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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that ex-offenders are helped into work or education upon the completion of their sentence.

    Caroline Dinenage

    We want prisons to be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and employment opportunities.

    We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by Prison Governors. But we want Governors to do more so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works.

    We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release. I regularly meet businesses across the country, to encourage them to get involved and new businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and provides a range of advice and support to new employers considering working with offenders and provides business to business mentoring to members of the Forum. We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses. The Prime Minister has also announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same.

    Separately, the Secretary of State for Justice has commissioned a review of prison education led by Dame Sally Coates.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35165, on Personal Independence Payments, what changes his Department has put in place to take account of the finding that 75 per cent of successful appeals resulted from additional oral or documentary evidence being submitted.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The 75% can be broken down as follows:

    Cogent oral evidence – 66%

    Cogent documentary evidence supplied at the appeal – 9%

    These figures are from internal DWP systems, where only one of possible multiple reasons can be recorded, and are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard.

    The Department encourages claimants to provide as much relevant evidence as necessary to support their claim. The “How your disability affects you” form and accompanying guidance sets out the range of information that can help the Department reach a decision. The guidance for Health Professionals also sets out sources of further evidence which could help inform their advice to the Department.

    At the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, again claimants are encouraged to provide any further evidence about their disability. Following the first independent review of Personal Independence by Paul Gray, the Department is reviewing all communications (including those used by Assessment Providers) it has with claimants throughout the claim, assessment and reconsideration process to ensure that claimants clearly understand the importance of providing sufficient evidence to support their claim and application.

    Further, once a claimant has submitted their claim, the Department has created a new Standard Work Instructions (SWI) for its decision making staff to gain further evidence, where appropriate. For Mandatory Reconsideration, the SWI puts a process in place to establish what the areas for dispute are, consider any gaps in the evidence, ensure any expected further medical evidence is received and referring that to the Assessment Provider. “

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-07-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance has been provided to the Legal Aid Agency about section 47 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    The Lord Chancellor has the power to issue guidance or directions to the Director of Legal Aid casework under section 4 of LASPO. No such guidance or directions have been issued in respect of legal aid available as a result of section 47 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects to receive the £2 billion green dividend that the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced before the EU referendum on 23 June 2016.

    George Eustice

    Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union (EU) and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation and receive funding under the Common Agriculture Policy. The Government will work with stakeholders and NGOs to design new domestic policy arrangements to be put in place after we leave the EU.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to raise awareness of Charles Bonnet syndrome.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    No assessment has been made of the number of people in the United Kingdom who suffer from Charles Bonnet syndrome.

    However, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) estimate there are more than 100,000 cases of Charles Bonnet Syndrome in the UK.

    To raise awareness, the NHS Choices website provides information on Charles Bonnet Syndrome. This can be found at:

    http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/charles-bonnet-syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx.

    A copy of this web page is attached.

    “

  • Jack Dromey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse is of the Government’s Cyberstreetwise programme for (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Mike Penning

    Cyber Streetwise is a cross Government campaign, developed by private and public stakeholder partners and coordinated by the Home Office’s Research, Insight and Communications Unit. It is designed to improve the online safety knowledge, behaviour and confidence of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals; driving down crime, saving victims’ money and reinforcing perceptions of the UK as a safe place to do business. Since its launch in January 2014, approximately 2 million adults have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them. Our 2015/16 strategic approach aims to drive measurable shifts in three key behaviours: using strong passwords made up of three random words; installing security software on all devices; and regularly downloading software updates which experts agree will provide SMEs and individuals with the most protection against cyber-crime.

    The cost to of the Government of the Cyber Streetwise campaign for a) 2014/15 was £3.956 million (excluding VAT) and b) 2015/16 was £4 million (excluding VAT).

  • Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate the annual cost of providing places on the National Citizen Service for all children aged 16 and 17.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    Over 200,000 young people have benefitted from the National Citizen Service (NCS) since 2011. In 2014 57,789 young people took part. The figure for 2015 will be made available after an independent evaluation later this year.

    The Prime Minister has announced the ambition to expand the programme to 60% of all 16 year olds by 2021 and this is the target we aim to deliver.

    The funding for NCS was announced in the autumn statement and spending review. More than £1billion has been committed to the expansion of NCS in this parliament.

  • Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Margaret Beckett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Beckett on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the number of care proceedings involving children and families from countries in Eastern Europe in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Information is not held centrally by the Ministry of Justice about the nationality (or ethnicity) of the children and families involved in family court proceedings in England and Wales.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average cost to the public purse was of a work capability assessment case that ended in appeal from the beginning of the assessment process to the outcome and implementation of the appeal in each of the last three years.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not available.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department provided in bus subsidies to each local authority in England in each year since 2010.

    Andrew Jones

    The majority of public funding for local bus services is via block grant provided to local authorities in England from the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, since 2014, my Department has also provided around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to English local authorities each year to help deliver bus services.

    Details of BSOG grant allocations for previous years are published in tables on the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/search?q=Bus+Service+Operators+Grant

    “