The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2016-05-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government’s policy on the soft drinks levy will lead to a higher rate of tax per volume of product levied on some soft drinks than on some non-spirit alcoholic beverages.
Damian Hinds
The tax rates for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy have not yet been set. The levy will not capture drinks with an alcoholic content above 0.5% ABV, which cannot be purchased by children.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marion Fellows on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons applicants are charged to apply for (a) naturalisation to become a British citizen and (b) registration to become a British citizen; and how those charges are calculated.
James Brokenshire
Fees for applications for naturalisation and registration for British citizenship are charged to cover the cost of processing such applications and contribute to the wider costs of operating the border, immigration and citizenship system. Fee levels are set in accordance with sections 68 to 70 of the Immigration Act 2014, and take account of a range of factors including the administration costs associated with an application and the various benefits and entitlements that applicants may receive from British citizenship.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of NHS 111 on reducing the uptake of other NHS services.
Mr Philip Dunne
NHS 111 providers are expected to conduct a patient survey every six months for each area they provide services for.
Considering the latest year for which survey results are available (April 2015 to September 2015 and October 2015 to March 2016 surveys), for 11.6% of triaged calls an ambulance was dispatched by the NHS 111 service and in 8.4% of calls the caller was advised to attend accident and emergency (A&E). However, 18% of patients who responded to the survey reported they would have called for an ambulance if NHS 111 had not been available, and 28.3% would have attended A&E.
For the full year period (April 2015 to March 2016), 11.3 million calls were triaged. From this we can estimate the impact of the 111 service. The differences mean that due to availability of the NHS 111 service, over 2.25 million people this year were directed away from using A&E and over 750,000 were directed away from calling an ambulance.
Data about the service to which patients are recommended during an NHS 111 call (“dispositions”) are collected by NHS England and published on a monthly basis. Latest data are for July 2016 and can be found at the following website:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a review into the adequacy of the service provided by agencies supplying supply teachers to school; and if she will make a statement.
Nick Gibb
Schools, academiesand local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and management of their supply teachers.This allows them to manage their resources and staffing structures in a way that meets local needs and priorities without central prescription from government.
Supply agencies are independent of the Department for Education and decide their own recruitment practices but must comply with legislation set by the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EASI) – which covers other occupations not just teachers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2015-12-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what total (a) gross and (b) net revenue has been collected by HM Revenue and Customs from companies in the tonnage tax scheme since 2000-01.
Mr David Gauke
The table below shows estimated tax liabilities due to tonnage tax for each year from 2000-01 to 2013-14 (the latest year for which data are currently available):
|
Tax |
Tax Liabilities |
|
Year |
£m Rounded |
|
2000-01 |
1.4 |
|
2001-02 |
2.3 |
|
2002-03 |
2.9 |
|
2003-04 |
3.1 |
|
2004-05 |
3.4 |
|
2005-06 |
3.9 |
|
2006-07 |
4.3 |
|
2007-08 |
4.3 |
|
2008-09 |
4.4 |
|
2009-10 |
4.6 |
|
2010-11 |
4.6 |
|
2011-12 |
4.4 |
|
2012-13 |
4.2 |
|
2013-14 |
3.6 |
Notes: 1. The latest data for 2013/14 are provisional and may be subject to change.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what contingency arrangements his Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.
Stephen Crabb
I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wasserman on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Police and Crime Commissioners who are unsuccessful in seeking re-election in May will receive financial support from the public purse, as is the case with MPs who are unsuccessful in a General Election; and if so, how much.
Lord Bates
Police and Crime Commissioners who are unsuccessful in seeking re-election in May will not receive any direct financial payment from the public purse as a result. Police and Crime Commissioners are eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme and those that have done so may be able to access money paid into that scheme in line with its rules.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total budget for the National Benefit Fraud Hotline in 2014–15; how many allegations of suspected benefit fraud were reported via that hotline or the online reporting form in 2014–15; what was the total cost of investigating those allegations; and how much was identified in recoverable overpayments by those investigations.
Lord Freud
The Fraud and Error Service (FES), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the prevention, detection and where appropriate, investigation of Fraud and Error against all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.
The National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH) is outsourced; therefore there is a yearly cost for outsourcing as opposed to a budget. The total outsourcing cost the NBFH for 2014/15 is £303,480. This figure covers the 52 week period commencing 31 March 2014.
The available data on allegations of benefit fraud reported via the NBFD or online only covers incidents recorded on the internal FES Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS.) It does not give the total volume of enquiries and calls made to NBFH, only those that were entered onto FRAIMS. There are various reasons for allegations not being entered onto FRAIMS, including the fact that not all enquiries and calls are of an appropriate nature. In 2014/15 there were 207,600 cases of suspected benefit fraud reported via the NBFH that were entered onto FRAIMS or reported online.
We are unable to provide a precise response on the cost of investigating these allegations because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still on going. We are able to provide an estimate of the cost of investigations that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. We cannot distinguish the exact costs of investigating NBFH allegations from the total cost of investigating all allegations and so this figure is an estimate, calculated by apportioning total costs of Local Service that were undertaken in 2014/15 on the basis of Positive Outcomes as this is the main cost driver. This was estimated to be £16.9m. This figure only includes direct costs of Investigations – there are no overheads included.
As with the cost of investigation, we are unable to provide a precise response on the amount identified in recoverable overpayments because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still ongoing. We have instead provided the value of overpayments that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. £46,068,848 was identified as recoverable.
Note that identifying overpayments also prevents a significant amount of future losses which are not included in the value of recoverable overpayments identified shown here. Referrals from members of the public therefore provide good value for money.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
In the past six years, 334 officials resigned from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The breakdown is as follows:
|
Resignations |
Resignations as % |
|
|
2010/11 |
67 |
1.4% |
|
2011/12 |
83 |
1.8% |
|
2012/13 |
43 |
0.9% |
|
2013/14 |
46 |
1.0% |
|
2014/15 |
48 |
1.1% |
|
2015/16 |
47 |
1.1% |
The figures do not include staff recruited locally by our Missions overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Government has made of the extent of variation between local authorities in their (a) per capita spending on physical activity services and (b) facilities for children and young people.
Jane Ellison
Information on local authorities’ total spending on physical activity services and facilities for children and young people is not collected centrally.
The decision on how much is spent on specific local public health services rests with individual authorities who are best placed to assess local population needs and priorities.
Local authorities are required to undertake Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and to develop Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies which must inform local authority commissioning plans.