The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the forecast level of creditor claims related to insolvency litigation in each of the next five financial years.
Andrew Selous
The Ministry of Justice does not hold this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether participation in the randomised control trial his Department is conducting on in-work progression is mandatory for claimants; and what consequences there will be for claimants who do not wish to take part in that trial.
Priti Patel
Universal Credit claimants who meet the eligibility criteria will be required to participate in the trial. However, we are careful to protect people who are vulnerable. Claimants who are unable to work or earn more due to caring or because of health conditions or disabilities will not be required to participate, and there are a number of further exclusion criteria which generally reflect those applied to out of work UC claimants.
Every claimant participating in the trial will have a tailored Claimant Commitment which is a joint agreement between the work coach and the claimant which sets out clearly what reasonable activity they have agreed to do in order to improve their earnings. Trial participants who fail to engage in the process, or who fail to take the reasonable actions mutually agreed in their claimant commitment without good reason may have their Universal Credit payments reduced under a sanction.
Claimants will be given the opportunity to explain why they have not complied with a requirement. An independent decision maker will consider if a sanction is appropriate and if the claimant had good reason for not complying, taking into account the claimant’s representations. Where a claimant is sanctioned there are clear safeguards in place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment and support allowance appeals his Department conceded prior to their being heard at first-tier tribunals in the last 12 months.
Justin Tomlinson
The requested information in relation to Personal Independence Payment could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
For ESA the figures for the latest 12 months available are as follows:
|
Month |
Total |
|
April 2015 |
260 |
|
May |
190 |
|
June |
240 |
|
July |
360 |
|
August |
230 |
|
September |
230 |
|
October |
240 |
|
November |
280 |
|
December |
250 |
|
January 2016 |
250 |
|
February |
210 |
|
March |
270 |
|
Total |
3010 |
These figures represent the number of appeals revised and lapsed before the appeal is heard. A decision will be revised at this stage of the decision making process mainly because of new information provided by the claimant in his grounds of appeal.
– Figures have been rounded to the nearest ten.
– This is unpublished data and, as such, it does not meet the quality standard required for official statistics publication. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
– Data taken from the Decision Making and Case Recording system
– Figures are for GB only
– Figures are correct as at 7 June 2016
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the savings to the Exchequer resulting from the future transfer of responsibility for funding television licences for people over 75 from his Department to the BBC for (a) Glasgow South West constituency, (b) Glasgow City Council and (c) Scotland.
Richard Harrington
The summer budget 2015 announced a number of fundamental changes relating to the BBC and free TV licences for those aged 75 and over. DWP will cease to fund free TV licences from 2019/20 and the BBC will absorb the cost of this and take responsibility for the policy which currently sits with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is estimated that the provision of free TV licences for 2016/17 will cost £629m and DWP will continue to make a transfer to the BBC during the phasing period, as set out in the table below.
|
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
|
|
HMG transfer for free TV licences (£m) |
468 |
247 |
0 |
DWP resources currently assigned to the provision and collation of data relating to the free television licence scheme for people aged 75 and over is 12 staff days per annum. Any plans for the future role of employees and contractors will be determined following detailed discussions between my Department and the BBC nearer the time the BBC take full responsibility for funding and policy.
In 2014/15 the cost of providing free TV licences to those 75 and over in Scotland was £49m and it is estimated the cost for qualifying residents in Glasgow South West constituency and Glasgow City local authority area was £0.7m and £4m respectively.
The cost of the free TV licences to those aged 75 and over in Scotland for 2015/16 will be published on 21 September on the DWP website. Breakdowns by Local Authority and Parliamentary Constituency use that Scotland expenditure estimate and are therefore not currently available.
Savings to the Exchequer resulting from the future transfer of responsibility for funding television licences for people aged 75 or over were set out in the summer budget 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the matching requirement for the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.
Jane Ellison
The Small Charitable Donations and Childcare Payments Bill relaxes the eligibility criteria for the Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme. These changes will ensure that the Scheme operates effectively and flexibly for a greater number of charities and a greater number of donations.
The Government has no plans to extend the Gift Aid matching requirement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from the Chief Executive of NHS England on the financial settlement allocated for the NHS for (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Spending Review settled the level of funding that the National Health Service in England will receive over the course of this Parliament, with the NHS England Chief Executive a full party to the discussions with HM Treasury. As the Chief Executive said at the time the Spending Review was announced, “our case for the NHS has been heard and actively supported’’. Regular discussions around the finances of the NHS continue to take place between my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Chief Executive of NHS England.
The NHS will be receiving £10 billion more per year in real terms by 2020-21 compared to 2014-15. The following table sets out the financial settlement allocated to the NHS.
NHS budget for Spending Review period
|
Revenue and capital combined |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
|
Total (£ million) |
100,500 |
105,975 |
109,337 |
111,824 |
114,929 |
119,035 |
|
Real terms increase on previous year (%) |
3.7% |
1.3% |
0.3% |
0.7% |
1.3% |
|
|
Real terms increase on 2015-16 baseline (£ billion) |
3.8 |
5.3 |
5.8 |
6.7 |
8.4 |
|
|
Real terms increase on 2014-15 baseline (£ billion) |
2.0 |
6.0 |
7.0 |
8.0 |
9.0 |
10.0 |
Note:
These figures differ from the NHS Total Departmental Expenditure Limit (TDEL) figures announced at the Spending Review due to a number of technical adjustments, including transfers of functions. The main transfer of function is the move of 0-5 public health services from NHS England to local government. There are a small number of other transfers including the move of the Leadership Academy to Health Education England. To ensure comparability of numbers, in this table £500 million has been removed from the 2015-16 baseline, representing 6 months of funding for 0-5 public health services between 1 April and 30 September 2015 and these other planned transfers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Harris on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress of negotiations to reform the EU and the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Mr David Lidington
The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) has set out substantial reforms in four key areas to fix the problems in the UK’s relationship with the EU. Technical talks have been ongoing since July. The Prime Minister updated leaders at the October European Council and wrote to President Tusk on 10 November. Leaders will return to the issue at the December European Council.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-01-08.
To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, which Anglican churches within the Diocese of Blackburn were damaged by flooding in December 2015; and what the extent of damage to each such church was.
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Within the Diocese of Blackburn seven churches and churchyards, the diocesan retreat house at Whalley Abbey and three Church of England primary schools were damaged by floodwater. Many have also found that the boilers and heating systems have been damaged beyond repair and extensive programmes of works will need to be undertaken to both dry the buildings out and restore or replace furniture, carpets and school materials.
Reports of damage are still being registered across the Dioceses of Blackburn, Carlisle, Manchester, West Yorkshire and the Dales and York. To date 129 church properties have registered substantial damage from the December storms with our insurers, though I expect that figure to rise. The Cathedral and Church Buildings Council of the Church of England will be working with the dioceses to develop robust disaster management and recovery plans and flood adaptation measures for churches and other buildings.
Within the Blackburn Diocese
|
Parish Name / building |
Grade or * listing / Status |
Type of damage |
|
St Michael’s on Wyre |
Grade 1 |
Water damage and damage to the boiler |
|
St Michael’s, Much Hoole |
Grade 2* |
Water damage and damage to the boiler |
|
St Mary the Virgin, Eccleston |
Grade 2* |
Water damage |
|
St Michael & All Angels, Croston |
Grade 2* |
Severe water damage |
|
St John the Evangelist, Lancaster (Incare of Churches Conservation Trust) |
Grade 2* |
Severe water damage |
|
St John the Baptist, Tunstall |
Grade 1 |
Damage to the boiler |
|
St Wilfrid’s, Ribchester |
Grade 1 |
Damage to the graveyard and loss of many burials and monuments |
|
Whalley Abbey |
Grade 1 and Scheduled Ancient Monument |
Major water damage to the Abbey building |
|
Kirkland & Catterall St. Helen’s CofE School |
Primary School |
Severe water damage |
|
St. Michael’s on Wyre C of E School |
Primary School |
Major water damage |
|
Whalley CofE School |
Primary School |
Basement flooded and water damage |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the transfer of HMS Cambria to Cardiff Bay is expected to be completed.
Mark Lancaster
On current plans, completion is expected in the autumn of 2018.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to facilitate the development of an improved labelling code in the UK.
George Eustice
The Food Information Regulations (No. 1855) were introduced in 2014 and has resulted in better and more consistent labelling of food in a number of areas, including allergen labelling, ingredients labelling and, from the end of this year, nutrition labelling.
Origin labelling is also improved by these Regulations with new rules on origin labelling of meat of poultry, sheep, goat and pigs introduced in April last year. In addition, we look forward to prospective implementing acts on origin labelling of ingredients of foods, including meat and dairy, where this is different from the place that the food itself was made. The Government is fully engaged in these discussions and expects them to result in improved labelling of meat and dairy products in due course.
We have been pressing for mandatory origin labelling on dairy products, in particular lightly processed dairy products such as butter, cheese and cream but have met with some resistance from the European Commission. We will continue to press for these improvements.
.