Tag: Chris Stephens

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-02-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assurances HM Revenue and Customs obtains from its potential contractors and suppliers on the level of their compliance with UK tax obligations.

Mr David Gauke

Prior to engagement, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) require a new contractor or supplier to provide their tax details, and to agree to HMRC performing revenue compliance checks throughout the procurement process, using information from its own records and taking appropriate action where required in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Contracts for such engagements include clauses requiring that at all times the contractor or supplier shall comply with all statutes and regulations relating to direct or indirect taxes, and that failure to comply may constitute a material breach of the contract.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provisions his Department has in place to ensure that sufferers of multiple sclerosis do not experience a decrease in benefit payments as a result of experiencing a temporary period of remission in their condition.

Priti Patel

The assessments for Employment and Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment have been designed to take full account of fluctuating conditions, including multiple sclerosis. Neither assessment is a snapshot; they give people with fluctuating conditions the opportunity to explain how their condition varies over time.

All assessments are carried out by qualified health professionals who have broad training in disability analysis and are required to fully explore and report any fluctuations in a claimant’s condition(s).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence given by Peter Roberts to the Defence Committee on 7 June 2016, HC 221, at Question 22, what the timetable is for (a) procurement of the Type 26 frigates and (b) cutting steel on those frigates; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 May 2016 to Ouestion 37138 to the hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Julian Lewis).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time a person making an initial inquiry claiming social security benefit spent on the telephone in the last 12 months.

Caroline Nokes

The DWP’s benefit claim lines handle calls both enquiring about claiming benefit and making a claim to benefit. The average length of calls to these lines for the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 was 00:12:56. For some benefits, systems require that the data collected includes time spent updating records after the conversation has ended.

Data sources: Operational Management Information System (OPMIS) and data supplied by outsource partners.

Please note this information is derived from the Department’s management information designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. As DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that staff dealing with universal credit are on the same rates of pay once staff from HM Revenue and Customs are transferred to his Department.

Priti Patel

DWP currently operates a pay system which, in common with other civil service departments including HMRC, uses pay ranges based on grade and location. Factors such as business needs and benchmarking of similar public and private sector organisations are considered as part of each DWP annual pay review

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many days’ work were lost to industrial action taken by employees of the Government and its agencies in each year since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis claiming benefits whose claim (a) partly and (b) solely relates to that condition have had their benefits payments (i) reduced and (ii) ceased after medical reassessment undertaken on behalf of the Department due to that person being in remission from that condition.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what functions his Department carries out centrally which he plans to add to the functions of Defence Business Services; and what the timescale for any such transfer of functions is.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently examining options for the future of Defence Business Services (DBS) as part of the Future DBS Programme. Decisions concerning whether more work is transferred into DBS may be made where this makes sense for DBS and MOD in terms of efficient and effective delivery of supporting services and, ultimately, value for money. But, at this stage, no final decisions have been made and there are no firm plans or timescales for any such transfers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total expenditure from the public purse was for the social fund funeral payments scheme in 2015-16; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes

During 2015-16 in Scotland there were around 5500 applications for Funeral Expenses Payments and around 3700 awards granted.

In 2015-16 across Great Britain £40,025,000 was paid out in Funeral Expenses Payments and repayments totalled £183,000. These figures are given on page 12 of the Social Fund Account 2015-16 (linked to below)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535981/social-fund-account-2015-16.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of staff working in his Department are employees on fixed-term contracts.

Justin Tomlinson

There are 2,006 employees on fixed term contracts out of a workforce of 84,429, which equates to 2.4%.