Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to compensate people who have paid for an upgrade in their passport application as a result of delays in processing their original application.

    James Brokenshire

    Anyone who needs to travel within the next seven days and who has waited longer
    than the standard processing time of three weeks, through no fault of their
    own, will be able to upgrade their application without charge. After their
    application has been through the proper checks, the processing, printing and
    delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for free. This policy was
    announced by the Home Secretary to the House of Commons on 12 June and will
    not be applied retrospectively.

    HM Passport Office’s policy on compensation is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/compensation-and-complaints-handling

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what formula is being used to distribute (a) the £185 million fund to help repair local roads damaged by severe weather announced and (b) the £200 million Challenge Fund announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 2014 Budget Statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    (a) The distribution of the £185 million provided to help repair local roads damaged by severe weather is described table below.

    (b) Funding formula for the £200 million Challenge Fund announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 2014 Budget Statement.

    £32 million is being provided directly to the devolved administrations as a result of the Barnett formula. It is a matter for the devolved administrations how their shares of the funds are used.

    On 24 April 2014 English local highway authorities were in invited to bid for a share of a £168 million Pothole Fund to repair local roads.

    Local authorities wishing to apply for a share of the funding are required to submit an application to the Department for Transport by 22 May 2014. Details of the application are available to view via:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pothole-fund-2014-to-2015-application

    “

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the recent report from Mind entitled Fulfilling Potential? ESA and the fate of the Work-Related Activity Group.

    Esther McVey

    The Government has put in place a comprehensive system of support for disabled people and those with health conditions. We keep all our policies under review and are committed to improving further the employment support offered.

  • 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 days were lost due to illness among Jobcentre Plus staff in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) West Lothian local authority area and (d) Livingston constituency in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    DWP has robust and effective measures in place for managing sickness absence and has succeeded in cutting sickness absence from an annual average of 11.1 days per employee in 2007 to 6.9 days per employee currently. To place this in context the Civil Service average is 7.6 days.

    Jobcentre Plus was re-structured and absorbed into a revised Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Operations structure in October 2011. Since that point, it has no longer existed as a separate organisation. This means the information beyond September 2011 is not available.

    In accordance with cross government arrangements; the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reports sick leave expressed as average working days lost (AWDL) per employee, over a rolling 12 month period

    The following table shows Jobcentre Plus AWDL for 2009/10 and 2010/11. Information was not available for the period April to September 2011 because this was less than a 12 month period.

    2009/10

    2010/11

    UK

    8.8

    8.6

    Scotland

    8.2

    7.3

    West Lothian LA Area

    9.6

    7.4

    Livingston Constituency*

    10.9

    6.1

    *Information by Parliamentary Constituency is not held directly but information is available by office, therefore we have created a combined figure for the two offices in the Constituency – Livingstone Jobcentre and Broxburn Jobcentre.

    To put these reductions into context, if Average Working Days Lost in DWP was still at the level it was in 2007, the Department would be paying over £27.5m more in sick pay than it is at present.

  • Baroness Drake – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Drake – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Drake on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to lower the level of fees for access to employment tribunals.

    Lord Faulks

    The Justice Secretary is committed to reviewing the impact of the introduction of fees in the employment tribunal system. The Ministry of Justice is currently finalising arrangements for the timing and scope of the review to ensure that the impacts can be properly assessed. An announcement will be made when the review begins, and again when it has been completed, setting out the results.

  • Julian Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julian Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Smith on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the staging dates for automatic enrolment for workplace pensions are being effectively communicated to businesses in Skipton and Ripon constituency.

    Steve Webb

    The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has responsibility for educating and enabling employers in order to maximise compliance. TPR is writing to employers 12 months and 1 month prior to their staging date to alert them to their new responsibilities.

    Where an employer provides an email address to TPR they will also receive a series of emails informing them what stage they should be at and signposting guidance and tools that have been provided by the Regulator. This includes an interactive planning tool to assist employers in getting ready, a staging date tool to find out your staging date, and detailed guides. They have also established a customer support centre for employers to discuss any questions they may have.

    An advertising campaign aimed at employers has also been used to raise awareness and guide employers to the regulator’s website to help them in their preparations.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will answer the question asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 11 June (HL Deb, col 418) about what action is being taken to ensure the safety of those reported to have fled the city of Mosul following its capture by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.

    Baroness Northover

    As of 17 June, following the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) –led alliance in Northern Iraq, the UK is providing an initial £3 million of emergency humanitarian assistance to help displaced civilians. Following an assessment of needs on the ground by DFID humanitarian experts who deployed to Erbil last Thursday 12 June, this includes:

    (i) – Activation of the UK’s Rapid Response Facility (RRF), which provides emergency support via pre-approved organisations in the event of a humanitarian crisis overseas. This initial package of UK support comprises clean water and sanitation, essential medicine, women-friendly hygiene kits and basic household items, which will be provided from £2 million of RRF funding to NGOs in the region.

    (ii) – Protection for vulnerable girls and women through the deployment of dedicated UN safety and welfare teams in key internally displaced person and refugee camp sites and areas, secured through £1 million of funding to the UNHCR.

    The UK will continue to monitor the situation closely and we are considering urgently what other assistance we could provide.

  • Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Miss Anne McIntosh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Miss Anne McIntosh on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received on illegal pump imports into the UK; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

    We have had no representations on illegal pump imports. The National Measurement Office (NMO) is the designated Market Surveillance Authority for the UK for products subject to regulations made under the Ecodesign for Energy -related Products Directive, including those for pumps. It takes an intelligence-led and risk-based approach to market surveillance; any evidence of illegal imports should be sent to the NMO (https://www.gov.uk/placing-energy-related-products-on-the-uk-market) for follow-up and appropriate enforcement action.

    “

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 6 May (WA 392), with which organisations representing private tenants the Private Rented Sector Task Force has engaged since its establishment.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Private Rented Sector Taskforce work closely with my officials in developing our policies in relation to the private rented sector. Together they engage with a wide range of private sector tenant groups including Shelter, Crisis, Generation Rent and its predecessor the National Private Tenant’s Organisation, the National Union of Students, as well as individual private tenant organisations.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce the amount of stamp duty paid by first-time home buyers.

    Mr David Gauke

    The stamp duty land tax relief for first time buyers in existence between March 2010 and March 2012 was found by HMRC to be ineffective in increasing the number of first time buyers entering the market.

    The Government is instead taking other steps to support those wishing to purchase a home, such as the Help to Buy and NewBuy schemes.