The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been employed on a zero hours contract in Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in his Department’s most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.
Matthew Hancock
Departments publish details of Ministers meetings’ with external organisations routinely on www.Gov.uk.
Details of meetings held during the period October – December 2015 will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to pages 86 and 122 of the Budget 2016, why the fiscal impact of establishing the £20 million Cathedrals Repairs Fund is £10 million.
Greg Hands
Budget 2016 announced that the government will provide £20 million across 2016-17 and 2017-18 to extend the First World War Centenary cathedral repairs fund. £10 million of this is financed through new exchequer funding and listed in Table 2.1 on page 86 of the Budget. The remaining £10 million is financed from within the existing DCMS resource budget.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Policy, Law and Decision Making Guidance used by Child Maintenance Service caseworkers when making decisions on the application of Section 137(2)(b) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the unlikely to be paid test.
Priti Patel
The Department is currently revising the Policy Law and Decision Making Guidance, so it is not appropriate to make it publicly available at this time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken in response to Resolution 1815 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on measures to reduce exposure, particularly of children, to electromagnetic fields, agreed on 27 May 2011.
Jane Ellison
Pre-existing precautionary advice remains available to the United Kingdom public and internationally recommended (ICNIRP) guidelines on limiting exposures to electromagnetic fields are in place. The Government has not responded specifically to this Resolution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Bahrain on the protection of the rights of the Shia population in that country to manifest their religion through teaching, worship and observance.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We follow the political situation closely in Bahrain, including Shia interests. We regularly discuss freedom of religion and belief with the Government of Bahrain, including at the highest levels, I did so most recently on 2 June when I met with the Bahraini Foreign Minister at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting, and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) did so most recently with his Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa on 14 June 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-09-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have held with NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission on the quality, safety and effectiveness of services at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
No such assessments have been made. The provision of accident and emergency (A&E) services at the Royal Blackburn Hospital is a matter for the local National Health Service. The NHS in East Lancashire has established an A&E delivery board to oversee system performance and the effective delivery of urgent and emergency care locally.
Ministers consult weekly with NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission about A&E performance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the traffic commissioners have made on reviewing and modernising the regulation of commercial vehicle drivers.
Andrew Jones
The Senior Traffic Commissioner has reviewed and redrafted a number of Statutory Guidance Documents (SGDs) including SGD6 on Vocational Driver Conduct. This reviewed guidance was publically consulted on in July 2015 and the responses published in October. As stated in the Traffic Commissioners Strategic Objectivesdocument these guidance documents will be published before the end of this calendar year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding will be provided to local authorities for each Syrian refugee they resettle in the (a) first and (b) second year of resettlement.
Richard Harrington
Local authorities are required to provide refugees they resettle under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme with a 12 month support package which is being funded using the overseas aid budget. Many of the refugees have significant medical and social care needs, and the costs therefore vary according to their individual circumstances.
At the Spending Review, the Government committed £129 million to assist with local authority costs over years 2-5 of the scheme. This will be allocated on a tariff basis over four years, with £5,000 per refugee provided for their second year in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funding has been allocated for national minimum wage enforcement activity within his Department from 2015-16.
Greg Hands
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 arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.
The extra funding was allocated in two tranches. The first of £3 million has been used by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to recruit additional staff primarily into front line compliance posts to increase the scope and coverage of interventions aimed at identifying employers who do not pay the minimum wage.
The second tranche of £1 million has been used to appoint staff into new roles specifically geared to promoting compliance with the National Minimum Wage, through education and support for employers, helping workers to understand their rights, and tackling serious non-compliance where deliberate behaviour is suspected.
Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing National Minimum Wage, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation. However, HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond those identified in UIN 16853.
HMRC does not breakdown the overall budget allocated into specific activities. For details of the overall budget in 2015/16, I refer the honourable member back to the answer provided at UIN 16853. Funding allocations for 2016/17 onwards have yet to be confirmed.