Tag: David Crausby

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a visitor’s visa have been (a) received and (b) refused in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information requested for the last 5 calendar years is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April – June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables#visas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the cumulative effect of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

Justin Tomlinson

An overview of the evidence considered when developing the policy for equalisation of the State Pension age, is provided in the 1993 White Paper, ‘Equality in State Pension age’, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.

Estimates of the effect of the increase in State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011 are presented in the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

The latter assessment is a comparison of the impact of the Pensions Act 2011 timetable against the baseline of the 1995 Pensions Act timetable.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on removing from local authorities powers to veto planning applications for fracking.

James Wharton

Mineral planning authorities have a responsibility to consider planning applications for shale gas exploration under the Town and Country Planning regime. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the local authority area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Government has taken steps to ensure this locally led regime is effective, as set out in Written Ministerial Statements of 16 September, HCWS201 and HCWS202. This includes making available £1.2 million to ensure mineral planning authorities have adequate resource to reach timely decisions.

Community involvement in planning applications and people’s safety and the environment will remain paramount. No decision has been made to take shale gas exploration out of this local authority led process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a spouse visa have been refused by UK Visas and Immigration only to be overturned by appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information on appeals is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to deal with overcrowding on Bolton’s commuter trains.

Andrew Jones

Northern Rail is required to use all of its train fleet (allowing for maintenance) at peak times and best match capacity to passenger demand across the franchise. It is for Northern to allocate rolling stock to best fit expected passenger numbers on a day-to-day basis. As you may be aware, we have increased Northern’s train fleet this year, including the introduction of 20 refreshed four coach electric trains in the year to December 2015.

In the longer term, unlike the last Northern franchise let under the previous Labour administration in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, the next Northern Franchise will see the removal of the existing Pacer trains, the ordering at least 120 new-build carriages, the modernising of every train operating on the Northern franchise, more frequent services on many routes on the Northern franchise, and will be providing more services for commuters, during off-peak times and on Sundays. The electrification of Manchester to Preston via Bolton route, for which preparatory work began this year, will also provide the opportunity for greater capacity electric powered trains to provide services for Bolton commuters. By the end of 2019, services into central Manchester will have seen a 49% increase in passenger-carrying capacity during the morning peak compared to five years earlier, and this will help ease the crowding affecting your constituents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Bolton have been included in the Bowel Cancer Screening programme for over-60s in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme is a biennial programme, in which eligible men and women are invited every two years to be screened.

Roll out of the programme began in 2006 and completed in 2010 offering screening from the ages of 60-69. The Programme then extended the screening age up to 74.

In the last five years, over 19 million men and women have been invited to take part in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Since the Programmes introduction in 2006, over 24,000 cancers have been detected and over 146,000 patients have been managed for polyps, including polyp removal.

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme will be publishing further data with regards to local areas at a later date.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for a final decision on an asylum application in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Information regarding Asylum data is published as part of the Government’s Transparency agenda the latest release of which can be found at can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-november-2016

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward proposals to ban the use of wild animals in circuses.

George Eustice

I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge, Angela Smith, on 21 July 2015, PQ UIN 7749.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of staff are employed in the Ministerial correspondence section of his Department.

Jane Ellison

The Department’s Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries unit currently employs a total of 31 permanent staff who work on both public and ministerial correspondence. There are also eight non-permanent workers filling vacancies within the unit who also work on public and ministerial correspondence. In 2015 the unit responded to 42,277 letters from hon. Members, Peers and the public.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for a final decision on an indefinite leave to remain application in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The service standard for application for ILR is 6 months or 182 days.

Year Despatched	Average Days to despatch.
2011	73.26
2012	105.46
2013	91.44
2014	104.52
2015	67.00

Notes Indefinite Leave to remain defined as those case types classed as Permanent Residence, Tier 1 ILR and Tier 2 ILR based on the case type matrix.

Data extracted on 19 October 2016.

These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated.