Category: Speeches

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of lethal operations in Yemen on (a) the civilian population and (b) security in that country.

    Mr Alan Duncan

    Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) activity and attacks continue to threaten Yemen’s development and security. DFID has made no specific assessment of the effect of such operations in Yemen, but along with other Departments has conducted detailed analyses of conflict and instability.

  • Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Huppert on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of passenger rail journeys that have been double counted because passengers have used multiple franchises to complete a single journey.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Secretary of State for Transport has made no estimate of the number of rail passenger journeys that have been double counted. The Office of Rail Regulation is responsible for rail passenger usage statistics and may have an estimate. Their contact details are:

    Address:

    Office of Rail Regulation

    One Kemble Street

    London

    WC2B 4AN

    Telephone: 020 7282 2000

    Email: rail.stats@orr.gov.uk

  • Sarah Newton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Newton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Newton on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for free social care were (a) approved and (b) rejected in England in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013.

    Norman Lamb

    Access to State financial support for adult social care in England is means-tested and is not generally provided free of charge. In this way, individuals are expected to pay towards the cost of their care and support based on what they can afford.

    Adults with less than £23,250 in capital can seek help with the cost of social care from their local authority. Local authorities carry out a financial assessment to decide what an individual can afford to pay. Local authorities must take account of an individual’s capital assets and income, including income from Benefits and the State Pension.

    Information on the cost to local authorities of carrying out financial assessments is not collected centrally.

    In its 2011 report, the independent Palliative Care Funding Review recommended the provision of free social care at the end of life. A series of palliative care funding pilots were established to test the review’s recommendations, and these completed their work in March 2014. NHS England is currently analysing the financial data collected from the pilots. Once this analysis has been completed, a decision will be made on the issue of free social care at the end of life, taking into account this analysis and wider policy and financial considerations.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gordon Marsden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the performance of the Pensions Regulator is assessed in relation to trends in (a) take-up of workplace pensions and (b) anticipated retirement income from current workplace pension accounts.

    Steve Webb

    The Pensions Regulator pursues five main objectives as set out in section 5 of the Pensions Act 2004. These objectives include the protection of benefits to the members of work-based pensions schemes. The Pensions Regulator’s key performance indicators are designed to operate in support of its statutory objectives.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) net and (b) gross administration charges for the national insurance pension scheme were in each of the last 10 years.

    Steve Webb

    The Department for Work and Pensions administers the national insurance pension scheme (State Retirement Pension) and fully recovers its administrative costs from the National Insurance Fund operated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The net cost to the Department of administering the national insurance pension scheme is therefore zero.

    At the start of each financial year, costs are calculated on the basis of latest workload forecasts and the most recent audited unit costs. The amount to be recovered is then agreed with HMRC.

    Costs recovered from the National Insurance Fund in relation to administration costs for the national insurance pension scheme were as follows:

    Year Amount

    £ millions

    2007-08 504.5

    2008-09 391.9

    2009-10 390.3

    2010-11 348.6

    2011-12 221.6

    2012-13 252.6

    2013-14 246.9

    2014-15 209.9

    Prior to 2007 the charge was not calculated on a benefit by benefit basis and therefore we do not hold any details of costs recovered from the National Insurance Fund relating specifically to the national insurance pension scheme.

  • Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Bradley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have (1) applied for, and (2) been granted, help through (a) the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, and (b) the Help to Buy equity loan scheme, in each of the ten districts of Greater Manchester.

    Lord Newby

    LORD NEWBY

    a) On 23 March, the Prime Minister announced that 2,572 mortgages were supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme in its first four months. 342 of these were in the North West. The Government does not generally collect data on the number of applications participating lenders receive for mortgages supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme. However, as a single submission to the Government, two of the largest lenders in the Scheme, Lloyds and RBS, have said they received 9,569 applications, and one of the smallest lenders in the Scheme, Aldermore, received 2,313 applications.

    Now the Scheme is open, the Government is collecting data on mortgages covered by the guarantee, and will report in due course.

    b) The Government publishes monthly statistics on the cumulative number of homes purchased (legal completions), with the support of Help to Buy: equity loans, by local authority in England. The data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics.

    “

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, columns 509-10W, on electoral registration, whether his Department provides funding to Bite the Ballot to increase voter registration.

    Greg Clark

    The Government recently announced that all 363 local authorities and valuation joint boards in Great Britain and five national organisations are sharing £4.2 million funding to promote voter registration amongst under-registered groups.

    Organisations with ideas on how funding can be used to create and support opportunities to promote voter registration, including Bite the Ballot, have been encouraged to approach local authorities, and I emphasised this point with Bite the Ballot when I met them in March this year.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-04-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that library facilities in prisons, including the availability and ordering of books, are fit for purpose.

    Lord Faulks

    Prison library services are, in the majority of prisons, provided by Public Library Authorities. Prison libraries enable prisoners to receive, subject to the constraints of operating within a custodial environment, a service equivalent to that provided for library users in the community.

    We consider them to be fit for purpose.

  • Meg Munn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Meg Munn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Munn on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received in support of his proposals to allow further delegation of children’s social care functions in order to improve outcomes for children in receipt of child protection services.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Responses to the consultation on further delegation of children’s social care functions are currently being considered.

  • Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dr Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Julian Huppert on 2014-03-31.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure long-term capital funding for sixth form colleges.

    Mr David Laws

    The 2013 Spending Round confirmed the levels of capital funding that the Department for Education will receive between 2015 and 2021. This settlement will enable the Department to develop a long-term approach, allowing us to consider making allocations over a number of years, which would help schools, sixth-form colleges and their responsible bodies to plan with greater confidence.

    I am clear that in future years our funding should be better targeted to where it is most needed, and it is for this reason that the Department is currently collecting up to date information on the condition of school buildings, including sixth-form colleges, through a comprehensive survey. This survey is due to be completed by the summer and it is our intention that the results will be used to inform the allocation of capital maintenance funding from 2015-16.