Tag: Parliamentary Question

Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on whether there is a correlation between staffing levels on trains and stations and the number of reported sexual offences on trains and in stations.

Claire Perry

The Government considers the safety of passengers on the railway to be of paramount importance and is committed to reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system. The Department for Transport does not hold any information on whether there is a correlation between staffing levels on trains and stations and the number of reported sexual offences.

01/01/2023
Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) incidents have been reported to trading standards teams of and (b) prosecutions have taken place for recycling animal by-products back into the food chain in each of the last three years.

Jane Ellison

Monitoring food businesses to ensure compliance with legislation on food labelling and composition is the responsibility of county councils, unitary authorities, the London Boroughs and some but not all metropolitan borough councils. These local authorities are also responsible for taking enforcement action, including prosecutions, where non-compliance is found.

Data are reported to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on the number of food and drink analyses undertaken in relation to compositional issues and labelling and presentation issues:

23,599 analyses were undertaken in 2014/15, 16,899 for compositional issues and 6,700 for labelling and presentation issues.

29,324 analyses were undertaken in 2013/14, 19,386 for compositional issues and 9,938 for labelling and presentation issues.

26,940 analyses were undertaken in 2012/13, 16,982 for compositional issues and 9,958 for labelling and presentation issues.

Data are also reported to the FSA on the total number of prosecutions concluded for food standards issues. This includes action in relation to composition, labelling and presentation but also for other issues such as chemical contamination. In 2014/15, 2013/14 and 2012/13 respectively, 75, 57 and 78 United Kingdom food establishments were subject to prosecution.

The FSA has recently established a central register of successful food law prosecutions. Analysis of data collected for the first year of operation of the register is not yet complete, but in future it will provide more definitive data on prosecutions for offences of this nature.

01/01/2023
Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to monitor the use of extended Rent Repayment Orders.

Gavin Barwell

The Housing & Planning Act 2016 extended the grounds for seeking a Rent Repayment Order to include illegal eviction, breach of a banning order or failure to comply with a statutory notice. It is envisaged that each of these will also be banning order offences. Where a person or organisation has been convicted of a banning order offence, local authorities will be encouraged to record that information in the database of rogue landlords and property agents. This will enable government to monitor how frequently Rent Repayment Orders are used.

01/01/2023
Sammy Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of Heathrow Airport expansion on UK industry.

Mr John Hayes

The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015 and is considering all of the evidence very carefully before reaching a view on its preferred scheme. The Government is not providing a running commentary on this work before an announcement on its preference.

01/01/2023
Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of child obesity and (b) whether there is a correlation between child obesity and deprivation; and what steps his Department is taking to address that issue.

Jane Ellison

We know obesity rates in children are far too high and children in lower income groups are more likely to be obese than the rest of the population, but it is an issue across all groups.

Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. Progress has been made in recent years, but we know we have much further to go. We will announce our plans for tackling childhood obesity in the new year.

01/01/2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) cases of national minimum wage compliance HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) National Minimum Wage Risk Unit has investigated, (b) Notices of Underpayment have been issued to employers for non-compliance, (c) employers have been fined the maximum amount for non-compliance and (d) employers have been taken to civil court or an employment tribunal by HMRC for failing to comply with the terms of a Notice of Underpayment in each of the last five years.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 17623 for information on the number of investigations undertaken.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 16851 for information on Notices of Underpayment.

Information on the number of maximum penalties issued is provided in the table below.

Year

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15

No. of employers fined the maximum amount

13

27

52

53

59

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided at UIN 225468 for information on civil court and employment tribunals.

01/01/2023
Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he intends to answer the letter to him dated 19 November 2015 with regard to Mr R Short.

Alistair Burt

I responded to the hon. Member’s letter of 19 November 2015 on 21 January 2016.

01/01/2023
Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make applications for EU structural funds for the purposes of alleviating pressure on school places caused by migration from other EU countries.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Government has no plans to make applications for EU structural funds to support investment in additional school places.

We have committed £23 billion to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs between 2016 and 2021. This includes sufficient funding to create the places required between now and the 2021/22 academic year.

01/01/2023
Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Care Quality Commission has conducted an impact assessment of the proposed changes to the contract of Experts by Experience.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and adult social care. The CQC is responsible for its own staffing requirements, including any decisions on contracts around the supplying of experts by experience for its inspections of providers.

In line with Cabinet Office approvals processes, the Department:

– gave approval for the CQC to invite tenders for the Experts by Experience programme; and

– having sought and received clarification of the business case from the CQC, the department approved the business case, to enable the CQC to proceed with finalising new contracts for Experts by Experience.

Regulatory impact assessments for the Experts by Experience programme were carried out by the CQC as part of the development of the new regulatory framework in 2014.

01/01/2023

Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 8 March 2016 to Questions 30341 and 30342 and with reference to the Answers of 5 December 2013 to Question 179450 and 21 January 2014 to Question 182897, when his Department (a) decided to stop collecting the required information and (b) began to collect information in such a way that it can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

For questions 179450 and 182897 volumes of prosecutions and number of errors identified were provided, however these were not all fraud cases, including cases where the error was not deliberate. This did not explicitly answer the enquiry, however was given to provide helpful context. It is not possible to separate cases into those which are a mistake and those where fraud has been accepted without individual case by case analysis.

Again, we cannot directly answer 30341 and 30342 but have provided the below extra information to assist;

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Total Fraud Investigations (1)	125,140	116,480	171,730
of which total positive outcomes (2)	20,800	20,050	24,600
of which total fraud cases (3)	15,350	12,870	13,600
over which total prosecuted (4)	11,390	8,490	7,150

(1) Total cases investigated by Local Service or complex criminal Investigations.
(2) Total cases where an error has been identified and corrected.
(3) Prosecutions + admin Penalties + cautions: cases where fraud has been proven or accepted.
(4) Cases accepted by CPS for prosecution.

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01/01/2023

Year	10/11	11/12	12/13	13/14	14/15
No. of employers fined the maximum amount	13	27	52	53	59