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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she plans to attend the International Festival for Business in Liverpool.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    As the hon Member will know, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister opened the International Festival for Business recently. The events will be a great opportunity to showcase the very best of Britain and encourage foreign investors to set up or expand in the UK, including Northern Ireland.

    While I have no plans to visit at present, I fully intend to discuss the Festival when I meet Dominic Jermey, the incoming CEO of UKTI, shortly and the Northern Ireland Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment to see how Northern Ireland businesses can best take advantage of the opportunities that it offers.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency who have submitted a claim for personal independence payment have been waiting more than (a) six months and (b) three months for a medical assessment.

    Mike Penning

    The information you have requested is not currently available.     

  • Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Peter Bottomley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bottomley on 2014-06-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding of the Financial Ombudsman Service came directly from the levy on the Office of Fair Trading licences on consumer credit firms in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; how this funding will be levied in future; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an independent, non-Governmental body and questions about its funding are a matter for the FOS or, as the case may be, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who approve the FOS budget and fee rules. This question has been passed on to the FOS, and the FOS will reply directly to the honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason Sri Lanka has not been included as a priority country for the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) is global in reach. It aims to address impunity for crimes of conflict related sexual violence wherever these occur. We remain concerned at reports of a culture of impunity for rape and sexual violence and a lack of support for victims in Sri Lanka, as well as reports of the use of sexual violence as a means of torture in custody. We have engaged significantly with Sri Lanka on this issue. When the Foreign Secretary visited Sri Lanka in November 2013 to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), he hosted an event to highlight concerns about allegations of sexual violence in Sri Lanka during and after the conflict, and urged Sri Lanka to sign up to the UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. The UK is also supporting projects to ensure a zero tolerance approach to rape and sexual violence in Sri Lanka. Our presence at CHOGM also ensured that the final communiqué at the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Colombo in November 2013 contained the first ever commitment by member states to take action to prevent and respond to sexual violence.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Executive to increase foreign direct investment to Northern Ireland.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The successful G8 Summit and follow-up investment conference have highlighted Northern Ireland as a great place in which to invest.

    I continue to work in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Investment to attract Foreign Direct Investment to Northern Ireland building on the success of the Northern Ireland Investment Conference at which my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister made the keynote address.

    On 7 November I co-hosted, with Arlene Foster, the Northern Ireland Investment Seminar at Lancaster House for a number of High Commissioners and Ambassadors to explain the benefits for their respective countries of trade and investment in Northern Ireland. NIO and Invest NI officials are now meeting the trade and commercial officers from the Embassies with a view to inviting their respective Ambassador to lead a trade delegation to Northern Ireland on a visit co-hosted by myself and the DETI minister.

    The first two of these Ambassadorial visits will take place in September and October and it is envisaged that other visits will take place over the coming twelve months.

    Arlene Foster has also invited me to participate with her at SIAL 2014 which will take place in Paris in October. SIAL is the world’s premier food exhibition and will provide a good opportunity to promote the excellence of Northern Ireland produce to the international food industry.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department took to ensure that TPContact was prepared for the required increase in capacity at its facilities worldwide to deal with the summer rush of visa applications.

    James Brokenshire

    Any failure against the contractual critical service levels may result in
    deductions against their submitted invoices. In the event of continuous and
    unacceptable failures the Department has the ability to terminate the contract.

    The performance of Teleperformance as with all of our contracts is subject to
    close Home Office scrutiny. The governance processes include regular meetings
    at all levels, from local operational teams up to senior official levels, to
    allow in-depth reviews of performance against the service standards set out in
    the contract, and to provide an escalation route to resolve any issues that may
    arise. We also expect suppliers to provide continuous improvement in delivery
    of customer services over the course of the contract, which is also monitored
    through these processes.

    The Department withheld payment of the contractual transitional payment until
    transition was complete in each country where Teleperformance operates. This
    has now been has now been approved for payment in countries where visa
    application centres (VACs) are operational but withheld in locations still to
    be transitioned. Ongoing contractual payments will be subject to the service
    credit process outlined above.

    The data required to judge performance against contractual service standards is
    not yet available. We are not aware of any withdrawn applications linked to
    delays in processing at the identified visa application centres since they took
    over this service. The Home Office is currently collating data on complaints
    for the period since Teleperformance commenced operations and it is not
    available for publication.

    UK Visas & Immigration has worked closely with Teleperformance from the point
    at which contracts were awarded to prepare for live operations, including the
    summer peak. Annual and monthly application volumes and forecast figures for
    2014 were provided to Teleperformance as part of the tender process and local
    discussions have taken place to determine the number of appointment slots
    available. Opening hours have been extended and appointment availability has
    been increased in a number of locations to prepare for the summer period. Where
    VACs are open every day, the availability of appointment slots is continually
    monitored, with further measures being taken if appointments are consistently
    fully booked.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of changes in passenger numbers on the West Coast Main Line over the next 10 years.

    Stephen Hammond

    I refer my Hon Friend to my answer of 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 517-518W (UIN 196423).

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made in developing local support services for Universal Credit claimants; and if he will make a statement.

    Esther McVey

    The Local Support Services update and trialling plan was published in December 2013 and set out how DWP and local authorities will work together to test different arrangements for partnership working, financial management, the effective delivery of front line services and other specific aspects of the Local Support Services Framework.

    The closing date for bids from DWP/LA partnerships, to undertake robust trialling, was Friday 13th June. Trials will start in Autumn and run for 12 months.

  • Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many meetings (a) officials and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with (i) disability groups and charities and (ii) providers of the Work Capability Assessment in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    Ministers and officials meet regularly with a range of stakeholders about the Work Capability Assessment, including our health assessment providers, disability representative groups and charities.

    The current contractual agreement between DWP and Atos Healthcare contains a number of key performance indicators. DWP monitors and discusses performance with Atos on a weekly basis.

  • Lord Hoyle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Hoyle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hoyle on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there is any regulation of heir hunters in the way they operate or the fees they charge beneficiaries; if not, whether they have plans to introduce such regulations; and, if not, why not.

    Lord Deighton

    There is no regulation in place that specifically covers the way probate researchers operate or the fees they charge beneficiaries.

    Relationships between probate researchers and their clients are normally contractual arrangements and subject to contract law.

    The Government is planning to introduce regulation of the activity of conducting private investigations, surveillance or inquiries, which could bring some probate and asset researchers into scope for statutory licensing by the Security Industry Authority.