Tag: Lord Jopling

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Leader of the House, in the light of the answers on 6 May to written questions tabled by Lord Mendelsohn, what steps he will take to ensure that the replies to written questions answer the question which was put as fully as possible.

Lord Hill of Oareford

As Leader of the House, I have a particular responsibility to encourage departments to be punctual in answering written questions, but the content of each answer is a matter for the minister concerned. The Ministerial Code says that “Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 6 May (WA 365), whether they will now answer the question which was put.

Baroness Northover

DFID’s Executive Management Committee review year-to-date and forecast expenditure against budgets each month through a monthly Management Information report.

There is no formal cost overrun percentage threshold that triggers a review of specific budgets. The EMC does however examine potential material overspending each month that represents a significant risk to the DFID’s overall Resource and Capital budgets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Newby on 6 May (WA 365), whether they will now answer the question which was put.

Lord Faulks

Further to the information given by my Noble Friend on 6 May (WA 365) I can add that the Ministry of Justice does not operate a strict percentage based escalation process for financial issues. The Departmental Board receive a routine update on the Ministry’s financial position at every meeting. This provides a summary of the overall position and, where necessary, highlights any significant variations from, or changes to, budget forecasts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Kramer on 6 May (WA 366), whether they will now answer the question which was put.

Baroness Kramer

Each month the Department for Transport’s Executive Committee receives a summary of the forecast expenditure against budget as part of a Management Information Pack and a commentary in which any significant forecast variances to individual budgets are described and explained. Information at the detailed level is reviewed by each budget holder and Finance Business Partner to ensure that the Department for Transport remains within its control totals and each budget holder remains within their budget. Where forecasts indicate a possible breach of Treasury control totals, this is reported to the Executive Committee every month until the issue is resolved. There were two potential forecast overspends which were at risk of breaching control totals. These issues were highlighted to the Executive Committee three times in 2013-14 until the issues were resolved.

The Department for Transport does not have a prescribed percentage for any forecast overspend to be tabled at the Board or Executive Committee.