The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Attorney General, how many directors of companies were disqualified as a result of a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Jeremy Wright
In 2014-15, seven individuals were disqualified from acting as company directors following investigations by the Serious Fraud Office; and one was disqualified in 2013-14.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce (a) microbeads entering and (b) rubbish in marine environments.
George Eustice
The UK Marine Strategy Part Three, published in December 2015, sets out the actions we are taking to improve the marine environment. It includes measures that contribute to reducing sources of marine litter, including plastics. Given the trans-boundary nature of marine litter, we are working with other countries in the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) to address marine litter.
On microbeads in particular, Defra is working with other OSPAR countries and industry to secure the voluntary phasing-out of microplastics in personal care products. Defra is also supporting other EU Member States in calling for the European Commission to come up with proposals to ban microbeads in cosmetics and detergents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many winter fuel payments were delayed by administrative problems in the last year for which figures are available.
Justin Tomlinson
The information is not available.
Where a customer holds an active relationship with DWP either through claiming a Winter Fuel Payment previously or being in receipt of a benefit, such as a state pension, their Winter Fuel Payment is made automatically.
Claims are required from those where DWP does not hold the data necessary to generate an automatic payment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Police and Crime Commissioners to improve diversity in police forces.
Brandon Lewis
The Government is clear; increasing diversity in our police forces is not an optional extra. It goes right to the heart of this country’s historic principle of policing by consent. We must ensure that the public have trust and confidence in the police, and that the police reflect the communities they serve.
The Government has reformed policing to ensure that there is a sector-led approach to making improvements, including in the area of recruitment and representation.
The College of Policing as the professional body for policing is delivering a major piece of work -black, Asian and minority ethnic Progression 2018 – to address under-representation in policing. The Government looks forward to working with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and individual Police and Crime Commissioners as democratically elected local leaders of policing, to place a greater emphasis on this agenda and urges PCCs to consider the opportunities provided through the Police Transformation Fund.
While the Government would expect senior commitment in all forces it is for local leaders to decide how they will deliver improvements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-10-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 15 September (HL1462), what happens to letters that are returned undelivered when incorrect details are held.
Lord Freud
Letters are issued to the latest address held on our records. Whilst the onus is on our citizens to notify appropriate Departments of their current address, DWP takes all reasonable steps to determine the correct address when letters are returned. This includes scrutinising all available DWP systems to determine if a revised address is held. At the time of the age equalisation communications campaign the process for State Pension included contact through Local Authorities or a DWP Visiting Officer. Where an updated address is confirmed the customer account details are amended.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure that save-as-you-earn and share incentive plan savings limits are increased in line with inflation on an annual basis.
Mr David Gauke
The tax-advantaged Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plan (SIP) limits were significantly increased from April 2014. The increases the Government have made are reasonable, given the average monthly SAYE savings and the value of awards currently made to employees under SIP, and they represent the best use of resources. The Government will continue to keep the SAYE and SIP limits under review.
In addition to increasing the SAYE and SIP limits, the rules of the schemes were substantially reviewed and simplified following the recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification in March 2012. Last year, the requirement that these schemes must be approved by HM Revenue and Customs to qualify for favourable tax treatment was replaced by self-certification. Coupled with other changes to simplify some technical aspects of the rules, this will make these schemes more attractive to businesses and employees.
No data is collected and no estimates are made of the income levels of the participants in SAYE schemes.
Permitting private equity backed companies to offer all-employee tax advantaged schemes would be likely to involve significant changes to the rules of the schemes, and there would be a number of other factors to consider carefully, including the increased cost and complexity of any extension.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Information Commissioner’s Office has spent on processing assessments pursuant to section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 in each of the last five financial years; how many such requests that Office has received in each of the those years; and what the recorded outcomes were of those requests.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), any person who is, or believes that he is, directly affected by the processing of personal data, can ask the Information Commissioner to consider whether the processing is likely to comply with the law. On receiving such a request, the Commissioner is obliged to consider the concern and make an assessment. Any such request, and cases taken forward are dealt with by the ICO’s customer contact and performance improvement business areas. The ICO does not cost up S42 assessments separately from other data protection casework, but the total staffing costs for these two business areas for the last five financial years are set out below:
|
2015/16 (April-Nov) |
£2,883,256.14 |
|
2014/15 |
£3,879,782.83 |
|
2013/14 |
£3,969,104.17 |
|
2012/13 |
£3,581,161.82 |
|
2011/12 |
£3,389,336.87 |
Numbers of assessments received and concluded for each of the past 5 years are set out below:
|
Financial years |
|||||
|
|
2010-11 |
2011-12 |
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
|
Number of assessments received under s42 DPA |
13034 |
12980 |
13760 |
14738 |
14268 |
|
Number of assessments completed under s42 DPA |
14276 |
12725 |
14280 |
15492 |
15052 |
The recorded outcomes of those assessments are set out below:
|
Financial years |
|||||
|
Outcome of s42 assessment |
2010-11 |
2011-12 |
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
|
Not progressed |
14% |
11% |
13% |
14% |
|
|
Compliance likely |
22% |
21% |
22% |
19% |
|
|
Compliance unlikely |
33% |
31% |
35% |
34% |
|
|
Ineligible/Made too early |
27% |
36% |
30% |
33% |
|
|
Reopened – pending final outcome |
4% |
1% |
|||
|
No Action for Data Controller |
35% |
||||
|
Data Controller Action required |
22% |
||||
|
Concern to be raised with Data Controller |
17% |
||||
|
compliance advice given to Data Controller |
10% |
||||
|
Response needed from Data Controller |
7% |
||||
|
Complaint not applicable under DPA |
4% |
||||
|
General advice given to Data Controller |
4% |
||||
|
Data Controller outside UK |
1% |
||||
|
Improvement action plan agreed with Data Controller |
1% |
||||
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is taking steps to enable his Department’s child tax credit department to answer the enquiries of hon. Members electronically.
Mr David Gauke
The use of standard email is insecure and therefore in order to protect customers’ information, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not use it when dealing with sensitive personal and financial information. However, HMRC does answer MPs enquiries electronically in cases where the response does not include any sensitive customer data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to prevent (a) illegal drugs and (b) pornography entering prisons.
Andrew Selous
We use a range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison. We continue to explore new methods of preventing drugs coming into prisons, including using body scanners and training search dogs to detect new psychoactive substances.
Prisoners are allowed to purchase publications that are normally available through high street newsagents. There are strict controls over the publications available to prisoners, with prisons having the power to ban any material they deem unsuitable. Sex offenders are denied access to anything believed to be inappropriate or likely to affect their rehabilitation and governors may also confiscate items that present a threat to good order or discipline.
All IT and IT media that prisoners have access to is checked for illicit material, including pornography. USB ports are disabled and other security measures are put in place to ensure that prisoners cannot misuse such equipment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the effect on poverty reduction in West Papua, Indonesia, of the reported ban on non-governmental organisations working in that area.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID no longer has a bilateral poverty reduction programme in Indonesia. However, as part of UK Government action to mitigate against climate change, we work in partnership with the Indonesian national and provincial governments to help secure community access to forest land in Papua to promote a sustainable green economy, whilst supporting local livelihoods.