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  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Neighbourhood Development Orders have been approved by referendum in each year since and including 2012; where those referendums were held; and what development each referendum authorised.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Department does not undertake formal monitoring of Neighbourhood Development Orders, however we are aware of four Neighbourhood Development Orders that have passed referendum since 2012, including three Community Right to Build Orders. Details are set out in the attached table.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what applications for support have been submitted to the EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund since its inception; whether they intend to submit an application for support in order to support workers made redundant from the steel industry in the last year; and if not, why not.

    Lord Freud

    The European Globalisation Fund (EGF) provides a financial contribution for active labour market measures, aimed at reintegrating those made or at risk of being made redundant in the labour market.

    Member States are responsible in the first instance for tackling trade adjustment redundancies – the fund is therefore designed to add to national, regional and local assistance.

    The UK already offers a broad range of personalised support to workers made redundant through its Rapid Response Service and Jobcentre Plus, which could not be duplicated or substituted by EGF.

    The Rapid Response Service and the Jobcentre Plus Core Offer are effective reintegration tools which represent good value for money and are our primary and most helpful means of response to large redundancies.

    For this reason, the UK Government has never applied to the EGF.

    In addition to the aforementioned support, in the case of the steel industry, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has also announced packages of support worth up to £80 million for SSI in Redcar and up to £9 million for TATA Steel in Scunthorpe.

    Only if more support is necessary other suitable sources of support will be considered.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 30 December 2015 (HL4654), what (1) in-work, and (2) out-of-work, benefits were paid to recent EU migrants in households supported by the benefits system as at March 2013.

    Lord Freud

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister for Employment (Ms. Esther McVey) in the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 to Question number 211618 as below:

    While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, traditionally that information has not been collected as part of the payment administrative systems.

    However, the Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

    The Government has made a radical series of changes over the last year to restrict the access by non-UK citizens from the European Economic Area to UK benefits and tax credits. This is in order to protect the UK’s benefit system and discourage people who have no established connection with the UK from moving here, unless they have a job or a genuine prospect of work, or have savings to support themselves until they do.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the duration of (1) in-work, and (2) out-of-work, benefits paid to all recent EU migrants in households supported by the benefits system as at March 2013.

    Lord Freud

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister for Employment (Ms. Esther McVey) in the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 to Question number 211618 as below:

    While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, traditionally that information has not been collected as part of the payment administrative systems.

    However, the Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

    The Government has made a radical series of changes over the last year to restrict the access by non-UK citizens from the European Economic Area to UK benefits and tax credits. This is in order to protect the UK’s benefit system and discourage people who have no established connection with the UK from moving here, unless they have a job or a genuine prospect of work, or have savings to support themselves until they do.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the average (1) in-work, and (2) out-of-work, benefits paid to all recent EU migrants supported by the benefits system as at March 2013.

    Lord Freud

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister for Employment (Ms. Esther McVey) in the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 to Question number 211618 as below:

    While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, traditionally that information has not been collected as part of the payment administrative systems.

    However, the Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

    The Government has made a radical series of changes over the last year to restrict the access by non-UK citizens from the European Economic Area to UK benefits and tax credits. This is in order to protect the UK’s benefit system and discourage people who have no established connection with the UK from moving here, unless they have a job or a genuine prospect of work, or have savings to support themselves until they do.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of all (1) in-work, and (2) out-of-work, benefits paid in the UK as at March 2013 was received by recent EU migrants.

    Lord Freud

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister for Employment (Ms. Esther McVey) in the House of Commons on 20 November 2014 to Question number 211618 as below:

    While the Government checks the immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud, traditionally that information has not been collected as part of the payment administrative systems.

    However, the Government is looking at ways to reform the current administrative system under Universal Credit so that it will systematically record nationality and immigration status of migrants who make a claim.

    The Government has made a radical series of changes over the last year to restrict the access by non-UK citizens from the European Economic Area to UK benefits and tax credits. This is in order to protect the UK’s benefit system and discourage people who have no established connection with the UK from moving here, unless they have a job or a genuine prospect of work, or have savings to support themselves until they do.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the net migration to the UK in the year to March 2013.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specific steps they will take to ensure that the review of the statutory scheme for branded medicines takes into account the specificities of medicines derived from human blood plasma, in the light of the Council of Europe resolution on principles concerning human normal immunoglobulin therapies for immunodeficiency and other diseases (CM/RES(2015)2).

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We are continuing to consider carefully all the consultation responses including those that refer to blood plasma products. It is important we get these changes right for patients, the National Health Service and industry. We want to look in particular at the impact on small and medium sized businesses, while securing the medicines patients need at a cost which the NHS can afford.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define vexatious” in relation to the objections submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator by secularist campaigning groups over the last two years.”

    Lord Nash

    On 25 January 2016, the Secretary of State announced changes to the school admissions code, in order to give parents more of a say in the school admissions process so they can be confident the system works for them.

    The Government proposes that only local parents and local authorities should be able to refer objections about a school’s admissions arrangements to the Schools Adjudicator. The Government wants to ensure that the Adjudicator is able to focus on any concerns which parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school, and that adjudications are not held up by the need to consider large numbers of objections referred by interest groups from outside the area.

    The Department will conduct a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of comments be the Chief Executive of Mumsnet stating that the Department for Education’s proposal to prevent organisations from objecting to the admission arrangements of schools will add to parental dissatisfaction”.”

    Lord Nash

    The Government’s proposed changes are designed to make sure that the Schools Adjudicator can concentrate on parental complaints. We want to ensure that the Adjudicator is able to focus on any concerns which parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school and that the Adjudicator is not held up by the need to consider objections referred by interest groups from outside the area.

    The changes are still subject to a full public consultation and the Department will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.