The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been for motor insurance fraud in each of the last five years.
Dominic Raab
This information is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on external consultancy since 2010.
Jane Ellison
Spend on external consultancy is published annually in DH accounts and can be found in the following links.
For 2014-15, page 130:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015
For 2013-14, page 120:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014
For 2012-13, page 112:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013
For 2011-12, page 142, and 2010-11, page 143:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-for-2011-to-2012-published
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on family incomes of the withdrawal of tax credits as a result of the introduction of the national living wage.
Jane Ellison
The introduction of the National Living Wage in April 2016 marked an important step towards building an economy that works for everyone. At £7.20, it represented a 50p increase on the National Minimum Wage, and a pay rise for over a million low paid workers across the UK.
A family’s entitlement to tax credits depends on a number of factors including the level of income they receive. The introduction of the National Living Wage and the consequential adjustment to a family’s award will be dependent on individual circumstances. The first tax credits income threshold is £6,420, so once a household’s earnings reaches this income threshold, their tax credit award is removed at a rate of 41p for each pound of income above the threshold.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average expenditure was per head of local authorities in (a) Bolton and (b) Greater Manchester in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Mr Marcus Jones
The average revenue expenditure per head for the financial year 2014-15, the latest available, was £1,675.33 per person for Bolton Council and the average for all local authorities in Greater Manchester was £1,896.10 per person.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to all-weather football pitches at grassroots level.
David Evennett
In partnership with the Football Association and the Premier League, the government is continuing to invest significant sums in grassroots football facilities every year. In addition to the £10million we give to the Football Foundation each year, this Government has dedicated £8million per year to the new ‘Parklife’ project that will double the number of 3G pitches and enable over 3,500 community sports matches to be played per week.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to improve access to food hygiene score information in England.
Jane Ellison
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme. The FSA is currently collecting evidence on the impact of the mandatory display of food hygiene ratings at food outlets in Wales. The Government will consider this evidence carefully once it is available. In the meantime, the FSA will continue working with its local authority partners to encourage businesses to voluntarily display their ratings and to promote the scheme to consumers.
Ratings are published on the FSA website (and via phone apps), and there is open access to the data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the consolidated local transport budget for Greater Manchester after implementation of the devolution deal (a) in total and (b) per capita.
Andrew Jones
The Budget 2016 document set out that a total of £2.86bn would be provided to the places that had agreed devolution deals as unringfenced single pots. This includes the consolidated transport grants. A detailed breakdown of the grant for Greater Manchester will be set out by Ministers shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to specialist care for people with muscular dystrophy.
Jane Ellison
Through the Mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with long-term conditions such as muscular dystrophy, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including for patients with muscular dystrophy. The neurosciences service specifications set out that patients with neuromuscular conditions, such as muscular dystrophy should have access to, including a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to will assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT team will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other care professionals. One of the key service outcomes of the specification is that all patients with long-term neurological conditions have an individualised care plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) total and (b) per capita consolidated local transport budget for London is for (i) 2015-16 and (ii) 2016-17.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Transport for London (TfL) receives its funding from a wide range of sources, with the largest single contribution (around £4.6 billion in 2015/16) coming from fare-payers. This Department pays a transport grant to TfL, via the Greater London Authority, which was £1.516 billion in 2015/2016 and which will be £1.418 billion in 2016/17. We do not routinely publish a per capita breakdown of this grant, because spending on London’s transport infrastructure benefits not only London residents but also commuters and others travelling into the capital. There are also differences in the funding and regulatory framework between London and the rest of the country, making like-for-like comparisons difficult.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time for a decision on an asylum application was in each of the last 10 years; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for such decisions.
James Brokenshire
The table below shows the average time, in calendar days, from date of claim to date of decision including the number and percentage of cases that received a decision in six months. Figures for the year 2015 are not available.
|
Year of Application |
Apps |
Mean |
Median |
Decisions in 6 Months |
As a % of Apps |
|
2005 |
26,939 |
133.90 |
46 |
23,671 |
87.87% |
|
2006 |
25,020 |
165.06 |
52 |
21,065 |
84.19% |
|
2007 |
24,732 |
191.38 |
62 |
19,722 |
79.74% |
|
2008 |
27,182 |
223.65 |
97 |
19,944 |
73.37% |
|
2009 |
25,759 |
159.22 |
71 |
20,985 |
81.47% |
|
2010 |
20,012 |
82.11 |
29 |
18,391 |
91.90% |
|
2011 |
21,211 |
115.89 |
32 |
18,131 |
85.48% |
|
2012 |
21,315 |
161.70 |
30 |
16,098 |
75.52% |
|
2013 |
24,960 |
181.78 |
46 |
15,874 |
63.60% |
|
2014 |
26,070 |
141.32 |
135 |
19,287 |
73.98% |
The exercise in the financial year 2014-15 to clear all straightforward cases with a claim date preceding 1 April 2014 led to a rise in the average time for some of the years above most notably 2008.This required the progression of a number of cases far older than 12 months which would have influenced the average decision times on those cases.
The Home Office continues to target resources to drive down the waiting time for decisions and currently strives to give decisions on all straightforward cases within 6 months, a timescale which it has been consistently meeting since April 2014.