Tag: 2015

Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will assess the costs and benefits of classifying parentally-agreed child support as income for means-tested benefits.

Priti Patel

In order to help encourage parents to take financial responsibility for their children and maximise the amount of maintenance that flows from the non-resident parent to the child, child maintenance payments made under the statutory scheme or through a family based arrangement are not treated as income for means tested benefits.

January 1, 2023
Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of female genital mutilation among mental health professionals.

Jane Ellison

As part of its £3 million national Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Prevention Programme, the Department is developing staff training and awareness materials on FGM focusing on the mental health and wellbeing of FGM survivors.

To increase health professionals’ awareness of this complex area, the Department has commissioned Health Education England to develop specialist FGM mental health e-learning, which will be provided free to all NHS professionals. Existing mental health training materials are also being updated by Health Education England to support awareness and recognition by health professionals of the impact of FGM on mental health.

A ministerial roundtable with senior stakeholders was held on 29 October 2015 to discuss this issue. The Department is working with specialist mental health professionals and professional bodies to consider how best to support commissioners to ensure that mental health services are able to meet the needs of FGM survivors.

January 1, 2023
Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces are able to maintain existing levels of frontline policing over the next five years.

Mike Penning

Ultimately, decisions on the size and composition of a police force’s workforce are for individual chief officers and Police and Crime Commissioners. The police have demonstrated that, with reform, it is possible to deliver more for less and to prioritise available resource at the frontline.

January 1, 2023
Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 17661, if she will recompense spousal visa applicants using the premium service but not receiving a determination on the day of application; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

All applicants who choose to use the premium service are offered a refund of the premium service fee if their applications cannot be determined due to unforeseen operational reasons on the day. However, if applicants do not arrive with the correct documentation and further checks are required that cannot be concluded on the day, then no recompense will be offered for the decision not being concluded on the day of the appointment.

January 1, 2023

Lord Trefgarne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Trefgarne on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how much has been paid to Electoral Reform Services for their supervision of each hereditary peers by-election since the start of the 2014–15 session in the House of Lords.

Lord Laming

The table below shows the date of the count of, those eligible to vote in the by-election and the amount paid to Electoral Reform Services in respect of each by-election since the start of the 2014–15 session.

Date of count	Those eligible to vote in the by-election	Amount paid to Electoral Reform Services
22 October 2014	All members of the House	£2,370
10 December 2014	Crossbench hereditary members	£950
3 February 2015	Crossbench hereditary members	£950
7 July 2015	Crossbench hereditary members	£950
16 September 2015	Conservative hereditary members	£950

The by-election in October 2014 involved the manning of a polling station for a day.

Amounts are exclusive of VAT. The table does not include two recent by-elections in respect of which Electoral Reform Services has provided services but not yet been paid.

January 1, 2023

Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which contracts worth more than £5 million his Department has signed since 1 September 2014; with which organisations such contracts have been signed; what the purpose was of each contract; what the (a) annual and (b) total cost is of each such contract; and what the length is of each such contract.

Mike Penning

All contracts awarded since 1 September 2014 over the value of £5 million are published on the Contracts Finder website:

Notices from 26 February 2015 onwards can be found at https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

This covers all notices from the 26^th February 2015 onwards.

An archive of notices going back to 11 February 2011 can be found at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/

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January 1, 2023
Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the evidence provided to the G20 summit in Turkey by President Putin of Russia that funding for ISIS activities has come from countries within the G20.

Mr David Cameron

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn) on 18 November 2015 Official Report, column 667.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave, during the Oral Statement on the G20 and Paris attacks that I made on 17 November, to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn), Official Report, column 528, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Mr Salmond), Official Report, column 536.

January 1, 2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 2 of the Government response to the Fifth Report from the Transport Committee, Session 2013-14, on Access to transport for disabled people, HC870, whether he plans to review his Department’s Inclusive Mobility guidance in 2015.

Andrew Jones

This Government plans to review the Inclusive Mobility Guidance during 2016. We are working with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) to assess what information should go in this publication and how to make it used and useful to a wide audience.

January 1, 2023
Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of her Department’s miscalculation of the amount of funding available for West Midlands Police on the adequacy of the provision of policing in Birmingham; and what steps she is taking to ensure effective policing in that city.

Mike Penning

The allocations provided to forces were indicative and intended to inform the consultation process. No funding to West Midlands Police or any other force was affected by this error.

The Government is now minded to delay the implementation of new arrangements. Funding allocations for 2016/17 will be determined using existing arrangements and will be set out in the Provisional Police Grant Report in December. It is a matter for Police and Crime Commissioners, working with Chief Officers to determine how to best manage their available resources.

January 1, 2023
Alex Chalk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what procedures the Child Support Agency (CSA) has to ensure that it takes account of a person’s assets as well as their income when calculating child maintenance payments; and if he will make it his policy to require the CSA to take into account the value of retained profit of any company controlled by the non-resident parent when calculating child maintenance payments from that parent.

Priti Patel

Across all three Child Maintenance schemes maintenance is calculated based on a person’s earned income, and does not normally include any consideration of assets.

Since 1996, clients have been able to request either that the standard maintenance calculation can be ‘departed’ or ‘varied’ (depending on which Child Maintenance scheme their case is under) in certain exceptional circumstances. These include where there is income generated from assets, such as property or dividends, which would not otherwise be taken into account.

Where a business retains profits for the purposes of ensuring continued existence and / or growth of the business, and provided the amounts retained are not unreasonable under UK taxation legislation, there is no provision to include these amounts in the calculation of a maintenance liability.

January 1, 2023