Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Answered by Simon Kirby
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose. More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of his Department.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The cleaning service at HM Treasury is provided through a service contract, let by the landlord for 1 Horse Guards Road (Exchequer Partnership). HM Treasury does not directly employ cleaners.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to increase the compensation available to Equitable Life pensioners.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
There are no plans to review the payments made by the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. The Scheme closed to new claims on 31st December 2015. However, the annual payments to With-Profits annuitants will continue unaffected for the duration of their annuity.
Asked by: John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015, whether the £30 million allocated to the City regions take the form of a cash grant from HM Treasury.
Answered by Greg Hands
Investment fund allocations agreed as part of devolution deals will be paid out annually by the Department for Communities and Local Government as a cash grant, via Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003.