Employment and Support Allowance: York
Hugh Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York receiving employment and support allowance were moved from the support group to the work-related group; of those how many sought a review of that decision; and of
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those seeking a review how many were
(a)
moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review,
(b)
not moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review and
(c)
are still awaiting the decision on their request for review in October 2012 and each month since then; [183027]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York receiving employment and support allowance were moved from the support group to the work-related group; of those how many sought a review of that decision; and of those seeking a review how many were (a) moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review, (b) not moved back to the support group as a consequence of the review and (c) are still awaiting the decision on their request for review in October 2012 and each month since then; [183028]
(3) pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people receiving employment and support allowance in the City of York were moved (a) from the support group to the work-related group and (b) from the work-related group to the support group in each month since October 2012. [183030]
Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2014, Official Report, columns 280-81W.
Housing Benefit
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government on the effect of the High Court ruling on housing benefit eligibility for rough sleepers who use night shelters. [182514]
Steve Webb: None. The High Court ruled that, in the specific circumstances of the case, the night shelter did not constitute a dwelling occupied as a home. As such, the claimant did not qualify for housing benefit. The housing benefit regulations do not refer to night shelters. Housing benefit remains payable to people whose accommodation, including that called shelters for rough sleepers, meets the requirements of the regulations.
Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the abolition of housing benefit on the Government's child poverty targets. [182712]
Steve Webb: Housing support for working age people will be incorporated into universal credit and qualifying households will continue to receive support with their housing costs through the housing element.
Around 3 million households will gain from universal credit, with the average gain being £177 a month. 300,000 individuals are expected to move into work as a result of
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universal credit, through improved financial incentives to work, increased simplicity of the system and increased conditionality.
The Government remain committed to ending child poverty in the UK. We need measures that provide a more accurate picture of the reality of child poverty and drive the right action. Government have consulted on how best to measure child poverty. The complexity of the issue means that we need to take time to ensure we have the best measure of child poverty and we will publish our response as soon as we can.
Housing Benefit: Brent
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) the London borough of Brent and (b) Brent Central constituency are in receipt of local housing allowance for (i) shared accommodation, (ii) one bedroom properties, (iii) two bedroom properties, (iv) three bedroom properties and (v) four bedroom properties. [183007]
Steve Webb: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Housing benefit recipients Entitled Bedrooms (LHA only), August 2013 | ||
| Brent local authority | Brent Central constituency | |
This information 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
Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what savings to the public purse have accrued as a result of the under-occupancy penalty in each month since its introduction from (a) Birmingham, Hall Green constituency (b) Birmingham and (c) England. [182733]
Esther McVey: The intention of this policy is to ensure fairer use of housing stock.
DWP estimates that the removal of the spare room subsidy policy will save approximately £490 million across GB in 2013-14.
Estimates of savings are not available below national level. Monthly statistics on the numbers of claimants subject to a reduction, and the average weekly reduction, are available through Stat-Xplore at the following link:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Birmingham, Hall Green constituency have been incorrectly charged an under-occupancy penalty. [182754]
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Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have won appeals against loss of housing benefit under the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy on the grounds that their eligible rent should have been determined in accordance with regulations 12 and 13 as set out in paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 to date. [182836]
Esther McVey: The Department is only aware of one successful first-tier tribunal case.
First-tier tribunal decisions only apply to the particular case in question. They do not set a precedent and do not apply to any other claimant even if their circumstances are the same.
Local authorities have however been issued with guidance to inform them how housing benefit should be calculated if a claimant has lived in the same property and has had continuous housing benefit since 1 January 1996.
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households containing at least one carer have been affected by the implementation of the under-occupancy charge in social housing in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and (b) Birkenhead constituency. [182922]
Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.
Live-in carers are provided for under the normal size criteria rules and will be allocated a bedroom.
In addition an extra bedroom is allowed if the claimant or partner are disabled and require regular overnight care from a non-resident carer.
For others living in the household who require overnight care from a non-resident carer the discretionary housing payment fund is available and funding for this has increased to £180 million for 2013-14.
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households in (a) the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, (b) Birkenhead constituency and (c) the UK which have held their tenancy continuously since 1996 have been affected by the implementation of the under-occupancy penalty in social housing; and if he will make a statement. [182929]
Esther McVey: The Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy applies even where the claimant has held a tenancy continuously since 1 January 1996 if they have not been in receipt of continuous housing benefit.
It is estimated that nationally there are fewer than 5,000 cases that fall into these circumstances but we are unable to break this down to individual regions.
Jobseeker’s Allowance: York
Hugh Bayley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people receiving jobseeker's allowance (JSA)
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in the City of York had their JSA withdrawn as a result of their alleged failure to comply with conditions laid down by his Department in October 2012 and each month since then. [183029]
Esther McVey: The information is tabled as follows:
| Number of individuals with an adverse jobseeker's allowance (JSA) sanction decision in York local authority,22 October 2012 to 30 June 2013 | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Data are to 30 June 2013, which is the latest available information. 3. Figures may include individuals who have had more than one adverse sanction decision e.g. if an individual has a sanction applied in two different months, they will appear in each month above. 4. New sanctions rules came into force for JSA from 22 October 2012. The number of sanctions applied is the number of low, intermediate, and high level referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-overview-of-sanctions-rules Source: DWP: Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics database. | |
Occupational Pensions: Cornwall
Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each parliamentary constituency in Cornwall have taken up auto-enrolment into a workplace pension to date. [182988]
Steve Webb: The information is not available in the format requested.
The Pensions Regulator publishes monthly the volume of employers that have registered that they have met their duties along with the volume of workers automatically enrolled. As at 31 December 2013, 5,431 employers have registered with the Pensions Regulator that they have met the duties and more than 2.5 million workers have been automatically enrolled.
Further information can be found at:
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/automatic-enrolment-monthly-registration-report.pdf
Procurement
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance. [182646]
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Mike Penning: DWP contracts are awarded in accordance with EU Directives and UK law on the basis of transparency, non-discrimination and equality. Therefore, DWP cannot, from a legal perspective, discriminate against any potential supplier on the basis of their organisation's legal status or location.
It is the DWP vision to deliver best practice sustainable procurement, help deliver the required Government outcomes, ensure DWP contracts provide best value for money and that DWP can demonstrate continuous improvement against Government sustainable targets. Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority. The DWP Sustainable Procurement Strategy is a key driver to ensuring that we specify sustainable goods and services wherever possible, and encourage best sustainable practice and development of a strong environmental record throughout our supply chains.
A DWP policy has been developed which incorporates the principles of the Social Value Act which reaffirms the Department's commitment to meeting Government policy to mainstream social, economic and environmental sustainability across everything from core policy to operations and procurement.
As required by Cabinet Office, DWP policy is to take into account bidder past performance when procuring information and communications technology, facilities management or business processing outsourcing with a total anticipated contract value of £20 million or greater. Supplier past performance over the previous three years is taken into account.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds. [182663]
Mike Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff. [182680]
Mike Penning: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years. [182697]
Mike Penning: The proportion and values of the Department's contracts are as follows:
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| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | ||||
| % | £ | % | £ | % | £ | |
| Notes: 1. An Open procedure is used when all suppliers who have responded to the Contract Notice are invited to tender. A Restricted procedure is used when only those suppliers who have been invited by the contracting authority may submit a tender. 2. The inclusion of contracts using pre-qualification questionnaires includes contracts that also used the Restricted procedure; thus these items are not mutually exclusive. 3. This question did not ask for data on the use of the Competitive Dialogue or the Negotiated procedures which accounts for the remaining % of contracts not included under the Restricted and Open procedures and in the use of framework agreements. | ||||||
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of the Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was. [182977]
Mike Penning: In 2011-12 there were 41 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £5,256,269,346.
In 2012-13 there were 60 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £697,915,623.
In 2013 to present there were 126 procurements undertaken using e-procurement tools with a Contract value of £132,352,981.
The remainder of the information will be placed in the Library.
Social Security
Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his policy to conduct a review of local discretionary welfare provision in May 2014. [182934]
Steve Webb: It has always been our intention to carry out a review about the way local authorities have used the funding. We are still making the arrangements with local authorities about the review and its findings and a copy of the findings will be placed in the House Library.
Social Security Benefits
Mr Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total amount of (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) any other benefits withheld in sanctions was in each month of the last five years in (i) Birmingham, Hall Green constituency, (ii) Birmingham and (iii) England. [182730]
Esther McVey: It is not possible to estimate the total amount of benefit withheld due to sanctions as we do not know what would have happened had the sanction not been applied. Some people would have flowed off benefit in the period of the sanction and they might have flowed off benefit had they not received a sanction. Furthermore we do not have reliable data on duration for sanctions of variable length.
Social Security Benefits: Polygamy
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he has made in preventing payments of benefits to people in polygamous relationships. [182601]
Esther McVey: The Government have decided that universal credit, which replaces means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age people, will not recognise polygamous marriages. Instead, the husband and wife who are party to the earliest marriage that still subsists can make a joint claim for universal credit in the same way as any other couple. Any other adults living in the household would each have to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances. This process already happens where a polygamous marriage is not recognised in UK law.
Social Security Benefits: Veterans
Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to disregard income provided to former service personnel in respect of injuries they received while serving in the armed forces when making social security benefit assessments. [182849]
Esther McVey: War Disablement Pensions and guaranteed income payments from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme are to be fully disregarded in universal credit. There are no plans to make any changes to the treatment of these payments in other benefits.
Social Security Benefits: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answers of 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 758W, on jobseeker's allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber and 19 December 2013, Official Report, column 756W, on employment and support allowance: Yorkshire and the Humber, how many people living in the City of York were receiving (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) employment and support allowance support group and (c) employment and support allowance work-related group in (i) October 2012 and (ii) each month since then. [183031]
Esther McVey: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2014, Official Report, column 283W.
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Universal Credit
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department intends to fill its current vacancies for software developers in its digital service and to build universal credit endstate system and other software projects. [182837]
Esther McVey: We have already set out our overall plan to strengthen our capability in this area—15 January 2014, Official Report, column 587W. The necessary recruitment is under way, and we intend to progress this work as quickly as possible.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in his Department are working on software for each of the universal credit IT systems currently planned. [182839]
Esther McVey: There are currently around 50 staff delivering the IT within the universal credit programme.
Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many private sector developers are being paid a salary rate of more than (a) £50,000 per year and (b) £100,000 per year for their work on developing the IT system for universal credit. [182986]
Esther McVey: IT development work on universal credit is primarily delivered by suppliers through existing contracts and agreed rate cards. These rate cards are competitive, and value for money. The Department does not have access to salary information for those individuals.
Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has paid to private sector companies to develop the universal credit system; and what his projection is for IT spending on the project in each of the next five years. [182987]
Esther McVey: The information is as follows:
(a) The amounts that have been paid to each IT service provider are contained within the NAO report, Universal Credit: Early progress, HC 621, published on 5 September 2013.
(b) The total cost of the consultants employed on the universal credit programme in each of the last three years is as follows: £5.6 million in 2011-12 and £3.2 million in 2012-13.
There was no consultancy expenditure in 2010-11 recorded against the universal credit programme.
(c) Costs for any future development remain subject to ongoing commercial discussions.
Universal Credit: Redditch
Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects benefit claimants in Redditch constituency to move on to universal credit. [182625]
Esther McVey: The Secretary of State set out the plans for the next stage of delivery of universal credit on 5 December 2013.
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Our current planning assumption is that the universal credit service will be fully available in each part of Great Britain during 2016, with the majority of the legacy benefit claimant caseload moving to universal credit during 2016 and 2017.
Work Capability Assessment: Devon
Mr Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of average waiting times for ATOS work capability assessments in Plymouth and Devon; and if he will make a statement; [182737]
(2) if he will impose a maximum waiting period of eight weeks on Atos work capability assessments in Plymouth and Devon. [182540]
Mike Penning: Average waiting times data for work capability assessments are not available for the geographical area stated. The national average waiting time (days) for both employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessments in the regional group of Bristol (which includes Plymouth and Devon) is 78.1 days.
Following the overhaul of Atos Healthcare's audit arrangements, their work force have undergone a process of retraining and re-accreditation. The increased focus on quality has had an impact on waiting times for work capability assessments across the country.
There is no intention to make a variation to those standards, including imposing a maximum waiting period of eight weeks for Plymouth and Devon.
DWP continually monitors the effectiveness of Atos Healthcare's performance in line with the contractual standards contained within the Medical Services Agreement. There is no intention to make a variation to those standards.
Transport
Bus Services: Concessions
John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of take-up rate of free pensioner bus passes in each local authority area. [182985]
Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport's annual survey of local authorities which are Travel Concession Authorities (TCAs) shows the take-up of bus passes in each TCA by older people entitled to concessionary travel. The results are published in Table BUS0822 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel
Driving: Licensing
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the guidance from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Drivers Medical Group on the process for the restoration of driving licences given to drivers contemplating voluntary surrender of licence was last revised. [182385]
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Stephen Hammond: The guidance provided through information letters was last assessed and changed in April 2013. The information provided on the website was last amended in October 2012.
The letters and the website are currently being reviewed to ensure that the information contained is accurate and is helpful to customers.
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the accuracy and completeness of the guidance from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to drivers contemplating voluntary surrender of driving licences. [182386]
Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is currently reviewing this information to ensure it is accurate, complete and helpful to customers.
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the service level agreement is between his Department and DVLA on processing times for applications to restore driving licences following temporary voluntary surrender of licence following a health-related incident. [182387]
Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is subject to customer service targets set by the Secretary of State for Transport.
The target for restoring a driving licence following temporary voluntary surrender is to make a decision in 90% of cases within 90 days. This allows time for the DVLA to obtain information from external medical professionals where necessary.
Mr Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when his Department last reviewed the effectiveness of the relationship between the Drivers Medical Group and NHS professionals in processing applications for restoration of driving licences following temporary voluntary surrender. [182388]
Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) keeps all its working practices regarding the handling of medical investigations under constant review. This is done in order to minimise the time scales for reaching a licensing decision and the impact on customers.
East Coast Railway Line
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received in the last 12 months supporting the privatisation of the East Coast rail franchise. [182279]
Stephen Hammond: The Secretary of State regularly meets with stakeholders from across the rail industry, including bidding and prospective bidding companies, and industry groups, where they have discussed the benefits of the privatised model of rail service provision, including for the Intercity East Coast franchise. The Department has also received applications to pre-qualify to tender for the franchise. This supports the view that franchising is a fundamentally sound approach for the provision of passenger rail services in Great Britain.
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Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what plans he has to consult the business community and other key stakeholders on tendering of the East Coast Mainline rail franchise; [182443]
(2) what plans he has to consult passengers and other key stakeholders on the tendering of the East Coast Mainline rail franchise; [182450]
(3) what plans he has to consult Scottish businesses and other key Scottish stakeholders on the Government's plans for the East Coast Mainline rail franchise. [182474]
Stephen Hammond: The Department has conducted a full public consultation on the provision of passenger services for the Intercity East Coast, and published a Consultation Summary Report for it when we published the OJEU notice and Prospectus on 25 October last year. This summary will be updated and published as a Stakeholder Briefing Document when the Invitation to Tender (ITT) is published in February.
The Department is also working with Passenger Focus to conduct a survey of passengers and potential users of the East Coast Main Line; seeking their views and comments. The results of this will be provided to bidders for the franchise to make sure that the passenger voice is heard in this important competition.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to take a decision on future franchise arrangements for the East Coast Mainline. [182444]
Stephen Hammond: The Franchising Programme published by the Secretary of State for Transport last March set out that the next East Coast Franchise will start in February 2015. A decision on an award of the franchise is expected to be made in October this year.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if maintenance of current staff levels on East Coast Mainline services will be part of any future franchising agreement. [182445]
Stephen Hammond: Future staffing will be a matter for the new franchise.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of refranchising the East Coast Mainline service has been to date. [182446]
Stephen Hammond: Since the Franchising Programme was restarted in spring 2013, spend to date on the InterCity East Coast Franchise project totals £2.84 million. This is in line with the expected costs of other franchising projects taking into account recommendations made in Richard Brown's Review into Rail Franchising. The actual spend will be published annually in our departmental accounts.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to establish current levels of satisfaction with East Coast Mainline services. [182447]
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Stephen Hammond: Passenger Focus consults more than 50,000 passengers a year to produce the National Passenger Survey (NPS) which provides a network-wide picture of passengers' satisfaction with rail travel.
Passenger opinions of train services are collected twice a year from a representative sample of journeys.
Passengers' overall satisfaction and satisfaction with 30 specific aspects of service can, therefore, be compared over time.
The results are published by Passenger Focus for each operator so direct comparison(s) can be made.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) officials, (b) staff of executive agencies and (c) consultants are working full or part-time in the Government's proposals to privatise East Coast Mainline services; and what the cost of their work is to date. [182449]
Stephen Hammond: The core InterCity East Coast franchising team consists of 15 officials, who are wholly dedicated to the project. They are supported on an ad hoc basis by relevant officials from across the Department who provide specialist advice. The Department has also contracted with financial, legal and technical advisers who provide specialist advice when required. Since the Franchising programme was restarted in spring 2013, spend to date on the InterCity East Coast Franchise project totals £2.84 million.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guarantees on passenger fares will be required from companies tendering for East Coast Mainline services. [182454]
Stephen Hammond: The new operator of the InterCity East Coast will be required to set fares in line with national fares policy.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of performance levels on east coast main line services by each of the two previous operators. [182475]
Stephen Hammond: The agreements between the Government and previous operators of the east coast main line included benchmarks in key areas. The Department monitored the previous franchise operators' overall performance against these areas every four weeks and there were clear actions set out in the agreements if such performance dropped below what was contracted. This regular monitoring included monthly meetings with the senior management of the previous operators where performance figures were scrutinised and challenged.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to seek public and passenger views on the Government's plans to privatise east coast main line services. [182476]
Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport has conducted a full consultation on the provision of passenger services on the InterCity East Coast and published a Consultation Summary Report for it when we published the OJEU notice and Prospectus on 25 October 2013.
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The Department has not consulted on the decision to conduct a competition to re-let the operation of passenger services to a private sector operator.
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of current performance levels on east coast main line services. [182477]
Stephen Hammond: The agreement between the Government and each individual train operator includes benchmarks in key areas. The Department monitors each train operator's overall performance against these areas every four weeks and there are clear actions set out in the agreement should performance drop below what is contracted. This regular monitoring includes monthly meetings with their senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. Where any non-compliance is discovered, Department officials will follow the steps set out in the enforcement policy, which is available online at:
http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/enforcement-policy-rail-franchise-agreements-and-closures/enforcementpolicy.pdf
High Speed 2 Railway Line
Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 123W, on High Speed 2, which individuals engaged by HS2 Ltd are still engaged via personal service companies. [182867]
Mr Goodwill: Pursuant to the answer provided on 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 123W, HS2 Ltd engage 36 people through Personal Service Companies.
Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what public relations, media or communications organisations, companies or individuals not directly employed by HS2 Ltd or his Department have been contracted to work on High Speed 2; and how much has been paid to them to date. [182869]
Mr Goodwill: The Department and HS2 Ltd have contracted the following external organisations and made the following payments for the provision of public relations, media or communications advice to HS2 since the company was set up through to December 2013.
| £ | |
Mrs Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to section 7.10 of the non-technical summary of the London-West Midlands Environmental Statement published in November 2013, how many people are available along the route who could take advantage of preferment for employment. [182963]
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Mr Goodwill: HS2 will provide employment opportunities for people with a wide range of skills and these would be openly available, including to those who live close to the proposed route. HS2 will not only help businesses expand, creating employment, it will also give young people opportunities to get new skills, get a job and a career.
Procurement
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance. [182644]
Stephen Hammond:
The Department for Transport's procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project. Public sector procurers are required to assess value for
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money from the perspective of the contracting authority, using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification. Such criteria cannot include supplier type or location.
Wider socio-economic criteria can be taken into account at tender evaluation stage if they relate directly to the subject matter of a contract from the point of view of the contracting authority.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years were carried out below EU thresholds. [182661]
Stephen Hammond: The Department does not hold the information by financial year for the entire DFT group. Where this information is not held by financial year, we have shown the total figures for the full five year period. The following table shows a breakdown of these figures, but excludes DSA (Driving Standards Agency) and VCA (Vehicle Certification Agency) as they do not record this data.
| Category | Financial year | Value of contracts procured (£) | Number of contracts let per financial year below EU thresholds |
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff. [182678]
Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport is committed to increasing its direct and indirect spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, we do not hold information on supplier staff numbers that would answer the question to the level of detail specified.
I am, however, also able to confirm that the Department's current proportion of procurement expenditure with SMEs is 18%.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years. [182695]
Stephen Hammond: The Department does not hold all the data requested, however the information that the Department does hold is presented in the following tables.
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| DFT (C) | |||||
| Restricted procedure | Open procedure | Framework agreements | Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire | Total value and number of contracts let | |
| Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency | |||||
| Restricted procedure | Open procedure | Framework agreements | Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire | Total value and number of contracts let | |
| Highways Agency | |||||
| Restricted procedure | Open procedure | Framework agreements | Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire | Total value and number of contracts let | |
| Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) | |||||
| Restricted procedure | Open procedure | Framework agreements | Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire | Total value and number of contracts let | |
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| Driving Standards Agency | |||||
| Restricted procedure | Open procedure | Framework agreements | Tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire | Total value and number of contracts let | |
| 1 Not available. | |||||
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much and what value of his Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools in each of the last three financial years. [182938]
Stephen Hammond: The following tables provide detail of the information, where held, by the Department in relation to the value and number of e-procurement exercises conducted over the last three financial years.
| Financial year 2010-11 | ||
| Number | Value (£) | |
| Financial Year 2011-12 | ||
| Number | Value (£) | |
| Financial Year 2012-13 | ||
| Number | Value (£) | |
Railway Signals
Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department made ahead of the rollout of European Rail Track Management System (ERTMS) signalling across the rail network; what assessment he has made of the cost of introducing ERTMS signalling; and what assessment he has made of the timescale for the rollout of ERTMS signalling. [182840]
Stephen Hammond: Network Rail is leading the industry deployment of ERTMS, and is being funded during the next Control Period (2014-19) to deliver a coordinated program of work. They have based the rollout of ERTMS on a positive business case, based upon the infrastructure cost efficiencies that ERTMS delivers.
The Department supports the industry-led program of work and recognises the benefits that ERTMS brings.
Railway Stations: Disability
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department has allocated to programmes to make stations more accessible for people with disabilities; and if he will publish details of each such spending commitment. [182714]
Stephen Hammond: The Access for All Main, Mid-Tier and Small Schemes programmes support access improvements at stations.
Since 2006, £388 million has been authorised for the Access for All Main programme to deliver an accessible route at more than 150 stations by 2015. Another £100 million has been allocated to extend this until 2019.
£37.5 million of Mid-Tier funding was allocated in 2011 to support a variety of access improvements under 42 projects covering around 160 stations. £7 million a year of Small Schemes funding is allocated to the train operating companies and since 2006 more than 1,100 stations have benefitted from this.
Access for All funding is in addition to access improvements delivered under other major projects or funded by the train operators. Details of Main and Mid-Tier projects are published online by Network Rail and the Small Schemes by the train operators.
Railways
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consultations his Department plans with the public and passengers on the overall quality of rail provision in the UK. [182448]
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Stephen Hammond: There are no current plans for consultation with the public and passengers on the overall quality of rail provision in the UK. The Department sponsors the independent body Passenger Focus to represent the views of passengers across the network. The Department for Transport intends to conduct public consultations in advance of the re-letting of each competed franchise.
Railways: Christmas
Mr Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to require in future franchise tendering processes that train companies provide services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. [182269]
Stephen Hammond: Although the Department for Transport does not specify that train operators should run trains on Christmas day, it has specified a limited number of services on Boxing day on some franchises. The UK rail industry has in recent years used the Christmas period to undertake major disruptive engineering work on the rail network. If a franchised train operator can agree access to the rail network, then there is no reason why they cannot operate train services on Christmas day or Boxing day.
Railways: Fares
John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of a single, standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to (a) London and (b) Manchester has been in each of the last five years. [183003]
Stephen Hammond: The costs of the single, standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to (a) London and (b) Manchester over the last five years are provided in the table. In addition, the fares for the five years before that are also shown. These fares are unregulated fares and train operators are permitted to set these on a commercial basis, taking account of competition from other transport modes and the need to attract business in order to grow their revenue.
| Barrow in Furness to London (£) | Percentage change from previous year | Barrow in Furness to Manchester (£) | Percentage change from previous year | |
The above table shows that the single standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to London increased by 29% in the four years from 2006 to 2010 compared to 23% in the four years from 2010 to 2014; and the single standard class open rail ticket from Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester increased by 26% in the four years from 2006 to 2010 compared to 23% in the four years from 2010 to 2014.
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Railways: Franchises
Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what public consultations on rail franchising agreements have been held in the last 10 years. [182473]
Stephen Hammond: In the last 10 years the practice of the relevant franchising authority has been to consult upon franchises that have been competitively let. In this Government, the Department has undertaken public consultations on those franchises it has sought to re-let, as follows:
An initial consultation was undertaken on the West Coast franchise between January and April 2011,
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise
and a subsequent consultation based on the draft ITT took place between May and August 2011
http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/intercity-west-coast-franchise/draft-invitation-to-tender-tender-invitation-document.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intercity-west-coast-draft-invitation-to-tender-itt-consultation
The Department issued OJEU notices and PQQ papers in respect of three competitions in December 2011 and then undertook public consultations before issuing the ITT in each case.
For Essex Thameside the consultation took place between February and May 2012, and the ITT was issued on 2 July 2012. The consultation can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/essex-thameside-franchise-consultation
For Great Western the consultation took place between December 2011 and March 2012 and the ITT was issued on 27 July 2012. The consultation is at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/great-western-franchise-replacement-consultation
For TSGN (which involved some franchise remapping to include certain south eastern services) consultations took place between May and September 2012 (existing TSGN services) and June to September 2012 (South Eastern services). The consultations are at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-combined-thameslink-southern-and-great-northern-franchise
(this also includes the Government response published on 26 September 2013) and
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/south-eastern-franchise-consultation
Separately, for Intercity East Coast the consultation took place between June and September 2012. A Consultation Summary Report was published on 25 October last year when the OJEU notice was published. This summary will be updated and published as a Stakeholder Briefing Document when the ITT is published in February. The consultation can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intercity-east-coast-franchise-consultation
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Railways: North West
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the potential consequences arising from the proposed electrification of the Wigan to Bolton line for the use of diesel trains and rolling stock on the Northern Franchise operations in the Merseyside and Lancashire area. [182592]
Stephen Hammond: The electrification of the Wigan-Bolton line will enable electric trains to replace diesel trains on local services between Wigan and Manchester. The positive business case for electrification has taken account of the savings arising from this replacement and the consequent speeding up of services.
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the effect on other connected lines would be of electrifying the Wigan to Bolton line. [182600]
Stephen Hammond: On 13 December 2013 the Government announced that the railway line between Wigan (North Western Station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction) will be electrified, at an estimated cost of £37 million.
Service patterns on other connected lines will be considered during the consultation for the next Northern and Trans Pennine franchises which will take place later this year.
John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans for the electrification of the Wigan to Bolton line are currently planned by his Department. [182713]
Stephen Hammond: The railway line between Wigan (North Western station) and Bolton (Lostock Junction) will be electrified, at an estimated cost of £37 million and targeted for completion by 2017.
Unmanned Air Vehicles
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant, to the answer of 18 December 2013, Official Report, column 633W, on unmanned air vehicles, whether material is collated by the Cross-Government Working Group on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems on use of such systems by state bodies or any state bodies in UK airspace. [182420]
Mr Goodwill: No material has been collated to date, but two Government Departments have given presentations to the Government Working Group on Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems on how they have made use of small remotely piloted aircraft systems to assist them with collecting data to support policy in their respective areas.
Education
Academies
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) schools and (b) academies have established sixth forms since 2010; and what the cost to the public purse has been of establishing those sixth forms. [182533]
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Mr Timpson: There have been 56 school sixth forms and 82 new academy sixth forms set up since September 2011. The Department for Education does not have records prior to 2011. The numbers of new sixth forms are as follows:
| Year and type | Number |
The cost of establishing a new sixth form is not identifiable as a single value. The Department is not able to report on the capital costs of establishing all new sixth forms since 2010, as these have been handled by a range of different bodies and capital programmes have not separated sixth form costs where, for example, a school was being rebuilt. The Department does not collect information on capital funds spent by local authorities or by academies on new sixth forms.
Children in Care: Employment
Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the outcomes are of the from Care2Work programme to date; how the outcomes are measured; how many people that programme has supported; and how many such people are in work since receiving help. [182983]
Mr Timpson: The Government fund the voluntary sector organisation Catch22 to run the From Care2Work programme. The programme improves the employability opportunities for care leavers by providing advice, guidance and training to local authorities on how to support care leavers’ access work opportunities and working directly with national employers. Since 2009 the programme has worked with 150 local authorities and engaged with 119 employers.
Over this period 14,000 young people have benefited from opportunities created as a result of From Care2Work support to local authorities. Monitoring reports from local authorities and information collected directly by the programme indicate that 2,500 young people have gained employment as a result of this programme.
Catch22 collects data on activities by local authorities, outcomes of employability opportunities created and feedback from young people and staff engaged on the programme. These are published in annual reports; further information and impact assessments of the programme can be found online1.
1 http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/607cec4aaf32ce77bd2d 7fed7b66ae5d.pdf
http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/048c472b88c9a3f6c906a 46fb8b0e9ff.pdf
http://resources.leavingcare.org/uploads/56c5508880e967150cd 45f95376583d4.pdf
http://www.catch-22.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Impact-report-2012-2013.pdf
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Further Education: Finance
Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish an impact assessment in respect of his Department's decision to cut funding for 18-year-olds. [182928]
Matthew Hancock: We published an impact assessment on 13 January, which can be found here:
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/i/impact%20assessment.pdf
Kings Science Academy
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent progress has been made by Kings Science Academy in the implementation of its improvement plan. [182850]
Mr Timpson: The improvement plan was agreed with Kings Science Academy in April 2013. A detailed follow- up review in July 2013 demonstrated that significant progress had been made. Progress continues to be made; the remaining outstanding issues are expected to be completed by the end of January 2014.
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) whether Alan Lewis had any responsibility for finance and governance at the Kings Science Academy in Bradford; [182871]
(2) what discussions his Department has had with Alan Lewis about financial management at the Kings Science Academy in Bradford. [182872]
Mr Timpson: The ongoing police investigation means that it would not be appropriate to release details of any departmental discussions at this time.
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the valuation of the site of Kings Science Academy, Bradford included the value of the buildings on the site. [182873]
Michael Gove: The Department for Education commissioned an independent valuation of the site on behalf of Kings Science Academy. This included an assessment of the market rent of the leasehold interest of the site, the state of repair and condition of the property. It also gave the rent paid by the then tenants on the site.
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the provision has been to recover the capital investment made by his Department and the Education Funding Agency in the new premises at Kings Science Academy, Bradford at the end of the lease period. [182874]
Mr Timpson:
The site of Kings Science Academy is secured on a 20-year lease due to expire in 2032. The Department's capital investment in that site is protected for the duration of the lease through provisions in the Secretary of State for Education's funding agreement with Kings Science Academy. These prevent the disposal of assets without the Secretary of State for Education's approval and allow the Secretary of State for Education
16 Jan 2014 : Column 658W
to take ownership of the site in the event that the funding agreement is terminated. Under the terms of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Kings Science Academy has a statutory right to renew the lease at the end of the 20-year term. This ensures that the capital investment in the site can continue to benefit the local community for the lifespan of the building.
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether Alan Lewis was present at any discussions of the site of Kings Science Academy, Bradford at meetings of the school's trustees. [182875]
Michael Gove: Meetings of academy trustees are the business of the academy. Given the school's proposed catchment area, following a comprehensive search by its agents, the Education Funding Agency confirmed this site as the most suitable in terms of size, location and suitability.
Procurement
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what weighting his Department's procurement procedures give to (a) the location of a company and its workforce, (b) the extent to which a company has a strong environmental record, (c) whether the company is a social enterprise and (d) other company history prior performance. [182636]
Elizabeth Truss: The weightings the Department for Education applies to evaluation criteria will depend on the relative importance of the information and will vary from one procurement to another. The Department's ability to take into account criteria, such as those listed in your question, is limited by the procurement regulation and Government procurement policy.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and of what value of contracts procured by his Department in the last five years was carried out below EU thresholds. [182653]
Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of his Department's contracts have been let to companies with (a) one to five, (b) six to 49, (c) 50 to 250 and (d) more than 250 staff. [182670]
Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education is committed to increasing its direct and indirect spend with small to medium enterprises, but information is not available at the level of detail requested.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion and value of his Department's contracts have been let (a) under the restricted procedure, (b) by the open procedure, (c) via framework agreements and (d) via a tendering process involving the use of a pre-qualification questionnaire in each of the last three years. [182687]
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Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for each of the last three financial years how much and what proportion of the Department's procurement was conducted using e-procurement tools; and what the value of such contracts was. [182976]
Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Pupils: Bullying
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the change in levels of racist bullying in schools was between 2012 and 2013. [182511]
Elizabeth Truss: The Government have made tackling all forms of bullying, including racist bullying, a top priority. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Schools have the freedom to tailor their anti-bullying policies to address local issues, such as racism, which may vary geographically. Under the current Ofsted framework school inspectors consider how well schools prevent bullying, harassment and discrimination. Inspectors consider how well teachers manage the behaviour of pupils to ensure that all pupils have an equal and fair chance to thrive and learn in an atmosphere of respect and dignity.
In the Education Act 2011 we strengthened teachers' powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour, including bullying. They can now issue same day detentions, confiscate banned items and search for, and if necessary delete, inappropriate images on mobile phones.
We are also providing £4 million of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four organisations: Beatbullying, The Diana Award, Kidscape and the NCB to develop effective initiatives to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying, including racist bullying. These organisations have in place separate evaluations, which will report on the effectiveness of their initiatives.
Schools: Finance
Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when schools will receive the new funding for children adopted from care and those under a special guardianship order announced by his Department on 1 October 2013. [182782]
Mr Timpson: Pupils adopted from care on or after 30 December 2005 (under the Adoption and Children Act 2002), or who left care under a Residence Order or a Special Guardianship Order (under the Children Act 1989) will attract pupil premium funding for their schools for financial year 2014-15. The pupil premium for 2014-15 will be paid in quarterly instalments in July 2014, October 2014, January 2015 and April 2015.
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Cabinet Office
Average Earnings: Ashfield
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what change there has been in median gross weekly pay for (a) men and (b) women in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2010. [182899]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what change there has been in median gross weekly pay for (a) men and (b) women in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2010. (182899).
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. Figures relate to employee jobs, which are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed.
I attach a table showing estimates of median gross weekly earnings, and the corresponding annual percentage changes, for male and female employees in Ashfield constituency from 2010 to 2013, the latest period for which results are available.
| Median gross weekly earnings for employees1 in Ashfield constituency, 2010 to 2013 | ||||
| £ | ||||
| Male employees | Previous year (%) | Female employees | Previous year (%) | |
| 1 Employee jobs are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Figures relate to employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay period was not affected by absence. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. 2 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2000. 3 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2010. 4 Estimates for years prior to 2011 are based on SOC 2000 and estimates for years after 2011 are based on SOC 2010. Figures are only considered to be directly comparable if they are based on the same SOC. Guide to quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: ** CV > 10% and <=20%. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics. | ||||
Cancer: Females
Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women have been diagnosed with (a) breast and (b) lung cancer in each of the last three years. [183088]
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Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated January 2014:
On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question, how many women have been diagnosed with (a) breast and (b) lung cancer in each of the last three years? [183088]
Table 1 provides the number of newly diagnosed cases of breast and lung cancer for females in England for each year from 2009 to 2011 (the latest year available).
The latest published figures on cancer incidence in England are available on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-302299
The Office for National Statistics produces statistics on cancer in England. The Scottish Cancer Registry produces statistics on cancer in Scotland. Statistics on cancer in Wales are produced by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit. The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry produces statistics on cancer in Northern Ireland.
| Table 1: Number of newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer1 and lung cancer2, females, England, 2009 to 20113 | |||
| Year | |||
| Site Description | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| 1 Breast cancer is coded as C50 in the International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 2 Lung cancer is coded as C33-34 in the International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 3 Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. 4 Excludes non residents. Source: Office for National Statistics | |||
Jobseekers Allowance: West Midlands
Mr Godsiff: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many jobseeker's allowance claimants there were at each jobcentre in Birmingham and Solihull in each month between October 2012 and June 2013. [182823]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated January 2014:
On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many Jobseeker's Allowance claimants there were at each jobcentre in Birmingham and Solihull in each month between October 2012 and June 2013 inclusive. (182823)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles data on the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentreplus Administrative System.
Table 1 shows the number of people who were claiming JSA from October 2012 to June 2013 inclusive for the requested geographies.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
A copy of the table will be placed in the Library of the House.
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Plymouth Brethren
Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the decision to give the Plymouth Brethren charity status will be made. [183155]
Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
Letter from Sam Younger, dated 15 January 2014:
I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking when the decision to give the Plymouth Brethren charity status will be made.
The Charity Commission announced on 9 January that we will accept an application for registration from the Preston Down Trust, a Plymouth Brethren Christian Church meeting hall, based on a revised governing document. The Trust has agreed to re-submit an application for registration and to amend its trusts by entering into a Deed of Variation, which sets out in a manner binding on the trustees the church's core religious doctrines and practices.
In our decision the Commission said we are satisfied that under the new governing document the organisation is charitable and that the Commission will be able to regulate the charity against the new trusts.
This application was made as a precursor to similar applications to be made in due course by the trustees of other meetings halls held for the purposes of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and, as such, was seen as a test case for other Plymouth Brethren meeting halls.
The full decision is available on the Commission's website and, recognising the considerable Parliamentary interest in this registration case, I have placed a copy in the House of Commons library.