The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 8 April 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Naraendra Singh Bhati.
James Brokenshire
I wrote to the Rt. Hon. Member on 20 May 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects Mr Andrew Cottrell of Prenton, to undergo his medical examination as part of his application for the personal independence payment.
Mike Penning
The Department cannot respond to the House of Commons with regards to a specific case.
I will write to the hon. Gentleman.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he intends to formally abolish probation trusts.
Jeremy Wright
Probation Trusts ceased operating at the end of 31 May 2014. The majority of offenders are now being supervised by staff working in 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies while high risk offenders and those who have committed the most serious offences are being supervised by the National Probation Service. The new structure was tested thoroughly prior to the transition, with staff and cases beginning transfer into the new structure prior to formal transition on 1 June. Formal dissolution of the Probation Trusts will take place following audit of their 2014/15 accounts in the autumn of 2014.
The leadership of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) remain committed to maintaining morale through the effective leadership of change and continued positive engagement across the organisation. Throughout this significant change programme regular communication has been provided across NOMS to keep people informed about the reforms. We understand the challenges large scale reforms such as this can pose, and we are working closely with probation staff to make sure they can raise any issues quickly. Probation staff at all levels are working hard to implement these vital reforms on the ground and we will continue to support them throughout this process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what annual percentage increases in starting rates of pay (a) lieutenant colonels, (b) majors, (c) captains, (d) lieutenants, (e) sergeants, (f) corporals and (g) privates in the Army have received since 1982.
Anna Soubry
The annual percentage increases awarded by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body for the starting rates of pay of the specified ranks are shown in the table below. There was no annual percentage increase in 2011 and 2012 but all privates were awarded a £250 rise.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many claims management companies were operating in the Yorkshire and Humber region in each year from 2008 to 2014.
Mr Shailesh Vara
With rigorous new measures being brought in across the board, we are taking strong action to rein in the rogue firms operating in this sector.
Continued action to remove licenses from companies with poor practices alongside forthcoming Claims Management Regulation reforms, proves just how much work is going on to get tough on companies that defy the rules and bombard the public with unwelcome calls and misleading information.
We are changing the law to further toughen the regime, including introducing fines, and ensuring firms cannot buy in any contact details which have been gathered unlawfully.
The number of claims management companies (CMCs) operating in each region between April 2008 and April 2014 were as follows:
|
Regional Analysis |
Apr-08 |
Apr-09 |
Apr-10 |
Apr-11 |
Apr-12 |
Apr-13 |
Apr-14 |
|
East |
107 |
134 |
165 |
173 |
146 |
138 |
114 |
|
East Midlands |
56 |
97 |
131 |
139 |
152 |
137 |
120 |
|
London |
253 |
378 |
545 |
531 |
524 |
444 |
340 |
|
Northern Ireland |
0 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
4 |
|
North East |
30 |
71 |
95 |
98 |
76 |
68 |
49 |
|
North West |
514 |
685 |
784 |
803 |
775 |
706 |
576 |
|
Overseas |
6 |
11 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
16 |
13 |
|
Scotland |
21 |
26 |
30 |
32 |
28 |
29 |
33 |
|
South East |
193 |
294 |
358 |
370 |
361 |
326 |
267 |
|
South West |
62 |
81 |
100 |
113 |
113 |
100 |
93 |
|
Wales |
61 |
73 |
95 |
81 |
101 |
88 |
66 |
|
West Midlands |
206 |
321 |
408 |
404 |
358 |
292 |
208 |
|
Yorkshire & Humbers |
230 |
316 |
366 |
387 |
329 |
245 |
176 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each (a) region of England and (b) London borough had been waiting six months or longer for a medical examination as part of their assessment of entitlement to a personal independence payment on 1 May 2014; and if he will make a statement.
Mike Penning
We are committed to ensuring personal independence payment (PIP) claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments. Since the introduction of PIP new claims in April 2013, we have been closely monitoring all aspects of the process.
As personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit, processes are currently bedding in. Our latest analysis is telling us that the end-to-end claimant journey is taking longer than expected. We are working closely with the assessment providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. We are also seeking to ensure that all the steps in the process run as smoothly as possible and that there are no barriers in our processes and systems that contribute to claims taking longer than necessary to progress.
The first official statistics for the number of people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was published on 5th June alongside updated statistics on PIP new claim registrations, decisions and awards.
Statistics on clearance times are not being published at this stage. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication but releasing them at this stage would give a skewed representation of the process since steady state has not yet been reached and natural reassessment has yet to rollout across the country.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress departments have made on implementing the Guidance on Customer Service Lines published in December 2013.
Mr Nick Hurd
The guidance we published in December 2013 set out that departments should use prefixes offering a geographic call rate as a default policy position for the provision of core public services. This was not the case in the past.
My officials are working with the cross-Whitehall group on customer service lines.
We will publish information from departments on their customer telephone lines later in the summer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases funded by legal aid taken against her Department where public interest lawyers have represented clients were won by her Department each of the last 10 years.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not keep a central record of which cases brought against
it are legally aided, or of the law firms that represent litigants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that there is no age discrimination in NHS treatment of breast, prostate and bowel cancer.
Jane Ellison
The National Health Service has a statutory duty to reduce health inequalities and improve the health of those with the poorest outcomes. The NHS Constitution makes clear that a core duty of the NHS is to promote equality for all groups in society, including older people. A ban on age discrimination in NHS services was introduced in 2012, meaning that NHS services need to do everything they can to ensure that services do not unwittingly discriminate against older people.
As well as the legal and moral imperative, improving the treatment and care of older people affected by cancer can also play a significant role in improving outcomes. Tackling health inequalities and promoting equality of outcome in England is essential to achieving cancer survival rates which match the best performing countries in the world. Furthermore, cancer treatment should always be based on what is right for each individual patient, whatever their age.
In December last year, NHS England National Clinical Director for Cancer, Sean Duffy, launched a ‘call for action’ on the treatment for older people, a priority for NHS England and its partners. As part of this, NHS England is setting up an advisory group so it can identify where real improvements can be made in cancer services for older people. We are also supporting an initiative which will make sure that patients are better informed about the options available to them and they are fully involved in decisions about their treatment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to speed up payments by public bodies and private concerns to small businesses; and what recent assessment he has made of average payment times.
Matthew Hancock
We announced further reforms to public procurement on 30 May to speed up payments by public bodies to small businesses. These include improvements to e-invoicing, procurement processes and greater powers for Ministers to investigate complaints raised by the Cabinet Office’s ‘mystery shopper scheme’.
We have also announced new legislation that will require larger businesses to report on their payment performance and practices. Increasing transparency and driving openness is at the heart of building a more responsible payment culture that UK businesses need to thrive.
Recent research suggests that UK businesses experience an average 17 day delay to payment of invoices. This is a reduction in the past two years but a figure that is still too high and is holding back investment and growth.