The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to ensure that all statistics identified as high impact outputs with less widespread support by the Office for National Statistics in its consultation on statistical products 2013 will continue to be funded for 2014-15.
Nick Hurd
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 March 2014 (Official Report) Column Ref: 470W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect of using Wolverhampton as a redistribution centre for all mail relating to processing benefit claims, payments and appeals on (a) time taken to process and (b) the reliability of the claims process.
Mike Penning
DWP post opening arrangements are delivered as part of a contract for Office Services awarded to Cofely (formerly Balfour Beatty Workplace) which commenced on 1.3.07. The contract was let in line with EU procurement legislation and offers significant cost savings and efficiencies over the previous arrangements which were a mixture of third party contractors and in house teams.
In 2013 and in partnership with Cofely, DWP has introduced a new initiative to transform DWP’s mail services. The Mail Opening, Scanning and Indexing Project will provide a single strategic service for post opening and scanning across DWP allowing our front line staff to work more efficiently and effectively whilst drastically reducing our paper consumption, storage requirements and demonstrating the Departments commitment to the Government’s digital agenda.
As part of the overall efficiencies we have consolidated the number of MOUs from 29 sites operated by the Royal Mail Group to just 2 locations operated by Cofely, but underpinned by a new Royal Mail sorting office in Wolverhampton.
The consolidation to 2 MOUs is currently being transformed; the Department is working with all the Providers impacted in the supply chain to optimise quality, performance and service delivery
As with any new way of working, time is needed for processes and procedures to be bedded in and the Department continues to work closely with the supplier, regularly reviewing their performance. The Department is confident that this new way of handling inbound mail when coupled with the increase in scanning, will deliver efficiencies and a better service to our customers in the long term.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian personnel are employed at HMNB Clyde by (a) his Department, (b) Babcock, (c) ABL Alliance, (d) Serco, (e) Rolls Royce, (f) Thales and (g) other main contractors.
Mr Philip Dunne
As at 9 June 2014, 1,285 Ministry of Defence civilian personnel are employed at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde. Additionally there are approximately 1,900 people employed in the Naval Base by contractors. The precise number is a matter for the contractors and will fluctuate, depending on the tasks and the number of sub-contractors employed.