Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 33821, how many unauthorised entries were recorded in relation to each of the bases listed in that Answer; what form of unauthorised entries were recorded in each case; which cases were investigated by (a) the Ministry of Defence Police, (b) a military police force and (c) a local civilian police force; and which such investigations led to a prosecution.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) treats all unauthorised entries to military bases very seriously. They are investigated to a level commensurate with their complexity and impact by Military Police, MOD Police or local constabulary.

A breakdown of unauthorised entries to military bases recorded within the MOD for 2014 is set out in the attached table. None of these incidents resulted in any significant ramifications for Defence security.

In drafting the answer to this question, it has become apparent that the answers to Questions 24141 and 33821 were incorrect, understating the number of unauthorised entries to military bases in 2014 by one, the correct number is 25, and in the list of the locations of such security incidents, RAF Leeming was omitted. The information has been corrected in this answer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions a Royal Navy submarine was deployed to the Arctic region in each of the last six years.

Penny Mordaunt

The Astute class submarines are the largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy, combining world-leading sensors, design and weaponry in a versatile vessel. The Royal Navy maintains world-wide deployability with its submarines, this includes under-ice capability.

We do not discuss the detail of such submarine operations, as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of hours of childcare was for which claimants in receipt of the childcare element of universal credit made a claim for reimbursement of their costs in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest in each year between 1995 and 2009 went into arrears on their (a) interest repayments and (b) capital repayments (i) during the first 13 weeks of the waiting period and (ii) between weeks 13 and 39 of the waiting period.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested regarding the number and proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest between 1995 and 2009 who went into arrears on the interest or capital repayment during the waiting period is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of mental health charities on the design of contracts for new welfare to work schemes.

Justin Tomlinson

DWP Ministers meet regularly with a wide range of organisations in relation to the Department’s work and welfare reform, where they discuss a variety of issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria his Department has set for referral to (a) Community Work Placements and (b) Daily Work Search Review once a claimant has joined the Help to Work scheme.

Priti Patel

Under Help to Work Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches have the flexibility to decide which of the three options that are part of the programme, Mandatory Intervention Regime, Community Work Placements or Daily Work Search Reviews, would best suit each individual jobseeker. They base their decisions on an exit report from their Work Programme provider and discussions with the jobseeker about the particular barriers still stopping them from getting work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding has been provided to HM Revenue and Customs to enforce compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last 10 years.

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.

The Government has increased annual funding of National Minimum Wage enforcement by over 60% since 2010, meaning a £13.2m budget in 2015/16.

This has enabled a significant expansion of resources dedicated to enforcing the minimum wage; there are currently 237 staff (224.05 full-time equivalent) in HM Revenue and Customs’ National Minimum Wage teams, up from 171 at the start of 2014/15.

Previous years’ detail is provided in the table below:

Year	Funding allocated by BIS (or predecessor departments) (£m)	Full-time equivalent staff
2006/07	5.8	Not available
2007/08	6.8	Not available
2008/09	7.6	139.16
2009/10	8.3	140.18
2010/11	8.1	142.18
2011/12	8.3	138.88
2012/13	8.3	142.37
2013/14	8.3	157.85
2014/15	9.2*	183.47

*Increased in-year

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 and what proportion of new claims for (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance made in the most recent month for which figures are available were made by a person who had been in receipt of the same benefit at any point during the proceeding 12 months.

Priti Patel

The information as requested is not readily available, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken since the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Homeless Claimants) Amendment Regulations 2014 came into force to increase awareness of the easement of conditionality rules among Jobcentre Plus staff.

Priti Patel

All Jobcentre Plus staff have access to comprehensive and clear procedures, instructions and learning which equips them to advise customers appropriately. These products were updated to reflect the implementation of the conditionality easement for homeless claimants.

In addition, the homeless easement was communicated separately through internal staff memos and on the Department’s internal Intranet site. More recently, an internal Homelessness ‘Ask the Expert’ telephone conference was hosted for managers and staff. The event was aimed at improving services to homeless customers and covered the conditionality easement introduced in 2014.

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 homes for (a) social and (b) affordable rent which are let at rents at or below the shared accommodation rate of the local housing allowance in each region in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Justin Tomlinson

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