Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government takes to ensure that all companies which receive support from her Department are committed to responsible tax behaviour.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
All organisations that DFID contracts with are subject to the standard DFID Terms and Conditions. These are clear on the organisations responsibility for establishing specific country tax obligations and payment requirements. Supplier compliance expectation is reinforced through DFID’s Statement of Priorities and Expectations (SOPE) which specifies the Department’s position regarding tax avoidance.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of her Department resigned in each of the last six years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
1144 employees have left DFID. Resignations for each of the last 6 years have been set out in the table below:
| FY 2010/11 | FY 2011/12 | FY 2012/13 | FY 2013/14 | FY 2014/15 | FY 2015/16 | |
| Resignation | 66 | 56 | 64 | 65 | 65 | 73 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of officials of her Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The table below provides the overall sick leave taken by DFID staff, and the proportion of sick leave for reasons related to stress in each of the past three years. Information on 2011/12 and 2012/13 could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Period | Stress Related Absence (Days ) | Total Sick Leave (Days) | Percentage Stress Related Absence against Total Sick Leave | No of Staff who took Stress Related Absence | No of Staff who took Sick Leave | Percentage staff who took Stress Related Absence against total staff who recorded a sick absence |
March 2015 - February 2016 | 1485 | 9087 | 16.3% | 63 | 1294 | 4.9% |
April 2014 - March 2015 | 1642 | 8889 | 18.5% | 58 | 1367 | 4.2% |
April 2013 - March 2014 | 1137 | 8427 | 13.5% | 39 | 1180 | 3.3% |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many civil law suits have been brought against her Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
None.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars her Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
All such materials can be found on the GOV.UK website, in line with our commitment to transparency which saw us ranked second globally in the 2014 Aid Transparency Index.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Overtime is only payable to staff below the Senior Civil Service and is used as a last resort to help deal with exceptional or seasonal pressures of work. The values for overtime paid in each of the last 24 months are recorded below.
Month | Overtime Paid |
Mar-14 | £ 47,739 |
Apr-14 | £ 51,400 |
May-14 | £ 22,598 |
Jun-14 | £ 33,375 |
Jul-14 | £ 29,992 |
Aug-14 | £ 54,954 |
Sep-14 | £ 26,462 |
Oct-14 | £ 52,607 |
Nov-14 | £ 41,797 |
Dec-14 | £ 46,161 |
Jan-15 | £ 34,508 |
Feb-15 | £ 35,047 |
Mar-15 | £ 49,281 |
Apr-15 | £ 25,623 |
May-15 | £ 29,731 |
Jun-15 | £ 38,273 |
Jul-15 | £ 38,207 |
Aug-15 | £ 28,062 |
Sep-15 | £ 19,252 |
Oct-15 | £ 33,338 |
Nov-15 | £ 27,689 |
Dec-15 | £ 37,385 |
Jan-16 | £ 13,732 |
Feb-16 | £ 33,638 |
Total | £ 850,851 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many consultants' contracts were terminated early in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what the cost of each such termination was in each of those years.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID does not hold specific information relating to termination of consultants’ contracts.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
In the last 12 month period DFID has spent £84.30 on Industrial Tribunals.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on how many occasions a special adviser in her Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Special advisers have accompanied a DFID Minister on an overseas visit 9 times since May 2015.