Tag: Frank Field

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will reconsider the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority exemption which prior to 2013 enabled organisations to send surplus medicines to (a) developing countries and (b) other countries outside of the EEA.

George Freeman

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the government body responsible for the safety and licensing of human medicines in the United Kingdom. The supply of a medicine for human use by way of wholesale requires the holding of a wholesale dealer’s licence. Following the transposition of the European Falsified Medicines Directive, the provisions of which are intended to prevent counterfeit medicines from entering the regulated supply chain, this requirement was extended to the export of medicines outside of Europe by way of wholesale from October 2013. The Directive does not allow any exception or exemption from this requirement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, by when he expects the findings from the Insolvency Service investigation into BHS to be published.

Anna Soubry

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills recently announced plans to expedite this Insolvency Service investigation. It is not appropriate for details of the ongoing investigation to be made public as that may prejudice the outcome of any criminal or civil cases which arise from it. This is long standing Insolvency Service policy. However, I have met with the Insolvency Service to discuss the conduct of the investigation and will expect to do so periodically as the investigation progresses.

If any directors are disqualified the Insolvency Service will publish the details of the disqualification on its website (for three months) and will notify Companies House, which keeps the statutory register of disqualifications. In addition, where the investigation uncovers matters of potential criminal misconduct or other regulatory breaches then this will be reported to the relevant authority for further action.

Once the investigation is completed the Government will consider what detail it is appropriate to publish having full regard to any legal restrictions and on the legitimate public interest in the cause of the BHS failure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people working for her Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Sir Oliver Heald

The table below shows the number of staff directly employed by the Department or its executive agencies who are paid less than the living wage (LW) as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, none of which are employed on zero hours contracts. This data is shown as at 31 March 2016.

	Number below living wage	Headcount
MoJ inc MoJ HQ, HMCTS, OPG, CICA and LAA.	913	22,539
NOMS (including the National Probation Service)	490	45,909

Information on contractors paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a LW could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many residential properties purchased ahead of the construction of High Speed 2 are being let; and what estimate his Department has made of the total amount it will receive in rent payments from those properties.

Andrew Jones

As of 30th September 2016, the Department has purchased a total of 483 properties. The Departments estimate of income from the HS2 Portfolio is circa £7.5m per annum.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many reports his Department has received of HM Revenue and Customs’ online renewal system failing to record and register information and supporting documentation submitted by claimants wishing to renew their claim for (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit in each of the last two years.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) did not receive any reports of the online renewal system failing to record and register information submitted by claimants renewing their 2013-14 claim.

HMRC received one report of the online renewal system failing to record and register information submitted by claimants renewing their 2014-15 claim.

HMRC do not hold the requested data broken down by Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of jobseeker’s allowance claimants have used Universal Jobmatch in the last 12 months.

Priti Patel

Universal Jobmatch is open to anyone to use in order to look for work, whether they are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or not. We do not differentiate between different types of users and are not able to provide statistics on the numbers of each.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of universal credit claimants who are employed on a zero-hours contract.

Priti Patel

Universal Credit is paid on the basis of earnings. Information on types of contracts that claimants are on is not routinely collected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for mandatory reconsideration of a tax credits decision are awaiting determination by Concentrix.

Mr David Gauke

The number of requests for mandatory reconsideration of a decision about a tax credits award that Concentrix have received since the commencement of their contract with HM Revenue and Customs in November 2014 is as follows:

Month	Number of MRs
November 2014	0
December 2014	2
January 2015	6
February 2015	38
March 2015	29
April 2015	137
May 2015	100
June 2015	45
July 2015	71
August 2015	108
September 2015	1221
October 2015	925
November 2015	871
December 2015	2371

The total is about 1.6% of all decisions Concentrix made in the same period.

As of 15 January 2016, there are 566 mandatory reconsiderations in progress that have been opened and Concentrix are waiting for customers to provide further evidence. Concentrix have 30 further mandatory reconsiderations that are awaiting determination.

The average length of time taken between Concentrix starting to work a mandatory reconsideration and making a decision is 24 days. This includes the time needed for customers to provide any further evidence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England are educated at home; whether those children undertake the national tests that children in schools undertake; and whether checks are made on their parents’ qualifications to be home tutors.

Edward Timpson

No data is collected nationally on the number of children educated at home. If a child is educated at home, they can only be entered for National Curriculum Assessments if also registered on the roll of a school in advance.

It is not necessary to hold any particular qualification to educate a child at home. Parents have a duty under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that a child educated at home receives a full-time education suitable for their age, ability and aptitudes. Although local authorities have no power to monitor the suitability of education provided at home, they have a duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable education. Authorities may make informal enquiries about the provision made in the home and the attainment of the child. If an authority is not satisfied that the education provided is suitable, it can initiate a school attendance process.

We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people while at the same time safeguarding the right of parents to determine how and when to education their children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-19.

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 were paid within 10 days of a claim being made in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is currently not available.

The department does not hold information on time taken to make a payment for jobseeker’s allowance, or employment and support allowance.

Additional breakdowns will be included in the Universal Credit official statistics as quality assurance of data from the Universal Credit systems progresses during 2016.