Tag: Chris Stephens

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment his Department has carried out on the effects of reductions in universal credit work allowance on workers under the age of 25.

Priti Patel

The impact of the work allowance change cannot be considered in isolation – it is part of a broader package of measures announced at the Summer Budget, such as the increase to the personal tax allowance and introduction of the national living wage, which strengthens incentives to find work and better paid jobs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department’s discussions with Capgemini and Fujitsu began on the replacement of the HM Revenue and Customs IT Aspire contract.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs’ discussions with its IT partners have taken place on a regular basis since the Aspire contract began in 2004. The Department created the Aspire Replacement Programme in 2013 to manage discussions with its partners, following the Memorandum of Understanding in 2012 which led to the adaption of the Aspire contract.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his oral contribution of 21 March 2016, Official Report, column 1284, whether an impact assessment has been carried out on the effect of social security reform on employees in his Department.

Priti Patel

Ministers consider all of their statutory duties in considering new policies and impact assessments are published as is appropriate. A number of impact assessments have been published during the passage of the recent Welfare Reform Act. These use the whole population as a base but do not focus specifically on DWP employees.

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 Lord West of Spithead to the Defence Committee on 7 June 2016, HC 221, at Question 20, what current budget is allocated to procurement of and building Type 26 frigates; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

For equipment procurement programmes the cost and schedule is set at the main investment decision, and the Type 26 Global Combat Ships programme has not yet reached that decision point. I am therefore withholding budgetary information regarding the procurement and building of the Type 26 frigates as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time was for fee remission in employment tribunal claims between receipt of such claims and final processing in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of fee remission applications were successful in that period.

Sir Oliver Heald

This information is available on gov.uk within the published Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment his Department has carried out on the effects of reductions in the universal credit work allowance on (a) working families and (b) people’s ability to take on part-time work.

Priti Patel

The impact of the work allowance change cannot be considered in isolation – it is part of a broader package of measures announced at the Summer Budget, such as the increase to the personal tax allowance and introduction of the national living wage, which strengthens incentives to find work and better paid jobs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has assessed for changing the status of HM Revenue and Customs Digital Technology Services to enable it to become profit-making.

Mr David Gauke

The company was set up as a not-for-profit and there are no plans to change its status to a profit-making entity.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the preparedness is of the Animal and Plant Health Agency to react to and control a potential future animal health outbreak similar in scale to the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.

George Eustice

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), compiles the UK contingency plan for exotic notifiable disease that sits above plans designed by Defra and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments.

These are key documents that describe the strategic, tactical and operational responses required to any incursion of exotic notifiable disease, such as foot and mouth disease. These plans are complemented by specific GB disease control strategies and APHA work with the Government Departments in each administration to produce the necessary operational instructions.

To ensure the plans and instructions are fit for purpose, the UK runs a national animal disease exercise roughly every other year on various exotic diseases and we regularly include foot and mouth disease in those exercises.

The next national exercise will be in June 2018 and will be based on a foot and mouth disease scenario.

APHA also create and manage an annual programme of regional or country exercises designed to identify best practice and any gaps in existing plans or procedures. They also run table-top exercises for APHA’s policy customers to identify issues that may arise from new and emerging threats such as African Horse Sickness.

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 Sir Mark Stanhope to the Defence Committee on 7 June 2016, HC 221, at Question 3, what anti-submarine warfare capability is planned for the general purpose frigates; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

The General Purpose Frigate Programme has just begun its pre-concept phase activity. This work will consider a range of capability requirements based on the ship’s role, operating environment and the likely threats it will face. This work will also take into account the wider capabilities available to Defence, such as those provided through the procurement of the Anti Submarine Warfare capable Type 26 Frigates.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for funeral payments were (a) made and (b) granted in Scotland 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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