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Tag: 2015

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will automatically exempt people (a) who are homeless, (b) with mental ill health and (c) in other at-risk groups from benefit sanctions.

    Priti Patel

    The sanctions process encourages benefit claimants to do everything they can to find work. Evidence shows that they have a positive impact on behaviour – over 70% JSA & over 60% ESA claimants say that sanctions make it more likely they will follow the rules.

    Jobseekers are only asked to meet reasonable requirements, taking into account their circumstances and capability, including mental health conditions, disability housing status and caring responsibilities. These requirements are clearly explained and agreed by jobseekers with their Work Coach and set out in their Claimant Commitment.

    As we already have a number of flexibilities in place, we will not be automatically exempting people who are homeless, who have mental health issues, or other vulnerable groups from benefit sanctions.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2015 to Question 14487, whether revenue received from the criminal courts charge have exceeded the cost to the public purse of running such courts since that charge was introduced.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    As the Justice Secretary stated in the house on 3 November, “it is right that we find better ways to pay the costs of running our criminal courts, and the introduction of this charge has made it possible to recover some of the costs from offenders, which reduces the burden on taxpayers. The Government are, of course, keeping the operation of the criminal courts charge under review.”

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings by Save the Children (1) that Yemen is the country (a) with the highest number of people in humanitarian need, and (b) with the highest number of casualties owing to explosive weapons; and (2) that at least three children are killed each day in Yemen.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The humanitarian situation in Yemen is now one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 80 per cent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. The UN declared Yemen a Level three crisis on 1 July, a category reserved for the most serious and complex crises (others are Syria, Iraq & South Sudan). Humanitarian needs remain significant across all sectors. According to the UN, 7.6 million are facing severe food shortages and 2.1 million people are malnourished, including 320,000 children who are severely malnourished. 2.3 million Yemenis are internally displaced. The UK is the 4th largest donor to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen (providing £75 million, including funding to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children, and the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) to provide specific support to children on protection, malnutrition, health, water and sanitation).

    In compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL), no weapon should be used indiscriminately, disproportionately, or to deliberately target civilians and civilian objects. We therefore continue to urge all parties to the conflict to act in compliance with IHL and to conduct open and transparent investigations into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached.

    We remain extremely concerned by civilian casualties as a result of the conflict. A political solution is the best way to bring long-term stability to Yemen and we are supporting the UN’s efforts through diplomatic channels to achieve a ceasefire and return to an inclusive political process, including through the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), our ambassadors, and the UK Special Envoy to Yemen, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan).

  • Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14925, on publications, what deadlines his Department places on its publication of transparency information.

    David Mundell

    I refer the hon Member to my answer of 9 November 2015 (UIN 14925).

  • Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Quirk on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 17 November (HL3221) concerning the use of forensic linguistics by the Home Office in immigration cases, whether they have plans to enable the admittance in court, as in some other European jurisdictions, of evidence derived from forensic linguistics, and if not, what are their reasons.

    Lord Bates

    Evidence derived from language analysis undertaken for immigration purposes is admissible and, in practice, is routinely presented in immigration appeals.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of people who (a) died and (b) were injured on the road who were vulnerable road users.

    Andrew Jones

    (a) In 2014, 51 per cent of people killed in reported personal injury road accidents were vulnerable road users – pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motorcyclists and horse riders (899 of 1,775).

    (b) In 2014, 34 per cent of people injured (serious or slight) in reported personal injury road accidents were vulnerable road users (65,606 of 192,702).

  • Lord Brabazon of Tara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Brabazon of Tara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brabazon of Tara on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total cost of distributing the £10 Christmas Bonus for pensioners.

    Baroness Altmann

    This information is not available.

    Both Pensioners and working age people in receipt of certain benefits receive the Christmas Bonus. Christmas Bonus payments are usually automatically generated based on receipt of a qualifying benefit. The cost of doing this is not separately identifiable from the administrative costs of the qualifying benefits.

  • David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Crausby – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate the effects of provisions of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove current gender timetable inequality.

    The equalisation of State Pension age was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision. The Pensions Act 1995 contained legislation to equalise women’s State Pension age and, since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

    A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth around £1 billion in total.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Palestinian refugees who were, or still are, in Syria are eligible for resettlement as being among the most vulnerable.

    Lord Bates

    Only United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) registered Syrian refugees are eligible under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme, which has been expanded to resettle up to 20,000 during this Parliament. We work closely with UNHCR to identify cases that it deems in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

    The Syrian Resettlement Scheme is operated in addition to our global resettlement schemes: Gateway and Mandate, which are not nationality specific.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest in each year between 1995 and 2009 went into arrears on their (a) interest repayments and (b) capital repayments (i) during the first 13 weeks of the waiting period and (ii) between weeks 13 and 39 of the waiting period.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested regarding the number and proportion of people who made a claim for support for mortgage interest between 1995 and 2009 who went into arrears on the interest or capital repayment during the waiting period is not available.