The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Mike Penning
These arrangements are kept under review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Mrs Helen Grant
Check-off is a matter delegated to Departments and it is for them to determine the appropriateness of continuing with the current arrangements. DCMS is in the process of reviewing its current arrangements for provision of check-off.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many formal client complaints were brought against Jobcentre Plus staff in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) West Lothian local authority area and (d) Livingston constituency in each of the last five years.
Esther McVey
The information requested is not available prior to July 2010, however data is available as follows:
|
July 2010 – March 2011 |
April 2011 – March 2012 |
April 2012 – March 2013 |
April 2013 – March 2014 |
|
|
Scotland |
815 |
1,070 |
983 |
773 |
|
National (England, Scotland & Wales) |
6,180 |
8,979 |
16,864 |
15,481 |
DWP completed the incremental roll-out of a new complaints process in December 2012 which encouraged the recording of complaints. The data provided spans both processes.
As complaints are not recorded by local authority area or constituency, this level of data isn’t available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the roll out of superfast broadband in rural communities in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The results of an impact study on the Government’s broadband programmes published in November 2013 showed that the programmes would achieve a return by 2024 of £20 for every £1 invested. The study did not disaggregate these results across the UK but 89 per cent of the programme benefits were expected to accrue to areas outside London and the South East of England. Funding of £100.8 million of the Government’s initial £530 million superfast broadband programme has been allocated to Scotland and the Government announced an indicative funding allocation of a further £20.99 million for Scotland from the additional £250 million programme in February 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes his Department has in place to monitor the welfare of personal independence payment applicants awaiting a decision on their claim.
Mike Penning
The Department does not routinely monitor the welfare of people applying for benefits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Anna Soubry
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for Defence Equipment, Science, and Technology (Mr Philip Dunne) on 2 April 2014 (Official Report, column 730W) to the hon. Member for Leicester South (Mr Jonathan Ashworth).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days were lost due to illness among Jobcentre Plus staff in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) West Lothian local authority area and (d) Livingston constituency in each of the last five years.
Mike Penning
DWP has robust and effective measures in place for managing sickness absence and has succeeded in cutting sickness absence from an annual average of 11.1 days per employee in 2007 to 6.9 days per employee currently. To place this in context the Civil Service average is 7.6 days.
Jobcentre Plus was re-structured and absorbed into a revised Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Operations structure in October 2011. Since that point, it has no longer existed as a separate organisation. This means the information beyond September 2011 is not available.
In accordance with cross government arrangements; the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reports sick leave expressed as average working days lost (AWDL) per employee, over a rolling 12 month period
The following table shows Jobcentre Plus AWDL for 2009/10 and 2010/11. Information was not available for the period April to September 2011 because this was less than a 12 month period.
|
2009/10 |
2010/11 |
|
|
UK |
8.8 |
8.6 |
|
Scotland |
8.2 |
7.3 |
|
West Lothian LA Area |
9.6 |
7.4 |
|
Livingston Constituency* |
10.9 |
6.1 |
*Information by Parliamentary Constituency is not held directly but information is available by office, therefore we have created a combined figure for the two offices in the Constituency – Livingstone Jobcentre and Broxburn Jobcentre.
To put these reductions into context, if Average Working Days Lost in DWP was still at the level it was in 2007, the Department would be paying over £27.5m more in sick pay than it is at present.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Elizabeth Truss
I refer the hon. Member to the response published 1 April 2014, Official Report, Column 632W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings (a) officials and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with (i) disability groups and charities and (ii) providers of the Work Capability Assessment in each of the last five years.
Mike Penning
Ministers and officials meet regularly with a range of stakeholders about the Work Capability Assessment, including our health assessment providers, disability representative groups and charities.
The current contractual agreement between DWP and Atos Healthcare contains a number of key performance indicators. DWP monitors and discusses performance with Atos on a weekly basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Gregory Barker
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State reviewed the situation on 23 January 2014 and was content for no action to be taken on this matter.