The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-06-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families in (a) Bristol South constituency and (b) England have re-applied for child benefit for a young person following that person’s dropping out of an apprenticeship.
Damian Hinds
The information is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who were affected by the recent server issue affecting the universal credit portal; and if he will make a statement.
Damian Hinds
Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.
The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.
We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many single parent households there are in the UK.
Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information the Government holds on the proportion of small businesses that have ceased trading after experiencing flood damage in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
The Department does not hold specific information on the proportion of businesses, large or small, that have ceased trading after experiencing flood damage in the last five years.
However following the flooding of Winter 2013/14, of the 4,859 businesses that were reported by Local Authorities as being impacted by flooding, only 3 businesses were reported as not fully operational by October 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5040), what assessment they and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have made of the case for all women and their children receiving equal protections; and what recommendations the HFEA has made to the Department of Health on that issue.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Human Fertilisation and Embyrology Authority has not made an assessment of the case for women who obtain sperm in a private arrangement (and any resulting children) to have the same protections as women who obtain sperm through a licensed clinic, for the reasons set out in the response to the Noble Lord on 27 January (HL5040).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the level of installed capacity was for (a) wind and (b) solar energy in Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last 10 years.
Andrea Leadsom
The level of installed capacity for wind and solar PV in Yorkshire and the Humber, for the ten years to 2014, is given in the attached table. Data for 2015 will be available on 29 September, 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure mental health service user groups are consulted in advance about arrangements for mental health conferences organised by his Department or NHS England.
Alistair Burt
The second mental health Crisis Care Concordat national summit was held on 24 November 2015, hosted jointly by the Department and Mind.
The event concentrated on progress with improving crisis care since the launch of the Concordat in February 2014. The Summit was full, with 250 delegates and speakers. All delegates were Concordat activists – either involved in their local Crisis Concordat groups or representatives from national signatory and supporter organisations. People with lived experience and carers attended, as well as members of the National Survivor User Network. Some attendees will have been present representing their organisations but also will have had lived experience, and it is therefore not possible to calculate the number of those attendees who were mental health service users.
All Departmental conferences involve stakeholders and service users as part of the preparation process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-04-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek to achieve a local ceasefire around the Yarmouk Camp in south Damascus so that UNWRA can deliver food to the population in the Camp.
Baroness Verma
The UK is extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yarmouk camp in Syria, where intensified fighting between Daesh and Al- Nusra Front in recent weeks has exacerbated the suffering of approximately 6,000 civilians there, who are besieged by Syrian regime forces.
The UK will consider any option compliant with international law that might save lives in Syria. We do not think it would be feasible to broker a local ceasefire in Yarmouk camp, given the parties involved in the fighting there. However, through the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) the UK will continue to support the resumption of a nationwide Cessation of Hostilities as a step towards an inclusive, Syrian-owned political transition.
The UK is committed to supporting the most vulnerable people in need inside Syria wherever they are. As part of the ISSG we agreed with other members on 11 February that humanitarian access should be opened to a number of priority areas, including Yarmouk, as a first step to accelerating full and sustained access across Syria. Since then, UNRWA has delivered 21 convoys with multi-sectoral assistance to 19,000 people in Yalda, Babella, Beit-Sahm, including thousands of residents in and from Yarmouk. We welcome UNRWA’s efforts in protecting and assisting vulnerable Palestinian refugees. To date, the UK has allocated over £59 million to UNRWA to provide assistance for Palestinian refugees affected by the violence in Syria and the region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the liability is under the 2015-16 Army Readiness Order for the size and deployability requirements of the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Challenger 2 is a highly capable Main Battle Tank and sits at the heart of the Army’s war fighting Armoured Infantry Brigades and is a key part of the UK’s capability. The current Challenger 2 fleet consists of 227 main battle tanks all of which would be available for operational use if required.
The following Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps are equipped with Challenger 2: The King’s Royal Hussars, Tidworth; The Queen’s Royal Hussars, Germany and The Royal Tank Regiment, Tidworth. We do not routinely comment on specific levels of readiness and locations for individual capabilities as to do so would compromise operational security, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
As at May 2016 the Challenger 2 fleet was assessed to meet 100% of the fleet size and deployability requirements as set out in the 2015-16 Army Readiness Order.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many financial penalties have been imposed to date on respondent employers for aggravated breach of employment law under section 16 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013; and how many such penalties (a) have been paid and (b) remain unpaid.
Margot James
Between 6 April 2014 and the end of August 2016, Employment Tribunals have imposed 16 financial penalties on respondent employers for aggravated breaches under section 16 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. Ten have been paid so far and five remain outstanding. One company has been dissolved.