The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pete Wishart on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what account her Department took of the timing of school holidays in Scotland in formulating plans to deal with passport application delays.
James Brokenshire
Each year Her Majesty’s Passport Office plans its capacity, taking into account
the likely level of demand during specific periods, including the run-up to school
holidays.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-04-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to help pensioners on low incomes.
Mr David Gauke
Supporting pensioners is a key priority for this Government. Due to the triple lock, the full basic State Pension has increased this month to £113.10 a week – a cash rise of £2.95. This is around £8.50 a week higher than it would have been if it had been uprated only in line with average weekly earnings growth since the start of this Parliament.
We have also passed through the cash rise, due to the triple lock, to the minimum guarantee in Pension Credit. This ensures that the poorest pensioners also benefit.
This Government also continues to protect universal pensioner benefits, such as Winter Fuel Payments, free eye tests and prescriptions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) Serco and (b) G4S will be permitted to bid for community rehabilitation company contracts.
Jeremy Wright
G4S and Serco decided to withdraw from the competition to select lead providers of rehabilitation services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tyler on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications for future elections and referendums to be held in the United Kingdom of the relative voting rights in the Scottish independence referendum of (1) electors resident overseas but formerly resident in a Scottish parliamentary constituency, and (2) electors resident in England, Wales or Northern Ireland but registered in a Scottish parliamentary constituency within the last 15 years.
Lord Bates
The Government has made no such assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in what circumstances offenders can choose not to attend a parole board meeting when a victim reads a victim personal statement.
Jeremy Wright
The victims of serious violent and sexual offences, where the offender has been sentenced to 12 months or more, may opt into the statutory Victim Contact Scheme, operated by the National Probation Service. Where they do so, they will be informed of a Parole Board review and offered the opportunity to make a Victim Personal Statement (VPS). The VPS provides victims with a valuable opportunity to tell the Parole Board how the offence has affected them or their family, both at the time it was committed and since, and how they think the offender’s release would affect them. The VPS can contribute to a better and more informed hearing, as it may enable more robust questioning of the offender about the offence, remorse and victim empathy.
The independent Parole Board is responsible for the conduct of parole hearings. The normal practice is that the offender will not be present when the victim reads his/her VPS, but there may be circumstances where he/she will be. In many cases, the victim does not wish the offender to be present during the reading. Whilst the conduct of an individual hearing is for the Chair of the Panel of the Parole Board, the Chair cannot insist that the prisoner attends to hear the VPS being read if s/he does not wish to do so. No estimate has been made centrally of the proportion of offenders present at the hearing when the VPS is read out.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2014-04-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any guarantee that the current levels of service and functionality provided by the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight System are to be provided in any replacement system.
Lord Deighton
Our plans for the future replacement of the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system are that service levels and functionality should be equal to or better than those provided in the current system. This will be a requirement within the “Invitation to Tender” that HMRC issues in respect of the procurement process for a new import and export declaration processing system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-18.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to increase the number of British overseas electors registered to vote.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that it runs public awareness campaigns to encourage British expatriates to register to vote; the most recent took place ahead of the European elections this year.
Two briefing notes, which included details of the campaign, were circulated to hon. Members in advance of the elections. These notes are available on the Commission’s website here:
· www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/164449/Elections-May-2014-briefing.pdf
The Commission intends to run a similar campaign ahead of the 2015 General Election. It is currently evaluating the performance of its 2014 campaign to identify improvements that could be made for the General Election campaign. The Commission will ensure that a copy of the evaluation is sent to the hon. Member when it has been completed.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Growth is Our Business: A Strategy for Professional and Business Services published in July 2013, what progress his Department has made in establishing the effect of school reporting metrics on the prestige of higher apprenticeships as a destination.
Matthew Hancock
These questions ask about a number of actions related to skills development from “Growth is our business: a strategy for professional and business services”, published in July 2013 as part of Government’s industrial strategy. The strategy was developed in collaboration with the professional and business services sector, focusing on the industry’s agenda for long term growth. It is led by the Professional and Business Services Council.
The strategy reflects two key business priorities in skills development. First, to expand recruitment routes into the sector, in particular higher apprenticeships, to access a wider, more diverse talent pool. Second, to help businesses engage with the education system to raise aspirations and promote work readiness. A business-led skills taskforce for professional and business services has been established. It is developing approaches to implement the strategy and will report progress at the end of this year.
The skills taskforce is leading work to help towards the strategy’s ambitious target to treble the number of higher apprenticeship starts across professional and business services to 10,000 over five years; and to follow progress in the interim, so that the numbers of these apprenticeships can be monitored. As a first step, the taskforce is supporting the London Professional Apprenticeship scheme, which was launched in December 2013, and is now recruiting apprentices and employers to take part. The scheme will pilot the proposal for a “clearing house” to help small firms access higher apprenticeships in professional and business services. In addition, the taskforce is backing new ‘trailblazer’ initiatives, announced in March 2014, to develop employer-driven standards for apprenticeships in several professional and business services occupations.
The skills taskforce is currently researching the metrics for schools’ reporting and their effect on the prestige of higher apprenticeships as initial career destinations. It will consider if more could be done to ensure higher apprenticeships have parity of esteem with higher education.
The taskforce is also mapping current school engagement activity involving professional and business services firms with a view to identifying and sharing good practice.
The new emphasis on wider use of higher apprenticeships across professional and business services should contribute towards a greater diversity of routes into these careers in the years to come; potentially offering opportunities to a wider pool of talent.
The skills taskforce intends to consider how the employability of young people can be supported within the national curriculum, but believes that greater engagement between employers and young people is the best way of improving employability skills.
My noble friend Lord Lingfield has set up the independent Institution for Further Education to take forward work on a new chartered status quality schemeand is considering the application and assessment process for Further Education providers.
The skills taskforce is exploring how web-based services can support engagement between firms and the education sector, including a planned digital “inspiration” tool being developed by this Department to encourage business-schools engagement.
Further information on the implementation of “Growth is our business: a strategy for professional and business services” is included in a progress report on industrial strategy, published on 23 April 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-early-successes-and-future-priorities.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average duration has been of the assessment period for each claim for personal independence payment from a person diagnosed with a terminal illness in each of the three months to June 2014.
Mike Penning
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave him on 18 June, Official Report, column 629W. Information on clearance times is not currently available. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martin Horwood on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether information included in the registry of company beneficial ownership information will be cross-checked against data held by (a) passport authorities, (b) vehicle licensing authorities, (c) electoral registers and (d) other databases.
Jenny Willott
Companies House currently undertakes a range of checks across the breadth of documents delivered to them. In 2012-13 over 400,000 documents were rejected because they did not pass these checks.
We are carefully considering whether any further reform is necessary, whilst ensuring the UK’s company registration regime remains quick, simple and inexpensive. We do not however envisage that this would include cross-checking data against other sources of information.