Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2019 to Question 234661 on the draft Public Services Ombudsman Bill, what criteria the Government plans to use to determine whether the Housing Ombudsman Service will be brought within the scope of the Public Service Ombudsman.
Answered by David Lidington
The Government has not yet established the criteria that would be used to make such a
determination. Any decision to introduce the necessary secondary legislation would need to take into
account feedback received during pre-legislative scrutiny and the passage of the Bill. In addition the
Government published its response to Strengthening Consumer Redress in the Housing Market
consultation on 24 January 2019 which set out proposals to establish a new Housing Complaints
Resolution Service to provide a single point of access to redress across all housing tenures.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government has made on its plans to introduce a Public Service Ombudsman; and whether the Independent Housing Ombudsman will be included within it.
Answered by David Lidington
The government published the draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill in December 2016, setting out in detail its plans to introduce a new Public Service Ombudsman. The draft Bill will be progressed as and when a legislative opportunity arises.
The Housing Ombudsman Service is not included in the draft Bill, but the Bill as drafted would give Ministers the power to include that organisation at a later date, through secondary legislation. No decisions have been taken on the potential future inclusion of the Housing Ombudsman Service.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of people (a) with hearing loss and (b) who list their primary medical condition as difficulty in hearing in employment who were in employment as (i) an employee, (ii) self-employed, (iii) unpaid family workers and (iv) part of a Government supported training and employment programme in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of people (a) with hearing loss and (b) who list their primary medical condition as difficulty in hearing who were recorded as being economically inactive for the reason of (i) being a student, (ii) looking after family or home, (iii) being temporarily sick, (iv) being long-term sick, (v) being a discouraged worker, (vi) being retired and (vii) other reasons in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of people (a) with hearing loss and (b) who list their primary medical condition as difficulty in hearing who were (i) in employment, (ii) economically inactive and (iii) unemployed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of provisions that public contract payments are made within 30 days of being invoiced.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government departments publish their own payment performance data on GOV.UK. We encourage suppliers that have not been paid promptly to report the case to our Mystery Shopper Service, who will investigate on their behalf.
In addition, BEIS have recently introduced a payment reporting system, which requires large businesses to report on their UK payment practices and performance. Businesses must report 6 monthly on their payment performance starting with their first full financial year that starts on or after 6 April 2017.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timetable is for his Department's publication of a response to the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government published a draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill in December 2016 to allow the Bill to be opened up to pre-legislative scrutiny.
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee held a pre-legislative scrutiny session in March 2017. This can be accessed on their Parliamentary website:
Responses will be taken account of in the final Bill, which will be introduced as and when a legislative opportunity arises.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place copies of the written responses to the draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill in the Library.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government published a draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill in December 2016 to allow the Bill to be opened up to pre-legislative scrutiny.
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee held a pre-legislative scrutiny session in March 2017. This can be accessed on their Parliamentary website:
Responses will be taken account of in the final Bill, which will be introduced as and when a legislative opportunity arises.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Government (a) department and (b) Minister is responsible for the promotion and recognition of British Sign Language.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Under the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty, all Government
departments have a responsibility to create inclusive communications. This does not
mean promoting BSL as an activity in itself but it does mean identifying and meeting
the communication needs of the audiences we are targeting (for example, where
formats could include Braille, BSL, easy read etc).
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many safer vehicles have been procured by each government department since the adoption of the Road Safety Statement.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The high-level vehicle data that is held centrally does not include the safety specific standard equipment or the optional safety related extras that may have been added. Consequently, we are unable to provide the information required.
The Crown Commercial Service is committed to supporting the British Road Safety Statement and has recently put in place a Vehicle Telematics Framework to support public sector fleets in addressing driver behaviour and adopting safer driving policies.