Tag: Diana Johnson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s paper, Infected Blood: Government Response to Consultation on Reform of Financial and Other Support, published in July 2016, whether he plans for people receiving discretionary support from the reformed scheme to continue to receive (a) prescription prepayment certificates, (b) advice on support with benefit applications and appeals, (c) one-off £1,200 lump sum payments for dependants and (d) means-tested top-ups to their income to lift them above the poverty line; and whether he plans for the partners of bereaved people to continue to receive annual payments topping their income up to £19,000 per year.

Nicola Blackwood

In 2017/18, a new, single, discretionary scheme will replace the current three discretionary support schemes (The Caxton Foundation, The Eileen Trust and The McFarlane Trust), and it is intended to be equitable, transparent, flexible and responsive to individual needs, that may change over time.

Details on the components that will make up a new discretionary scheme are still being worked through and will be publicised in due course. In the meantime, the current discretionary arrangements remain throughout the current financial year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to put the National Referral Mechanism on a statutory footing after it is reformed; and whether such plans would require primary or secondary legislation.

Sarah Newton

We are committed to doing all we can to identify and support UK-based victims of modern slavery. Following a review of the NRM, and in consultation with law enforcement and NGOs, we are piloting ways of improving the efficacy and efficiency of existing arrangements in two regions. The pilot will be evaluated and the findings will inform any reforms that we decide to roll out. Putting the NRM on a statutory footing would require secondary legislation and we will consider whether there is a need do so at the end of the pilot.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how (a) much funding from the public purse has been allocated to and (b) many full-time equivalent staff have been employed by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in each of the last two years.

Sarah Newton

The Government allocation to the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner was £500,000 in 2015/16 and £575,000 in 2016/17. The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner employed six full-time staff and one part-time staff in 2015/16, and seven full-time and one part-time staff in 2016/17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Written Ministerial Statement of 10 October 2016, HCWS174, what proportion of existing (a) support and (b) work related-activity group claimants of employment and support allowance will (i) continue and (ii) cease to be subject to re-assessment.

Penny Mordaunt

We will be working over the coming months with medical professionals and other stakeholders to develop a process and functional criteria that will help us identify those with the most severe health conditions or disabilities, for whom repeat work capability assessments can be stopped. This change will only apply to those placed in the Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent.

No proportion of Support Group claimants can be estimated until the criteria has been agreed. This change will come into effect by the end of 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government intends to (a) join the EU Customs Union, (b) negotiate a customs deal with the EU and (c) negotiate no customs deal as part of the process of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robin Walker

The Government has made clear we will pursue an exit deal that works for the unique circumstances of the UK.

There is no benefit to Britain in providing a running commentary on every twist and turn of these negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU nationals are recorded by the Disclosure and Barring Service as having worked in regulated activity for (a) children and (b) adults in each year since 2012.

Sarah Newton

The Disclosure and Barring Service does not collect this specific information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to introduce statutory guidance on the definition of a hostel.

Brandon Lewis

We currently have no plans to introduce statutory guidance on the definition of a hostel.

We have supported local areas to improve the quality of hostels through the Homelessness Change Programme, which provided £42.5 million of capital funding in 2012 – 2015 for new and refurbished bed spaces, as well as other facilities to support a return to independent living.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many suspicious activity reports relating to (a) the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and (b) the Terrorism Act 2000 have been submitted to the National Crime Agency in the last financial year.

Mike Penning

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are submitted to the National Crime Agency under two pieces of legislation: the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 for suspicions of money laundering, or the Terrorism Act 2000 for suspicions of terrorist financing.

The National Crime Agency publishes annual SARs statistics. The reporting period for these publications is from October to September. The figures requested fall across this reporting period. Data for April 2014 to September 2014 can be obtained from the 2013-2014 SARs Annual Report, which is available on the NCA website: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/464-2014-sars-annual-report. Data for October 2014 to March 2015 will be available in the 2014-2015 SARs Annual Report, which is due to be published shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16286 of 18 November 2015, on the National Crime Agency (NCA), how many of those suspicious activity reports were investigated by the NCA.

Mike Penning

Suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Terrorism Act 2000 are available to officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and to accredited officers in all UK police forces. This allows NCA officers and the police to use SARs for a variety of investigative and intelligence purposes.

No central record is held relating to the ultimate use of SAR data by these end users and therefore no data is available relating to how many investigations or enforcement actions may have resulted from SARs.

A report providing an overview of the operation of the SARs regime is published annually on the NCA website, the link to the latest report is below:

http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/suspicious-activity-reports-sars

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) Ofcom, (c) Royal Parks, (d) Arts Council England, (e) Sport England, (f) UK sport, (g) Visit Britain, (h) Visit England and (i) the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those orqanisations in the most recent for which figures are available.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The DCMS communications team is responsible for all public facing, digital and internal communications; this includes both managing day-to-day media enquiries and implementing proactive communications campaigns. Across Government communications teams, we saved £330 million for taxpayers last year compared with 2009 to 2010, by making our campaigns more cost effective, and reduced our communications spending by a total of £1 billion since 2010.

The total expenditure on press and public relations for the financial year 2014/15 was £10,917,270.42. This figure includes staff costs and the costs for high profile publicity campaigns on Broadband Voucher and GO Superfast (broadband).

DCMS currently employs 18.8 full time equivalents in communications – one of the smallest teams in Whitehall covering a departmental policy brief that has expanded in this Parliament. Of these, 7 are paid over £50,000 – but none more than £100,000.

Other Bodies

The sponsorship for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission transferred to the Department for Education from 30 September 2015.

Press and PR functions are a matter for the Chief Executives of each of the bodies in question. They will write to the Honourable Member with this information, and copies of their letters will be placed in the libraries of both Houses