The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how his Department will measure the progress of the roll-out of the broadband universal service obligation.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Once the new broadband USO is in place, Ofcom will monitor its implementation and feedback progress to Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the publication, entitled The Department for Education review, published in November 2012, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential benefits of departmental regional office bases to the delivery of his Department’s policies.
Joseph Johnson
There have been no conversations between the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Secretary of State for Education on the subjects above.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to enforce section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008.
Justin Tomlinson
Section 54 of the Pensions Act 2008 prohibits employers from taking any action for the sole or main purpose of inducing a worker to leave a workplace pension scheme.
The Government takes potential inducement by employers very seriously. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is responsible for all matters relating to employers’ compliance with their enrolment duties, including investigations into individual cases of potential inducement by employers.
Through automatic enrolment we are delivering a fundamental shift in workplace pension saving that is changing the way that people are enabled to save for retirement. Already 100,668 employers have completed their declaration of compliance with the Regulator, resulting in more than 6 million eligible jobholders being automatically enrolled into a qualifying pension scheme.
The law relating to inducements is an important safeguard for workers and the Regulator has statutory powers of investigation and enforcement it can use in appropriate circumstances. We are working with the Regulator to monitor the number and nature of possible inducement cases as the roll-out of automatic enrolment continues. That will enable us to judge whether the current legislation covering inducement, and the guidance and messaging provided by the Regulator, are operating effectively to protect employees, and whether change may be appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce report published in February 2016; and what governance arrangements have been put in place to support the implementation of those recommendations.
Alistair Burt
The Government is working with delivery partners to carefully consider the Taskforce’s recommendations, and aims to publish an Implementation Plan in the summer that will set out how Government and partners will deliver the recommendations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time taken for autism diagnosis was by age and gender at time of diagnosis for each year from 2013.
Alistair Burt
We do not centrally collect data from the National Health Service on waiting times for an assessment of autism.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guideline on autism diagnosis states that a diagnostic assessment should start within 12 weeks of referral.
NHS England and the Association of Directors of Social Services have undertaken a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups to identify best practice on diagnosis and support.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region are living in (i) absolute and (ii) relative poverty.
Damian Hinds
This Government is committed to tackling disadvantage and extending opportunity so that everyone has the chance to realise their full potential. Our life chances approach will focus on tackling the root causes of poverty such as worklessness, educational attainment and family stability.
The Department for Work and Pensions published the 2014/15 Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics on 28th June 2016. This provides information on individuals living in relative and absolute low income.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201415.
The number of households in relative and absolute low income is not available at constituency or city region level. This is because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Frontline and Think Ahead social work programmes.
Edward Timpson
The Government remains committed to providing appropriate levels of funding to a range of entry routes to social work.
An independent evaluation of the Frontline programme was published in March 2016, and is accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509240/DFE-RR507-Frontline-pilot-independent-evaluation.pdf
The first cohort of Think Ahead participants started the programme in summer 2016. Plans are being made to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department expects to know how much of the Joint Security Fund announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2015 will be allocated to his Department.
Michael Fallon
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will set out further details of the Joint Security Fund at the Spending Review on Wednesday 25 November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department allocated to HM Revenue and Customs for the purpose of prosecuting employers who failed to pay the minimum wage in each financial year since 2005; and what the projected budget is for such activities in each financial year until 2020.
Nick Boles
Funding for National Minimum Wage (NMW) prosecutions is not fixed and comes out of the overall HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforcement budget, allocated by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The overall budget for 2015/16 is £13.2m, a £4m increase on 2014/15. Table 1 sets out the enforcement budget for each year since 2005/06.
The Government is committed to simple, effective NMW enforcement which supports workers and businesses by deterring non-compliant employers from underpaying their workers and removing the unfair competitive advantage that underpayment can bring. For this reason the Government increased HMRC’s 2015/16 enforcement budget by £4 million in 2015/16, and will further increase the enforcement budget from April 2016. A proportion of this budget will be used to establish a new team of compliance officers in HMRC to investigate the most serious cases of employers not paying the NMW and, from April, the National Living Wage. The team will have the power to use all available sanctions, including penalties and criminal investigation.
No decision has been taken on the enforcement budget until 2020.
Table 1: HMRC NMW enforcement budget
|
Year |
HMRC Enforcement Budget (millions) |
|
2005/06 |
£5.6 |
|
2006/07 |
£5.8 |
|
2007/08 |
£6.8 |
|
2008/09 |
£7.6 |
|
2009/10 |
£8.3 |
|
2010/11 |
£8.1 |
|
2011/12 |
£8.3 |
|
2012/13 |
£8.3 |
|
2013/14 |
£8.3 |
|
2014/15 |
£9.2 |
|
2015/16 |
£13.2 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his current estimate is of the cost of decommissioning HMS Ocean.
Mr Philip Dunne
The cost of decommissioning HMS OCEAN is yet to be determined.