Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that contract staff in all government departments receive the Living Wage at the appropriate rate.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Every employer in the country will pay the National Living Wage, including all Government contractors, from April 2016.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of how many people were on zero-hours contracts in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many vacant houses and flats are owned by government departments or agencies; and what plans they have either to bring them into use or to redevelop their sites.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The Government Property Unit in the Cabinet Office is working with departments to reduce vacant space across the estate.
Since May 2010, we have reduced our Estate by 2 million square metres, saving over £625 million in running costs and generating £1.4 billion in capital receipts. On 31st March 2014 only 2.4% (204,327 sq m) of space was vacant across the mandated Civil Estate, well below the reported national average of 8.8%.
Information on the number of vacant houses and flats owned by departments or their agencies is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when and how they plan to reply to the 19 May letter to the Prime Minister from Taxpayers Against Poverty.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
As far as I am aware, the Prime Minister's Office has not received this letter.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish Sir John Jenkins’ report on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
Work is under way across Government to consider the findings of the Muslim Brotherhood review. We will make the main findings of the review public in due course.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to help the Beachy Head Chaplaincy team to continue its work in preventing suicides on the cliffs; and in particular whether they will assist it to receive lottery, European Union and voluntary grants.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
We are keen to recognise the valuable role played by organisations such as the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team (BHCT). The charity was recently awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Government has been working with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Big Lottery Fund to enable more local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to access the new round of European Structural and Investment Funds. Funding decisions will be a matter for Big Lottery Fund.
BCHT may wish to consider applying for Big Lottery Fund programmes, such as the ‘Reaching Communities’ programme in England, which provides funding for projects that help people and communities most in need.
Cabinet Office officials are currently consulting on a proposed £40m fund for 2015/16 to help charities and social enterprises become more sustainable.