The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions have been secured under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act since its introduction in 2004.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The number of offenders found guilty at all courts of offences under the Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004, in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2014 (the latest available) can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.gla.gov.uk/our-impact/conviction-totals/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to continue payment of benefits through the Post Office Card Account for the next five years.
Priti Patel
Post Office Card Accounts provide a useful service to many people and there are no plans to change provision.
The Department recognises, however, that working age claimants may also be receiving wages. As the account does not receive wages or allow for direct debit or standing order facilities, Post Office Card Accounts are not suitable for all of their needs. Those claimants are therefore being encouraged to open main stream bank accounts including credit union accounts.
The Post Office Card Account contract was awarded from 01 December 2014 and expires on 30 November 2021 and there are no plans to amend that term.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-06-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether companies employed to remove crashed vehicles have a legal obligation to collect detached parts of the vehicles from hedgerows, ditches and property around crash sites.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The company employed by Highways England in respect of vehicle recoveries does not have a legal obligation to remove debris from, or around, the strategic road network.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits derived for people with dementia from recent increased expenditure on dementia research.
Nicola Blackwood
Government funding for dementia research doubled over the last Parliament to around £60 million each year, and will be maintained at this level to total over £300 million in the period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. Much of this investment is in research aiming to achieve a better understanding of dementia to inform development of future treatments and ways to prevent the onset of the condition. Significant research is looking at how to improve symptom management, care and services for people with dementia, ways of maintaining independent living in early-stage dementia, and improving quality of life for people with dementia and their carers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that claimant lawyers can continue to pursue low-value claims in clinical negligence cases in a fixed recoverable cost regime.
Ben Gummer
Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.
Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost to the public purse was of ministerial special advisors in the last financial year; and how much is projected to be so spent in the next financial year.
Matthew Hancock
Information about the number, pay bands, and cost of special advisers will be published shortly in the normal way.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidelines are in place on the amount of time that should be taken to process reimbursement claims from UK citizens for health treatment in other European countries; and what data his Department holds on the average amount of time taken to process such claims.
Justin Tomlinson
The EU regulations do not provide set timescales for the processing of reimbursement claims. The DWP Overseas Healthcare Team work proactively with colleagues in the other EEA states to progress reimbursement claims on behalf of UK citizens. When all the appropriate information is received from the relevant EEA state, such claims are normally cleared for reimbursement within 10 days.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-08.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government has made on the implementation of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting programme; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that programme on the collection of corporation tax in the UK.
Mr David Gauke
The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance through the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which was completed in 2015.
The UK has committed to introducing country-by-country reporting from 1 January 2016 and rules to deal with hybrid mismatch arrangements from 1 January 2017. As set out in Autumn Statement 2014, these measures are estimated to yield around £45 million and £260 million respectively over the next five years. The policy costings were certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
The Government has also consulted on the OECD recommendations on the design of rules to prevent groups from gaining excessive tax deductions for interest expense, and how the OECD report on the definition of substantial activities in the context of preferential intellectual property regimes impacts the UK Patent Box.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of his Department’s invoices for goods and services supplied by (a) private companies and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are completed on time; and what proportion of the (i) number and (ii) value of contracts between his Department and private companies are held by SMEs.
Brandon Lewis
The proportion of the Department’s invoices for goods and services supplied by private companies and small and medium-sized enterprises cannot be reliably extrapolated from our current payment system as it doesn’t link or split payment performance in this way.
As of the last quarter, the Department paid 89% of invoices within 5 days. The Department’s prompt payment data can be accessed via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dclg-and-pins-prompt-payment-data-2015
Of the Department’s current contracts, 33% are held by small and medium-sized enterprises. The Department’s annual spend on these as a proportion of our overall spend with suppliers is 25.4%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to improve local transport infrastructure in Easington constituency in each of the next five years.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Easington constituency in County Durham is in the area covered by the North East Combined Authority and North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The Combined Authority receives annual capital allocations for Highways Maintenance and Integrated Transport and it is for the Combined Authority and Durham County Council to decide how much of this funding is spent in Easington Constituency.
The North East LEP has been awarded Local Growth Funding for two schemes in the Easington constituency. The proposal to construct a new station at Horden has been allocated £3.3 million and the package of five junction improvements on the A1 and A19, which includes a scheme at the A19/A182 Seaham Murton Interchange, has been allocated £19.0 million.