The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Flint on 2015-10-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the practice of insurers automatically signing up customers to annual renewals without the explicit consent of those policy holders.
Harriett Baldwin
I refer my hon. Member to the answer given on the 26 October 2015 to Question UIN 12727.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-02-25.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Government contracts of what value have been awarded to companies or projects based in (a) Corby and East Northamptonshire and (b) Northamptonshire since May 2010.
Mr Nick Hurd
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Livingston on 16 December 2013 (Official Report) Column Ref: 453W.
Information on government suppliers within a specific constituency or local authority area is not held centrally
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Frank Field on 2014-02-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in prison in the latest period for which data is available served a time longer than their full sentence.
James Brokenshire
[holding answer 26 February 2014]
For the for week commencing 24 February 2014, there were 821 immigration detainees in prisons.
Please note that the data includes a small number of individuals who have never served a custodial sentence. These individuals present specific risk factors that indicate they pose a serious risk of harm to the public or to the good order of an Immigration Removal Centre, including the safety of staff and other detainees, which cannot be managed within the regime applied in IRCs.
To extract this small number of cases who have not served a custodial sentence would incur a disproportionate cost as this would involve looking at individual records.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Woodcock on 2014-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on the decision to withdraw the local welfare provision grant in 2015-16; and what consultation he undertook prior to making that decision.
Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Thursday 30 January 2014]
DCLG Ministers and officials talk regularly to elected members and officers of local authorities about a range of issues.
The nationally run Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans were poorly targeted and failed to help those most in need. So, in 2012 as part of wider welfare reform, the Department for Work and Pensions abolished these national discretionary schemes and transferred responsibility to local authorities so they could deliver and tailor new local support as part of their existing services to their communities.
Councils can continue to provide support to those in their community who face financial difficulties or who find themselves in unavoidable circumstances, but there is no requirement to replicate the previous approach adopted by central government.
In contrast to a centralised grant system that was poorly targeted, under the Department for Work and Pensions’ reforms, councils can now choose how best to support local welfare needs within their areas – what is right for, say, Barrow and Furness may not be for other authorities. Some councils have already chosen to wind down their dedicated schemes following underspends.
In the next Spending Round period, from April 2015, central government continues to provide support to local authorities through general funds as part of the Coalition Government’s commitment to reducing ring-fencing and ending top-down Whitehall control.
The Department for Work and Pensions provided a separate fund for 2013-2015 and are carrying out a review of the provision to date.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2013-11-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, his Department has made in each year since 2010; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip.
Brandon Lewis
Role of the Department
Reflecting our responsibilities for local government, housing, planning and communities across England, the work of the Department involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.
Improved procurement has reduced our average domestic hotel rate in the UK by 8% between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Moreover, domestic flights for longer journeys can avoid the need for paying for staff to stay in a hotel overnight.
Since 2011-12, the Department accepted responsibility for some new functions outside of London, including residual functions following the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions and then oversight of the European Regional Development Fund following the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside of London and to the European Commission, this has therefore increased our travel spend compared to the base of 2010-11. However, this is far more than offset by the very significant savings to taxpayers of the abolition of these regional bodies.
Based on current estimates (which reflect accounting consequences from machinery of government changes) the DCLG Group is reducing its annual running costs by around 40% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This equates to net savings of at least £532 million over this spending review period and includes savings of around £420 million from the closure of the Government Offices for the Regions.
In addition to this, I note that the Regional Development Agencies were spending in the region of £246 million a year on administration (as cited in 11 March 2009, Official Report, Column 592W).
Spending data
The tables below list spending on travel by financial year. Figures for 2009-10 are from July 2009, as this is when the department’s current approved travel agent contract commenced; those figures are therefore only for three-quarters of the financial year, and the full year is likely to be proportionately higher.
|
Overseas Travel |
Overseas Accommodation |
Overseas Subsistence |
Total |
|
|
July 2009 – March 10 |
£408,621 |
£19,847 |
£79,574 |
£508,042 (part-year) |
|
2010-11 |
£56,304 |
£21,759 |
£27,798 |
£105,861 |
|
2011-12 |
£69,463 |
£21,204 |
£19,946 |
£110,613 |
|
2012-13 |
£78,474 |
£29,224 |
£21,911 |
£129,609 |
|
UK Travel |
UK Accommodation |
UK Subsistence |
Total |
|
|
July 2009 – March 10 |
£621,028 |
£309,260 |
£174,888 |
£1,105,176 (part-year) |
|
2010-11 |
£434,467 |
£199,563 |
£81,315 |
£715,345 |
|
2011-12 |
£980,307 |
£162,544 |
£71,913 |
£1,214,764 |
|
2012-13 |
£1,030,710 |
£166,149 |
£74,424 |
£1,271,283 |
Explanatory notes:
– Overseas subsistence costs can include accommodation, meals and travel tickets purchased locally.
– The costs of internal travel abroad are not routinely recorded in the form requested and this information could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
– Data on cost per trip is not centrally held in the form requested.
– For car hire, the data from our finance systems do not separate out expenditure for domestic and international car hire and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
– For helicopter hire, our records show that the Department has incurred no expenditure on this since 2010-11.
– Figures contained in this answer may differ from previous answers to Parliamentary Questions, as the data extracts have been re-run and reflect ongoing accruals and data. Delays in billing or crediting transactions can sometimes have an effect on the spend data between the financial years.
Taken in the whole, we have reduced overall travel spending compared to the last Administration, and delivered substantive savings for taxpayers’ from the abolition of regional government in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the skills gap in Cumbria.
Nick Boles
It is not for central government to assess local skills needs. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are working in collaboration with local authorities, colleges and providers in the area to jointly agree key local skill needs and develop a local skills offer that is responsive to local labour market conditions and contributes to improving our productivity.
Cumbria LEP and the Cumbria Employment and Skills Commission are currently refreshing the area skills strategy and this will be finalised in December 2015. It will include a review of the skills needs of the four key sectors denoted in the Cumbria Strategic Economic Plan: Nuclear and Energy; Advanced Manufacturing; Rural and Visitor Economy; and, Infrastructure Improvements. The Skills Commission has noted that the future skills needs of the nuclear sector and BAE Systems Submarine will create significant pressure for skilled labour, particularly in advanced manufacturing and engineering. This will create displacement challenges in other manufacturing businesses in the area.
In September the government announced a programme of area reviews, which will be locally led and will involve key stakeholders. They will be based on the best available evidence of skills requirements and establish a local post-16 education and training offer which is high quality and responsive to employer need. The reviews will support local involvement in the ongoing commissioning of provision, putting responsibility in the hands of people who are best placed to tailor provision to local economic needs. Cumbria will be included in the area review process, due to be completed by March 2017 and an announcement on the date for the review will be announced in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to publish the socio-economic status of entrants to the Senior Civil Service, Fast Stream and Fast Track Apprentice Scheme.
Matthew Hancock
To govern modern Britain, the Civil Service needs to look and sound likemodern Britain. We need access to the broadest possible pool of talent, drawing on peoplefrom all backgrounds and all parts of the country.
The Civil Service is implementing a number of initiatives to recruit individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds onto the Fast Stream and Fast Track Apprenticeship schemes, including internship programmes, schools and colleges mentoring and discovery days, work experience programmes and engagement with universities with a high representation of lower socio-economic students.
Information on the socio-economic status of recent appointees to the SCS was published in 2014,and the socio-economic status of Fast-Stream applicants has been published since 2011.
In 2015 16.8% of new joiners to the Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, up from 8.5% in 2013/14. From 2015 this data will be published as part of the Fast Stream applicants publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the provisions of the Housing Bill on the supply of affordable housing for rent in each of the next five years; and if he will publish the data on which that assessment is based.
Brandon Lewis
The Government will continue to assess the impacts of the Housing and Planning Bill as it progresses through Parliament. We will publish our assessments on Parliament’s website at:
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/housingandplanning/documents.html.
These will be updated as further assessments are undertaken.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what instructions have been issued to medical or other staff in any of the armed forces regarding the consumption of alcohol while Mefloquine is being taken as medication.
Mark Lancaster
Neither the Patient Information Leaflet for mefloquine issued by the manufacturer, nor the British National Formulary (which provides information on all medicines generally prescribed in the UK), mention alcohol consumption when using mefloquine for the chemoprophylaxis of malaria. Guidance is, however, provided for patients with severe liver problems and other medical conditions that would preclude the use of the drug, and would be part of the clinical risk assessment prior to prescription.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many In Home Displays have been installed in households to date; and how many such displays are still in operation 12 months after installation.
Andrea Leadsom
It is not possible to give an accurate figure on the number of In Home Displays (IHDs) installed as while energy suppliers are required to offer their domestic consumers an IHD where they install a smart metering system, domestic consumers can choose not to accept one.
Data from the Early Learning Project1 (ELP) which covered the very early part of the rollout at time when energy suppliers were trialling and testing approaches to consumer engagement, found that six in ten (61%) smart meter customers who had received an In Home Display (IHD) reported that they still had their IHD plugged in. These consumers had had their smart meters over a period of between six months and two and half years. The research also found that smart meter customers who had received their installation more recently were no more likely than those who did so around two years ago to still have their IHD plugged in.
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