Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints were referred by HM Revenue and Customs’ National Minimum Wage Risk Unit to National Minimum Wage compliance teams in each of the last six years.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW should contact the confidential Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) review all complaints that are referred to them. However, some complaints may not lead to the commencement of an investigation. This might be due to incomplete information being provided, or the worker subsequently wishing to withdraw their complaint. Similarly, multiple complaints about the same employer would only be recorded under one investigation.

In 2014/15, 2489 worker complaints and 691 pieces of third party information were referred to HMRC. However, I reiterate that not all complaints will lead to an investigation. In previous years, HMRC did not record statistics by complaints received, but by investigations completed. In 2014/15, HMRC completed 2204 investigations. I refer the honourable member to the answer provided to her on 6 May 2014 at Hansard Column 110W for information on prior years.

Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing NMW, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation amongst others, but HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond this. The budget allocated to HMRC by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is provided as an overall amount. I therefore refer the honourable member to the answers provided to her at UIN 16853 for budget details & UIN 16938 for information on staffing.

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

To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16871, how many full-time equivalent staff worked in the Specialist Fraud Division in each of the last six years.

Robert Buckland

The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff that have worked in the Specialist Fraud Division in each of the last six years is shown below.

March 2010 – 142 FTE

March 2011 – 134 FTE

March 2012 – 138 FTE

March 2013 – 258 FTE

March 2014 – 233 FTE

March 2015 – 230 FTE

Note: The figures presented above reflect staff in post on 31 March of each year.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to respond to Questions 17623, 17624, 17625, 17626 and 17627, tabled on 25 November 2015 for answer on 30 November 2015.

Mr David Gauke

I have done so.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what exemptions he plans to put in place to protect vulnerable households from restrictions to housing benefit in the social sector.

Justin Tomlinson

The existing exemptions that already apply to private rented sector tenants will be carefully considered prior to implementing the Local Housing Allowance cap for tenants living in the social rented sector.

It should be noted that the policy applies from April 2018, but only where new tenancies have been taken out or renewed after April 2016.

The Discretionary Housing Payment scheme will be available to Local Authorities to protect the vulnerable.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what feedback his Department has received from (a) service users, (b) employers and (c) GPs on the Fit for Work service since its launch.

Justin Tomlinson

An evaluation strategy is in place for Fit for Work. As part of this, a formal process evaluation is being undertaken. The formal evaluation will include feedback from employee users of the service, GPs and employers. Return to work will also be covered. Monthly performance group meetings take place between the Department and the providers in both England/Wales and Scotland together with weekly meetings to discuss management information and performance issues.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls have been made to the Fit for Work helpline in each month since its launch.

Justin Tomlinson

The number of calls made to the Fit for Work helpline each month since the launch of the service is :

December 2014	54
January 2015	198
February 2015	316
March 2015	364
April 2015	331
May 2015	408
June 2015	501
July 2015	602
August 2015	653
September 2015	852
October 2015	965
November 2015	1084

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will undertake a distributional analysis of the effect of recent changes to the work allowances within universal credit.

Priti Patel

We have no plans to publish further distributional analysis. Changes to work allowances are one part of a package of changes to the tax and welfare systems at the Summer Budget and Autumn Statement, which are intended to move Britain from a low wage, high welfare economy to a high wage, lower welfare economy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the maximum crew complement is of each of the Royal Navy’s (a) Type 45 Destroyers and (b) Type 23 Frigates.

Penny Mordaunt

Ships’ and submarines’ complements are not fixed; they vary, even across a Class, due to equipment fits and in response to specific tasking.

The table below shows the average number of liability positions for each ship when in their normal operating role.

Complements of Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers and Type 23 frigates by branch and rank

	Type 45 Destroyers	Type 23 Frigates
	Number of Positions
Warfare and Exec Department
Commander	1	1
Lieutenant Commander	3	3
Lieutenant	8	5
Warrant Officer	1	1
Chief Petty Officer	3	3
Petty Officer	12	8
Leading Hand	21	19
Able Rate	32	28
Engineering Department
Lieutenant Commander	2	2
Lieutenant	3	2
Warrant Officer	3	2
Chief Petty Officer	9	7
Petty Officer	15	15
Leading Hand	17	17
Able Rate	33	31
Logistics Department
Lieutenant Commander	1	1
Lieutenant	1	1
Chief Petty Officer	1	1
Petty Officer	3	3
Leading Hand	10	10
Able Rate	13	12
Medical Department
Petty Officer	1	0
Leading Hand	0	1
Able Rate	1	1
TOTAL	194	174

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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 were deployed on operations in which theatre in the most recent year for which data is available.

Mr Philip Dunne

HMS Dauntless, HMS Duncan and HMS Defender all deployed to the Gulf in 2015 for 133, 270 and 69 days respectively. HMS Dauntless and HMS Duncan completed their deployments as planned and HMS Defender’s deployment to the region, which began in October 2015, is continuing.

Throughout the year all Type 45 ships would have undertaken activities such as sea trials, training, engagement, provisioning or been in a maintenance period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24281, how many maritime patrol aircraft from (a) the US, (b) Canada, (c) France and (d) Germany were temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth in 2015.

Penny Mordaunt

The table below shows the total number of maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), from the US, Canada, France and Germany, temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth at some point during 2015.

Country	Number of aircraft
US	11
Canada	3
France	5
Germany	2