Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

George Eustice

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason her Department has invited private sector companies to tender for work currently carried out by its civilian enforcement officers.

Dr Phillip Lee

HMCTS are considering a range of options about how best to deliver this service. The tender process will allow HMCTS to make informed decisions about what is in the best interests of the service and the taxpayer. No decision on the way forward for the Civilian Enforcement Office role has been made at the current time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the likely costs in administering changes to IR35 on public sector contracts; whether these costs will fall on public sector organisations; and what estimate his Department has made of the net gain to the Exchequer resulting from those changes.

Jane Ellison

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has formally consulted with stakeholders, including a large number of public sector organisations on the impacts of the changes. The Government is analysing these responses and will respond in due course.

Changes to off-payroll working in the public sector will make the engager responsible for deducting and paying associated tax and National Insurance where the intermediary rules apply. These changes will increase compliance with existing rules, rather than introducing a new tax liability. It is right that public sector bodies ensure that their workers are paying the correct amount of tax. At Budget this year, the Government published an estimate of the Exchequer yield as a result of these changes. This totalled around £550 million over the scorecard period, to 2021.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

Caroline Dinenage

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of (a) the scale of the recent changes on the cost of care homes for self-funding elderly people and (b) the effect of those changes on the number of care home closures in the UK.

David Mowat

The Department continues to monitor the market of care providers.

There has been no significant change in capacity in care homes in the last three years. The total number of beds for older people and those with dementia in England has remained stable at around 410,000.

Figures from Christie & Co show a differential between fee rises for self-funders & those paid by local authorities, but we are not aware of this driving changes in provision.

The Department continues to monitor the whole of the market of care providers and engage with the sector to better understand the challenges they face and support local authorities who purchase services.

The Department recognises that social care has a key role to play in reducing delayed transfers of care from hospital.

The National Health Service takes Delayed Transfer of Care seriously. As well as funding the NHS’ own plan for the future with £10 billion, we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra a year for adult social care.

The Department works closely with the NHS, local government and the independent care sector to help improve transfers out of hospital, share good practice and minimise delays.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-compliant cases the Child Support Agency has closed under its 1993 and 2003 statutory schemes’ closing process.

Priti Patel

As at October 2015, 110 non-compliant cases have been closed as part of the CSA case closure programme.

Notes:

1. Figure rounded to the nearest 10.
2. The figure is the number of cases that have closed in Segment 2 (the designated segment for non-compliant cases) as a result of being proactively selected for case closure.
3. Individual cases can change circumstances over time. As it is the circumstances of the case that determine which segment it will be closed in, the volumes of cases in individual segments change over time, therefore figures may be subject to change.
4. Closures are cases which have been fully closed on the CSA 1993/2003 Systems having undergone any arrears cleanse activity after liability ending.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with UK airlines on passing reductions in fuel costs on to passengers.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government has regular discussions with the industry on a range of issues, and will continue to press for a fair deal for the travelling public.

The airline industry is intensely competitive and there is no evidence of any market failure that would prevent cost savings being passed onto customers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to prioritise therapeutic services for children who have suffered abuse.

Alistair Burt

The Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in the Future in mind report and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access to high quality support across the country. This transformation is being supported by £1.25 billion of additional Government investment, as well as an extra £150 million to help young people with eating disorders.

Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) will set out how local organisations will use the additional investment of £1.4 billion the Government is making available during the course of this Parliament to transform local Child and Adolescent Mental Health services. All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), working closely with their partners in local government, Children’s Services and education, have developed plans to transform their local offer. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. This includes those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation. Decisions on access to services are based on assessment of clinical need.

NHS England increased funding of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) from £8.98 million in 2013/14 to £16.5 million in 2014/15, especially to improve the paediatric response to the needs of sexually abused children. NHS England continues to make the health services response to sexual abuse a priority, and in addition to producing a five year plan for commissioning SARCs, they are planning to engage with CCGs on the delivery of therapeutic care to support survivors.

The Government has set up the first ever cross-Government Ministerial Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling abuse of children. The Taskforce’s work will build on the Government’s wide-ranging reforms to create a care system that puts children’s needs first.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of identified violations of the Schools Admissions Code since 2014 related to failure to properly prioritise looked-after and previously looked-after children.

Nick Gibb

Of the 271 admission objections determined since January 2014, 6% were found to have non-compliant elements relating to provisions in the School Admissions Code concerning looked after and previously looked after children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of public-private partnerships delivering local authority services and representing good value for money.

Mr Marcus Jones

Local authority Private Finance Initiative Public Private Partnership projects, whether supported by this or other departments, were subject to extensive value for money assessments before authorities entered into their individual contracts. This Department does not undertake post-implementation value for money assessments of local authority Private Finance Initative contracts and services. However authorities are encouraged to continue to seek to improve the value for money of their projects wherever possible and the Department will provide advice and support upon request.