Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether special forces deployments are discussed at meetings of the National Security Council.

Penny Mordaunt

This Government has demonstrated its commitment to our Special Forces by announcing a £2 billion programme of investment over the course of this Parliament. All military operations, including the activities of the Special Forces, are discussed and scrutinised at the highest levels of Government, including at the National Security Council. However, as it is the longstanding policy of the Government not to comment on our Special Forces, or to release information relating to them, I cannot comment on specific questions about personnel, equipment, discussions or activities in relation to these units.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) new contracts and (b) amendments to existing contracts placed by his Department in 2015 were not referred to the Single Source Regulations Office because the approval of the (i) Ministry of Defence and (ii) supplier was not granted.

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, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 33817, what the Joint Intelligence Committee’s current estimate is of the number of non-extremist opposition fighters in Syria.

Mr Oliver Letwin

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 21 April 2016 to UIN 33817.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many equipment failure reports were recorded in relation to M3 Amphibious Rig Bridging Vehicles in each of the last six years.

Mr Philip Dunne

38 M3 Amphibious Rigs have been in service with the British Army in each of the last six years. No additional rigs have been loaned from the German Army during that time. The planned out of service date for the M3 amphibious rig is 2027; early work is under way to provide a wide wet gap crossing capability in future. No decisions have yet been made about future basing sites for the M3 Amphibious Rig.

The following table shows the number of recorded equipment failure reports (EFR) in each of the last six years.

Calendar Year in which EFR recorded	No of EFRs recorded in calendar year
2010	16
2011	0
2012	5
2013	1
2014	4
2015	0

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff, at what grades, his Department has recruited to work in the Permanent Secretary Office.

Mr David Jones

The Department for Exiting the EU now has over 200 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and we are still growing rapidly. We are not in a position to give a final total nor a breakdown by directorate as recruitment is ongoing.

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 reduction in entitlement to universal credit was which resulted from a claimant who was already in work increasing the number of hours they worked in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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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, how many new claims for housing benefit were made by people who lost their homes to repossession in each of the last 10 years.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested regarding the number of new claims for housing benefit were made by people who lost their homes due to repossessions in each of the last 10 years 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, how many people claiming which benefit have been referred to Help to Work since April 2014.

Priti Patel

The number people claiming Jobseekers Allowance or Universal credit who have been referred to Help to Work between April 2014 and June 2015 is approximately 162,000. This breaks down as 51,430 people referred to Community Work Placement, 70,510 referred to Mandatory Intervention Regime, 40,060 referred to Daily Work Search Review.

The Help to Work quarterly statistics: provides Official statistics to June 2015 on the numbers of people joining the Help to Work Scheme. This information can be found on the Gov.UK website.

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

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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 scheme since April 2014 have left the scheme after a job outcome fee was paid to the relevant provider.

Priti Patel

From April 2014 to the end of June 2015 there were 25,340 participants who started a Community Work Placement. These would all have triggered a start fee to the relevant provider.

The department intends to publish further information on Community Work Placements on the 22 December 2015. This release will cover the number of Short placement completion, Long placement completion and Job Outcome fees paid to providers.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employees were identified as being paid less than the national minimum wage following HM Revenue and Customs enforcement activity in each of the last five years; and how many of those employees were compensated in full.

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.