The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-29.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has assessed for changing the status of HM Revenue and Customs Digital Technology Services to enable it to become profit-making.
Mr David Gauke
The company was set up as a not-for-profit and there are no plans to change its status to a profit-making entity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the preparedness is of the Animal and Plant Health Agency to react to and control a potential future animal health outbreak similar in scale to the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.
George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), compiles the UK contingency plan for exotic notifiable disease that sits above plans designed by Defra and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments.
These are key documents that describe the strategic, tactical and operational responses required to any incursion of exotic notifiable disease, such as foot and mouth disease. These plans are complemented by specific GB disease control strategies and APHA work with the Government Departments in each administration to produce the necessary operational instructions.
To ensure the plans and instructions are fit for purpose, the UK runs a national animal disease exercise roughly every other year on various exotic diseases and we regularly include foot and mouth disease in those exercises.
The next national exercise will be in June 2018 and will be based on a foot and mouth disease scenario.
APHA also create and manage an annual programme of regional or country exercises designed to identify best practice and any gaps in existing plans or procedures. They also run table-top exercises for APHA’s policy customers to identify issues that may arise from new and emerging threats such as African Horse Sickness.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence given by Sir Mark Stanhope to the Defence Committee on 7 June 2016, HC 221, at Question 3, what anti-submarine warfare capability is planned for the general purpose frigates; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
The General Purpose Frigate Programme has just begun its pre-concept phase activity. This work will consider a range of capability requirements based on the ship’s role, operating environment and the likely threats it will face. This work will also take into account the wider capabilities available to Defence, such as those provided through the procurement of the Anti Submarine Warfare capable Type 26 Frigates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for funeral payments were (a) made and (b) granted in Scotland in 2015-16; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Nokes
During 2015-16 in Scotland there were around 5500 applications for Funeral Expenses Payments and around 3700 awards granted.
In 2015-16 across Great Britain £40,025,000 was paid out in Funeral Expenses Payments and repayments totalled £183,000. These figures are given on page 12 of the Social Fund Account 2015-16 (linked to below)
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants for asylum who have been served with a deportation or removal order have been allowed safe passage back to the UK after the order has taken effect in the last five years.
James Brokenshire
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-02-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assurances HM Revenue and Customs obtains from its potential contractors and suppliers on the level of their compliance with UK tax obligations.
Mr David Gauke
Prior to engagement, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) require a new contractor or supplier to provide their tax details, and to agree to HMRC performing revenue compliance checks throughout the procurement process, using information from its own records and taking appropriate action where required in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Contracts for such engagements include clauses requiring that at all times the contractor or supplier shall comply with all statutes and regulations relating to direct or indirect taxes, and that failure to comply may constitute a material breach of the contract.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provisions his Department has in place to ensure that sufferers of multiple sclerosis do not experience a decrease in benefit payments as a result of experiencing a temporary period of remission in their condition.
Priti Patel
The assessments for Employment and Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment have been designed to take full account of fluctuating conditions, including multiple sclerosis. Neither assessment is a snapshot; they give people with fluctuating conditions the opportunity to explain how their condition varies over time.
All assessments are carried out by qualified health professionals who have broad training in disability analysis and are required to fully explore and report any fluctuations in a claimant’s condition(s).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence given by Peter Roberts to the Defence Committee on 7 June 2016, HC 221, at Question 22, what the timetable is for (a) procurement of the Type 26 frigates and (b) cutting steel on those frigates; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 May 2016 to Ouestion 37138 to the hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Julian Lewis).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time a person making an initial inquiry claiming social security benefit spent on the telephone in the last 12 months.
Caroline Nokes
The DWP’s benefit claim lines handle calls both enquiring about claiming benefit and making a claim to benefit. The average length of calls to these lines for the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 was 00:12:56. For some benefits, systems require that the data collected includes time spent updating records after the conversation has ended.
Data sources: Operational Management Information System (OPMIS) and data supplied by outsource partners.
Please note this information is derived from the Department’s management information designed solely for the purpose of helping the Department to manage its business. As such, it has not been subjected to the rigorous quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. As DWP holds the information internally, we have released it. However, it is possible information held by DWP may change due to operational reasons and we recommend that caution be applied when using it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that staff dealing with universal credit are on the same rates of pay once staff from HM Revenue and Customs are transferred to his Department.
Priti Patel
DWP currently operates a pay system which, in common with other civil service departments including HMRC, uses pay ranges based on grade and location. Factors such as business needs and benchmarking of similar public and private sector organisations are considered as part of each DWP annual pay review