Tag: Christina Rees

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the Government took the decision to close the Manufacturing Advisory Service.

Anna Soubry

As part of the Spending Review settlement, we decided to wind down the national delivery of the Business Growth Service (BGS) including the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).

The BGS used substantial taxpayer resources, £85 million a year, which was distributed through a network of contractors and subcontractors. When it did eventually reach businesses, businesses would have to provide half the cost of advice themselves, despite the substantial taxpayer funding being provided.

The Spending Review protected our economic security by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. The most important way we can help manufacturers is to continue to secure a strong, growing economy.

Where we do use taxpayers money, we have targeted it where it will help businesses the most.

We have extended the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief by another year, meaning 405,000 small businesses will pay no rates at all while another 200,000 small businesses will pay reduced rates. Next year we’ll be extending the Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000, meaning thousands of small businesses will pay no jobs tax.

We’re providing further funding to Growth Hubs to help businesses at the local level and away from Whitehall.

We continue supporting our world leading research-led and advanced manufacturing sectors such as life sciences, defence, aerospace, automotive and chemicals to grow, export, and attract and retain inward investment. We are supporting industry with an extra £1 billion in aerospace and automotive R&D and investing £6.9 billion in the UK’s research infrastructure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on (a) consulting on and (b) piloting future planned reforms of the civil courts structure.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government welcomes Lord Justice Briggs’s interim report on the review of civil court structures. Our courts and tribunals are antiquated and need urgent reform. We are considering the recommendations of the interim report and will also pay close attention to the content of Lord Justice Briggs’s final report. Our work to reform the courts and tribunals includes consideration of a range of innovative approaches to provide more effective access to justice. In particular we want to make better use of technology to provide simpler court processes. As part of this we will consider the extent to which technology can be used to resolve some of the most complex cases, including personal injury claims.

Lord Justice Briggs has undertaken extensive consultation as part of his Review. In addition to this, the Government will continue to engage and consult with the judiciary, practitioners and court users on our wider programme to reform the courts and tribunals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the matters within his Department’s responsibility in Schedule 1 of the draft Wales Bill have been designated as reserved.

Dominic Raab

The reservations listed in Schedule 1 to the draft Wales Bill reflects the Government’s view of where the Welsh devolution boundary lies following the devolution of further powers to the Assembly provided for in the draft Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to publish statistics on national food bank usage.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government has no plans to collect or publish statistics on food bank usage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding of Lord Justice Briggs in his report entitled, Civil Courts Structure: Interim Report, published in December 2015, that personal injury should be excluded from the Online Court.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government welcomes Lord Justice Briggs’s interim report on the review of civil court structures. Our courts and tribunals are antiquated and need urgent reform. We are considering the recommendations of the interim report and will also pay close attention to the content of Lord Justice Briggs’s final report. Our work to reform the courts and tribunals includes consideration of a range of innovative approaches to provide more effective access to justice. In particular we want to make better use of technology to provide simpler court processes. As part of this we will consider the extent to which technology can be used to resolve some of the most complex cases, including personal injury claims.

Lord Justice Briggs has undertaken extensive consultation as part of his Review. In addition to this, the Government will continue to engage and consult with the judiciary, practitioners and court users on our wider programme to reform the courts and tribunals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what process his Department identified the areas of policy within its responsibility proposed for reservation in Annex B of the publication Powers for a Purpose: Towards a lasting devolution settlement for Wales, published on 27 February 2015.

Priti Patel

Annex B to the Powers for a Purpose Command Paper provided an illustrative list of the main areas in which reservations would be needed in a reserved powers model. The list described the Government’s emerging thinking as the new reserved powers model was being developed. The Government published its full proposals in the draft Wales Bill on 20 October. .

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of back-to-work programmes for people with mental health problems; and if he will take steps to change programmes judged to be ineffective.

Justin Tomlinson

Our ambition to halve the disability employment gap has been a key driver in establishing the Work and Health unit with the Department for Health. At least £115m of funding will go to the Work and Health Unit, including an innovation fund to test new ways to join up health and employment to help people with disabilities and health conditions to return to and stay in work.

Our wider employment programmes provide those with mental health conditions with the appropriate support to find work. Work Choice is an employment programme is specifically for those with a disability or health condition. Of the 14,290 starters who declared either a Severe or Mild to Moderate Mental Health condition as their Primary Disability, 6,650 (over 46%) have achieved a job outcome.

The Department conducts a monthly review of a sample of claimants from each employment contract, to assess the effectiveness of those programmes and requires providers to rectify any issues identified.

Further support is available through the Access to Work Mental Health Support Scheme. Last year, it supported 1630 people who declared a Mental Health condition as their Primary Medical Condition – a 15% increase on 2013/14 and a record number for the scheme.

Over the next three years, we are investing £43 million to develop an evidence base, via a range of voluntary trials, for what works to support people with mental health conditions into employment. Each of the voluntary trials will test a different approach of combined health and employment support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by Lord Justice Briggs on his report entitled, Civil Courts Structure: Interim Report, published in December 2015, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding in paragraph 5.23 of that report.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government welcomes Lord Justice Briggs’s interim report on the review of civil court structures. Our courts and tribunals are antiquated and need urgent reform. We are considering the recommendations of the interim report and will also pay close attention to the content of Lord Justice Briggs’s final report. Our work to reform the courts and tribunals includes consideration of a range of innovative approaches to provide more effective access to justice. In particular we want to make better use of technology to provide simpler court processes. As part of this we will consider the extent to which technology can be used to resolve some of the most complex cases, including personal injury claims.

Lord Justice Briggs has undertaken extensive consultation as part of his Review. In addition to this, the Government will continue to engage and consult with the judiciary, practitioners and court users on our wider programme to reform the courts and tribunals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the matters within his Department’s responsibility in Schedule 1 of the draft Wales Bill have been designated as reserved.

Priti Patel

The reservations listed in Schedule 1 to the draft Wales Bill reflects the Government’s view of where the Welsh devolution boundary lies following the devolution of further powers to the Assembly provided for in the draft Bill.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, further to the Government response of October 2013 to his Department’s consultation on arrangements concerning whiplash injuries in England and Wales, what plans his Department has (a) to maintain access to justice for claimants and (b) to protect such claimants from the under-settling of claims potentially arising from increases to the small claims court limit.

Dominic Raab

The Government will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course, including any necessary safeguards. The consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.