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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a statutory definition of a personal service company to enable HM Revenue and Customs to make a better informed assessment of those using such devices to artificially reduce income tax.

    Mr David Gauke

    There are currently no plans to create a statutory definition of a personal service company. Working through a personal service company does not indicate that a person is artificially reducing their tax.

    The Government keeps all areas of the tax system under review.

  • Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS trusts (a) planned to spend and (b) spent on agency and contract staff in 2013-14.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    As part of the response to the issues in Mid-Staffordshire hospital, and following the recommendations of the Francis report, many trusts have increased agency spend in the short-term to protect patients and improve patient care. Over the longer term, a key objective for the NHS is to keep agency spend to a minimum, an increase in the number of permanent front-line staff is vital to both improving patient care and delivering value for money. The number of frontline clinical staff has increased by more than 16,300 since 2010.

    In 2013-14, NHS foundation trusts planned to spend £523 million on agency and contract staff and spent £1,373.0 million. NHS trusts spent £1,209.1 million, how much they planned to spend is not available.

    Sources: for NHS trusts – unaudited data in NHS trust summarisation schedules; for NHS foundation trusts – quarterly monitoring information.

    Plans are in place in Better Procurement to reduce by £450 million spend on agency and contract staff by the end of 2016.

    NHS Trusts spent £1,209.1 million on agency and contract staff n 2013/14.

    Source: Unaudited data in NHS Trust Summarisation Schedules.

    Amounts for 2009-10 to 2012-13 were not separately identified from other non-permanent staff.

    Spend by NHS Foundation Trusts on agency and contract staff is in the following table.

    Year

    £ million

    2009/10

    764.1

    2010/11

    854.7

    2011/12

    907.0

    2012/13

    1,101.0

    2013/14

    1,373.0

    Notes: For 2009/10 – 2012/13 actual figures are based on gross staff costs as per notes in the NHS FT consolidated accounts. The figures from the consolidated accounts may differ to the Board reports due to adjustments made on redundancy, early retirement, capitalisation of staff costs and costs of R&D staff. 2013/14 figures are from quarterly monitoring information.

    Information available about spend on all staff is set out in the tables below.

    NHS Trusts

    Year

    £ million

    2009/10

    18,225.1

    2010/11

    18,929.5

    2011/12

    19,839.5

    2012/13

    19,344.7

    Source: NHS (England) Summarised Accounts 2009/10, 2010/11; NHS Trust Audited Summarisation Schedules 2011/12, 2012/13.

    Note: Total staff costs for 2013/14 are not yet available.

    NHS Foundation Trusts

    Year

    £ million

    2009/10

    17,599.7

    2010/11

    19,442.9

    2011/12

    23,046.0

    2012/13

    24,709.0

    2013/14

    26,246.0

    Notes: For 2009/10 – 2012/13 actual figures are based on gross staff costs as per notes in the NHS FT consolidated accounts. The figures from the consolidated accounts may differ to the Board reports due to adjustments made on redundancy, early retirement, capitalisation of staff costs and costs of R&D staff. 2013/14 figures are from quarterly monitoring information.

  • Aidan Burley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Aidan Burley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Aidan Burley on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships commenced in each sector in (a) Cannock Chase constituency and (b) Staffordshire in the last 12 months.

    Matthew Hancock

    Information on the number of Apprenticeship starts by Sector Subject Area and geography is published in a supplementary table to a Statistical First Release (SFR):

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships–2

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/308418/apprenticeship-starts-by-region-and-sector-subject-area.xls

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  • Wayne David – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Wayne David – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wayne David on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the recently employed additional staff in passport offices are estimated to cost.

    James Brokenshire

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office have been training and redeploying staff from
    other duties within the Agency, from other parts of the wider Home Office, and
    in the case of one individual another Government department, to meet the
    exceptional levels of passport demand. There will be some additional costs
    relating to staff where they will be temporarily working away from their normal
    workplace and where overtime is worked by staff from other parts of the
    Department. At this time it is not possible to put a reliable estimate on
    these additional costs.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what military or civilian personnel in his Department of what rank or grade have been reprimanded for failing to deliver an ICT hosting environment for Capita as part of the Recruiting Partnering Project.

    Anna Soubry

    No personnel have been reprimanded in connection with the delivery of the Recruiting Partnering Project.

    An ICT hosting platform is being provided for Capita.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints her Department has received regarding delays to the issuing of a passport in each of the last four years.

    James Brokenshire

    The table below shows the number of complaints related to delays in receiving a
    passport.

    Year

    Number of complaints relating to delays

    2010

    1253

    2011

    1341

    2012

    1513

    2013

    1437

  • Kevin Brennan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Kevin Brennan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department takes to (a) monitor how the grants awarded through the Sponsor Capacity Fund are used and (b) recoup grants from the Sponsor Capacity Fund where the recipients do not go on to sponsor any academies or use the money in an inappropriate way.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Academy sponsors who receive the Sponsor Capacity Fund are required to sign a Grant Funding Agreement, agreeing to adhere to the terms and conditions of grant. They are required to submit an Annual Certification of Expenditure, signed by their auditors, and a final report detailing what has been achieved through use of the grant.

    If they fail to comply with any of the conditions of grant, or are deemed to be in breach of it, they are required to return the grant to the Department.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which company designed and what the cost to the public purse was of production in 2009 of the plans for a young offender institute at Glen Parva.

    Jeremy Wright

    Interserve designed the 2009 plans for a Young Offender Institution at Glen Parva with their designers, HLM Architects.

    The previous Government spent £5.6 million on developing the plans for a new Young Offender Institution at Glen Parva up to 2010. Although the Secure College pathfinder will be fundamentally different from a Young Offender’s Institution, we are making use of the previous work where relevant.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK Space Agency in promoting the UK space industry; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Willetts

    The UK Space Agency (UKSA) was created in April 2011 to lead and foster the growing UK space sector. It does so through funding and delivery of civil space projects and downstream space related activities, developing space policy including advice to Ministers and regulating UK space activities to meet international obligations.

    The UKSA formally tests its performance against such objectives in a number ways and includes amongst these a measure of its effectiveness in promoting the UK space industry. This is primarily through an independent bi-annual “Size and Health” survey of the UK industrial sector which assesses the growth of the UK space economy. The Agency also monitors contracts that flow back to UK industry from Agency-targeted subscriptions to the European Space Agency as well as monitoring where Agency-supported research and development work has positioned UK industry for success in future operational contracts. More recently the Agency has extended its role in actively supporting and promoting UK industrial exports of both satellite and emerging space-related data services.

    All objective measures from these activities point to a growing success story for our space industry. Indeed it is one of our economy’s fastest growing sectors, with an average growth rate of almost 7.5%, and it has ambitions to increase its annual turnover to £40 billion by 2030. The role of the Agency in this development is significant and it has developed close relationships with industry.

    The Size and Health survey due to be published in autumn 2014 is expected to show that the Space Economy has continued to grow between 2011 and 2013.

    Its coordination of a business-driven industrial space policy has provided leadership for the UK industrial community (acknowledged by the UK space Innovation and Growth Strategy published in 2013) and this has been recognised by the Parliamentary Select Committee report into the UKSA which was published in October 2013.

    The Agency serves as an effective platform to raise awareness of the successes of the UK space sector. BIS and Agency officials continue to evaluate its success in promoting that work using Government Communications Service best practice.

    A further key measure of success is the increasing number of overseas space companies choosing to invest in the UK and so growing the UK’s wider space capability and economic development.

  • Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame M. Morris on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department has had with B&K Universal Ltd, Yorkshire Evergreen or their associates relating to their planning application for a facility at Grimston, Yorkshire for the breeding of dogs and other animals for laboratory use in the last 12 months.

    Mr David Willetts

    UK Trade and Investment and BIS officials provided general planning advice to B&K Universal in the last year at the company’s request. BIS officials met with B&K’s parent company Marshall and signposted other sources of advice and information. Officials were also asked to provide advice on EU Directive 2010/63 and referred this query to the Home Office as the Department with responsibility for implementing the Directive in the UK.

    The use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving our understanding of how biological systems work both in health and disease and in the development of new medicines and treatments vital for human health and for that of animals. It also underpins the success of the UK’s life science sector which has one of the strongest and most productive industries in the world.

    The UK has a rigorous regulatory system which ensures that animal research and testing is carried out only where no practicable alternative exists, and under controls which keep suffering to the minimum.

    The Government is committed to working to further reduce the use of animals in scientific research and in February 2013 published its delivery plan. This demonstrates our commitment to the “3Rs”: where possible to replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used and to refine the procedures involved so as to find additional ways to minimise suffering. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-to-reduce-the-use-of-animals-in-research-delivery-plan

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