Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to set targets for measuring progress towards the goal of halving the disability employment gap.

Justin Tomlinson

Progress against the disability employment gap commitment is a key factor in progress towards full employment. This is consistent with the Government’s manifesto commitment which said ‘as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap’. The annual report on progress towards full employment will include an update on the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

Disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010: “A person has a disability if (a) [they] have a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [their] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

Employment in the UK is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics on disabled employment are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics, based on internationally agreed definitions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many local housing allowance rates were set (a) at the 30th percentile, (b) within five per cent of the 30th percentile, (c) between five per cent and 10 per cent of the 30th percentile and (d) more than 10 per cent below the 30th percentile of market rents in the relevant broad market rental area in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13, (iii) 2013-14 and (iv) 2014-15.

Justin Tomlinson

In 2011-12, LHA rates were uprated on a monthly basis. Of the 960 LHA rates in Great Britain, in April 2011, 949 LHA rates were set at the 30^th percentile and by March 2012, 943 LHA rates were set at the 30^th percentile. The remaining LHA rates were set at the level of the caps.

From 2012-13 LHA rates were set annually. For the years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, the following table gives the number of LHA rates set (a) at the 30^th percentile, (b) within five per cent of the 30^th percentile, (c) between five per cent and 10 per cent below the 30^th percentile and (d) more than 10 per cent below the 30^th percentile of market rents in the relevant Broad Rental Market Area.

So for example, if the 30^th percentile for a Broad Rental Market Area and property size is £200 per week (pw), the corresponding LHA rate would be included in (b) if it is greater than £190pw and less than £200pw, in (c) if it is between £180pw and £190pw, and in (d) if it is less than £180pw.

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
(a) 30th percentile	943	695	475
(b) less than five per cent below the 30th percentile	6	228	416
(c) between five per cent and 10 per cent below the 30th percentile	2	26	42
(d) more than 10 per cent below the 30th percentile	9	11	27

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many completed inspections were carried out by HM Revenue and Customs as part of its duty to enforce minimum wage legislation in 2014-15.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the national minimum wage (NMW) legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It does so by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, and carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 28587 for information on recovery of arrears and on the number of incidences of non-compliance on 26 November 2015.

In 2014/15, HMRC issued financial penalties on 735 employers totalling £934,660 for non-compliance with NMW legislation.

In 2014/15, HMRC completed 2,204 investigations as part of its duty to enforce minimum wage legislation.

Any worker who believes that they are being paid below the minimum wage should contact Acas on 0300 123 1100. HMRC reviews every complaint that Acas refer to it but these may not always lead to an investigation. In 2014/15, HMRC received 2489 worker complaints via the helpline.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) social and (b) affordable housing tenants in receipt of housing benefit who have paid rents in excess of local housing allowance rates in each of the last six years.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Written Statement of 10 December 2015, HCWS377, on universal credit and local authorities, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of people employed by local authorities to administer housing benefit, (b) the number of such employees likely to be made redundant as a result of the universal credit roll-out, (c) the total cost to the public purse of such redundancies, (d) the total number of staff that will be required to administer universal credit at a local level once the roll-out is complete and (e) the number of people currently employed by his Department in that capacity.

Priti Patel

The Local Authority associations estimate up to 5000 people are, in full or in part, engaged in delivering housing services and some of this work will continue in Local Authorities. There are over a million jobs in the Local Authority sector so with turnover we would expect opportunities for redeployment over the next 3-5 years as housing benefit for working age people is gradually phased out. We expect the number of people at risk of redundancy to be very small, but where Local Authorities are not able to redeploy people, we have said the Government will meet the costs of compulsory redundancy. Universal Credit will be delivered locally through our existing network of Jobcentres supported by a number of Service Centres. The number of staff employed will be determined by the number of people on Universal Credit, itself subject to the prevailing economic situation at the time. Our current estimate for the combined workforce in 2021 is 34,000

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s publication, Mandatory Programmes official statistics: May 2011 to August 2015, published on 25 November 2015, how many people who joined the Mandatory Work Activity scheme during this period finished their work placement early as a result of taking up paid employment.

Priti Patel

Mandatory Work Activity is a supportive programme designed to help claimants who need extra support from a short work placement to re-focus their job search activity and gain further experience of work. Unemployed Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit claimants are referred for up to 4 weeks work experience and will participate on the placement for up to 30 hours a week.

The number of referrals and starts is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working.

An impact assessment of Mandatory Work Activity was published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-work-activity–2) which considered referrals to the programme in the period May to July 2012. An evaluation of Mandatory Work Activity also published in 2012 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-mandatory-work-activity-rr823) which included a telephone survey of participants who had been referred to and started an Mandatory Work Allowance placement.

The evaluation and impact assessment were conducted in 2012 and does not cover the period of the Official Statistics from May 2011 to August 2015.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2015 to Question 15125, when she plans to publish draft proposals on eligibility requirements for free school meals within universal credit; when the consultation on those proposals will be launched; and when she plans to make a final decision on eligibility.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We plan to launch a public consultation on eligibility for free school meals under Universal Credit later in 2016, with a view to having the necessary regulations in place for the end of the year, when the roll out of the full Universal Credit Service to a broader claimant base will be well under way.

While this work is on-going, any child whose parent or guardian is receiving Universal Credit will continue to be entitled to free school meals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the six pilot areas for Universal Support Delivered Locally were selected for an additional six months extension from September 2015.

Priti Patel

Following discussions with the external evaluation team it was agreed that an extension would enable the gathering of more robust evidence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Tornado and (b) Typhoon aircraft are (i) in the Forward Available Fleet, (ii) in the Sustainment Fleet and (iii) awaiting decommissioning or disposal.

Mr Philip Dunne

The information requested is detailed in the attached table.

The Forward Available Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other rectification or technical inspection work that can arise on a day-to-day basis. Dependent on the nature of the work, aircraft may be designated as requiring either ‘short-term maintenance’ or ‘short-term works’.

The Sustainment Fleet numbers represent those aircraft in the Depth Fleet, which comprises aircraft which are undergoing planned depth maintenance or upgrade programmes.

Decommissioning and disposal are part of the same process and are therefore grouped together.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for how many days (a) HMS Daring, (b) HMS Dauntless, (c) HMS Diamond, (d) HMS Dragon, (e) HMS Defender and (f) HMS Duncan underwent (i) planned maintenance and (ii) repair work in each of the last six years.

Mr Philip Dunne

The amount spent on Maintenance and Repair for the six Type 45 Destroyers is detailed in the table below rounded to the nearest half million:

Name of Ship	In-Service Date	Maintenance/Repair	Cost (£ million)
HMS DARING	July 2010	Programmed Maintenance	£7
Unprogrammed Work/Repair		£4.5
HMS DAUNTLESS	November 2010	Programmed Maintenance	£4.5
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£4.5
HMS DIAMOND	July 2011	Programmed Maintenance	£9.5
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£3.5
HMS DRAGON	April 2012	Programmed Maintenance	£7
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£2
HMS DEFENDER	March 2013	Programmed Maintenance	£2
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£3
HMS DUNCAN	December 2013	Programmed Maintenance	£1.5
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	£2

The table below reflects the number of planned maintenance days per ship over the six year period. Repair work on individual ship systems takes place during both planned maintenance periods and operational deployments and data relating to the number of days’ worth of repair work is not collected. Unprogrammed work/repair figures shown cover the extension of maintenance periods.

Name of Ship	In-Service Date	Maintenance/ Repair	Duration
HMS DARING	July 2010	Programmed Maintenance	360
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	105
HMS DAUNTLESS	November 2010	Programmed Maintenance	215
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	20
HMS DIAMOND	July 2011	Programmed Maintenance	350
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DRAGON	April 2012	Programmed Maintenance	250
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DEFENDER	March 2013	Programmed Maintenance	100
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0
HMS DUNCAN	December 2013	Programmed Maintenance	130
		Unprogrammed Work/Repair	0

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