Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people currently receive Universal Credit, and at what cost to the public purse.

    Lord Freud

    The Universal Credit programme publishes official experimental statistics which are available on GOV.UK.

    The statistics to 10 September show that 125,877 people were on the Universal Credit caseload. Cost information for the current UC caseload is not available for publication.

  • Stuart Blair Donaldson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stuart Blair Donaldson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart Blair Donaldson on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects the Land Registry to publish data on which foreign companies own which land property titles in England and Wales.

    Anna Soubry

    My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister stated during a speech made in Singapore on 28 July that he has asked Land Registry from this autumn to publish data on which foreign companies own which land and property titles in England and Wales.

  • Mr David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Mr David Blunkett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Blunkett on 2014-02-25.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, which organisations received funding from the Innovations Fund as part of the Democratic Engagement Programme; how much each such organisation received; and what the time period is for their projects.

    Greg Clark

    The government has announced that 5 national organisations have received funding as part of the measures to maximise registration. Details of the allocation of funding can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funding-for-new-ways-to-encourage-voter-registration

    These organisations are expected to deliver projects by the end of July.

    “

  • Jenny Chapman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jenny Chapman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2014-02-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many places are available in mother and baby units in the custodial estate in England and Wales.

    Simon Hughes

    There is currently space for 64 mothers and 70 babies in mother and baby units in the custodial estate within England and Wales, which allows for multiple births.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mark Hendrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2014-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much HM Courts and Tribunal Service spent on interpreters in 2011, 2012 and 2013; how much was spent on interpreting each language in those years; and how much was paid by defendants towards these costs.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Department does not hold centrally all of the information that the Honourable Member has requested. Although we can not provide all the data on spend for the periods requested we can provide the annual spend for interpreters sourced through the Capita-TI Contract for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service as below:

    Calendar Year

    2012

    2013

    Total

    £7,940,128.79

    £15,537,821.29

    Off Contract bookings made by HMCTS are outside of these spend figures. The number of bookings made off contract has substantially decreased since the start of 2012 with those bookings moving onto the Capita TI contract. This move from off contract to Capita TI is reflected in the changing year on year contract spend.

    Spend for 2012 is based on an 11 month period as the contract did not go live until 30th January 2012. Expenditure has also increased in the second year of contract due to changes made to the contract in May 2013 and an estimated 20% increase on volume. £15m was saved in year one of the contract.

    In this instance to provide the requested information on total annual spend and spend by language, would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold of £850.00 or 4 ½ working days.

    In order to provide the information we would be required toobtain a number of large reports from electronic databases. The relevant data must then be manually extracted and collated. It would also require comparison against additional financial data before analysis. We estimate that this process for the spend data would take approximately 6 working days given the volume of data involved.

    Defendants in criminal cases do not contribute towards the costs of interpreters that are provided by HMCTS. Charges for HMCTS provided interpreters in civil, family and tribunal cases are not passed directly to parties, although the costs may be recovered from court and tribunal fees in the jurisdictions where they apply.

  • Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2013-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the cost of travel within the UK was for his Department in each year since 2010; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence.

    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.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to increase enforcement rates for the national minimum wage.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law. In 2014/15, HMRC conducted 2,204 investigations into potential NMW non-compliance, totalling £3,291,529 of arrears for 26,318 workers.

    This is up from 1,455 investigations conducted in 2013/14, totalling £4,645,547

    of arrears for 22,610 workers.

    Building on our existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW. These include:

    • increasing penalties from 100% to 200% of the arrears employers owed.
    • the setting up of a dedicated team in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) focused on tackling the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance.
    • increasing the enforcement budget in preparation for the National Minimum and Living Wage from April 2016.
    • the creation of a statutory Director of Labour Market Enforcement and Exploitation.
  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people from a working class background were recruited onto the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme in each year since its inception.

    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.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what forecast he has made of whether the total stock of local authority homes will increase or decrease in the next five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst we have made no forecast of what the stock of council homes will be over the next 5 years, I do note that more council houses have been built since 2010 than were built in the entire 13 years of a Labour Government.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all UK service personnel deployed to malarial areas since 2013 have been individually assessed for contraindications for mefloquine; and what the method of assessment was for those who were individually assessed.

    Mark Lancaster

    Since 2013, it has been Ministry of Defence policy that mefloquine should only be prescribed after an individual risk assessment. To verify that an individual assessment has been undertaken in every case since 2013 would require the examination of the medical records of all individuals who have deployed since 2013. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

    Templates exist to optimise consistency in the preparation of personnel requiring anti-malarials, including mefloquine. Defence Primary Healthcare has a malaria protocol to guide clinicians to use these templates. Work is currently in hand to develop it further, taking previous lessons into account, to ensure that all individuals are assessed in a consistent manner.