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1487967

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2022
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, when a response will be received to Question 6697 tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 23 May 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	33681
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/10/2022 15:58:50 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1503797

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2022
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, pursuant to Named Day Question 33681 on Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Written Questions tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 11 July 2022 for written answer on 14 July 2022, when he plans to answer Question 6697 tabled by the hon. Member for Warley on 23 May 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	45520
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>The delay in providing responses to Questions 6697, 33681, 42245 and 45520 was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 24/10/2022 15:59:43 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1536544

	registered interest
	date	26/10/2022
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, pursuant to his answer of 24 October to Question 6697 on Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the average daily attendance of staff at IPSA London Office was in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	72197
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2022 answer text <p>Average attendance at the London office has been monitered carefully be IPSA and is calculated by working days in the calender month (and is only based on current office-based staffing numbers (66)). This does not, however, include a number of IPSA people based on home-base contracts who make regular journeys into the office, particularly when based a short distance from the London region. It should be noted at the outset too that the discovery and surge of the Omicron variant, which necessitated public health advice to work from home, will have had an impact on the data from at least last Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022. For nearly the entire time period requested in the question, a significant number of desks were unavailable for use in the IPSA office to maintain appropiate social distancing in the context of IPSA's office layout. As only 32 of the possible 81 desks were available for use from 201 to the end of September 2022, this further materially reduced capacity within and attendance at the office. Noting the desks available and the number of staff available on office-based contracts, the general figures are below:</p><ul><li>October 2021: 9% (This should be read as the average office-based contract employee spendin 9% of their working month in the office in October 2021 and so on for the following months). This constituted 18% of available desks.</li><li>November 2021: 9%. This constituted 20% of available desks.</li><li>December 2021: 7%. This constituted 15% of available desks.</li><li>January 2022: 5%. This constituted 9% of available desks.</li><li>February 2022: 8%. This constituted 17% of available desks.</li><li>March 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>April 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.</li><li>May 2022: 8%. This constituted 16% of available desks.</li><li>June 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.</li><li>July 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>August 2022: 6%. This constituted 13% of available desks.</li><li>September 2022: 7%. This constituted 14% of available desks.</li><li>October 2022: now that all the desks are available for use, the desk booking system upon which the data above is based is no longer operative, so this figure cannot be produced.</li></ul><p>Like many organisations in the publice sector, IPSA recognised many benefits for its people and performance in continuing with a hybrid approach to work despite a lifting of formal coronavirus restrictions and other government public health advice. IPSA functions, such as payroll accuracy and the speed of reimbursement, have not been adversely impacted by such a model, and IPSA has instead been able to build a more inclusive and diverse workforce based accross the U.K. by bringing forward plans to create a more representative, hybrid, and flexibe organisation to reflect the nations, regions and constituencies MPs serve. The geographical spread of IPSA staff, new hybrid approach to working, and importance of value for money for the public purse will be central considerations for IPSA when it explores the locations and size of any office premises (in London or elsewhere) which it may require in future to continue to discharge its statutory duties efficiently, cost-effectively, and transparently.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 03/11/2022 10:47:17 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1536546

	registered interest
	date	26/10/2022
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what consideration has been given to moving IPSA's headquarters out of Central London.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	72198
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2022 answer text <p>Before moving to its current location in March 2019, IPSA consided sites in Milton Keynes and Croydon, as well as Stratford and Canary Wharf. At that time, before the Covid-19 pandemic, a central London presence was deemed best placed to offer support to MPs and enable employees working from the office to attend meetings in Parliament at short notice. Going forward, IPSA will once again approach its future needs in a careful and considered way to ensure that its premises are conductive to offering a high-quality service to MPs and their staff, in addition to delivering good value for money for the taxpayer.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 01/11/2022 10:21:53 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1664946

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2023
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how many staff are employed by IPSA; and how many and what proportion of those staff were working in the office at least (a) two and (b) three days a week in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	202640
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2023 answer text <p>As of today, IPSA has 101 employees. IPSA is unable to provide data on how many staff were working in the office at least (a) two and (b) three days a week in the last twelve months, as this information is not recorded.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 19/10/2023 09:33:55 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1697795

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2024
	answering body	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept id	90
	answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	hansard heading	Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what assessment the Committee has made of the effectiveness of the handling of MPs expenses claims by IPSA.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	19774
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2024 answer text <p>The Speaker’s Committee meets IPSA throughout the year to assess its performance, running costs and effectiveness in handling MPs’ expenses. The Committee last met IPSA on 5 March 2024 and a transcript of that session is available on the Committee’s website: <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14403/pdf/" target="_blank">https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14403/pdf/</a></p><p>In 2023, 65.3 per cent of MPs and their staff rated IPSA’s service as either good or very good, which was up on this measure in 2019 when 25.1 per cent rated the service in that way. The time taken for IPSA to reimburse MPs’ claims has reduced from an average of 8 days in 2020-21 to 2.6 days in 2023-24. Compliance with IPSA’s scheme is currently at 99.9%.</p><p>Through its scrutiny of IPSA, the Committee is looking at the steps being taken by IPSA to help improve its effectiveness in enabling MPs and their staff to claim for expenses and business costs. IPSA’s ongoing work includes:</p><ul><li>the development of an IPSA online portal to enhance the customer experience by improving the functionality of the system in areas such as claim and form submission;</li><li>the greater provision of centralised services, reducing the financial and administrative burden on MPs and their staff through the centralised provision of goods and services such as constituency office leases, utilities, and equipment;</li><li>the piloting of an online marketplace, allowing MPs and their staff to purchase goods such as office equipment centrally; and</li><li>exploration of alternative models of reimbursement, enabling MPs and their staff to pay for business costs without the need to claim retrospectively.</li></ul><p>The Committee plans to consider IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-24 later in the summer at which point it will assess IPSA’s latest results against its performance indicators.</p> answering member constituency Broxbourne answering member printed Sir Charles Walker question first answered 26/03/2024 10:33:05 answering member 1493 label Biography information for Sir Charles Walker
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1679391

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Engineering and Nuclear Physics: Higher Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on (a) which universities offer courses in nuclear (i) physics and (ii) engineering and (b) how many (A) undergraduate and (B) graduate students are on such courses.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	7744
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2024 answer text <p>The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of Jisc, collects and publishes data on student enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK higher education providers. This includes data on full person equivalents (FPE) enrolled in different subject areas, categorised using the Higher Education Coding of Subjects (HECoS) system. Further information on the HECoS system is available at: <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos" target="_blank">https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos</a>.</p><p> </p><p>This data has been used to approximate which providers offered courses including elements of the HECoS subjects ‘Nuclear Engineering’ (HECoS code 100172) and ‘Nuclear and Particle Physics’ (HECoS code 101077) in the 2021/22 academic year, and how many FPEs were enrolled in each of these subjects. This information has been provided as an attachment.</p><p> </p><p>For an up-to-date view of available undergraduate courses, including nuclear studies, please visit: <a href="https://discoveruni.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://discoveruni.gov.uk/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 15/01/2024 10:28:35 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon attachment 1 file name 7744 Number of full person equivalent enrolments in HECoS subjects 2021 to 2022.xlsx title 7744_Table
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1682050

	registered interest
	date	15/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Nuclear Physics: Higher Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 7744 on Engineering and Nuclear Physics: Higher Education, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of the (a) undergraduate and (b) postgraduate students who were enrolled in Nuclear and Particle Physics in the 2021-22 academic year that were international students.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	9389
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of JISC, collects and publishes data on student enrolments across all UK higher education providers. This includes data on full person equivalents (FPE) enrolled in different subject areas, categorised using the higher education coding of subjects (HECoS) system. Counts of enrolments in each HECoS group are published in Table 52 of HESA’s Student Data, available at: <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52" target="_blank">https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Enrolments in ‘Nuclear and Particle Physics’ are recorded under HECoS code 101077, and can be filtered to give counts by level of study and domicile.</p><p> </p><p>For more information on HECoS see: <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos" target="_blank">https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos</a>.</p><p><strong><br> </strong></p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 23/01/2024 13:02:23 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1564330

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Probate
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probate cases are under consideration in England; and what proportion of those cases have been waiting for a decision for six weeks or more.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	117447
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2023 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">There were 53,253 probate cases in the Open Caseload<sup>1</sup> as at 31 December. Of those 30,656 were more than 6 weeks old<sup>1</sup>. Of the cases over six weeks old 13,536 were stopped, 7,247 were awaiting documentation and 9,873 were ready to progress.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><sup>1 </sup>Data as at 31 December in line the official published stats. The administration of probate applications is dealt with as a national service, covering England and Wales. The open caseload excludes cases older than 6 months.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><sup>2</sup>The time outstanding is counted from the application submission date recorded in the case management system, except for digital applications with a Will, where the date of receipt of the original Will by HMCTS is used.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">This data is management Information. The management information presented in this table reflects what is recorded on relevant case-management systems on the date of extraction. The case management systems are continually updated and so the information presented will differ from previously published information. Management information can differ from the quality assured MOJ official statistics, which form the agreed definitive position. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.</ins></p><p><del class="ministerial">The total amount of unassessed probate cases where evidence has been received to enable a case to be assessed is 12,923.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">4805 of these cases are over 6 weeks since the date the evidence was received.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">In addition, there are 38,245 cases which are either waiting for evidence, such as the original will, to arrive, are subject to a legal hold following an application from another party or have been stopped due to an error or missing documentation and are waiting for a response from the applicant.</del></p><p>HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand following an increased number of estates requiring probate and is further increasing resourcing to further bring down overall timeliness on digital and paper applications.</p><p>The improvement of the online probate system remains a priority for HMCTS, to ensure more applications can be issued first time and resources can be focused on reducing waiting times.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 16/01/2023 17:38:53 question first ministerially corrected 25/04/2023 12:20:11 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer previous answer version 47244 answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar

1584416

	registered interest
	date	06/02/2023
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Energy: Meters
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department was consulted before the recent advice was issued by the National Leadership Magistrate to magistrates regarding the granting of warrants to force fit prepayment meters.
	tabling member constituency	Warley
	tabling member printed	John Spellar
	uin	140017
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2023 answer text <p>The statutory responsibility for issuing guidance to the judiciary is held by the Lord Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner. To preserve the independence of the judiciary, they are not subject to direction or required to consult the government on the guidance they issue.</p> answering member constituency Finchley and Golders Green answering member printed Mike Freer question first answered 09/02/2023 17:06:34 answering member 4004 label Biography information for Mike Freer
	tabling member	318 label Biography information for John Spellar