Tag: Christopher Chope

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have claimed the marriage allowance introduced in April 2015 to date; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that eligible people apply for that allowance.

Mr David Gauke

As of 28 January 2016, 332,301 couples have successfully claimed Marriage Allowance. All eligible couples can apply on the GOV.UK website, or by phoning HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

HMRC has extensively marketed Marriage Allowance, including through digital and press advertising, and social and free media. HMRC plans further activities over the coming months to raise awareness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any Barnett consequentials arise from the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2016-17.

Greg Hands

The Barnett Formula will be applied in the usual way to any additional funding from the Exchequer arising from the final local government finance settlement for 2016-17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency has taken to identify those responsible for the fly-tipping of plastic and other rubbish in Cornwall Road, Smethwick in March 2015.

Rory Stewart

The Environment Agency is continuing to investigate the case of illegal dumping on land in Cornwall Road. As this is an active investigation I am unable to provide further details at this stage.

Illegal dumping and waste crime more generally is unacceptable whether it occurs on public or private land.

The Government is taking action to crack down on this unacceptable behaviour and has pledged an additional £20 million of funding for waste crime enforcement over the next five years as part of the Spending Review. We are also working with the Environment Agency through a joint Waste Crime Action Plan to ensure its regulatory effort is targeted effectively and focussed on speedy and tough enforcement action

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the non-UK EU nationals to whom national insurance number registrations were issued in the year to end of September 2015 were (a) resident in the UK, (b) in employment, (c) self-employed and (d) jobseekers at the time of registration.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP practices in Dorset provide phlebotomy services; and what action his Department is taking to increase the number of practices providing such services.

Alistair Burt

NHS England advises that 83 out of 98 general practitioner (GP) practices in Dorset provide practice based phlebotomy as an enhanced service. All patients registered at GP practices in Dorset have access to phlebotomy services, which are provided from a variety of locations, including GP practices and other sites.

The Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group is in the process of reviewing the provision of all phlebotomy services across Dorset to see how current provision could be improved. This is also a feature of the Clinical Services Review which is looking at how a wider range of services, closer to people’s homes can be offered.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the Government’s policy is on the maximum threshold for council tax increases in England in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government is committed to maintaining the right of local electorates to approve or veto excessive council tax rises in a local referendum. Decisions on the threshold are made annually as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Government plans to respond to the recommendations of the Law Commission Report on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, published in May 2014; and whether it plans to take steps to permit more local authority cross-border use of such vehicles.

Andrew Jones

The Government is currently considering all the recommendations in the Law Commission’s report on taxi and private hire regulation in England and Wales and will formally respond to the Law Commission and announce its intentions once this scrutiny is completed.

The Government has no current plans to amend legislation in respect of cross-border working. The Deregulation Act 2015 enables licensed operators in England and Wales to subcontract bookings to licensed operators in another district, any private hire vehicle operator in London or an operator in Scotland. This power was already possible in London through The Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998. This was a recommendation from the Law Commission’s review of taxi and private hire services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employees of Border Force are seconded to Frontex; and in what locations such staff are deployed.

James Brokenshire

UK Border Force currently has twelve staff deployed to support Frontex joint operations in the Mediterranean, and one staff member seconded to Frontex Headquarters, Returns Sector, in Warsaw. Eight of the twelve staff support joint operation ‘Poseidon Sea’ in Greece: two in Kos, three in Lesbos, one in Leros, one in Samos and one in Chios; and four support Frontex joint operation ‘Triton’ in Italy: two in Trapani, one in Lampedusa and one in Syracuse.

UK staff cannot exercise any powers on Frontex operations. Border Force staff debrief migrants to gather intelligence on their routing, modus operandi and any facilitators involved; Border Force staff also screen migrants to establish their identity, to aid the host member state with documentation and return of those migrants with no right of stay in Europe.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on winter fuel payments for UK citizens living in (a) Cyprus, (b) France, (c) Gibraltar, (d) Greece, (e) Malta, (f) Portugal and (g) Spain in 2014-15.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested is not available. However, the annual numbers and amounts of Winter Fuel Payments paid to all recipients in the EEA and Switzerland, by country, are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/winter-fuel-payments-by-eea-country

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer submitted to Question 21401, what new or changed policies her Department has implemented as a result of the evidence submitted.

Andrea Leadsom

We have not implemented new policies specifically as a result of the call for evidence on park homes. The evidence did support decisions made on the Warm Home Discount where this scheme year we have introduced a pilot scheme to allow eligible park home residents to apply for £140 to help with their energy bills.