The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.
Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, the right hon. Member for Horsham on 26 March 2014, Official Report, 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 average length of time was taken to process personal independence payments applications and DS1500s for clients who were terminally ill in Wales in the last year.
Mike Penning
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Liverpool, West Derby and the hon Member for Airdrie and Shotts, official report, 5 March, column 850W.
Although Personal Independence Payment is a new benefit, and the Department does not have a target for completion of claims while processess are bedding in, we do deal urgently with special rules claims for terminally ill claimants. We are implementing a range of improvements to improve clearance times for people with a terminal illness, including a dedicated phone service which we introduced in 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, what the administration costs are, per claimant, of (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments.
Mike Penning
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are different benefits with different delivery models. PIP includes a more objective assessment process, with a face-to-face consultation for most people. That is different to DLA, which is a self-assessed paper based process that purely looks at the type of health condition or impairment they have. It was always expected that PIP would produce an overall increased administration cost compared to DLA for these reasons. The current administration cost for DLA per claimant is £56.06. A comparable administration cost is currently unavailable for PIP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps his Department has taken to improve registration rates and voter turnout of (a) visually impaired voters and (b) voters with learning difficulties.
Greg Clark
Electoral law requires returning officers to take account of the needs of people with disabilities by making polling stations and voting accessible.
In June 2014, the government will be introducing an online facility for registration which will support further accessibility options for those with particular needs. User testing of paper forms has allowed their design to take into account the requirements of those with disabilities.
The Cabinet Office has also funded the Royal Mencap Society to create educational resources for people with a learning disability and to develop a model for one-to-one support for families, carers and others to encourage and enable registering to vote.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-29.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 766W, on electoral register, in which cases numbers of electors registered to vote in the transition from individual electoral registration will be monitored at an electoral ward level.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that it will collect and publish the results of the confirmation data matching process for all electoral wards in Great Britain. These will be available in late-summer 2014.
The Commission also informs me that subsequently data will be collected and published at a local authority level. This will take place after the publication of the December 2014 register and at the time of the 2015 UK parliamentary general election. However, the Commission may choose to ask for more detailed ward statistics from individual EROs if it has concerns around the implementation of individual electoral registration in a particular area.
The Commission also expects electoral registration officers to be monitoring their own data on registrations at ward level, or below, throughout the transition to individual electoral registration, and to communicate them locally to elected representatives and others.
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 June 2011, Official Report, columns 625-6W, on the electoral register, what assessment he has made of the effect of the ending of the Participation Fund on voter registration levels before the introduction of individual electoral registration.
Greg Clark
As part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, the Electoral Commission has been responsible for conducting research into the completeness and accuracy of the register. Their previous report, following the conclusion of the Participation Fund, can be found at:
The Electoral Commission will be publishing a further assessment of the completeness and accuracy of the register in Summer 2014.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many single person tax credit claims have been sanctioned or stopped in each constituency in each of the last five years.
Nicky Morgan
HMRC do not hold the requested information and there would be a disproportionate cost attached to obtaining it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-12.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 24 January 2012, Official Report, column 203W, on the electoral register, what assessment he has made of his Department’s performance in making the public aware of individual electoral registration; and how he measures that performance .
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 Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average distance is between an onshore windfarm and its connecting sub-station.
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, when electoral registration officers will be able to impose 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.