Tag: Christopher Chope

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on what date officials of his Department were informed that arrangements had failed for a commercial bank to facilitate payments to overseas pensioners out of funds reserved by the government of Zimbabwe; and when he expects an alternative service provider to be in place.

Mark Simmonds

We were in regular contact with the commercial bank following the request by the Government of Zimbabwe to facilitate the payment of pensions. They formally confirmed to the Government of Zimbabwe on 6 November that they were unable to act as the service provider, though had informed us of this decision in the preceding weeks.

The payment of Zimbabwe public service pensions is the responsibility of the Government of Zimbabwe. We will continue to encourage them, and any possible service provider, to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what basis the Government calculates entitlement to holiday pay for civil servants.

Mr Francis Maude

This is a matter delegated to individual Civil Service Departments and agencies under the Civil Service Management Code (CSMC).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will introduce legislative proposals that employers be required to calculate holiday pay solely by reference to standard contract hours.

Jenny Willott

There are no current plans to require employers to calculate holiday pay solely by reference to standard contract hours.

The arrangements for holiday pay are set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998.

These arrangements differ according to the working pattern of the individual worker. If a worker has fixed hours and fixed pay, then a week’s holiday pay is the same amount as a worker receives for each week’s work. If the worker has no fixed hours, then a week’s holiday pay represents the average pay that a worker received over the previous 12 weeks.

More information about holiday pay can be found on the Gov.UK website at

https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse was of interpretation services provided to the (a) magistrates’ courts and (b) Crown Court in England and Wales in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Department does not hold centrally all of the information that has been requested. In order to provide the information we would be required toobtain a number of large reports from individual locations. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals from (a) the EU and (b) countries outside the EU have been defendants in the (i) magistrates courts and (ii) Crown courts in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from this centrally held information the nationality of offenders sentenced for criminal offences.

Court proceedings data for 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of defendants being held in custody pending trial are foreign nationals.

Jeremy Wright

Information on the remand population is published quarterly and the latest available data is as at 31 March 2014 and can be found in Table 1.6 of the Prison Population spreadsheet Q1 2014 via the weblink below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-december-2013-and-annual

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects work to all properties identified by the Environment Agency in Christchurch constituency as being suitable for Property Level Protection against flooding to be completed.

Dan Rogerson

As part of schemes funded through Local Levy and Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid, work to protect ten properties in the Mudeford and Stanpit area is planned for 2015.

Property-level protection measures were installed at twelve properties in Stony Lane, Christchurch earlier this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on placing the public forest estate on a sustainable footing; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), on 17 June 2014, Official Report, column 516W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether garages, boiler rooms and other non-habitable areas affected by flooding are eligible for the Repair and Renew Grant.

Dan Rogerson

The “Repair and Renew” grant is available to establish resilience and resistance measures in properties to minimise the risk of damage caused by flooding. As it stands, the grant only applies to homes and businesses affected by flooding and excludes non-habitable areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-06-18.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the number of British citizens registered as overseas voters and the number of such citizens eligible for registration.

Mr Gary Streeter

Every British citizen who has been registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years is eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary (general) elections and European Parliamentary elections.

The Electoral Commission informs me that the most recent figure showed that there were 15,848 registered overseas voters on the UK electoral registers.

The most recent estimates of the total number of UK citizens living abroad are of 5.5 million (The Institute for Public Policy Research in 2006) and 4.7 million (The World Bank in 2010). However, it is not possible from this data to establish how many citizens living abroad were registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years and are therefore eligible to vote from abroad. Even in the absence of a reliable estimate, it is nonetheless clear that the number of UK citizens living abroad who are eligible to register to vote is considerably more than those currently registered.

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