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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of overall headcount and spending on civil servants across all Departments over the next five years.

    Ben Gummer

    Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department to determine based on their individual operational and policy requirements. Each department has their own spending agreement with HM Treasury for this Parliament and are responsible for ensuring they have the right workforce and capability in place to deliver their commitments.

    Earlier this year, departments published their Single Departmental Plans, setting out the key programmes of work required to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitments. Departments have been developing plans to ensure they have the workforce required to deliver their Single Departmental Plans.

    The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda. Cabinet Office is working with all departments across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements over this Parliament following the decision to exit the EU, but it is too early to make a detailed assessment at this stage.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the document Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, Cm 9098, if he will publish his Department’s analysis that links reform of the welfare system to increasing the UK’s productivity.

    Priti Patel

    The Paper, Fixing the Foundations: creating a more prosperous economy focuses not on the link between welfare reforms and productivity but instead on how ‘a productive economy must make the most of its labour force and effectively mobilise people into jobs’.

    The UK is making the most of its labour force and is mobilising people into jobs. The latest figures show that the employment rate rose this quarter to a new record high of 73.7%. There are now a record 31.2 million people in work.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to collect information centrally on how many people diagnosed with a mental health condition receive a custodial sentence.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not collect such data centrally.

    Health and wellbeing needs assessments (HNAs) provide information on the estimated prevalence of mental illness in individual prisons. All prisons are required to produce HNAs, and the Department will discuss with NHS England the potential to publish information on prison health at a national level.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials have worked on the impact assessment for the Trade Union Bill (1) in total, and (2) by job title; and how many hours, and over what period, each official has worked on it.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government has published detailed Impact Assessments for the Bill – on the Trade Union Bill, on the Reporting of Facility Time in the Public Sector, and on the Prohibition on Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector. At a meeting with Peers in December, Ministers committed to publishing prior to the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, and they were published in good time on 21 January.

    The Trade Union Bill’s impact assessment has been subject to scrutiny by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee, and its opinion has been published alongside the impact assessment.

    They were reviewed and approved by the relevant Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. The Permanent Secretary has been kept informed of progress on all stages of the Bill.

    Policy officials and analysts in both Departments have worked together to produce the impact assessments as quickly as possible while ensuring that the analysis was thorough.

    We have not asked civil servants working on the Bill in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office to fill out time sheets.

    We do not record which particular documents each special adviser reads. Special advisers have access to departmental papers in line with the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct and provide advice to Ministers.

    I am placing copies of the relevant documentation in the Library.

  • Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent representations she has had on a public inquiry into events in Ballymurphy in August 1971; and if she will make a statement.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    In October 2012, I informed the families that I agreed with my predecessor’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into the events in Ballymurphy. I explained this position when I met the families in January 2013. I considered the families’ more recent request for an independent review panel carefully. On 29 April 2014, I advised the families of my decision against instigating an independent review panel. I do not believe the balance of public interest lies in establishing an inquiry or independent review into the deaths in Ballymurphy in August 1971. I do not believe that such a review would provide answers which are not already in the public domain or covered by existing legal processes such as the inquests.

    I continue to receive representations from members of the public, politicians and others seeking further investigation into the events in Ballymurphy and into various other events that occurred during the troubles.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what changes his Department has made to the collection of data on bus fares and punctuality since 2010.

    Andrew Jones

    The department operates two surveys to collect data on bus fares and bus punctuality. Bus fares information is collected from bus operators every quarter and bus punctuality is collected from local authorities every year, both via online surveys.

    In 2012 and 2015 the sample of operators from whom the Department collected data on bus fares was revised.

    For the 2012/13 bus punctuality data collection the following voluntary questions were added to the survey:

    • Do you continue to collect/record data on bus patronage in your area?
    • If yes, can you please enter the number of passenger journeys on local bus services?
    • Please indicate if you are able to share figures for individual operators with DfT (solely for use in validation of figures we collect directly from operators)
    • If possible, please provide a contact name/email for any queries on the patronage data and any relevant notes in the box below (for example, if figures are not yet available but will be later)
    • The Department is also interested in learning more about the number of passengers carried on flexible or demand responsive modes of transport, including community transport. If you are able to supply any information on these for your area (such as number of passengers, nature of service) please enter brief details below
  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the scale of human rights abuses against the Oromo people in Ethiopia; and what representations he has made to his Ethiopian counterpart on that issue.

    James Duddridge

    The UK Government is deeply concerned about the handling of protests in Oromia and the reported number of deaths, including many students. I raised these concerns with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros at the African Union Summit in January, stressing the importance of exercising restraint and addressing the root causes of the protests. The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January at the World Economic Forum. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission are currently undertaking an investigation into the allegations, and our Ambassador has stressed the need for transparency and that any members of the security forces who are found to have used excessive force be held to account.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of torture in Egyptian detention facilities.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain deeply concerned with reports of torture in Egyptian detention facilities and we have raised this on a number of occasions with senior Egyptian officials in Cairo and in London, most recently on 5 May. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights Report 2015 designated Egypt a human rights priority country and recorded that, “In 2015, reports of torture, police brutality, and forced disappearance increased. A local NGO documented reports of 676 cases of torture and 137 deaths in detention.”

    The UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as a matter of fundamental principle. The UK will continue to be a leader in advocating strong international systems to combat torture in all its forms.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the evidence base for the choice of descriptors used in work capability assessments.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Details of the evidence base and consultative group members involved in the development of the Work Capability Assessment can be found in the Transformation of the Personal Capability assessment reports of September 2006, February 2007 and November 2007.

    http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090605153301/http:/www.workandpensions.gov.uk/welfarereform/pca.asp

    “

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-09-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44656, how many (a) amber, (b) amber green, (c) red and (d) black performance failures there were between May 2014 and October 2015 in respect of benefits and credits error and fraud.

    Jane Ellison

    The process to measure performance as described in the question was introduced as part of the contract variation signed on 13 October 2015. The information is therefore not available for the period requested.