Tag: Tom Watson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department will assess (a) the effect of drone strikes on civilian populations and (b) access to civilian compensation schemes as part of its humanitarian mission in Iraq and Syria.

Justine Greening

We are monitoring the impact of military operations on civilian populations in both Iraq and Syria and ensuring our humanitarian response is targeted to those most in need. To date, the UK has pledged £800 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the region, and a further £39.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Access to civilian compensation schemes is an MoD lead and therefore does not form part of our humanitarian mission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has been able to distinguish between duplicate payments and other types of overpayment made to suppliers from financial year 2013-14. In that year, the total value of duplicate payments identified was £4.1 million, 100% of which has been recovered. Over the first quarter of 2014-15, we have identified duplicate payments to the value of £0.5 million of which 60% has so far been recovered. Prior to 2013-14 we were unable to distinguish duplicate supplier payments from other types of overpayments. However all overpayments have been recovered since 2010.

The MOD processes over four million invoices a year totalling some £26 billion. We review our bill payment processes and controls periodically to ensure that we achieve the required high standards of performance and governance and seek to recover overpayments made to suppliers as quickly as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what research her Department has undertaken on access of civilian victims of drone strikes in Afghanistan to civilian compensation schemes administered by troop contributing nations.

Justine Greening

Access to civilian compensation schemes is a Ministry of Defence lead. There is a system in place for handling all claims for compensation brought against the Ministry of Defence by Afghan civilians.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Amber Rudd

The Department has identified and recovered the whole of two duplicate supplier payments totalling £1,000 in this period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2015 to Question 222429, whether any of the RAF personnel in Afghanistan support RPAS operations.

Mr Mark Francois

No RAF personnel in Afghanistan are supporting Remotely Piloted Air Systems operations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by her Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Dan Rogerson

Core Defra has controls in place to prevent duplicate payments being made to suppliers. These include careful checking of each invoice against evidence of delivery and against any previous payments in respect of the relevant purchase order. External and internal audit reviews of key financial controls have found no evidence of weakness that would lead to duplicate payments. There are also regular reviews of expenditure against budgets which would quickly bring to light unexpected payments and would lead to immediate action for recovery.

Core Defra is carrying out a Spend Recovery Audit, as part of a Cabinet Office initiative on fraud and error which we expect to conclude by Autumn 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which post or team in his Department is responsible for the application of remotely piloted aircraft systems.

Mr Mark Francois

There is no one person or team responsible for the application or deployment of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS). The decision to deploy RPAS is taken by Ministers following advice provided by senior personnel, both military and civilian, across the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not hold all of the required data centrally and could not answer this question in full without incurring disproportionate costs. However, we recently investigated duplicate supplier payments for the eight month period from April to November 2013 and identified just one duplicate invoice, with a value of £2,501. Our financial control system prevented any payment being made. The FCO has several controls in place to prevent duplicate payments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015 to Question 222435, what the (a) rank, (b) function and (c) location is of the five personnel from the UK Reaper Force on loan service to US Forces.

Mr Mark Francois

There are four Flight Lieutenant Instructors at 49th Operations Group, Holloman Air Force Base. There is also one Flight Lieutenant at 53rd Test and Evaluation Group, Creech Air Force Base in a test and evaluation role. None of the five personnel on loan are conducting operational mission flying.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Department checks for duplicate supplier payments as part of the business as usual processes within the finance team. As part of the internal process checks the Department has identified the value of duplicate supplier payments since 2010 as £1,287,260.31.

The proportion of such payments the Department has recovered following these internal checks in each of the last two financial years is as follows:

(i) Payments for 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 – £325,456.94 – of which 100% has been recovered based on the internal processes.

(ii) Payments for 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 – £282,198.56 – of which 100% has been recovered based on the internal processes.

For completeness, in the financial year 2010-11 the value of such payments was £510,599.10 of which 99.7% was recovered, and in financial year 2011-12 the value of such payments was £169,005.71 of which 98.6% was recovered.

Further investigations are taking place into duplicate payments made as part of a Spend Recovery Audit that the Department has commissioned externally and we will seek to recover any further duplicates identified as part of this exercise.