Tag: Diana Johnson

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 International Trade, whether the Government plans to re-apply for World Trade Organisation membership upon leaving the EU; and what assessment he has made of the length of time it would take for such an application to be successful.

Greg Hands

The UK is already a member of the WTO in its own right and will not need to re-apply upon leaving the EU.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions have (a) EU member states exchanged with the UK and (b) the UK exchanged with other EU member states information related to EU citizens on the (i) adults and (ii) children’s barred lists in each year since 2012.

Sarah Newton

Where an employer is considering an individual’s suitability for employment it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the individual is suitable to work with vulnerable people (including children). This may include seeking information from other countries, including EU member states. The Disclosure and Barring Service uses information from the England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scottish barred lists.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) the Office for Budget Responsibility, (c) the Financial Conduct Authority and (d) HM Revenue and Customs; how many of those employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Harriett Baldwin

I refer the honourable member to the answer given on the 05 January (UIN 20609)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) nationally and (b) in Hull undergoing dialysis (i) applied for and (ii) were awarded personal independence payment in each of the last three years.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested is not available as information on treatment is not recorded centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) human trafficking and (b) forced labour have been recorded by Humberside Police for each year from 2010 to 2014; in how many such cases prosecutions were brought; and what the outcomes were of those prosecutions.

Mike Penning

Recorded crime figures for the period 2010 to 2014 do not directly map on to the two categories in the question. Data on human trafficking for sexual exploitation shows that one case of this type was recorded by Humberside in 2012/13. Crime recording rules stipulate that only the most serious offence in a sequence of crimes is recorded, so it is possible that other cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation offences have been recorded under even more serious crime types.

On a principal offence basis, no defendants were proceeded against, convicted or sentenced at magistrates’ courts during the period 2010 to 2014 for offences related to human trafficking and forced labour in the Humberside Police Force Area. Such data is recorded on the basis of the location of the magistrates’ court where proceedings started, so it may be that an offence recorded in Humberside was then proceeded against in another police force area.