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Tag: Ian Austin

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of application backlogs at the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) receives around 4 million disclosure
    applications a year and provides the Home Office with monthly updates on its
    performance. Latest data for the 2014-15 operational year, covering the period
    from April 2014 to January 2015, shows that 95.4% of disclosure certificates
    were issued within 40 working days – well above the DBS service standard to
    issue 88% of all disclosures within this time.

    A key aspect of DBS administration is to ensure that disclosure checks are both
    accurate and completed within service standard timescales. In the small
    proportion of cases where checks have not been completed within these
    timescales, the DBS is expected to take the necessary steps to progress the
    case including, as appropriate, working with the police and other parties
    involved in the checking process.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had on the future of the Landfill Communities Fund.

    Nicky Morgan

    The Government regularly meets a range of stakeholders on the Landfill Communities Fund.

    The LCF makes a valuable contribution to local communities. All projects have to be approved by ENTRUST as meeting specific criteria, to ensure the project benefits the wider community.The value of the landfill communities fund for 2014-15 will be reduced to £71 million. This reduction takes account of progress that environmental bodies have made to address the government’s challenge to reduce unspent funds. The saving will be used to fund an equivalent one-off increase in Defra’s budget to address waste crime. The government intends that environmental bodies’ performance against the challenge is published once the final information is available later this year.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the National Probation Service will have access to case records of community rehabilitation companies.

    Jeremy Wright

    Staff in the National Probation Service (NPS) and the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have, and will continue to have, necessary access to each other’s case records. NPS staff are able to read all CRC records and update any case they are working on. CRC staff will be able to see and update records that relate to offenders they are working with.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the performance of projects funded by the Landfill Communities Fund; what plans he has for the future of the fund; and if he will make a statement.

    Nicky Morgan

    The Government regularly meets a range of stakeholders on the Landfill Communities Fund.

    The LCF makes a valuable contribution to local communities. All projects have to be approved by ENTRUST as meeting specific criteria, to ensure the project benefits the wider community.The value of the landfill communities fund for 2014-15 will be reduced to £71 million. This reduction takes account of progress that environmental bodies have made to address the government’s challenge to reduce unspent funds. The saving will be used to fund an equivalent one-off increase in Defra’s budget to address waste crime. The government intends that environmental bodies’ performance against the challenge is published once the final information is available later this year.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether staff working for community rehabilitation companies will be able to (a) recall offenders and (b) write parole reports without consulting National Probation Service staff.

    Jeremy Wright

    The decision whether to recall an offender to custody continues to rest with the Secretary of State. Where a warning does not appear sufficient or appropriate, CRCs will be required to refer potential breaches to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) with a breach report and a recommendation on the action to be taken. NOMS will take the final decision on behalf of the Secretary of State. The enforcement process for CRCs and the National Probation Service was described in detail in our published Target Operating Model.

    Offenders serving indeterminate sentences for public protection will be managed by the National Probation Service: the arrangements for Parole Board hearings during their recall period will remain unchanged. If recalled to custody, offenders allocated to the CRCs who are serving determinate sentences will continue to be managed by the CRC, unless their risk of serious harm increases to “high”. CRCs will need to provide information, as appropriate, to support the recall process and consideration of re-release.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the value of Landfill Community Fund grants to projects in (a) Dudley North constituency, (b) Dudley Borough, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

    Nicky Morgan

    ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF), has provided the value of the LCF in Dudley, the West Midlands and England from the inception of the fund to date and for the last financial year. This is set out in the table below. ENTRUST does not have this information broken down by constituency.

    Dudley

    West Midlands (includes Dudley)

    England

    £m

    £m

    £m

    2013-14

    0.142

    2.17

    67

    1996 to date

    2.3

    24

    987

    Given the level of unspent funds that the LCF continues to hold, reducing the value of the fund by less than 10% is not expected to impact on communities’ ability to receive LCF funding.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had on tendering for contracts to run community rehabilitation companies.

    Jeremy Wright

    The tendering process is being run in accordance with standard Government procurement practice. Ministers are being kept updated on progress and throughout the programme have engaged in discussions with a wide range of stakeholders. Bids to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) are expected in June 2014 and the contract winners for each Community Rehabilitation Company will be announced by the end of 2014.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the reasons are for the changes to Network Rail’s planned redevelopment of the western elevation of New Street Station, set out in planning application 2014/02551/PA to Birmingham City Council.

    Stephen Hammond

    Network Rail has proposed a change to the　Navigation Street　footbridge and the cladding to the existing station building which forms part of the western elevation of the　Birmingham New Street　redevelopment　to deliver a simpler and more cost effective design.

    Detailed structural analysis has proved that the existing 1960s built structures cannot support the proposed cladding and would need significant strengthening to support the additional weight and loading.　 This would require extended railway closures causing delays and disruption to passengers.

    The proposed new design would look very similar to the original plan from the street but would be significantly more cost effective, straightforward to construct and avoid the need for lengthy possessions of the railway below, thereby minimising disruption to passengers. 　It will continue to be a great improvement over the existing 1960s built structure.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) staff in his Department and (b) members of the public who use his Department’s on-site nurseries.

    Mike Penning

    The number of DWP families who use the on site nurseries was provided in PQ195198:

    10 Apr 2014, Column 320W, Nurseries: House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 10 Apr 2014 (pt 0001)

    37 members of the public use the Department’s on site nurseries.

    “

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to improve job security for people employed indefinitely on temporary or fixed-term contracts.

    Jenny Willott

    The Government is committed to achieving a labour market that is both fair and flexible, which gives employers the confidence to create jobs, and individuals the choice to find work that suits them and their circumstances.

    Temporary, agency and fixed term contracts are an important, but relatively small part of our labour market, as they give companies flexibility in how staff are hired and workers flexibility in how they work. In February to April 2014 there were 1.673 million temporary employees – 6.5% of all employees. Of these, ONS estimate that 35.9% were working temporarily because they could not find a permanent job – down from 39.7% a year ago.

    Under this Government employment growth continues to be exceptionally strong, with levels up by 345,000 in the past quarter, and 780,000 in the past year – a record. Overall, in the 12 months to April 2014:

    · Employment increased by 780,000.

    · The number of employees working full time increased by 441,000 and the number of people working part time increased by 17,000.

    · The amount of people in self-employment rose by 337,000

    · The amount of temporary employees was 1.67 million in the three months to April 2014, up 79,000 on the same period last year. The amount of employees working temporary jobs because they could not find permanent jobs fell by 33,000 over the past year.