Tag: Gavin Newlands

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he expects his Department’s review of airside VAT-free shopping to be published.

Mr David Gauke

On 31 December 2015, the Chancellor announced a review of the tax treatment of airside retail sales, with a view to identifying options for passengers to receive more of the direct benefits. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has completed its initial fact finding.

The Government is keen to identify options that provide overall best value for travellers. This means fully understanding the potential impacts of possible changes on travellers, retailers and airports, and I have asked HMRC to explore these thoroughly. Once this work has been completed, decisions on the best way forward will be made in the autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the length of time was that each person who successfully appealed against their deportation under the deport first, appeal later measures spent outside the UK.

James Brokenshire

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 11080, that there had been 13 successful appeals, the additional data requested is not available. Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean these questions could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how the Government implements the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Mr David Lidington

The UK was the first country to produce a National Action Plan (NAP) in September 2013 for the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights. It was launched jointly by the the Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Busines, Innovation and Skills and was developed through consultations with business and civil society organisations. Implementation has been coordinated through a cross-Whitehall Steering Group.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many National Enterprise Allowance advisers are employed as part of that scheme.

Priti Patel

The NEA is delivered by contracted providers who use a combination of paid and volunteer mentors to deliver business mentoring support. The exact number of mentors used by providers is not known.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on its review of the treatment of VAT in airside retail shops.

Mr David Gauke

On 31 December 2015, the Chancellor announced a review of the tax treatment of airside retail sales, with a view to identifying options for passengers to receive more of the direct benefits. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has completed its initial fact finding.

The Government is keen to identify options that provide overall best value for travellers. This means fully understanding the potential impacts of possible changes on travellers, retailers and airports, and I have asked HMRC to explore these thoroughly. Once this work has been completed, decisions on the best way forward will be made in the autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of foreign national offenders deported between July 2014 and August 2015 who returned to a country other than their country of nationality.

James Brokenshire

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 11080, that there had been 13 successful appeals, the additional data requested is not available. Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean these questions could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Government holds on UK-linked companies committing human rights abuses abroad.

Mr David Lidington

The Government does not maintain a central log of UK-linked companies who allegedly fail to respect human rights abroad. However, the Government’s expectation is that British companies will build respect for human rights into all aspects of their operations, in the UK and overseas. Responsible action by the private sector is good for business and communities – it helps create jobs, customers and a sense of fairness, and contributes towards to a market’s sustainability.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on using debt collection agencies in each of the last seven years.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department’s policy is to recover outstanding debt whenever possible. Where a person is not in receipt of benefit and all the Department’s attempts at recovery have been unsuccessful, the overpayment will be referred to a debt collection agency. The debtor is always given an opportunity to make an agreement to pay the Department before the debt is sent to a debt collection agency to recover.

With the exception of one service provider currently being used by the Child Maintenance Group, the Department does not hold extant, direct contracts with any debt collection agencies although the nature of some of the expired contracts means that a number of collections are still being made. DWP now makes use of one main contract with Indesser. The Framework Contract is managed by Cabinet Office. Indesser manage relationships with a number of Debt Collection Agencies on behalf of all Government Customers.

Under the terms of the Framework Agreement, Indesser and its sub-contractors must comply with relevant industry and public sector standards for service delivery including those of the Credit Services Association, the Code of Practice and the Financial Conduct Authority guidelines. The standards are listed in the DMI Framework Agreement. Indesser reviews subcontractor compliance with these standards through audit and assurance activity, including responsibility for ensuring that they comply with relevant industry standards, managing their performance, and monitoring any complaints. Customer departments (i.e. DWP) in turn receive Letters of Assurance which they review to ensure standards are being achieved and the audits are effective.

The breakdown of figures you have requested is derived from operational processes and systems designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As it was not originally intended for publication, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.

The debt collection agency costs of the Child Maintenance Group and DWP are given separately. Please note that the figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000.

The cost to the DWP of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

Financial Year	Spend	Recoveries
2009/2010	£1.59m	£8.50m
2010/2011	£1.33m	£9.77m
2011/2012	£2.11m	£13.94m
2012/2013	£1.95m	£14.15m
2013/2014	£2.12m	£15.00m
2014/2015	£2.52m	£17.30m
2015/2016*	£1.64m	£11.05m
*to date

The cost to Child Maintenance Group of the debt collection agencies, and the related recovery made by them, is as follows:

Financial Year	Spend	Recoveries
2009/2010	£1.25m	£10.20m
2010/2011	£0.56m	£4.68m
2011/2012	£0.35m	£1.35m
2012/2013	£0.21m	£1.71m
2013/2014	£0.05m	£1.21m
2014/2015	£0.10m	£0.86m
2015/2016 to date	£0.07m	£0.53m

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what consultations his Department had with (a) the Scottish Prison Service, (b) Scottish Ministers and (c) the Prison Officers Association on the transfer of Prison Officers’ Pensions from Classic to the Alpha Pension Scheme.

Matthew Hancock

Prison Officers employed in the Scottish Prison Service are members of the Civil Service. All members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) who transitioned into the Civil Service (and Others) Pension Scheme (CSOPS, also known as alpha) were notified by letter to inform them of the change, in accordance with the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations. In addition, relevant Employers were provided with a variety of communication products to inform their staff and support those who needed to make decisions. These were also held on the Civil Service Pensions website.

Between 2011 and 2015 Cabinet Office Ministers and officials held extensive discussions with all of the Civil Service unions, including the Prison Officers’ Association, on the detail of the pension reforms. There was also discussion with both the Scottish Prison Service and National Offender Management Service on the detail of the pension offer to operational staff in Prisons.

The Civil Service is a Reserved Matter and this includes pensions for all Civil Servants. Representations on the pension age of Scottish Prison Officers were made to me by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice in July last year. I replied later that month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to her Department has been of (a) deporting and (b) returning deported people following a successful appeal under the deport first, appeal later measures.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office has not estimated the cost of (a) deporting and (b) returning deported people following a successful appeal under the deport first, appeal later measures. We are unable to disaggregate the specific costs relating to deport first, appeal later provisions and any attempt to do so would incur disproportionate cost.