Category: Speeches

Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-01-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many citizens of other EU member states currently living in the UK receive child benefit.

Nicky Morgan

HMRC are not able to provide the information in the manner requested. HMRC do not record the nationality of the claimant receiving Child Benefit for children living in another member state.

Published Child Benefit statistics provide annual estimates of the number of families and children claiming. The latest available (August 2012) show that there were 7.92 million families, responsible for 13.77 million children and qualifying young people receiving Child Benefit.

The main purpose of Child Benefit is to support families in the UK. Consequently, the rules generally do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children who live abroad.

Nevertheless, Child Benefit is a family benefit under EC Regulation 883/2004. This regulation protects the social security rights of nationals of all member states of the European economic area, including the UK, and Switzerland when they exercise their rights of free movement under EU law.

HMRC holds information on the number of Child Benefit awards under EC Regulation 883/2004. As at 31 December 2013, there were 20,400 ongoing Child Benefit awards under the EC Regulation in respect of 34.268 children living in another member state.

This is a fall of 3,682 (15.3%) awards in respect of 5,903 (14.7%) fewer children since 31 December 2012.

The breakdown by member state is as follows:

*We have withheld the number where it is fewer than 5, as there is risk that the information could be attributed to an identifiable person, which would prejudice their right to privacy and would therefore be a breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act.

Child Benefit

Country of residence of children	Number of awards	Number of children

Austria	23	37
Belgium	75	140
Bulgaria	186	245
Croatia	*5	*5
Cyprus	39	61
Czech Republic	124	203
Denmark	13	23
Estonia	45	65
Finland	12	23
France	789	1429
Germany	283	495
Greece	44	69
Hungary	136	196
Iceland	*5	*5
Italy	156	273
Latvia	797	1091
Liechtenstein	0	0
Lithuania	1215	1712
Luxembourg	7	14
Malta	15	22
Norway	30	61
Poland	13174	22093
Portugal	202	309
Republic of Ireland	1231	2505
Romania	230	392
Slovakia	692	1232
Slovenia	11	21
Spain	600	1019
Sweden	49	95
Switzerland	77	150
The Netherlands	142	288

Totals	20400	34268

As announced in the 2014 Budget, to prevent EEA migrants claiming benefits they are not entitled to, the Government will increase compliance checks to establish whether EEA migrants meet the entitlement conditions to receive Child Benefit

Under domestic law, in order to claim Child Benefit EEA Migrants must be present in the UK, ordinarily resident and have a right to reside in the UK and their children must live in the UK.

The recent changes to migrants’ access to benefits announced by the Government sends a strong message that the UK benefit system is not open to abuse, as well as deterring those who may seek residence in the UK primarily to claim benefits.

Strengthening compliance checks will help prevent EEA migrants from claiming, and continuing to claim, benefits they are not entitled to. Checks will be applied to both new claims and existing awards.

01/12/2022

Mr Clive Betts – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Clive Betts on 2013-05-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to consult on eligibility for free school meals ahead of the introduction of universal credit.

Mr David Laws

We are working very closely with other departments, including the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, to simplify free school meals criteria under universal credit, while ensuring that free lunches continue to be available to the families who need them most. These discussions, which include consideration of a phased implementation timetable, are in recognition of the significant number and complexity of passported benefits across Government, most of which have different eligibility criteria.

We will allow good time to enable schools, local authorities and children’s charities to comment on our proposals before we introduce new entitlement criteria for free school meals under universal credit.

01/12/2022
Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to increase enforcement rates for the national minimum wage.

Nick Boles

The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law. In 2014/15, HMRC conducted 2,204 investigations into potential NMW non-compliance, totalling £3,291,529 of arrears for 26,318 workers.

This is up from 1,455 investigations conducted in 2013/14, totalling £4,645,547

of arrears for 22,610 workers.

Building on our existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW. These include:
- increasing penalties from 100% to 200% of the arrears employers owed.
- the setting up of a dedicated team in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) focused on tackling the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance.
- increasing the enforcement budget in preparation for the National Minimum and Living Wage from April 2016.
- the creation of a statutory Director of Labour Market Enforcement and Exploitation.
01/12/2022
Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people from a working class background were recruited onto the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme in each year since its inception.

Matthew Hancock

To govern modern Britain, the Civil Service needs to look and sound likemodern Britain. We need access to the broadest possible pool of talent, drawing on peoplefrom all backgrounds and all parts of the country.

The Civil Service is implementing a number of initiatives to recruit individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds onto the Fast Stream and Fast Track Apprenticeship schemes, including internship programmes, schools and colleges mentoring and discovery days, work experience programmes and engagement with universities with a high representation of lower socio-economic students.

Information on the socio-economic status of recent appointees to the SCS was published in 2014,and the socio-economic status of Fast-Stream applicants has been published since 2011.

In 2015 16.8% of new joiners to the Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, up from 8.5% in 2013/14. From 2015 this data will be published as part of the Fast Stream applicants publication.

01/12/2022
Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what forecast he has made of whether the total stock of local authority homes will increase or decrease in the next five years.

Brandon Lewis

Whilst we have made no forecast of what the stock of council homes will be over the next 5 years, I do note that more council houses have been built since 2010 than were built in the entire 13 years of a Labour Government.

01/12/2022
Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all UK service personnel deployed to malarial areas since 2013 have been individually assessed for contraindications for mefloquine; and what the method of assessment was for those who were individually assessed.

Mark Lancaster

Since 2013, it has been Ministry of Defence policy that mefloquine should only be prescribed after an individual risk assessment. To verify that an individual assessment has been undertaken in every case since 2013 would require the examination of the medical records of all individuals who have deployed since 2013. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Templates exist to optimise consistency in the preparation of personnel requiring anti-malarials, including mefloquine. Defence Primary Healthcare has a malaria protocol to guide clinicians to use these templates. Work is currently in hand to develop it further, taking previous lessons into account, to ensure that all individuals are assessed in a consistent manner.

01/12/2022
Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2015 to Question 7974, what research her Department has conducted into the ease of switching energy supplier.

Andrea Leadsom

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has, as part of its investigation into the energy market, commissioned research into consumer experiences and views of the energy market including the ease of switching energy supplier.

The CMA investigation is still ongoing but the report it commissioned has already been published can be found at:

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/54e75c53ed915d0cf700000d/CMA_customer_survey_-_energy_investigation_-_GfK_Report.pdf

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01/12/2022
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what regulatory arrangements apply to potential measures to control and cull invasive non-native waterfowl.

George Eustice

Defra, in conjunction with the Great Britain Non-Native Species Secretariat, takes the problems and risks associated with non-native waterfowl very seriously. Since the 1990s Defra has commissioned and invested in a range of research projects, carried out by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, on invasive non-native waterfowl, including an assessment of the options for large-scale control and field trials of removal techniques for Egyptian geese. Additionally, best practice management guidelines have been published for Canada geese.

Since 2005 Defra has also supported the UK Ruddy Duck Eradication Programme, and recently, established an Invasive Species Action Plan for the sacred ibis, and is developing an action plan for zoos to reduce the risk of escapes of all species, including waterfowl.

Section 14(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it illegal to release or allow to escape into the wild, any animal or plant which is not ordinarily resident in Great Britain and is not a regular visitor to Great Britain in a wild state, or is listed in Schedule 9 to the Act. This applies to all animals including waterfowl. An amendment to the 1981 Act, introduced this year in the Infrastructure Act 2015, introduced the provision of Species Control Orders, which can be used to remove any non-native species where they cause significant threats to biodiversity, the water environment, human health or the economy, in cases where a voluntary approach with landowners has otherwise failed.

01/12/2022
Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

I am extremely concerned by the violence that we have seen across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in recent weeks. This only strengthens my conviction that a negotiated two state solution is of the greatest urgency. We continue to consult with international partners as to the best means to make progress towards that goal, and to encourage the parties to take steps which lead us towards peace. In the current circumstances we are encouraging both sides to promote calm and avoid taking actions which could make peace more difficult. On 9 October, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) spoke to President Abbas and urged him to do everything in his power to reduce tensions and restore calm. My officials and I have also been pushing the parties to implement steps that improve the situation on the ground and preserve the viability of the two state solution.

01/12/2022
Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects Public Health England’s Evidence into Action review of the evidence on reducing sugar consumption to be published.

Jane Ellison

There are no plans to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. However all taxes are kept under review, with decisions being a matter for the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.

Public Health England’s (PHE) report Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action was published on the GOV.UK website on 22 October. We continue to work very closely with PHE and this evidence is integral to our ongoing policy development. We will publish our childhood obesity strategy in the new year.

Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470179/Sugar_reduction_The_evidence_for_action.pdf

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01/12/2022