Tag: Gareth Thomas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to require local authorities to contract out the statutory children’s social work services; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

The following local authorities are currently rated as ‘inadequate’ under Ofsted’s Single Inspection Framework:

Birmingham, Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Coventry, Cumbria, Darlington, Doncaster, Dudley, Knowsley, Lambeth, Lancashire, Leicester City, Manchester, Norfolk, Reading, Rotherham, Sandwell, Slough, Somerset, Sunderland, Surrey, Torbay, Wandsworth, West Berkshire and Wirral.

The Government does not use set criteria to require local authorities to contract out their statutory children’s social care services.

The Department for Education has statutory powers to intervene in local authority children’s services under section 497A of the Education Act 1996. This legislation allows the Department to remove day-to-day operational control of children’s services from the local authority, for a period of time, if the Secretary of State believes that the local authority is failing to secure its relevant statutory functions by delivering children’s services to the required standard.

As a matter of policy, the Government has decided that any authority rated by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ across all the key judgements in any one Ofsted inspection is deemed to be failing ‘systemically’, and any authority that is rated inadequate twice overall in any five year period is deemed to be failing persistently.

In these circumstances the Secretary of State appoints a children’s services commissioner to review services and then provide advice to the Secretary of State on whether they should remain in local authority control.

Once the Secretary of State has received the commissioner’s advice, she will decide whether to direct the authority to enter into a contract with a third party – for instance a Children’s Services Trust – to deliver those services on its behalf.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which agreed EU directives have not yet been transposed directly into UK law; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning

There are no EU directives related to the Ministry of Defence’s responsibilities awaiting transposition into UK law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when the future high streets forum has met in the last two years; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Percy

The Future High Street Forum was set up to provide joint business and government leadership to better enable our high streets and town centres to adapt and compete in the face of changing consumer and social trends. It advises the government in the formation and delivery of policies to support high streets and town centres and comprises a wide range of organisations that are involved in the high street.

The Forum’s Executive Board has met 6 times in the past two years, including three times in 2016 so far.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many representations he has received about levels of local government funding for social care provision in England in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

My Department receives representations on a wide range of matters relating to local government. Information regarding the number of representations relating specifically to funding for social care provision is not readily available. Protecting social care is a priority for the Government and so we have ensured local authorities have access to the funding they need to provide it. Provision is ultimately a local decision, based on local priorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will exempt housing co-operatives from the right to buy scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there will be a presumption that housing associations will sell tenants the property in which they live, but there will be some broad circumstances where a housing association can exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held by co-operative housing associations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has received from civilian business jet wage of RAF Northolt in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

Receipts in respect of RAF Notholt comprise two elements: income from civilian aircraft business and other aviation-associated activity. The data available for these two elements covering the last five financial years (FY) is shown in the following table:

Financial Year	Civilian Aircraft Business	Other Aviation activity	TOTAL
2010-11	£6.5 million (estimated)	£3.1 million	£9.6 million
2011-12	£8.1 million	£3.1 million	£11.2 million
2012-13	£4.9 million	£3.1 million	£8.0 million
2013-14	£6.0 million	£3.4 million	£9.4 million
2014-15	£6.8 million	Not yet available	To be confirmed

The reduction from FY2011-12 to FY2012-13 was due to the loss of additional revenues from utilisation of a hanger by a commercial operator.

Data regarding the other aviation-associated activity for FY2014-15 has not been verified and I will write to the hon. Member, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House, as soon as the information is available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding the National Citizen Service received in each of the last five years; how much it is estimated to receive in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Rob Wilson

The table below shows the funding provided by Government for delivery of National Citizen Service since the programme started in 2011.

Year	Government Funding
2011/12	£21 million
2012/13	£62 million
2013/14	£84 million
2014/15	£130 million

More than £1 billion has been committed to the further expansion of NCS in this Parliament. The annual funding arrangements were announced in the 2015 Autumn statement and Spending Review.

We want to extend the benefits of NCS to young people of all backgrounds.

Government funding means that it never costs more than £50 to participate in this unique experience, and independent evaluations have shown a return of up to £3.98 for every £1 invested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many lorries were (a) routinely searched and (b) searched for illegal immigrants at English ports in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

This information is not held centrally.

Border Force operates a multi-layered search regime using a range of interventions to screen all freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed ports.

This includes the use of specialist technologies such as Passive Millimetre Wave Imaging devices, heartbeat monitors and carbon dioxide detectors as well as physical searches by sniffer dogs, Border Force staff and specialist search contractors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he, his Ministers or his officials have had with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Taiwan’s intention to join that bank; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

Neither I, other Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers, nor my officials have discussed Taiwan’s intention to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with representatives of that Bank.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of employee share ownership schemes on (a) productivity levels and (b) the public purse in the last 12 months.

Mr David Gauke

Tax-advantaged employee share schemes are greatly valued by both companies and employers, and the government wants to make sure that the rules surrounding these schemes are as simple and clear as possible. Budget 2016 made a number of changes to the rules for employment-related securities and options which will make these schemes fairer and easier for taxpayers to understand, and therefore encourage businesses to use them.

An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned report conducted by Oxera considered the effect of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes on productivity. The report is available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203095056/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/tax-advantaged-report2.pdf.

The government’s most recent assessment of the cost of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes to the Exchequer is provided in the table below.

	Forecast cost of Income Tax relief (2015-16)	Forecast cost of National Insurance relief (2015-16)
Share Incentive Plan	£220 million	£165 million
Save As You Earn	£180 million	£140 million
Enterprise Management Incentives	£70 million	£40 million
Company Share Option Plan	£70 million	£40 million

HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation checking service for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes. However, HMRC has withdrawn other checks for non-tax advantaged schemes as, in the majority of cases, acceptable valuations were submitted. Therefore, the valuation service added no value and is seen as unnecessary.

The government keeps all areas of the tax system under review and as part of that in always interested in understanding the views of all interested parties.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

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