Category: Speeches

  • Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which companies are currently participating in the Work Programme in Fife; and what kind of work experience does each such company to offer to benefit claimants placed with them.

    Damian Hinds

    The Work Programme prime providers that cover Fife are Ingeus and Working Links. They have complete freedom to innovate and design support based on individual and local need. That support can take many forms, including learning new skills, work experience and developing job hunting techniques. As prime providers they have the freedom to use a network of local specialist organisations to deliver tailored support to the individual.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to introduce an animal abuse register to record the names of people who have been found guilty of crimes against animals.

    George Eustice

    Convictions for offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 are recorded on the Police National Computer and are not held on a public register. The Government would be concerned about the level of access to a public register, and Data Protection Act requirements would also apply. However, police forces are exploring how access to information relating to people banned from keeping animals might be improved for local authorities and other bodies with an enforcement role.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research on the links between the risk of cancer and radiation spikes during the refuelling of nuclear power plants, whether they plan to carry out a meta-analysis of European epidemiology studies about incidences of leukaemia in children under five living within five kilometres of nuclear power plants.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) has advised that it considers the conclusions reached by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) in their 14th report published in 2011 remain robust, that there was no evidence that living near a nuclear power station in the United Kingdom is associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer. PHE is not aware at this time of any plans for a meta-analysis of European epidemiology studies about incidences of leukaemia in children under five living within five kilometres of nuclear power plants.

    COMARE is a Departmental expert advisory committee that provides independent advice to Government on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation. A copy of their 14th report is attached.

  • Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional income for spending on adult care will be available to each authority with adult social care functions if each of those authorities increases their precept by two per cent in each year from 2016–17 to 2019–20 inclusive, with no change to their baseline forecast spend for 2015–16.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Government announced on 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 2238-2241, that Local Authorities with social care responsibilities will be able to increase their council tax by up to 2% above the core referendum principles of 2% (4% in total) which is expected to raise an extra £2billion by 2019/20. A breakdown of the £2billion, by how much individual local authorities could raise, has been made and can be viewed at the following link or in the attached document.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

    “

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what basis his Department assessed the effect of changes to the (a) annual allowance and (b) lifetime allowance on pension contributions.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government does not hold its own records on total accumulated pension wealth, only on pension contributions. For the purposes of the Lifetime Allowance, officials have used data from the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey, which includes estimates of pension wealth.

    The Government assessed the effects of changes to the Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance by considering how many people would have to reduce their saving in response to these reductions. This methodology was agreed with the OBR.

    The reduction in the Lifetime Allowance will affect only 4% of savers currently approaching retirement. The Lifetime Allowance will be reduced to £1 million from April, but the average pension savings of someone approaching retirement is only £85,000.

    Just 1% of savers make contributions of £40,000 per year, the level of the Annual Allowance since April 2014. The average saver contributes £6,000 per year.

    The introduction of the Tapered Annual Allowance for individuals who earn over £150,000 in April 2016 will impact less than 2% of people saving into a pension.

    The Government laid out its modelling on the effect of changes to the Annual and Lifetime Allowances on pension contributions in its policy costings documents at the March and Summer Budgets 2015.

    For changes to the Lifetime Allowance, the Wealth and Assets Survey was used to estimate pension wealth, and this was projected forward using assumed pension contributions and estimates of the real rate of return on pensions savings taken from the OECD and the Government Actuary’s Department.

    For the Tapered Annual Allowance, modelling used estimates from the Survey of Personal Incomes, HMRC operational data on personal pension contributions, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, and the Occupational Pension Scheme Survey.

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House the submissions to their review of local Council Tax Support, and the data they collected from local authorities to help inform that review.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Independent Review of Local Council Tax Support schemes will report by 31 March and will reflect the views and data submitted to the Chair. The Department does not currently intend to publish individual submissions to protect the confidentiality of those who submitted evidence.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23475, on what date in March 2016 he expects the first report on progress against the referral to treatment element of the Early Intervention Psychosis access standard to be published.

    Alistair Burt

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre Monthly Statistics – Provisional January 2016, which includes experimental statistics relating to the Early Intervention for Psychosis access standard, is scheduled to be published on 31 March 2016.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his French counterpart on initiatives by that government to convene a peace conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has discussed this issue with the French Foreign Minister and also with Ambassador Pierre Vimont, the French Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process. British officials have also regularly discussed the initiative with their French counterparts.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions for failure by employers to pay the National Minimum Wage have been undertaken since the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 came into force; what plans they have to improve the legal enforcement of the National Minimum Wage; and when those improvements will come into effect.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act there have been 9 prosecutions for NMW offences.

    However, prosecutions are not necessarily the best approach in most cases. Criminal sanctions against companies mean that employees – the ultimate beneficiaries of enforcing the NMW – end up waiting longer for their lost earnings to be paid back.

    From April this year we increased the civil penalties incurred by non-compliant workers to 200% of the arrears owed to the worker, up to a maximum of £20,000 per worker – having recently increased the penalty cap from £5,000 per employer. We have also increased the enforcement budget for the National Minimum and Living Wage to £20 million for this year, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. The additional funds will be used to bolster HMRC’s resources through an increase in the number of compliance officers available to investigate NMW abuses, as well as to conduct risk-based enforcement in sectors or areas where there is a higher risk of workers not being paid the legal minimum wage.

    We will also continue to publically name and shame eligible employers in Government press notices. We expect this tobe a deterrent to employers who would otherwise be tempted not to pay the NMW, but also an incentive for all employers to make sure that they are consistent with the law.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what work his Department is undertaking on identifying EU regulations that have a cost to British businesses that could be repealed or replaced.

    Margot James

    In the short term, the Government will continue to seek the amendment or repeal of EU rules within the framework of the European Commission’s Regulatory Fitness (REFIT) programme, in order to minimise the regulatory burdens imposed on UK businesses. The REFIT programme was established in 2012 to review the stock of existing EU legislation in order to identify burdens, inconsistencies, gaps or ineffective measures and address them.

    Building on the work of the Red Tape Challenge and the current Cutting Red Tape programme, we will continue our engagement with business to gather their views on their priorities for reducing EU regulatory burdens wherever possible once the UK has left the EU. My Rt Hon Friend the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid) chaired a roundtable with business leaders, to discuss the challenges faced by businesses and ensure that the negotiation of the UK’s future relationship with the EU is carried out in the interest of UK companies, investors, potential investors and workers.