

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

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what training has been given to electoral registration officers in the implementation of fixed penalty notices for non-registration.

    Greg Clark

    From 10 June 2014, alongside the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER), Electoral Registration Officers in England and Wales will be able to impose civil penalty notices for failure to respond to a notice of requirement to register on the electoral register. In Scotland this will be from 19 September 2014 alongside the introduction of IER in Scotland, following the Scottish referendum.

    In conjunction with the Electoral Commission we intend to collect information on the number of civil penalties issued for failure to respond to an IER invitation through each local authority’s Electoral Management System.

    Local authority staff who are responsible for the delivery of electoral registration have been fully trained on IER processes, including a module on notices of requirement to register and on civil penalties.