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Tag: 2015

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate how many households will be entitled to tax credits in 2016-17.

    Damian Hinds

    The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

    A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

    To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

    An illustrative renting family with two children, where one parent works full-time on the minimum wage, will be over £2,400 better off in cash terms by 2020.

    The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

    In response to a request from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, the government has chosen to produce and release an impact assessment on the tax credit changes to the Committee. The impact assessment shows that 60% of the tax credit savings come from the half of tax credit claimants with the highest income.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to undertake the next triennial review of stakes and prizes for gaming machines.

    Tracey Crouch

    Following the last review, new measures were introduced in April 2015 to help players of fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) stay in control. Players of FOBTs who want to stake more than £50 in one play are now required to interact with staff over the counter or register a customer account card. My department are in the process of conducting an evaluation of thesemeasuresand I will publish the results in due course.

  • Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Coffey on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each local authority area were excluded from school on the most recent date for which figures are available.

    Edward Timpson

    The number of permanent exclusions and the number of pupils with one or more fixed period exclusion by local authority area in England is published in the “Permanent and fixed period exclusions in England: 2013 to 2014”[1] National Statistics release.

    The required information is available in Tables 19 and 20 of the “Local authority tables: SFR27/2015”. Please open the “Local authority tables: SFR27/2015”.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2013-to-2014

    “

  • Liam Fox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Liam Fox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what timescale he has set for the completion of the next tranche of zero carbon housing.

    James Wharton

    As detailed in the Productivity Plan – ‘Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation’ – the Government will not be implementing zero carbon homes. The zero carbon homes standard, in particular the ‘allowable solutions’ carbon off-setting element, would have placed a significant regulatory burden on the house building industry.

    The energy performance standards for new homes were strengthened by over 30% during the last Parliament. The latest changes to standards came into force last year and it is important for those changes to be given time to bed in.

    The Government is keeping the energy standards for homes under review and must also meet its obligations under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. As part of this the Government must report to the European Commission in 2017 on whether UK building standards are ‘cost optimal’ and ensure that all new buildings are ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ from 2021.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will pay for the cost of traps used in the trial badger culls.

    George Eustice

    While cull companies are encouraged to be self-sufficient in procuring their own equipment, Defra has loaned cull companies a number of traps from its existing stocks, which are used for a number of projects. All cage traps loaned must be returned on completion of culls.

  • Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he or ministers in his Department will next meet their Indonesian countertparts; and if he will ensure that the detention of Rebecca Prosser in Indonesia will be raised at such meetings.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    In consultation with Ms Prosser’s legal team and advisors, the case has been raised at senior level on ten separate occasions. I personally raised it with the Indonesian Foreign Minister in September at the UN General Assembly and it was last raised on 9 October by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Director General Economic & Consular with the Indonesian Director General of Protocol and Consular Affairs. We plan to raise the case again on 29 October during a meeting in London with the representatives of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to replace bursaries for nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare services tuition with student loans; and if he will make a statement.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department has received a number of representations from organisations, including Royal Colleges, professional bodies and representatives of universities, about a number of issues relating to healthcare student education funding in England including a potential move from the current system of funding to student loans.

    No decisions have been taken on any changes to the funding of health care education and training in England. The Department will consider all of its expenditure as part of the Spending Review. The Government will announce the outcome of the Spending Review on 25 November 2015.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department has spent on (a) mental and (b) physical health (i) in total and (ii) as a proportion of the total departmental budget in each financial year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    The table below shows figures for secondary healthcare spend on mental illness which have been taken from the published NHS (England) Summarised Account (2009-10 to 2010-11) and the Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts (2011-12 and 2012-13). Mental illness healthcare is also commissioned in primary care environments. However, it is not possible to separately identify the amount of primary care expenditure on mental illness from the statutory accounting data collected by the Department.

    Total revenue expenditure has been used as a proxy for ‘budget’ in order to calculate the proportion of spend on mental health.

    Year

    Purchase of Secondary Healthcare: Mental Illness £ billion

    NHS Revenue Expenditure under Clear Line of Sight Rules £ billion

    Spend on mental health as % of NHS revenue expenditure

    2009-10

    8.08

    94.42

    8.56%

    2010-11

    8.37

    97.47

    8.59%

    2011-12

    8.61

    100.27

    8.59%

    2012-13

    8.80

    102.57

    8.58%

    The Department did not collect data on Mental Illness spend by Clinical Commissioning Groups for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years.

    The Department does not collect separate identifiable information on spend on physical health.

    “

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will commission independent research into the causes of Islamophobia.

    Karen Bradley

    A key part of our new Countering Extremism Strategy, published this week, outlines how we will engage with and protect Muslim communities from Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.

    We have access to a wide range of research on Islamophobia from academics, non-government organisations and from the Extremism Analysis Unit.

    We have announced a new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan. As part of this we are engaging with partner organisations to establish the plan’s priority focus areas including future research requirement.

    The Government also recognises the risk of Islamophobia in the UK as well as the increasing number of attacks aimed at the Muslim Community. To address this the PM has announced that from next year all police forces will be required to record Anti-Muslim hate crime as a distinct category when it is reported.

  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will estimate the number of litigants in person in the family courts who are cross examined by their abuser.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Ministry of Justice does not collect information centrally on Litigants in Person, or on who is cross examining witnesses in family court cases.