Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many single source contracts his Department placed in 2015; and how many such contracts were classed as (a) new contracts and (b) amendments to existing contracts.

Mr Philip Dunne

Each year the Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes an analysis of all new contracts which sets out whether they were placed competitively or non-competitively. This analysis appears in the Department’s Statistical Bulletin Trade, Industry and Contracts and the most recent period for which data is available can be found through the link below. Table six in the excel tables and page 11 of the pdf refer to the relevant information.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015

Figures for amendments to existing contracts are not held centrally and, due to the large number of such cases, an analysis could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

All single source procurement contracts which met the criteria set out in Part two of the Defence Reform Act 2014 (DRA) are subject to the new single source procurement framework, apart from a very small number which have been specifically exempted from the framework by the Secretary of State for Defence, using the powers granted to him under section 14(7) of the DRA. The Department does not release details of these exemptions in order to avoid influencing future decisions.

Contracts which were signed prior to the new single source procurement framework coming into force can become subject to the regulations on amendment by agreement between the MOD and the contractor. To maximise the benefits from the regulations, the MOD intends to seek such agreement where appropriate, except where there are well founded commercial or practical reasons not to. However, the Department does not hold a central record of the number of contracts which have, on amendment, not been converted to Qualifying Defence Contracts, and the data could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Contracts which fall under the Regulations are only referred to the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) when there is a disagreement between the supplier and the contracting authority which cannot be resolved through negotiation between these two parties. The subjects that can be referred to the SSRO are set out in the DRA, and include whether or not costs are allowable, attributable to the contract and reasonable. Should a referral be made by either the MOD or the supplier, the consent of the other party is not required. One such referral was made in 2015, by the MOD.

The MOD is currently pursuing the recruitment of a Chair for the SSRO. The SSRO has an Interim Chairman in post and the Department plans to advertise this substantive position shortly.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full-time equivalent staff currently work in (a) the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s Assessments Staff and (b) the National Security Secretariat; and how many such staff have not previously been employed as civil servants.

Mr Oliver Letwin

Staff in the JIO are drawn from the Cabinet Office and across Government including the MOD, FCO, and Armed Forces. They are employed on a range of terms and conditions including formal and informal, short and long term secondments. In 2004 the Rt Hon The Lord Butler of Brockwell reported that its size was “some 30 senior and middle-ranking officials”; it is currently larger than that but, given the nature of the work that they do, I am unable, for security reasons, to give further detail. There are about 200 people in the National Security Secretariat, similarly drawn from a range of Departments and employed on a range of terms and conditions. Again, for security reasons, I am unable to give details on the previous employment of staff in either organisation, but both draw on external experts in their business.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK military personnel are currently deployed to NATO force integration units in (a) Bulgaria, (b) Estonia, (c) Latvia, (d) Lithuania, (e) Poland and (f) Romania.

Penny Mordaunt

The UK has one officer in each of the six NATO Force Integration Units.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff employed by his Department have been (a) seconded to and (b) directly recruited by the Department for Exiting the EU.

Boris Johnson

​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has seconded 39 positions including 30 officials on loan to the Department for Exiting the EU. This figure includes ten officials who were on loan to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from other government departments. No staff have been directly recruited by the Department for Exiting the EU from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK’s Representation in Brussels will report jointly to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Exiting the EU.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who will be in receipt of legacy benefits and awaiting transfer to universal credit in May 2020.

Priti Patel

As quoted in the Public Accounts Committee report (attached below), the bulk of legacy claims will be transferred by the end of 2019.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmpubacc/810/81002.htm

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Local Housing Allowance Amendments) Order 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 1753), what total amount will be made available to local authorities under the Targeted Affordability Fund before the date on which those regulations are due to come into force.

Justin Tomlinson

Over the next five years Targeted Affordability Funding (TAF) will be drawn from recycling a percentage of the savings from the freeze of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. As a result of the level of savings produced by the freeze next year there will be no TAF available in 2016/17; however, there will be funding from 2017/18 to 2020/21.

From 2017/18 around 30 per cent of the potential savings per year from the freeze to LHA will be used to support areas where higher rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation.

The level of TAF in 2016/17 would have been the same if, as planned, LHA rates had been uprated by CPI inflation. This is because the CPI forecast in September was zero (0.01 per cent) and therefore LHA rates would not increase in 2016/17 but would remain at the 2015/16 levels.

The amounts of TAF which will be available each year from 2017/18 and the plans to distribute it will be announced in due course.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been paid to HM Revenue and Customs in fines for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last 10 years.

Mr David Gauke

In 2014/15, HM Revenue and Customs identified 735 incidences of non-compliance and issued penalties of £934,660. They recovered arrears for 26,318 workers.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 218083 for numbers of workers for the previous years, to the answer provided to her on 6 May 2014 at Hansard Column 110W for information on arrears, and to the answer provided to her at UIN 205613 with regard to penalties.

I further refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 211605 for information on recovery of arrears.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people referred to Help to Work since April 2014 have left the scheme after opening a claim for working tax credit.

Priti Patel

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

The information that is available on Help to Work, on the number of programme referrals and Community Work Placement starts can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-work-quarterly-statistics

The latest published information on Help to Work covers the period from April 2014 to June 2015 inclusive.

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

To ask the Attorney General, how many Crown Prosecution Service staff worked on (a) referrals for suspected non-compliance with minimum wage legislation and (b) prosecutions for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland

All cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the purposes of considering a prosecution for an offence contrary to national minimum wage legislation, are dealt with by the Specialist Fraud Division. The number of people dealing with such cases at any given time depends on the number of cases received and how they are allocated.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken since 2012 to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of the work-preparation requirements which have applied to single parents who are in receipt of income support and whose youngest child is aged three or four.

Priti Patel

There is currently no evaluation on the effectiveness of the application of this requirement, however, we have this under review. Statistics show that the employment rate for lone parents has increased from 57% in June 2010 to 64.4% in June 2015.