Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving sentences in open conditions have previously absconded for their current or previous establishments (a) once, (b) twice, (c) three times and (d) four or more times.

    Jeremy Wright

    Keeping the public safe is our priority. Absconds and escapes have reached record lows under this Government but each incident is taken seriously. Immediate changes have already been ordered to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded, escaped, or attempted to do either.

    My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to you in due course.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the effects of membership of the EU on jobs in (a) Glasgow North West constituency, (b) Glasgow and (c) Scotland.

    David Mundell

    The Government does not collate figures for the number of jobs in Scotland that depend on UK membership of the EU. However, independent analysis published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research in March 2014 suggested that, in 2011, approximately 335,000 jobs in Scotland were associated with Scottish exports to the EU. The analysis was not broken down to the level of individual UK cities or by Parliamentary constituency

  • David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Ruffley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ruffley on 2014-06-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) new national insurance numbers registered and (b) new workers in (i) Bury St Edmunds constituency, (ii) Suffolk and (iii) England and Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Esther McVey

    Information on the number of National Insurance Numbers registered to individuals including new workers, via constituency, county and country, can be found at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

    Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

    https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

    “

  • Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which charitable projects in Scotland have received funding from the Armed Forces Covenant (LIBOR) Fund to date.

    Anna Soubry

    The allocation of some £35 million in LIBOR fines to the Ministry Of Defence to support the Armed Forces community is just one example of the importance this Government places on the Armed Forces covenant.

    We have provided £5.5 million of funding for 12 Scottish projects. In addition, the Armed Forces community in Scotland will benefit from a number of UK-wide projects which have been allocated over £16 million of LIBOR funding.

  • 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, how many and what proportion of all UK visa applications processed by TPContact in (a) Israel, (b) Russia, (c) South Africa and (d) Ukraine have been subject to delays outside the stated service standards.

    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.

  • Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether her Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    My Department’s payroll services are provided by the Ministry of Justice. My understanding is that they have no current plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on agency workers to cover clerical staff in each month since January 2014.

    Andrew Selous

    Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m. We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our use of contractors and look for further reductions.

    In responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff. As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.

    Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term. Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.

    Uniform operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors and their vehicles.

    1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on clerical agency staff across –

    January 2014 – £2,983,633.14 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)

    June 2014 – £658,700.28 (1 week period)

    2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational support staff –

    January 2014 – £1,082,247 (5 week period)

    February 2014 – £1,420,329 (4 week period)

    March 2014 – £1,137,834 (4 week period)

    April 2014 – £1,249,908 (4 week period)

    May 2014 – £2,282,468 (5 week period)

    The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible workers from 1st April 2014.

    3) The following number of clerical agency staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 1571 (Average headcount)

    February 2014 – 1634 (Average headcount)

    March 2014 – 1624 (Average headcount)

    April 2014 – 1578 (Average headcount)

    May 2014 – 1644 (Average headcount)

    June 2014 – 1674 (Average headcount)

    4) The following number of uniform operational support staff have been utilised –

    January 2014 – 697 (Peak worker number)

    February 2014 – 845 (Peak worker number)

    March 2014 – 867 (Peak worker number)

    April 2014 – 853 (Peak worker number)

    May 2014 – 855 (Peak worker number)

    June 2014 – Peak worker number not available yet.

  • Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Hugh Bayley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugh Bayley on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many parking tickets were issued against owners of vehicles parked illegally on pavements in each of the last five years; and how many such people were prosecuted in each such year.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    In London, there is in general a ban on parking on the footway. Outside London, local authorities have wide-ranging powers to make Traffic Regulation Orders to prohibit pavement parking on designated lengths of highway or over a wide area. The former Transport Minister, the Hon Member for Lewes, Norman Baker, wrote to local authorities in February 2011 urging them to take up these powers. Local authorities with Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) powers are responsible for parking enforcement, including that relating to the footway.

    In addition, the Department has developed and authorised new traffic signs for local authorities to use where pavement parking is prohibited.

    With regard to the number of parking tickets issued, individual local authorities are required to keep records of all penalty charge notices issued. The Department for Transport does not record this information centrally.

  • 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 scope there is for amending an individual’s claimant commitment after it has first been drawn up.

    Esther McVey

    Once in place, both the claimant and Jobcentre Plus work coach can ask for the Claimant Commitment to be changed at any time.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what happens to a Remploy worker personal budget if the full amount is not used by the individual within 18 months.

    Mike Penning

    Personal budgets are an important part of the £8 million People Help and Support Package (PHSP) which was not available for those affected by the 2008 Modernisation Plan. Personal budgets provide additional support where other sources of funding are unavailable.

    There is no specific funding allocation for personal budgets within the £8million PHSP package and the budget for each former Remploy disabled employee is allocated based on individual need.

    We anticipate that all funding for the PHSP package will be utilised by the time the last People Help and Support Package period is completed.

    Latest figures as of 18 April 2014 show 1,516 disabled former Remploy workers have chosen to work with our Personal Case Workers to find another job and 727 are in work.