The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether telephones with a direct connection to the universal credit helpline are available to use free of charge in every job centre.
Priti Patel
We no longer have customer access phones in Jobcentres. However, should a claimant need to use a telephone in connection with their claim or job search, they will be given access to a phone by their work coach.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the provision of learning outside of the classroom.
Nick Gibb
Field trips and educational visits are important and have a key role to play in children’s education.
It is for schools to use their professional judgement to decide how their activities deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and to plan lessons and use their budgets accordingly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Leeds on 2016-03-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to establishing new consular premises in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government is committed to delivering a permanent, fit-for-purpose Consulate General platform in Erbil at the earliest opportunity.
Significant changes to the security situation in Iraq have necessitated that we review our requirements and plans for the Consulate General platform in order to ensure that we are able to meet our political, security, prosperity and humanitarian objectives, both now and in the future. We continue to offer an uninterrupted service from our current Consulate General platform and continue to explore options for the acquisition of appropriate office accommodation for the future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what role he plans that further education providers and colleges will have in the governance and delivery of the Institute of Apprenticeships.
Nick Boles
The Board of the Institute will be comprised primarily of employers, business leaders and their representatives to ensure that employers continue to drive apprenticeship quality at the highest level. The Institute will also be able to draw on the expertise of education providers, colleges and others in the exercise of its functions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2016-06-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants involved in the delivery of Universal Credit have left the Department for Works and Pensions in each of the last five years; how large is the team working on Universal Credit delivery; and how many people involved in the delivery team when it was originally created remain within the department.
Lord Freud
Universal Credit rollout started in April 2013. At the same time the Universal Credit Directorate was established within Operations, to deliver Universal Credit with 80 paid employees.
AT 31st March 2016, the Universal Credit Directorate consisted of 4,295 paid employees.
The numbers of Universal Credit Directorate employees who have left DWP since April 2013 are as follows:
|
Leaving Period |
Number of Employees who left DWP |
|
April 2013 to March 2014 |
5 |
|
April 2014 to March 2015 |
46 |
|
April 2015 to March 2016 |
357 |
Of the original 80 employees who were part of Universal Credit Directorate in April 2013, 67 are still employed by DWP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of retrospective planning applications to local councils in (a) Devon and (b) the UK in the last five years.
Gavin Barwell
The Department does not collect the data requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the incidence of cyber-fraud and to advise the public of the level of care they should take in transferring money online.
Mr Ben Wallace
The Government launched the Joint Fraud Taskforce earlier this year. This partnership between government, law enforcement and the financial sector is working in new innovative ways to deliver a more effective response to fraud. The Taskforce is looking at new ways to ensure individuals have the tools and knowledge to protect themselves from fraudsters, including when transferring money online.
A Joint Fraud Taskforce partner, Financial Fraud Action UK, recently launched a nation-wide fraud prevention campaign ‘Take 5’ which advises that individuals take five minutes to consider what they are being asked to do, especially if being pressured to take an unusual course of action such as transferring funds to an unknown individual. The Taskforce is also working closely with the financial sector to look at how fraud can be designed out of systems such as internet banking, to stop individuals transferring money to a potential fraudster.
The Government’s Cyber Aware campaign aims to help small business and individuals protect themselves from cyber criminals by adopting simple secure online behaviours such as having a strong password and always downloading the latest software updates. Cyber Aware works with a range of public and private sector partners to embed cyber security advice into a range of every day touch points, including Get Safe Online, whose remit is to help individuals and small businesses safeguard themselves against fraud and other online data threats.
The Government is also encouraging all businesses which rely on the Internet to adopt the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect themselves against the most common Internet threats. We know the vast majority of cyber attacks exploit basic weaknesses in IT software and systems. Cyber Essentials shows organisations how to address those basics and get a good level of online security in place which all organisations operating online should aim for as a minimum.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Civil Service Commission was consulted on changes to the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, published in October 2015.
Matthew Hancock
The October 2015 version of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers was revised and published in accordance with the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the (a) location and (b) budget is for each agri-tech centre in each year from 2016-17 to 2020-21.
Anna Soubry
The planned budgets (2016/17 to 2020/21) and locations of the four Centres for Agricultural Innovation are:
Centre for Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) – headquarters in York at the National AgriFood Innovation Campus in Sand Hutton
|
16/17 |
17/18 |
18/19 |
19/20 |
20/21 |
|
|
£m |
6.5 |
4.3 |
4.4 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) – headquarters in York at the National AgriFood Innovation Campus in Sand Hutton
|
16/17 |
17/18 |
18/19 |
19/20 |
20/21 |
|
|
£m |
8.6 |
6.0 |
4.5 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI) – hubs in Edinburgh, Harper Adams University (Shropshire) and Cranfield University (Bedfordshire)
|
16/17 |
17/18 |
18/19 |
19/20 |
20/21 |
|
|
£m |
5.3 |
3.6 |
3.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
Centre for Agricultural Informatics (Agrimetrics) – headquarters in Harpenden (Hertfordshire) at Rothamsted Research
|
16/17 |
17/18 |
18/19 |
19/20 |
20/21 |
|
|
£m |
3.2 |
2.9 |
1.8 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Margaret Ritchie on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what contingency plans her Department has put in place in the event of one or more stakeholders in the Hinkley Point C project being unable to raise sufficient funding to complete development.
Andrea Leadsom
The funding of Hinkley Point C is a commercial matter for the parties involved. However, the agreements between EDF and CGN announced in October 2015 show the commitment of all sides to the project. EDF and CGN have confirmed major investment in Hinkley Point C and are working to rapidly conclude the detailed investment documentation.
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State expects to be in a position to take her final decision on the Contract for Difference and associated agreements for Hinkley Point C once the documentation relating to equity investment into the project is finalised.