Tag: Chris Ruane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-14.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many postal votes there were as a proportion of those issued in the top 100 constituencies in turnout ranked order at the 2010 General Election.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that a table showing the a) number of postal votes issued as a proportion of the total electorate and b) number of postal votes returned as a proportion of the number issued, across the 100 constituencies with the highest turnout at the 2010 General Election, has been deposited in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authority (a) augmented and (b) did not augment Department for Work and Pensions data matching with the electoral register with local authority data matching.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that 137 local authorities provided data to them on their local data matching activities following the trial of matching with the DWP in 2013. The table below lists these local authorities. Those that did not provide data may still have carried out local data matching work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the functional literacy rates were in each (a) local authority area and (b) region in each of the last 10 years.

Mr David Laws

Tables showing the percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in reading and writing at the end of key stage 2[1] at local authority level for the past four years are published in the ‘National curriculum assessments at key stage two’ statistical first release (SFR). A copy of the data has been placed in the House Library.

Information on the percentage of pupils achieving A* to C and A* to G grades in English GCSE[2] nationally for the last 10 years are published in the ‘GCSE and equivalent results’ SFR. A copy is placed in the House Library.

Key stage 2 reading and writing figures for earlier years and English GCSE figures at local authority level could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

[1] These figures are published in the “National curriculum assessments at key stage 2” statistical first releases for each year.

[2] These figures are published in the “GCSE and equivalent results” statistical first releases for each year.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.

Mr Francis Maude

Guidance on officials appearing before all-party parliamentary groups is set out in Volume 2 of the Directory of Civil Service Guidance, copies of which are available in the Library of the House and online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60997/guide-civil-service-guidance-volume-2_0.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of his Department’s performance in handling commercial contracts.

Mike Penning

In 2013, the department recruited a new Commercial Director who has reviewed the department’s commercial capability and capacity. The review took account of the views and policy steers from the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), the Chief Procurement Officer and Crown Representatives.

The review found that whilst there are areas of high capability, in some of the most complex contract areas there is a need to improve the capability and capacity of the department’s commercial function and people. In line with Civil Service Reform and the ERG-led Procurement Reform programme, the department initiated a commercial improvement programme. The programme completed a commercial skills survey in October 2013. It also restructured the commercial organisation where assessment of current practice against the standards of the NAO contract management model was also conducted.

The commercial improvement programme will strengthen commercial capability by developing and running training to underpin contract management capability and fill identified current skills gaps. Further improvement actions will be informed by the report of an independent assessment of the department’s contract management capability, currently being conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers. The department’s commercial capability will also be evaluated by a review team as part of a new ERG programme during 2014.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has held back from payments to Capita because of poor performance on personal independence payment assessments.

Mike Penning

The Department has applied performance measures against both of the Personal Independence Payment Assessment Providers and has recovered Service Credits (Financial remedies) in accordance with the contract.

Specific application of service credits for Capita is commercially sensitive information.