The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2015 to Question 219724, whether those Reapers have been relocated to the UK for maintenance, strategic or other reasons.
Mr Mark Francois
Reaper relocated to the UK have been placed in storage for routine fleet management purposes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, 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.
Jo Swinson
The Department does not maintain a central register but an analysis of the Departmental financial system and records identified that since 2010, the following duplicate payments were made and recoveries undertaken:
10/11 nil
11/12 nil
12/13 £726 of which all was recovered
13/14 £1835.40 of which all was recovered
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, 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.
Stephen Crabb
The Wales Office has identified no duplicate payments since 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to offer or provide personnel from Reaper Squadron 39 to the US Air Force as a gift of services in response to current operational requirements.
Mr Mark Francois
The UK Reaper force has no current plans to offer or provide personnel to the US Air Force as a gift of services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, 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 Francis Maude
The Cabinet Office identified duplicate payments worth £77,164 through the 2011/12 to 2012/13 payments review. All of the duplicate payments identified were recovered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 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.
Steve Webb
This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Written Answer of 12 January 2015 to Question 219725, which UK officials will attend the MQ-9 Users Group meeting.
Mr Mark Francois
Five members of the Royal Air Force (RAF) will attend the MQ-9 Users Group meeting in Paris in January 2015. The party will be made up of representatives from the RAF’s ISTAR HQ, which is located at RAF Waddington, HQ Air Command and the Air Staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, 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.
Andrea Leadsom
Moore Stephens undertook a Spend Recovery Analysis on five years’ worth of HM Treasury data between June 2013 and March 2014. The outcome of the analysis was that there were no duplicate supplier payments identified.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2014 to Question 213733, if he will seek the agreement of the US administration to release a copy of the current revised Reaper Agreement.
Mr Mark Francois
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 November 2014 to Question 213733. We will discuss possible release with the US once the Memorandum Of Understanding has been agreed and finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-07-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, 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.
Kris Hopkins
In my Department’s publication “50 ways to save”, we asserted that councils could save money by conducting audits of potential duplicate payments and reforming accounts payable processes. This was based on research by Experian of both local and central government bodies.
In the answer by my hon. Friend, the Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) of 5 November 2013, Official Report, Column 145W, it was noted how our Department has itself undertaken such best practice, and had duly recovered £61,301 of taxpayers’ money from twenty duplicate payments for the period May 2010 to October 2013, apart from a sum of £257 which was not recoverable from three payments. A further £32,000 was recovered from historic duplicate payments made between 2006 and 2009. I also would note there were £7,018 of duplicate payments from January to April 2010.
Since that answer, our ongoing internal processes have identified a further £7,492 from four transactions from November 2013 to March 2014, all of which have been recovered thanks to our strengthened checks.
We have previously commissioned business analytics and information services firm, PRGX, to carry out a full spend-recovery audit on our accounts payable system and help us further improve and reform administrative practices. PRGX’s audit report has subsequently noted that 99.999% of the transaction value reviewed was processed correctly, and that: "DCLG have been effective in limiting supplier overpayments. The low rate of errors identified by the audit and statement request process indicates the current processes and controls continue to limit supplier overpayments."
This sizeable saving endorses what we said in “50 ways to save”: regularly checking for duplicate payments and putting systematic checks in place is a common-sense way of saving taxpayers’ money in both local and central government.