The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people working for central government departments have been paid through a limited company in the last year for which figures are available.
Matthew Hancock
The information requested is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in his Department in 2015-16.
Harriett Baldwin
As part of the government’s transparency agenda, the department publishes on a monthly basis, information on payroll and non-payroll staff. The link for the requested years can be found below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workforce-management–2?1
There are no civil servants contracted to the department who are paid through public limited companies.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many civil servants in her Department are paid through limited companies.
Andrea Leadsom
All Civil Servants employed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change are paid through the departmental payroll system and none are paid through limited companies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in his Department in 2015-16.
Mike Penning
The MoJ spent £182,428,000 on non-payroll staff in 2015-16. Successive administrations have recruited non-payroll staff to fill short-term business critical roles where the permanent workforce does not have the required skills. These roles are mainly linked to major reform programmes. Agency workers are also recruited into administrative roles where it is value for money to have a flexible workforce due to peaks and troughs in demand. However as part of this Government’s MOJ Transformation programme the department is looking to reduce expenditure on non-payroll staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of officials of his Department working on decentralisation and growth are based in London.
Mr Mark Francois
Decentralisation and growth are cross-governmental issues, supported by officials in all relevant departments.
The Cities and Local Growth Unit is a joint BIS-DCLG team that supports areas in developing and agreeing devolution deals with the Government. It currently has approximately 140 officials working on a range of devolution and growth agendas, with just over 60 of these officials in six local teams based across the country.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many child sexual exploitation issues prosecutions have been brought in relation to private hire vehicles in each year since 2000.
Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport does not hold data on the number of child sexual exploitation prosecutions related to private hire vehicles. Such information should be sought from the Police.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the membership is of the Cabinet committee for exiting the EU.
Ben Gummer
The full list of Cabinet Committees, including terms of reference and membership, will be published soon.
The comments made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on Twitter on 22 December 2022.
The Tories have just announced a brutal near-record 6% rail fare rise.
This savage fare hike will be a sick joke for millions reliant on crumbling services.
People up and down this country are paying the price for twelve years of Tory failure.
The speech made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Rail Minister, in the House of Commons on 1 December 2022.
I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and Mr Speaker for granting this important urgent question. Rail services across the north are once again in meltdown. Today, almost 40 services have been cancelled on TransPennine Express alone—and those are just the published figures, because they were cancelled overnight. People are cut off from jobs and opportunities, investors I spoke to this morning in Manchester are thinking twice about investing in the north, and businesses are unable to recruit because their potential employees simply cannot rely on the train to get to work. The damage that this fiasco is doing is enormous, and in just 11 days, major timetable changes are due to come into force. I do not say it lightly, but if this were happening elsewhere in the country, the Government would have taken far greater action by now. Instead, they have—not just for weeks, but for months and years—forced the north to settle for a sub-standard service and to accept delays, cancellations and overcrowding.
Not only did Ministers allow that, but they actually rewarded the abject failure of the operators. Six years ago, TransPennine Express had exactly the same issues it faces today. Then, as now, it blamed staff shortages and rest day working. It said six years ago that it would recruit drivers and improve resilience, but here we are again, in crisis—and the public are paying the price. Have the Government sanctioned operators or demanded improvement? No. They continue to reward failing operators such as Avanti West Coast by extending their contracts. Yesterday, it was revealed that they signed off a decision for Avanti to hand over £12 million in taxpayers’ cash as dividends to its shareholders.
Enough is enough. We cannot continue like this. It is time for Ministers to take action. Will they put operators on a binding remedial plan to fully restore services or face penalties and withdrawal of the contract? Will they claw back the taxpayers’ money that Ministers have allowed to flow out in dividends? Can the Minister confirm whether the Secretary of State is preventing an offer on rest day working between operators and unions? Enough is enough. We cannot continue like this.
Huw Merriman
I agree with the hon. Lady: we cannot continue like this. That is why we have set in place a series of talks and negotiations aimed at changing working practices so that train operators are not reliant on seeking the approval of workforce to run a seven-day operation. That just does not work for anyone—management, workforce or, indeed, passengers—because the train operators are then required to seek the voluntary assistance of workforce to work on certain days. The hon. Lady says that we cannot carry on like this and that enough is enough, so I hope that she will join me in pushing for reforms.
With regard to Network Rail reforms, a 4% plus 4% offer has been put on the table. That can be self-funded and allow workforce to move to better, more modern working jobs with more interaction with and assistance for passengers, and a better experience for workforce and the passenger. Yet we have been unable to reach an agreement. The hon. Lady refers to timetable changes. Those are vital for us to increase the number of Avanti services again, but if we have industrial action in December, it will be even more challenging to put them in place.
I join the hon. Lady in saying that enough is enough and that we need change. This Government are seeking to implement change, but as Opposition Members will know, that cannot be dealt with unilaterally. It requires the agreement of the unions to modernise and change working practices. That will give train operators the ability to roster on a seven-day working basis and to see training go through on a much swifter basis. We will then have the workforce in place and the resilience. I call on the hon. Lady to not just talk about the fact that we need change, but to work with us and to influence the unions to get that change delivered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-23.
To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, when the Commission plans to publish the list of Roll A Parliamentary Agents for the current Parliament.
Tom Brake
The current list of Roll A Parliamentary Agents as at May 2015 is available on the Parliamentary Internet at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pbagents.htm
“