Category: Speeches

  • Natalie McGarry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Natalie McGarry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he he has made of the proportion of Government expenditure on pension credit which falls within the carer addition element of that credit in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Glasgow and (d) Glasgow East constituency in the 2015-16 financial year.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Forecasts of expenditure as a result of the carer addition element of Pension Credit for 2015/16 are not available. However, estimates of the outturn expenditure (as a result of the carer addition element of Pension Credit) in 2014/15 are shown in the table below.

    Tables show expenditure for Great Britain, not the UK, as expenditure in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of Northern Ireland Executive.

    Pension Credit expenditure as a result of the carer addition, 2014/15

    £, million

    …as a percentage of total pension credit expenditure in that area

    Great Britain

    £364.7

    5.5%

    Scotland

    £39.6

    6.7%

    Glasgow (City)

    £6.4

    5.9%

    Glasgow East (constituency)

    £1.8

    9.4%

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of Vauxhall Zafiras which have caught fire in the last six months; and what discussions his Department has had with Vauxhall on the number of other such cars catching fire in a similar way.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) currently holds 45 reports, since January 2015, of fires on Vauxhall Zafira on its database.It holds 10 reports where owners of Vauxhall Zafiras have raised concerns regarding the issue but have not actually suffered a vehicle fire. DVSA is working with the manufacturer to investigate this serious safety issue and is aware that they hold additional reports of fires on the Zafira model; however, DVSA is not aware of how many. DVSA is not currently aware of any defect trends regarding vehicle fires on any other model of Vauxhall’s or any other make of vehicle.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to offer a discounted rate for dependents who apply for a Certificate of Entitlement for Right of Abode in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    This Government has no plans to offer discounted rates for such dependants.

    Income from application fees helps provide the resources necessary to operate the immigration system, with the remainder of funding provided through general taxation. The Government’s aim is to reduce the overall contribution of funding that comes from general taxation.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will meet the British Red Cross to discuss improvements in the existing processes for the reunion of refugees’ families.

    Lord Bates

    Home Office officials have already met with the British Red Cross to discuss improvements in the existing process for family reunion. We will continue to consult with them to ensure that migrants better understand the process and what is required of them.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of his Department’s core policy civil servants are based in London.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department has 91.8% of its core policy civil servants based in London.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of assessment reports conducted by contractors for Scottish claimants of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments were returned by his Department as not being of a sufficient standard to enable a decision to be made in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

    Priti Patel

    In each of the last four quarters for which information is available, less than 0.1% of all Employment and Support Allowance and less than 0.1% of all Personal Independent Payment assessment reports completed in Scotland have been returned to the provider for rework, meaning that the report has been deemed not fit for purpose by the Department.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with her Japanese counterpart on the involvement of Japanese companies in new nuclear power projects in the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    I have just returned from Japan where I met Japanese counterparts during the G7 Energy Ministerial for positive discussions on energy matters including nuclear.

    Senior officials also have regular dialogue with Japanese counterparts including in relation to the proposed new nuclear power stations at Wylfa and Moorside, which are led by Japanese companies.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2016 to Question 39000, how many of the eight people convicted as a result of Operation Pallial investigations had previous convictions for sexual offences.

    Karen Bradley

    The National Crime Agency, leading Operation Pallial, has informed us that all interviews they have conducted have been under Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) guidelines and, where the need for appropriate adult or other support is identified, this has been provided. It is not possible to provide figures on the number of interviews conducted where a social worker has been present as this information is not held centrally.

    Three people convicted as a result of Operation Pallial have previous convictions for sexual offences.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to speed up the process of family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.

    We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece; we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

    We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe.

    We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer unaccompa-nied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what oversight is provided to private higher education providers enrolling students onto degree courses to ensure minimum criteria are met for entry onto undergraduate degrees.

    Viscount Younger of Leckie

    It is for individual higher education providers to determine the minimum criteria for entry onto their courses.

    However, private providers must meet a number of conditions to gain designation for student support. These include having a successful Quality Assurance Agency Higher Education Review (Alternative Providers), which tests providers’ recruitment, selection and admission policies and procedures, as well as ensuring that all students recruited onto courses designated for student support meet a minimum English Language requirement.

    The Department monitors whether providers comply with the conditions of designation to ensure providers are held accountable and to protect the student and public interest. If at any point the Department determines that the conditions have not been met, it could put in place a range of sanctions, including the removal of course designation.