Tag: Cathy Jamieson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review his Department’s policy on issuing travel warrants to rural residents for (a) fortnightly signing-on and (b) other interviews and advisory meetings to take account of the need for such residents to travel further than average to jobcentres.

Esther McVey

Jobcentre Plus has flexibility to meet the particular needs of claimants living in rural areas.

For example postal signing can be offered and claimants attending interviews on days outside their normal day of attendance can have their travelling expenses reimbursed.

Work Coaches are also able to use the Flexible Support Fund and issue Travel Discount Cards to help claimants with travel expenses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 176W, on work capability assessment, if he will make it his policy to set a target timescale for employment and support allowance and incapacity benefit reassessment work capability assessments in order to monitor and reduce the waiting times for those assessments.

Mike Penning

We are committed to completing Work Capability Assessments as quickly as possible so that eligible claimants receive the appropriate rate of benefit.

However it is important to get assessments right rather than setting an artificial timescale for completion. We are working with the existing supplier to improve processing times and reduce waiting times. In addition, we are seeking a replacement supplier to undertake Work Capability Assessments.

In the meantime we continue to rigorously monitor and manage the existing contract to ensure that both quality and performance are maintained as part of our drive to improve the quality of decision making and process claims more quickly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the Potholes Challenge Fund.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In the 2014 Budget, the Government announced a £200 million pothole fund for the financial year 2014-15. Some £168 million is being made available to councils in England, including up to £10 million for London. This is enough to fix over 3 million potholes on the local road network.

The administering of the Fund falls under the current operating costs of the Department for Transport and so no additional costs have been incurred.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have been subject to the benefit cap in (a) each parliamentary constituency and (b) each local authority area in Scotland.

Esther McVey

Information on the number of households subject to the benefit cap in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland have not yet been published as Official Statistics. We intend to include this information as part of an upcoming release in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Information on the number of households subject to the benefit cap in each local authority in Scotland has been published and is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-march-2014

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he last met the Scottish Government to discuss air passenger duty.

Nicky Morgan

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had on the development of guidance on the use of social media for promotion of financial services.

Andrea Leadsom

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for conduct supervision of regulated financial firms, including their responsible promotion of products and services.

In 2010 the then Financial Services Authority issued some high-level guidelines on use of ‘new media’ – including social media – for such promotions. Since April 2013 the FCA has been engaging with industry, looking further at how social media interacts with FCA rules, and has committed to issue further guidelines later this summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many tenants in Scotland arranged mutually exchanges to elsewhere in the UK through Home Swap Direct in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

David Mundell

Details of the number of moves that have taken place under the HomeSwap Direct Scheme from Scotland to elsewhere in the United Kingdom in each of the last three years are not held centrally. This information is more likely to be held by social housing providers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve regulation of the shadow banking sector.

Andrea Leadsom

When appropriately conducted, shadow banking can benefit the economy by increasing the availability of credit to a range of individuals or firms, and provide a valuable alternative to bank funding. It provides credit and liquidity to the real economy and can improve efficiency and drive innovation in the financial system through firms developing expert knowledge in a particular area.

However, the Government is aware of the risks shadow banking activities pose to financial stability when things go wrong. The crisis showed that some shadow banking entities created pro-cyclical build-ups of leverage, did not fully transfer credit risk, were susceptible to rapid sell-offs, and were very complex. It also became clear that the shadow banking sector had very complex interconnections with the traditional banking system.

Recognising the need to improve the transparency and supervision of the shadow banking sector, the Government has taken steps to improve the way shadow banking entities are regulated.

Domestically, the Government has created new Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. In September last year, the Committee agreed as one of its medium term priorities the identification and management of potential systemic risks from shadow banking.

At the international level, the Government is actively supporting the effective regulation of the sector in EU policymaking, and the UK is instrumental in shaping the global regulatory response at the Financial Stability Board.