Lord Field of Birkenhead

The Pass Office recently introduced a Netcall telephone management system in order to monitor calls. In general, this shows that the Pass Office is receiving an increased volume of calls. This reflects a 17% increase in the number of pass applications, from 10,849 in 2017 to 12,940 in 2018. In particular, the Pass Office experienced a large increase in calls following the Christmas break. This coincided with a period when the Pass Office was suffering from staff shortages. While this is now being addressed, it has meant that the office currently has fewer people dedicated to responding to calls, as the back-office team also perform duties such as processing security clearance applications.

The Pass Office is keen to ensure good customer service. As calls to the Pass Office are often to check on the status of applications, callers are being advised to email the Pass Office with the relevant information. This is so that Pass Office staff can then respond more effectively and swiftly to these enquiries. The Pass Office encourages e-mail enquiries as the best way customers can get a quick update on the status of an application.

In 2005 and 2006 following careful consideration the Church Commissioners took the decision to sell what were known as the Octavia Hill Estates, comprising approximately 1,580 flats and houses within the Greater London area.

The sales, to a joint venture between Grainger plc and Genesis Housing Group, were subject to the residents’ leases, and the rights and obligations contained in these remained. A commitment was made to engage with residents’ associations and to keep in touch with tenants as the sales progressed to keep them fully informed. Some tenants had the right to purchase their properties and this was communicated to the qualifying tenants.

In 1985 the Church Commissioners took the decision to sell their residential property holdings in Brixton to a housing association. According to the records of the Commissioners covenants were not placed on these properties and to the best of knowledge these properties are still owned by a housing association.

The Church Commissioners are not and have never been a social housing provider and have a statutory duty to deliver the best possible return on their investments to fund the work and mission of the Church of England across the country. The Church Commissioners continue to provide new housing across the country where they have land holdings and affordable housing is a key part of that provision.

In 2016 the Church Commissioners established an engagement team in conjunction with the Church of England Pensions Board, reflecting the importance of engagement in the application of our ethical investment policies. The engagement team has responsibility for voting our shareholdings in publicly listed companies, preparing ethical exclusion lists, and engaging companies in which we are shareholders on issues related to our ethical policies. During 2017 they undertook 112 engagements on behalf of the Church Commissioners, which ranged from letter-based contact to regular meetings with Chairs or Board members. The most significant proportion of face-to-face meetings remained with companies in the extractive industries. A list of company AGMs attended by the Church Commissioners’ Engagement Team in 2016, 2017 and 2018 (to date) is below.

In the last Parliament, committees in both Houses agreed a Memorandum of Understanding between Parliament and Post Office Counters Ltd (POCL) to formalise the arrangement under which POCL provide counter services to Parliament. Due to the importance of counter services on the parliamentary estate to Members of both Houses, this agreement provides assurance that the service would not be withdrawn or changed without consultation with and notice to Members.

In response to a Post Office Counters Ltd (POCL) request under its Memorandum of Understanding with both Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons Administration Committee agreed a change to the opening hours of the Post Office counter located in Members Lobby. This change altered the closing time of the counter on Sitting Days from 2200 to 1900.

Because of the timing of the 2017 General Election and the delay in setting up Domestic Committees, the Administration Committee was notified of the change some considerable time after POCL gave notice that it would need to reduce the opening hours for staffing reasons.

The decision was made at the Committee’s meeting on 11 December 2017, and implemented from 8 January 2018. Whilst there was no House-wide consultation with hon. Members, the Committee based its decision around data on usage of the counter facility, ensuring value for money whilst avoiding unnecessary duplication of services.

The consultation period concerning the draft Pastoral (Church Buildings Disposal) Scheme for the demolition of St Elisabeth’s Church at Eastbourne ran from the 17^th November until the 8^th of January. The publication of the consultation followed a period of extensive liaison by the Church Commissioners with various interested parties in the future of the closed church. The building has been closed for regular public worship since 2002.

With regard to the future of the murals by Hans Feibusch, the draft Scheme provides for further time (until 1 September 2018) for potential recipients of the murals to produce a viable proposal for their relocation. This period had already been extended and the Church Commissioners remain open to discussions with any interested party in resolving their future.

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has overall responsibility for the Civil Partnership Act 2004, the Equality Act 2006, the Equality Act 2010 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) 2013.

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.

The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Department for Exiting the European Union are working closely with departments across Government, including GEO, to ensure we make the changes required to deliver a functioning statute book on exit in the most efficient manner possible.

No members of staff experienced a reduction in their contractual working hours as a result of Dissolution or a decrease in their contractual earnings.

Staff employed in areas where there was a reduction in work as a result of Dissolution would have had limited opportunity to work non-contractual additional hours or overtime, unless they were helping out areas that were busier because of the Dissolution, such as Digital Services or the New Members Reception Area. Staff continue to receive their contractual monthly salary during periods of lower operational demand. Some staff will have taken annual leave or used up banked hours of Time off in Lieu (TOIL).

Fluctuations in working hours are managed locally; mainly through flexitime or rostering arrangements. This information is not held centrally.

The House of Commons Commission does not hold this information about staff employed by its contractors. The House is committed to offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all its directly employed staff. The House of Commons Commission does not hold such information relating to contractors used by the House of Lords.

The Trainline ticket machine situated in the Parliamentary Travel Office has been unable to print tickets on six separate days since September 2014, the latest period being 17–19 October 2016. The machine is owned by Trainline but it is CTM’s responsibility to ensure that they report any faults so that they can be fixed quickly and efficiently.

The ticket machine situated in the Members’ Centre in Portcullis House is maintained by IPSA and therefore the Commission does not hold records on the operation of that machine. However, officials are aware that the machine has been out of service since the beginning of September 2016.

Prior to 1 April 2016 the House paid for all Metropolitan Police Staff (MPS) required by business to stay until 11pm or later. This included police officers, armed police and civilian security officers. Data is not held according to job role and, therefore, it is not possible to provide the data in the format requested.

Following a change that the MPS put in place to the police officer rosters as well as the new police contract which came into effect on 1 April 2016, police officers, including armed officers, no longer use late night transport paid for by the two Houses.

Age is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Where differential treatment because of age cannot be objectively justified, this will constitute unlawful age discrimination both in employment and in the provision of goods and services. Enforcement of the Act’s employment provisions is undertaken by Employment Tribunals, to which a person must make a claim if they feel that they have been discriminated against because of age.

Prior to an Employment Tribunal claim, conciliation services are provided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (Acas). According to the Employment tribunal statistics, 1,087 age discrimination claims were made to Employment Tribunals in 2014/15. 70% (761) of these claims were either withdrawn or successfully conciliated by Acas without the need for a full hearing. The Acas process is intended to enable employers and employees to resolve disputes without the need for a full Employment Tribunal hearing.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2006 apply to age discrimination as they do to other protected characteristics.

A formal claim for compensation was submitted in April 2014 and was settled in the autumn of 2015. The settlement followed a thorough pre-litigation process during which investigations took place.

Following the settlement of the claim the Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Revd Martin Warner issued a formal apology. The statement can be read on the Church of England’s website at the following address: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2015/10/statement-on-the-rt-revd-george-bell-%281883-1958%29.aspx

The statement from Bishop Warner went on to say that “the response from the Diocese of Chichester in 1995, when the survivor first came forward, fell a long way short, not just of what is expected now, but of what we now appreciate you should have had a right to expect then."

The language of “guilt” and “charge sheets” refers to criminal cases. The claim against Bishop Bell was a civil claim. The civil courts do not use charge sheets and as a result there has not been a charge sheet for the Estates Commissioners to see then or now.

In 2013 and 2015 three staff members viewed various sections of the bishop's personal papers held at Lambeth Palace Library on two separate occasions.

I refer the right hon. Member to the oral statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) on 16 December 2015, Official Report, column 1566.

My Right Hon member, DECC Ministers and officials meet with energy companies on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues.

The Government shares the CMA’s concerns that there is a lack of competitive tariffs for pre-payment customers, despite the recent increase in competition from independent suppliers.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the market works effectively for all consumers, including through implementing the final recommendations of the CMA following their investigation.

In the meantime, we will continue our focus on keeping bills down through promoting competition, making switching quicker and easier and providing direct help to the most vulnerable.

The Government acknowledges that some people are unhappy with the system of retentions as it stands, but it is an embedded feature of the construction industry. Therefore, our general approach is to work with the industry through the Construction Leadership Council and its supply chain payment charter; endorsing its commitment to zero retentions by 2025.

That will involve quite far-reaching changes to the way the sector works. With regard to shorter-term measure to require retentions to be held in trust, we must act on the basis of evidence. That is why the Government is commissioning an analysis of the cost and benefit of retention payments to inform future action.

598,612 Green Deal Assessments had been lodged by the end of August 2015.

This has played a part in the installation of around 1.6 million energy efficiency measures in around 1.3 million properties.

The Department’s Green Deal Customer Journey Survey, published in March 2015, showed that 80% of householders did not pay to have a Green Deal Assessment, and that of those people who did pay in full or in part for their assessment, half paid £150 or less.1,2 Consumers have obtained Green Deal assessments for a number of reasons, these include: saving money on their energy bills; the prospect of a warmer home; the offer of free assessments; having improvements done for free or at a reduced price; and concerns over rising energy bills. Assessments have allowed householders to access a number of different Government schemes or fund work themselves. The Government does not offer reimbursements for assessments which are payments to companies or private individuals.

[1] Page 10 of report at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414170/green_deal_customer_journey_survey_report.pdf

2 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414176/green_deal_customer_journey_topline_data.xlsx (Table D7)

Since October 2014 there has been one fire alarm in Portcullis House caused by a fire. There have been six false alarms: two of which were manual call point actuations and four caused by equipment defects or the inadvertent interruption of detector beams.

The financial health of further education colleges is under constant review by the Skills Funding Agency based on self-assessment information from colleges and the publication of college accounts. Colleges with inadequate financial health are subject to intervention led by the FE Commissioner.

Across all our grant, loan and capital support for adult FE, we are making available over £3bn in 2015-16 and our funding mechanism is designed to allow providers the freedoms and flexibilities to decide how best to use their allocation to respond to local learner and employer demand. As autonomous organisations it is up to colleges to manage their own budgets.

Apprenticeships are our priority for skills and colleges have been encouraged to expand their apprenticeship offer. As government funding has reduced, many colleges have responded well by looking at generating other income streams and creating sustainable business models for the future. This entrepreneurial approach will help ensure sustainable future business models with less reliance on government funding.

In order to address the significant financial pressures on institutions, a declining 16-19 population and the need to maintain very tight fiscal discipline in order to tackle the deficit, a major reform of post-16 education and training institutions is necessary. On 20 July the Departments for Education and Business, Innovation and Skills announced a programme of area-based reviews to review 16+ provision in every area. These reviews will provide an opportunity for institutions and localities to restructure their provision to ensure it is tailored to the changing context and designed to achieve maximum impact.

Further education colleges report on an academic year basis. The 2014/15 academic year ends in August 2015 so the information requested will not be available until January 2016.

In 2013/14 110 out of 244 colleges, representing 45% of colleges, reported an operating deficit.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) continues to play a critical role in providing recommendations for the National Minimum Wage rates, and now has new responsibilities to help deliver the Governments’ ambition for the National Living Wage (NLW).

The Government will continue to set the remit for the LPC on the existing legal base.

In November 2014 DECC published estimates of the impact of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills[1]. The report included an estimate of the impact of the package of measures for household energy bills announced at the 2013 Autumn Statement.

The report set out that the total reduction in individual household energy bills will depend on the energy supplier but estimated that, on average, this package was worth around £50 (including VAT) per household in 2014, broken down as follows:

· A Government Electricity Rebate of £12 on household electricity bills in 2014/15 and 2015/16 delivered by energy suppliers.

· A reduction in the cost of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). While costs will vary across companies, the major energy suppliers announced that the changes will result in an average £30-£35 off bills in 2014.

· Voluntary action by electricity distribution network operators (DNOs) to reduce network costs in 2014/15, leading to a further one-off deferral of around £5 on electricity bills on average.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

We can confirm that all contractors and their sub-contractors providing services to the House have agreed to pay the living wage or London living wage to those of their staff working on contracts for the House. Payment of the living wage or London living wage is included within our Standard Terms and Conditions of Contract.

The conduct of the "Maxwellisation" process is a matter for the independent Chilcot Inquiry.

There are no direct employees or agency staff in the core Department paid less than the living wage.

We do not centrally hold details of the pay levels of staff working for outsourced companies contracted by the core Department.

I have asked Chief Executives of the executive agencies to respond directly to the right Hon. Member.

The Department has no staff who are paid less than the London or National Living Wage.

DECC has received assurances from its key suppliers that they have no workers currently in post earning less than the London or National Living Wage guidelines.

DECC is also signed into a larger Shared Services contract through the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to provide Facilities Management (FM) and Catering services. There are 21 staff working for the FM contractor & 6 working for the catering contractor who receive less than the London Living Wage and are based primarily in DECC buildings. DECC is also signed into a larger Shared Services contract through the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to provide Facilities Management (FM) and Catering services. There are 21 staff working for the FM contractor & 6 working for the catering contractor who receive less than the London Living Wage and are based primarily in DECC buildings.

The Competition and Markets Authority are currently undertaking a review of competition in the energy market and are due to publish Provisional Findings and Possible Remedies (if required) shortly. The CMA has the necessary expertise to determine what problems exist in the energy market and identify appropriate solutions. This Government has committed to implement all relevant recommendations of the CMA.

Information was received in July 2014 from the liquidators of two companies involved in administering the cashback warranty scheme formerly sold by Scottish Power. This information has been reviewed by the Insolvency Service to determine whether or not any further investigation is warranted using powers available in the Companies Act.

The liquidation of the companies involved in the scheme is still under way, and the creditors of those companies will receive reports from the liquidators if they are to be paid further dividends.

Investigations conducted under section 447 Companies Act 1985 are confidential; therefore it is not our practice to announce whether or not such an investigation is taking place, or to report on the investigation outside of strict statutory gateways.

As I indicated in my answer, the House does not routinely collect this information from contractors operating on the parliamentary estate and has no plans to do so. The House is committed to offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all directly-employed staff on call-off (zero hours) contracts and has completed a process of offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all affected staff.

The House does not routinely collect this information from contractors operating on the parliamentary estate and has no plans to do so. The House is committed to offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all directly-employed staff on call-off (zero hours) contracts and has completed a process of offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all affected staff.

Data on methods of payment for domestic energy consumers are published in Quarterly Energy Prices, tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2.

This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-price-stastics.

Companies developing shale will speak with local communities, residents and other stakeholders at each of the three stages of operations – exploration, appraisal and production. This is as well as consultation through the planning application.

The planning process takes into account local considerations, there are multiple opportunities for the public to be consulted and permission can attach conditions for operators.

Communities that host shale development should share in the benefits. A community benefits package means that £100,000 is paid to local communities on exploration and a minimum of 1% of revenues from production.

Our new fuel poverty target will focus on improving the energy efficiency of all fuel poor households, including children in poor households. We will be starting with the most inefficient and coldest homes first.

We have a strong package of policies already delivering assistance and making steps to help those in need. Under our current plans from April 2018, domestic and non-domestic privately rented property will need to meet a minimum standard, which we have proposed to be an E EPC rating.

Meanwhile, we continue to provide help to the most vulnerable by supporting over 2 million households a year with the Warm Home Discount as well as providing Winter Fuel Payments of up to £300.

We also have in place the Big Energy Saving Network which is providing outreach to consumers, helping them understand tariffs and switching options as well as how they could benefit from energy efficiency programmes available to them.

Our Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funds efficient boilers and insulation measures to low income and vulnerable households is now guaranteed until at least 2017. This has contributed to Government’s target of improving the energy efficiency of 1million homes from January 2013 to March 2015.

We have already made significant progress towards achieving this with around 797,000 homes improved through a combination of ECO, Green Deal Cashback, Green Deal finance and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund to the end of August 2014.

I can confirm that from April 2014 there were no Civil Servants or contractors employed on DECC premises who were paid less the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation in either London or Scotland.

DECC has no executive agencies.

I have approached the Chief Executives of the Department’s Executive Agencies (Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Measurement Office, Intellectual Property Office, UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey, Met Office, Land Registry and the Skills Funding Agency) and they will respond to the Rt Hon. Member directly.

We fully support those that choose to pay above the NMW when it is affordable to do so and not at the expense of jobs. In terms of affordability in the public sector, there are important considerations about the impact on public service delivery, which is why it’s important that decisions on pay are made by individual departments.

On the basis of fairness and affordability the Secretary of State instructed the department to give the lowest paid contracted staff (including cleaners) an above inflation pay rise. From 1 April, the lowest paid contracted staff at BIS offices across the UK will be paid £7.85 per hour, up £1.40 or nearly 22% from the previous £6.45 per hour rate. This increase has restored and surpassed the real value of wages that had fallen in recent years. This also means that BIS contractors will be amongst the top 25% (upper quartile) of contractors across Whitehall and will benefit 252 employees across 81 sites in the UK.

The House of Commons is an accredited London Living Wage Employer. In order to obtain our licence the House had to satisfy the Living Wage Foundation that no directly employed or contracted workers engaged to work on the Parliamentary estate are paid less than the London Living Wage (LLW). The House of Commons has gone further than its obligations under this licence by adopting a policy of assuring that all contractors supplying a service to the House, regardless of whether they work on the Estate, are paid at least a living wage.

The House is committed to offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all directly-employed staff on call-off (zero hours) contracts and has recently completed a process of offering guaranteed minimum hours contracts to all affected staff. The only call-off contracts that remain relate to two employees who have yet to accept or who preferred not to accept our offer.

We do not have information on whether or how many contracted workers are employed on zero hours contracts.

The most recent assessment of the effect of climate change on global sea level rise comes from the Working Group I contribution to the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report, which states that over the period 1901 to 2010 global mean sea level rose by 0.19 [0.17 to 0.21] metres, that since the mid-19th century the rate of sea level rise has been larger than the mean rate over the previous two millennia and that it is very likely that there has been a substantial contribution to the global mean sea level rise since the 1970s from the effects of human activity.

The Government believes that the consumer is best served by the operation of open competition between companies, and does not generally intervene to regulate what businesses may or may not charge consumers for goods or services. Pricing policies such as these are commercial decisions for the trader, and are best left to the market. However, if there's evidence of collusion that is harming consumers, this should be provided to the Competition and Markets Authority, as the UK's independent competition authority, who will consider it for investigation in line with their prioritisation principles.

Disabled students will continue to receive support through a combination of disabled students' allowances (DSAs) and reasonable adjustments made by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Each student's needs are unique. Some will receive more support through reasonable adjustments than previously experienced. Written guidance will be available.

It is not possible to make an accurate estimate of how many prospective students will no longer be eligible for DSAs as many students receive more than one type of support.

Current DSA recipients and disabled students applying for DSAs in 2014/15 will not be affected by these changes in 2015/16.

The Government's proposals introduced to the House of Commons on 10 July 2012 included plans to end hereditary peerages altogether.The Government has no further specific plans to legislate in this area. Currently anyone in this position has every right to disclaim the title should they so wish.

Eighteen people have disclaimed their titles since the passage of the 1963 Peerage Act, the first being the late Tony Benn. Of those disclaimed peerages, seven have subsequently been claimed by the entitled heir.

There have been three fire alarms resulting in evacuations from Portcullis House in the last 12 months. One of these alarms, on 24^th March 2014, led to the attendance of the London Fire Brigade. On this occasion the alarm was triggered by a heat detector following the overheating of a grill in the Lower Ground Kitchens as well as the triggering of a manual call point. No fire was discovered.