Category: Speeches

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 18747, if he will publish the eligibility criteria for advance universal credit payments.

    Priti Patel

    To be eligible for a Universal Credit (UC) Advance payment, the claimant has to have an underlying entitlement to UC, be in financial need, and be able to afford to repay the Advance. These criteria are contained within the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations 2013.

    If during the initial work search interview, a work coach identifies a claimant is in financial need, or cannot manage until they receive their first UC payment, they will advise them about advance payments.

  • Andrew Griffiths – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Griffiths – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the (a) potential merits and (b) cost to the public purse of extending the class 1 secondary national insurance contributions exemption for employees aged under 21 to include employees aged under 25.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is determined to support young people into work. The existing Employer NICs relief for under 21 year olds recognises that the problem of youth unemployment is most acute for those at the youngest end of the scale. The Employer NICs relief for apprentices under 25 (to be introduced this April) focuses resources on those seeking to gain skills and experience through an apprenticeship to improve their employment prospects.

    HM Revenue and Customs does not routinely estimate the cost of extending tax or NICs reliefs, so an accurate assessment of the cost of extending the Employer NICs relief to all under 25s is not available. However, the Government keeps all taxes and tax reliefs under review as a matter of course. Any decision on extending these existing NICs reliefs would depend on whether this would offer value for money in helping young people find and stay in work.

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 20 January (HL5278), what are the equivalent figures for public spending on adult social care; and why percentages have declined since 2009/10.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is usually reported on a United Kingdom basis.

    The Department is responsible for reporting on adult social care spend in England and is not in a position to provide equivalent spend figures for adult social care by the devolved administrations.

    Spend on adult social care in England, including National Health Service transfers, as a percentage of UK GDP is set out in the table below.

    Adult Social Care (ASC) £bn

    UK GDP £bn

    Percentage of GDP Spent on ASC

    2009-10

    15.7

    1503.6

    1.05

    2010-11

    16.1

    1574.9

    1.02

    2011-12

    15.6

    1629.1

    0.95

    2012-13

    15.4

    1678.9

    0.91

    2013-14

    15.5

    1756.2

    0.88

    2014-15

    15.5

    1830.4

    0.85

    Table notes:

    1. Spend information for 2009-10 onwards is based upon Department for Communities and Local Government outturn data.
    2. 2014-15 figures are from Health & Social Care Information Centre Adult Social Care Finance Return data. This data collection is new for 2014-15 and is not comparable to historical spend figures.
    3. GDP figures sourced from HM Treasury 23 December 2015

    Ultimately it is a local decision on how much to spend on adult social care. In order to get the deficit under control, local government has had to find its share of the savings.

    Councils have risen to the challenge of achieving savings whilst setting balanced budgets, keeping council tax low and maintaining satisfaction in services. Many grant ring fences have been removed over the last five years, giving councils more flexibility to meet local priorities as they see fit.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidelines are issued to providers of NHS services on marketing of NHS services alongside private services.

    George Freeman

    A code of practice for the promotion of National Health Service-funded services was published in March 2008 and no further guidance has been produced since then. With regard to use of the NHS Trademark (logo) the NHS Identity guidelines:

    www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk

    set out how the NHS Trademark can and cannot be used.

    “

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of mobile financial services on levels of extreme poverty in developing countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Mobile financial services have a key role to play in connecting people to basic services, supporting economic empowerment and building resilience of individuals and families. DFID operates a number of financial inclusion programmes, many of which include elements to promote the development of mobile financial services, and all are required to undertake a formal Annual Review process to measure progress towards their expected impact. Our most significant programme in this area to date has been the technology programme for branchless banking, which at completion had provided access to financial services for just over 59m people globally.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34026, what types of data her Department holds on unaccompanied children who have (a) applied for asylum in accordance with Article 8 of the Dublin III Regulation and (b) been granted asylum in accordance with Article 8 of the Dublin III Regulation.

    James Brokenshire

    Dublin III is the mechanism in place used to determine the Member State deemed to be responsible for hearing an applicant’s asylum claim, providing the asylum claim has been lodged in at lease one of Member States. Article 8 of the Dublin regulations deals specifically with asylum claimants who are unaccompanied minor. Asylum claims are not granted under Article 8 of the Dublin III Regulations.

    Home Office records regarding the processing of Dublin III cases are recorded on the Case Information Database (CID), and would include but are not restricted to, name, nationality, date of birth, Member State where the asylum claim was lodged, Dublin Article relevant to the claim, request/decision details and Dublin case outcome details. Currently case progression data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is currently subject to a full manual interrogation of individual records to improve the quality of the central data.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications of market uncertainty following the EU referendum for progress in meeting her target for creating new apprenticeships.

    Robert Halfon

    Some market and economic volatility can be expected as the process for leaving the EU unfolds. In recent years, however, the UK has been the fastest growing economy in the G7 and one of the strongest major advanced economies in the world. The Government has already outlined how this strength means that we are as well-placed as any economy could be to meet any economic challenges that lie ahead.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many churches from each denomination in each region have applied for funding under the Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme up to close of applications on 20 September 2016.

    Sarah Newton

    The deadline for the Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme was extended from 20 September to 4 October. The responses received are as follows:

    105 applications were received up to 20 September.

    Region

    Denomination and Number

    East Midlands (2)

    Church of England – 1 Miscellaneous – 1

    East of England (3)

    Church of England – 1 Roman Catholic – 2

    London (17)

    Baptist – 3 Church of England – 4 Greek Orthodox – 2 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 6 Roman Catholic – 1

    North East (2)

    Church of England – 1 Methodist – 1

    North West (16)

    Baptist – 1 Church of England – 6 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 4

    South East (15)

    Church of England – 5 Greek Orthodox – 2 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 4

    South West (14)

    Baptist – 2 Church of England – 2 Miscellaneous – 1 Roman Catholic – 9

    Wales (6)

    Church in Wales – 3 Roman Catholic – 3

    West Midlands (18)

    Church of England – 8 Greek Orthodox – 1 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 6 Roman Catholic – 2

    Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (12)

    Church of England – 8 Miscellaneous – 2 Roman Catholic – 2

    Following the deadline extension, between 21 September and 4 October there were a further 118 applications, which are broken down below.

    Region

    Denomination and Number

    East Midlands (2)

    Baptist – 1 Miscellaneous – 1

    East of England (6)

    Church of England – 2 Miscellaneous – 3 Roman Catholic – 1

    London (41)

    Baptist – 2 Church of England – 12 Greek Orthodox – 2 Methodist – 2 Miscellaneous – 19 Roman Catholic – 4

    North East (4)

    Church of England – 3 Methodist – 1

    North West (11)

    Baptist – 1 Church of England – 1 Methodist – 2 Miscellaneous – 4 Roman Catholic – 3

    South East (11)

    Church of England – 5 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 5

    South West (11)

    Church of England – 4 Miscellaneous – 3 Roman Catholic – 4

    Wales (6)

    Church in Wales – 3 Roman Catholic – 3

    West Midlands (12)

    Church of England – 4 Miscellaneous – 5 Roman Catholic – 3

    Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (14)

    Church of England – 4 Methodist – 1 Miscellaneous – 5 Roman Catholic – 4

    Please note, where we have attributed a miscellaneous result this captures Evangelical, Pentecostal, Church Centres and Reform Christian Churches.

    In total 223 applications were received from churches by close of play 4 October.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department will meet the revised December 2015 target for upgrading air defence radars at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan to the TPS-77 radar standard.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Type 92 radars at Remote Radar Heads Buchan and Benbecula have both been upgraded to the TPS-77 standard; the Buchan upgrade was completed on 30 March 2015 and the Benbecula upgrade on 3 July 2015.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent aid agencies, including both UN and voluntary organisations, are working in the Greek islands nearest to Turkey; and whether they plan to encourage those agencies to do further work.

    Baroness Verma

    Meeting the humanitarian needs of the huge numbers of refugees arriving in Greece this year is a major challenge. The UK has so far provided £4.5 million to trusted partners working in Greece in support of the Greek authorities. With our funding, the Red Cross is providing assistance and emergency first aid to refugees and migrants arriving on the beaches. We are also providing assistance through the International Organisation for Migration and UNHCR, who are delivering essential coordination, reception and registration support, direct physical assistance, and protection services for the most vulnerable people. UK support is also being delivered via a consortium of NGOs led by the Start Network, and via the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, through which we have provided in-kind assistance of blankets, sleeping bags and tents.

    The scale of the response by aid agencies has been impressive but we continue to push for greater coordination, both between agencies and with the Greek government. We are holding discussions with major agencies and NGOs to assess the best way to do this and to plan effectively for 2016. We remain committed to responding in the most effective and comprehensive manner. DFID officials have also recently travelled to Greece to assess the current situation on the ground and how to further scale up support. We will consider further support as needs emerge.