Tag: Jonathan Ashworth

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.

Mark Lancaster

The payment of overtime is permitted where a Ministry of Defence (MOD) employee below the Senior Civil Service is required to work beyond conditioned hours or on days that they would not normally be required to work. There has been a conscious effort to reduce overtime costs in the MOD, line managers must scrutinise overtime and encourage time off in lieu as an alternative. As a guiding principle, overtime should only be granted when taken in direct support of current operations, it is of essential business resilience, or when posts require routinely long hours and time off in lieu no longer represents a realistic alternative.

A summary of the amount of MOD expenditure on overtime payments in the last 24 months is shown below.

Month	£ million
March 2014	3.550
April 2014	5.990
May 2014	4.908
June 2014	7.172
July 2014	5.560
August 2014	5.744
September 2014	5.305
October 2014	7.050
November 2014	6.378
December 2014	5.416
January 2015	4.820
February 2015	6.726
March 2015	3.895
April 2015	5.018
May 2015	6.605
June 2015	6.039
July 2015	6.481
August 2015	6.313
September 2015	4.603
October 2015	2.424
November 2015	5.252
December 2015	6.576
January 2016	4.447
February 2016	6.232

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) legal fees for employment tribunals for the last twelve months, where invoices have so far been received (January 2015 – December 2015), total £46,385.52. The FCO is in the process of recovering £3,000 of this following a Costs Order in our favour.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars her Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.

Mr Desmond Swayne

All such materials can be found on the GOV.UK website, in line with our commitment to transparency which saw us ranked second globally in the 2014 Aid Transparency Index.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many special advisers from which departments have notified the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary that they will be campaigning outside office hours for the UK to leave the EU.

Matthew Hancock

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 29 February 2016, UIN 28380.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of officials of her Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

George Eustice

The table below provides details of the number and proportion of officials that took sick leave relating to Mental Health Disorders in the core-Department as at 31st December in each of the last five years.

	Number of Staff	Proportion of All Core Defra Staff
31-Dec-11	69	2.9%
31-Dec-12	70	3.3%
31-Dec-13	76	3.5%
31-Dec-14	52	2.5%
31-Dec-15	70	3.6%

We are unable to disaggregate stress from the category mental disorders. This category includes personality and behavioural disorders and lists 24 descriptors of which stress is one.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.

Jane Ellison

The information requested is presented in the table below:

Financial Year Officials Left	Number of Resignations	Proportion of total staff
2010-11	84	3%
2011-12	55	2%
2012-13	95	4%
2013-14	95	5%
2014-15	75	4%
2015-16	91	4%

The numbers given are for civil servants only. These figures include employees, loans-in from other Government Departments and fixed-term appointments.

The proportion of staff who resigned is calculated by the total number of resignations in the financial year indicated, divided by the total headcount as at the 31 March of that year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Anguilla and Guernsey have agreed to establish a central register of beneficial ownership accessible by UK tax and law enforcement agencies.

Matthew Hancock

Anguilla has now signed an arrangement to hold a central register or similarly effective system of beneficial ownership information accessible to UK tax and law enforcement agencies.

Guernsey’s Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on 4 April 2016 with a commitment to this too and a proposal to make a formal arrangement with the UK government when their new government is in place following their recent election.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what timeline he has set for all multinational companies operating in the UK to publish country-by-country reporting; and how that requirement will be enforced.

Mr David Gauke

The UK initiated the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting by large multinationals to tax authorities. The UK was one of the first countries to commit to the OECD model of CbC reporting with legislation in Finance Act 2015, and regulations were laid on 26 February 2016 setting the details of implementation in the UK, which apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016. The UK together with 30 countries has signed the OECD Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) to exchange CbC reports.

The Chancellor has recently pressed the case for public CbC reporting on a multilateral basis. On 12 April 2016 the European Commission published a legislative proposal for public CbC reporting by large multinationals. The UK welcomes this work as a step in the right direction towards new international rules for greater public transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what visits the Government’s Anti-Corruption Tsar has taken in an official capacity to the British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies since his appointment to that role.

Matthew Hancock

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office manages the UK’s relationship with the Overseas Territories, and the Ministry of Justice manages the relationship with the Crown Dependencies. The Anti-Corruption Champion is in close contact with both departments on those issues that relate to his work.

The details of visits will be published in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to conclude and publish its consultation on establishing public central registers of beneficial ownership of UK properties owned by foreign companies.

Margot James

The Department is currently developing the policy detail to be included within the consultation, which we intend to publish later this year.