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Tag: Chris Ruane

  • 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.

  • 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 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who are currently unemployed who have repeat episode depressions; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the use of mindfulness-based interventions in making people ready for work.

    Mike Penning

    We do not keep health data on those who are currently unemployed. However we know that at any one time one in six people has a mental health problem like anxiety or depression, and a further two in a hundred are affected by severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

    We are currently considering the design of the pilots to test the most promising interventions and evidence-based approaches put forward by RAND Europe and we will be implementing these pilots this year.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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 findings of Mental Health Foundation research into the impact of mindfulness-based interventions on the reduction in patient visits to the GP.

    Norman Lamb

    No such assessment of the saving to the National Health Service from the use of mindfulness interventions to reduce the number of general practitioner visits has been made.

    The Department is aware of the Mental Health Foundation’s research into the impact of mindfulness. The benefits of mindfulness are widely recognised. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance for the NHS has recommended Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for recurrent depression since 2004. MBCT is available through a number of Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services in England.

  • 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 2014-06-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to increase the number of British overseas electors registered to vote.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it runs public awareness campaigns to encourage British expatriates to register to vote; the most recent took place ahead of the European elections this year.

    Two briefing notes, which included details of the campaign, were circulated to hon. Members in advance of the elections. These notes are available on the Commission’s website here:

    · www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/164449/Elections-May-2014-briefing.pdf

    · www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/165893/The-elections-on-22-May-2014-Briefing-note-2.pdf

    The Commission intends to run a similar campaign ahead of the 2015 General Election. It is currently evaluating the performance of its 2014 campaign to identify improvements that could be made for the General Election campaign. The Commission will ensure that a copy of the evaluation is sent to the hon. Member when it has been completed.

    “

  • 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 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, columns 20-1W, on electoral registration, which electoral registration officers and local authorities had the biggest improvement in registering attainers between 2008 and 2013.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not collect data on the number of attainers registered as part of its monitoring of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Through its performance standards framework the Commission monitors whether EROs are encouraging participation in the registration process by having in place an effective and appropriate public awareness strategy and working with partners where appropriate to promote registration.

    The Commission informs me that there has been a significant improvement made by EROs in this area.

    Between 2008 and 2012 the number of EROs meeting or exceeding the standards relating to public awareness and working with partners increased from 34% to 99% and from 67% to 100% respectively.

    The Commission’s report on EROs’ performance in 2013 will be published at the end of March 2014.

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

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

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

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the differential turnout was between the highest and lowest income group in each general election for which such data is available.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not hold this data. Some information on how turnout varies by socio-demographic factors is available from an analysis of public opinion polls carried out by Ipsos MORI around general elections. The data for 2010 can be found here: http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/2613/How-Britain-Voted-in

    “

  • 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 2014-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what additional funding his Department allocated to the town of Rhyl for the purpose of piloting back-to-work projects in each year since 1997.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not readilly available and to provide it would incur 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 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 19 June 2012, Official Report, columns 923-4W, on electoral register: fraud, how many successful prosecutions for electoral registration fraud there were in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.

    Greg Clark

    The Government does not collect this data.

  • 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.