The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in her Department in 2015-16.
Sir Desmond Swayne
DFID provides monthly workforce management information as part of its commitment to transparency. Information on staff numbers and costs is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfid-workforce-management-information-public-body.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to train Jobcentre Plus advisors to support working parents and carers in in-work progression under universal credit.
Damian Hinds
We have made a significant commitment to supporting people through the welfare system to seek to increase their earnings in work. We are testing a range of approaches.
This includes ongoing trials on how in-work progression can be supported by work coaches. This will help us further develop the work coach role to support in-work claimants, including working parents and Carers.
We have also put in place a substantial programme of learning and ongoing support for work coaches. All coaches receive face-to-face classroom learning which focuses on both the technical delivery steps and importantly the transformational change of delivering in-work progression, as well as consolidation post-completion.
Many of the skills that work coaches develop and utilise when working with out-of-work claimants are equally applicable to in-work claimants, and they will bring these skills to bear in addition to the extra learning.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what involvement the UK armed forces have had in training armed forces of Gulf states in each of the last 15 years.
Mike Penning
Over the past 15 years, UK Armed Forces have provided support to armed forces of Gulf States both in-country and in the UK and continue to do so. Gulf States have attended international defence training courses in the UK such as the advanced command and staff course, Royal College of Defence Studies and Initial Officer Training.
UK Armed Forces have also provided training in-country through the delivery of tactical level Short Term Training Teams in the maritime, land and air domains. The Defence Academy has also delivered the strategic leadership programme and managing defence in wider security context courses to Gulf States along with the Royal Navy’s exclusive economic zone course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of the funding of £500 million for shared schooling in Northern Ireland is expected to come from her Department’s budget.
Mr Ben Wallace
In the ‘Stormont House Agreement’ signed on 23 December 2014, the UK Government agreed a contribution of up to £500m over 10 years of new capital funding to support shared and integrated education, subject to individual projects being agreed between the Executive and the UK Government.
In the recent ‘A Fresh Start: the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan’ the UK Government agreed a number of further flexibilities to the funding commitments contained in the ‘Stormont House Agreement’ including that capital funding for shared and integrated education can be used to support shared housing projects, with individual projects to be agreed by the UK Government.
This funding to the Northern Ireland Executive will come from Her Majesty’s Treasury through the Northern Ireland Office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory reporting of major vehicle malfunction incidents by the emergency services to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not aware of any requirement for mandatory reporting of major vehicle malfunction incidents by the emergency services. There is a voluntary method by which emergency services can report to DVSA concerns of design or construction defects in automotive products. This has been in place for many years and is an efficient and effective method used by the emergency services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that all residual legacy benefit caseloads will move onto universal credit by 2021 as forecast in the policy costings of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Priti Patel
Testing of the migration of legacy claimants onto Universal Credit will take place during 2017. Following this national migration will commence in 2018 and by 2020/21 the move to Universal Credit will be complete.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to investigate and address the role of the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in London in evading UN Security Council sanctions in respect of their submission of vessel registration changes to the International Maritime Organisation in 2014; and what assessment they have made of the involvement of embassies of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea worldwide in sanctions evasion.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Vessel registration is a matter for Flag state action. The UK is not a Flag state for any Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) vessels, so has not been involved in investigating this issue. We have processes in place to verify the provenance of any vessel registered under the British flag.
There are documented links between the DPRK’s diplomatic missions and its proliferation activity which are in breach of sanctions. For example, the UN DPRK Panel of Experts reported that DPRK Embassy officials in Cuba were engaged in making arrangements for the 2013 Chong Chon Gang shipment of conventional arms and related materials in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. We have since worked with partners to encourage the need for vigilance over possible illicit activity taking place by DPRK diplomatic missions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of engagement by the Disasters Emergency Committee, and other international donors, with representatives of Nepal’s civil society and charities such as Childreach Nepal.
Baroness Verma
The role of national Nepali civil society after the earthquake has been key to the emergency response, and will be important into the recovery and reconstruction phases. International humanitarian organisations who acted as part of the earthquake response, such as the UK Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) members, have partnered with Nepal civil society organisations to deliver assistance to those most in need. These partnerships have combined international funding flows with local knowledge and expertise.
Over the course of the humanitarian response UK government representatives in Nepal have met regularly with DEC members and other international donors in order to share situation analysis and learning, as well as jointly advocate on collective issues. The UK has supported over 20 trusted partners as part of its own Nepal earthquake response, including the UN, INGOs and the Red Cross. All have worked in partnership with Nepali civil society organisations on the ground. We have conducted three rounds of field-based monitoring, meet regularly with our partners, and receive frequent reporting, which has enabled us to assess with confidence the effectiveness of our direct partners and their Nepali civil society partners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual budget was for food and drink procured for his departmental offices in Whitehall in each of the last three years; and what proportion of all food procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
It is not possible to provide a breakdown of expenditure on food and drink solely for the Department’s building in Whitehall. The Department has spent the following on food and drink procured for Departmental offices in each of the last three financial years:
Financial year £
2013-14 193,591.20
2014-15 159,460.39
2015-16 118,364.32
These costs include the provision of refreshments for external meetings and visitors hosted in the Department’s buildings. Departmental policy is not to provide refreshments for internal meetings.
52% of all food procured for the Department was sourced from British producers for the last reporting period, January to March 2016.
This figure is skewed by the considerable spend on non-indigenous products purchased including large volumes of coffee as well as rice, pasta, tea, bananas, citrus, and exotic fruits. In terms of primary products we can confirm that:
― 100% of Beef is sourced from the United Kingdom
― 100% of Chicken is sourced from the UK
― 100% of Lamb is sourced from the UK
― 100% of Pork is sourced from the UK
― 100% of Free Range Eggs are sourced from the UK
― 100% of Milk is sourced from the UK
― 100% of Yoghurt is sourced from the UK
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of staff in his Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The table below sets out the proportion of payroll and non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010/10 to 2014/15. Data for 2015/16 will be available in due course.
|
YEAR |
Proportion on Payroll |
Proportion off payroll |
|
2010-11 |
98.64% |
1.36% |
|
2011-12 |
98.74% |
1.26% |
|
2012-13 |
98.28% |
1.72% |
|
2013-14 |
97.22% |
2.78% |
|
2014-15 |
96.43% |
3.57% |
Non-payroll covers staff categorised as consultants and contingent labour i.e. interim managers, specialist contractors and agency staff.
The increase in off-payroll engagements can be attributed to factors such as: