Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what (a) expenses and (b) salary is paid to members of the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
No salary is paid to members of the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy for carrying out their responsibilities on the Commission; to date a total of £3,819.03 in travel expenses has been incurred.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, who authorises expenditure for the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy; and out of which budget-heading such funding has been allocated.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Expenditure for the Speaker’s Commission was authorised by the Director General, Information Services. The Commission on Digital Democracy has a separate budget heading within the Department of Information Services budget.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, who authorised the secondment of a member of the House of Commons Library staff to work in Burma with the Burmese Parliament; how long this secondment has lasted; and how much the staff member has been paid in (a) salary and (b) expenses while on secondment.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
In her speech to Members of both Houses in Westminster Hall on 21 June 2012 Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the UK to provide “practical help” to support moves to democracy in Burma.
The initial secondment of a senior researcher from the House of Commons Library to work with the Burmese Parliament for 6 months from January 2014 was authorised by the Clerk of the House. The Burmese side subsequently requested an extension of the secondment for a further 6 months; this was agreed by the Clerk of the House and confirmed in a letter of 14 July 2014. The secondment overall will accordingly run from January 2014 to January 2015. The secondment is referred to in the House of Commons business plan 2014/15 and contributes to the House Service’s objective of supporting other parliaments, especially those in transition towards democracy.
The researcher is paid on the A2 salary scale, currently £46,532 to £61,255.
As at the end of August 2014, total expenses have amounted to £24,100.50 including accommodation, travel and local project costs.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what the total cost has been of the Speaker's Commission on Digital Democracy; and how many people are employed to work on the Commission.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
The total cost assigned to the Commission on Digital Democracy’s budget to the end of July 2014 is £146,512.
There are currently four people employed to work on the Commission, although one of these spends 20% of his time working on other matters.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, whether (a) Mr Speaker and (b) other members of the panel were informed by the headhunters, Saxton Bampfylde, of the potential problem surrounding Ms Mills in the Australian Parliament before the decision was taken to recommend Ms Mills' appointment as the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Saxton Bampfylde provided written notes on each candidate interviewed on 30 July, and a representative of the company was available to talk to the panel if required. The notes on Ms Mills did not refer to an investigation into the use of closed circuit television footage by officers of the Parliament of Australia’s Department of Parliamentary Services.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission with make available to the right hon. Member for Chelmsford all the records of all the discussions of the panel considering the appointment of the new Clerk of the House and Chief Executive.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Records relating to the appointment of the new Clerk of the House and Chief Executive constitute the personal data of the applicants. It is not the Commission’s practice to disclose confidential personal information of this nature.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what the status is of the letter that Mr Speaker sent to the Prime Minister recommending Ms Mills' appointment as the new Clerk of the House and Chief Executive.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Ms Mills’ name has not yet been submitted as Under Clerk of the Parliaments (Clerk of the House of Commons and Chief Executive) to Her Majesty the Queen for approval. Mr Speaker has written to the Prime Minister asking that its submission be delayed until a clear way forward on this issue has been agreed.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the letter that Mr Speaker sent to the Prime Minister recommending Ms Mills' appointment as the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive will be recalled.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Ms Mills’ name has not yet been submitted as Under Clerk of the Parliaments (Clerk of the House of Commons and Chief Executive) to Her Majesty the Queen for approval. Mr Speaker has written to the Prime Minister asking that its submission be delayed until a clear way forward on this issue has been agreed.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2014, Official Report, columns 607-8W, on Clerk of the House, what percentage of the first year’s salary of any candidate recommended for appointment Saxton Bampfylde is contracted to receive.
Answered by Viscount Thurso
Saxton Bampfylde was contracted for a flat fee of £18,000 to provide support for the recruitment of the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive. There is no salary related element.
Asked by: Simon Burns (Conservative - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what sanctions are taken against Network Rail when engineering works overrun causing disruption to the rail network.
Answered by Claire Perry
Network Rail is responsible for the day to day operation of the rail network and the delivery of enhancements. The independent regulator, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) will continue to monitor closely Network Rail’s performance delivery on the Anglia route, which will cover all the causes of delay, including the impact of overrunning engineering works.
The Track Access Contracts between Network Rail and train operators provide for Network Rail to pay compensation to an operator in the event that train services cannot operate or are delayed due to engineering works or disruption outside that operator’s control. The Department for Transport does not hold details of the timing or number of such payments, which are a commercial matter between the parties directly concerned, overseen by the ORR. The ORR publishes the annual totals of these payments at route level on its data portal:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/345da3b9-b9ac-449a-aace-8298c5b39e2b
The ORR concluded its assessment of Network Rail’s performance between 2009 and 2014 in July. Since Network Rail did not deliver its funded obligations, and to address issues which have disrupted services for passengers, the company has committed at least £25m extra funds to improve the resilience of the network in London and the South East, with plans to be in place by December. In the Long Distance sector, the company fell significantly short of its funded target. Under an order made by the ORR in 2012, taking account of issues beyond Network Rail's control, the company has been asked to return £53.1m to funders for failure to deliver its agreed obligations in 2013-14. The Government is reinvesting this sum to improve on-train mobile services for passengers.