Tag: Frank Field

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pieces of recording equipment are available in each region of the UK for the purposes of recording work capability assessments.

Priti Patel

Centre for Health and Disability Assessments offer audio recordings to customers who request them in advance, or on the day, and recording machines are now available at every assessment centre. For every 10,000 Work Capability Assessments completed the Department receives an average of 66 requests for an audio recorded assessment.

There are currently 24 audio-recording machines in Scotland and the North East; 43 in North and Central England; 39 in Wales and the West, and; 22 in London and South England, totalling 128 for Great Britain.

(Source: Centre for Health Disability Assessments)

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people working for his 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.

Ben Gummer

Cabinet Office has no one paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The Crown Commercial Service, which is an agency of the Cabinet Office, has seven staff who are paid less than the national living wage and one person paid less than the London living wage but none are on zero-hours contracts. One agency staff member working in the Cabinet Office is paid less than the national living wage but none are on zero-hours contracts.

In line with the practice of previous Administrations we do not require companies contracted to the Department to pay the living wage to the staff they employ. There are currently 63 individuals working in the Cabinet Office for companies contracted to the Department that are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, and 14 are on zero hours contracts.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people working for his 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.

Caroline Nokes

The Government introduced the National Living Wage on 1 April 2016. This will put over £900 more a year in the pockets of full-time workers compared to the current National Minimum Wage.

The Department ensures that all direct employees are paid at least the mandatory National Living Wage set by the Government, regardless of age. Similarly all agency staff and those on outsourced contracts are paid at least this rate. The Department reviews pay annually, setting pay at rates that will attract and motivate appropriate numbers and sufficient talent to fulfil its duties to some 22 million customers.

None of our employees nor those working for our contractors are on zero hours contracts.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, by when his Department plans to report its funding on a proposed breathing space mechanism for problem debt.

Simon Kirby

The Government is exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders and the Government will report back this autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11226, for what reasons decisions were not made on 118,039 of the applications his Department received in the period between October 2014 and September 2015 for Short Term Benefit Advance.

Priti Patel

We only collect limited data on those requests for a Short Term Benefit Advances that are refused although we do know that the vast majority of refusals are either because:
(i) There was a doubt about whether the claimant would be entitled to the benefit being claimed and, therefore, we could not be sure that there was any benefit to advance or
(ii) Actual benefit was paid instead, which is a better outcome for the claimant.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are entitled to receive free school meals but do not receive them.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The January 2015 census recorded that there were 2,755,021 children registered for free school meals (FSM). We do not hold information on the number of FSM entitled pupils who did not receive a school meal.

Further information is available in the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many training places were commissioned in England for new entrants to become (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2010 and 2015.

Ben Gummer

The following table shows the number of pre-registration nursing and midwifery places (degree and diploma courses) that were commissioned by year, for the period 2010/11 to 2015/16.

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Nursing	20,327	18,069	17,546	18,056	19,206	20,033
Midwifery	2,493	2,507	2,578	2,588	2,563	2,605

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

The latest planned training commissions for 2015/16 were published in December 2014 by Health Education England as part of their Workforce Plan for England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many training places he plans to commission in England for new entrants to become (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2016 and 2020.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that the workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours to meet the needs of patients.

HEE produces an annual Workforce Plan for England, with the 2016/17 plan scheduled to go to the HEE Board in December 2015 and published shortly after. This will include details of the nursing and midwifery commissions for 2016/17.

As a result, there is no forecast available beyond the 2015/16 commissions data published in the 2015/16 workforce plan in December 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many places were available for new entrants to study medicine in England in each year between 2010 and 2015; and how many places for new entrants to study medicine are planned to be available in each year between 2016 and 2020.

Ben Gummer

The number of places available for new entrants to study medicine in England from 2010 to 2015 are as follows:

Year (academic)	Commissions
2010/11	6,195
2011/12	6,195
2012/13	6,195
2013/14	6,071
2014/15	6,071
2015/16	6,071

Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England, Medical and Dental Survey

The number of medical students planned for 2016/17 entry to undergraduate training in England is 6,071. Health Education England (HEE) will be establishing a review of medical student numbers as part of their wider workforce planning process to inform future year intakes. Any changes to student intakes will require careful consideration by HEE, Department of Health, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications were received per individual training place in England for (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2010 and 2015.

Ben Gummer

Information relating to the number of applications for pre-registration nursing and midwifery training is not collected by the Department.

Information on applications and admissions to full time education courses in the United Kingdom is collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).