Category: Speeches

Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons he ended the insolvency exemption from the 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act on 17 December 2015.

Dominic Raab

Since the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012, it has always been the government’s stated intention that the exemption for insolvency cases would be temporary. Commencement of Part 2 of LASPO’s conditional fee (or ‘no win no fee’) arrangement reforms for insolvency, was announced in December and will apply from April this year. The aim of LASPO’s reforms was to control the cost of civil litigation.

Ministry of Justice Officials discussed Professor Walton’s report with him, but the Ministry of Justice did not agree with his conclusions. Officials have also met representatives of insolvency practitioners who use no win no fee arrangements to fund these cases, as well as those who fund them in other ways.

January 1, 2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the quality and experience of inspectors of the decision by the Care Quality Commission to outsource services to Remploy.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Experts by Experience provide an important role in the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspections programme, working alongside the CQC’s professional inspectors. Experts by Experience provide valuable insights and judgements, talking to people who use the service and observing the environment and the quality of care hospitals and care homes provide.

In December 2015, the CQC announced the successful winners of the new contracts to provide Experts by Experience, Choice Support and Remploy Ltd. The Experts by Experience service has been an outsourced service since its inception. The CQC’s professional inspectors are not outsourced and are unaffected by these contracts.

The delivery of these services from 1 February 2016 by Remploy is as a result of a compliant procurement of these services. The procurement process included a rigorous evaluation of each of the tendering organisations response to delivering the service requirements against quality standards for service delivery.

The CQC’s decision to award these new contracts focussed on expanding the numbers of Experts by Experience involved in the CQC’s inspections, ensuring that the high quality contribution Experts by Experience have provided to date is maintained and delivering value for money.

The CQC is the independent regulator for health and adult social care in England. It is responsible for its own staffing requirements, including any decisions on contracts around the supplying of Experts by Experience for its inspections of providers. In line with Cabinet Office approvals processes, the Department:

– gave approval for the CQC to invite tenders for the Experts by Experience programme; and

– reviewed and approved the CQC’s business case, to enable the CQC to proceed with finalising new contracts for Experts by Experience.

January 1, 2023
Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Attorney General, how many unduly lenient sentences were given out to (a) British nationals, (b) non-British EU nationals and (c) nationals from outside the EU in each of the last three years.

Robert Buckland

The nationality of the offenders referred to the court is not collated centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

January 1, 2023
Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-04-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what investments his Department plans to be (a) permitted and (b) excluded under a lifetime ISA.

Harriett Baldwin

The new Lifetime ISA will provide savers with the flexibility to save towards a first home and retirement at the same time.

From April 2017, people aged 18 to 40 will be able to save up to £4,000 each year into a Lifetime ISA and receive a 25% bonus from the Government.

The Government is engaging with the industry on the detail of implementation and regulation of the Lifetime ISA. Further details will be announced when the Government brings forward legislation to enact the Lifetime ISA in the autumn.

January 1, 2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-05-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of action being taken in Greece to (1) increase capacity for processing asylum applications, (2) speed up family reunion cases from Greece to all EU member states, and (3) improve reception and living conditions for refugees and migrants.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We welcome the action that is being taken in Greece to: increase capacity for processing asylum applications; speed up family reunion cases from Greece to all EU member states; and improve reception and living conditions for refugees and migrants.

The UK continues to support Greece and other Member States. As notified in my statement of 21 April, HCWS687, 75 UK expert personnel will be deployed to Greece to support implementation of the EU-Turkey Migration Agreement and will conduct a number of duties. A proportion of the UK expert personnel will work closely with European Asylum Support Officer (EASO) coordinators and the Greek Asylum Service to process cases through the admissibility process and provide expert support to the Greek authorities and other EU partners on overall co-ordination of the response. Supporting the operation of the Greek asylum service is a fundamental part of this Government’s approach to identifying individuals in need of protection at the earliest possible opportunity and ensuring they are identified as eligible for family reunification consideration under the terms of Dublin Regulation.

This deployment is in addition to the support that we are already providing to the Greek asylum service. Two UK experts have already been deployed to the Greek Dublin Unit and have provided valuable assistance. A third was due to be deployed, however, EASO has informed us that support to the Greek Dublin Unit is currently at full complement. We stand ready to deploy further experts as soon as they are required. We are confident that through our cooperation and concerted joint efforts we can identify and facilitate the swift transfers of cases through our national systems and make effective use of the Dublin Regulation.

January 1, 2023
Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average loss incurred by people in receipt of Universal Credit who are in regular employment and paid every four weeks and receive two sets of earnings in one assessment period compared with claimants with the same annual income who are paid monthly with one set of earnings in each assessment period since the roll-out of the digital service.

Damian Hinds

The specific information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Unlike tax credits which meant that claimants received demands for repayments and could never be sure they were receiving the correct entitlement, Universal Credit assesses monthly earnings and income in that month. That lessens the burden on claimants who have fluctuating incomes or irregular payments so they can budget with greater confidence and without the anxiety they will be hit with a demand for repayment.

We are currently implementing a test and learn approach to understand the interaction of Universal Credit and employer pay cycles and its effect on awards. This work will include discussions with employers.

January 1, 2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

Rory Stewart

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

January 1, 2023
Lord Boateng – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the resources allocated by the EU to address the root causes of informal migration in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK welcomes the EU’s ongoing, and growing, commitment to supporting development in Africa. At the Valletta Summit, EU and African leaders made clear their shared determination to provide a comprehensive solution to irregular migration that deals with the root causes as well as responds to the consequences. To support these efforts the EU launched a £1.3billion Trust Fund to improve stability in Africa and tackle the drivers of migration, to which the UK announced a £2million direct contribution. Factoring in our contribution via other EU funds, the UK’s total contribution to the overall fund is approximately £187million. In total the EU will spend around €10billion in Africa between now and 2020 to help create jobs, security, better living standards and better governance. We believe that this increased assistance will play an important role in helping tackle the root causes of irregular migration.

Member States also contribute through bilateral funding, and the UK alone provides £4billion a year in aid to Africa. At Valletta the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced an additional £200 million package for Africa, which will help build more resilience to economic and environmental pressures; support those displaced by recent crises; and provide greater access to services, education and economic development programmes.

January 1, 2023
Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the effect of Scottish Government policies on the level of new affordable social housing in Scotland.

Brandon Lewis

Delivery of affordable housing in Scotland is a devolved matter.

January 1, 2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in what circumstances his Department can terminate the (a) Southern, (b) Thameslink and (c) GTR contracts early.

Claire Perry

Whilst Southern and Thameslink are used as operating names by the franchisee, they are in fact part of the GTR franchise, which operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) Franchise.

Schedule 10.2 of the TSGN Franchise Agreement (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/488198/tsgn-franchise-agreement.pdf p.506) specifies how this franchise can be terminated by the Department.

“

January 1, 2023