Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Attorney General, how many Crown Prosecution Service staff worked on (a) referrals for suspected non-compliance with minimum wage legislation and (b) prosecutions for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland

All cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the purposes of considering a prosecution for an offence contrary to national minimum wage legislation, are dealt with by the Specialist Fraud Division. The number of people dealing with such cases at any given time depends on the number of cases received and how they are allocated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken since 2012 to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of the work-preparation requirements which have applied to single parents who are in receipt of income support and whose youngest child is aged three or four.

Priti Patel

There is currently no evaluation on the effectiveness of the application of this requirement, however, we have this under review. Statistics show that the employment rate for lone parents has increased from 57% in June 2010 to 64.4% in June 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to monitor the application of the easement of conditionality rules under the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Homeless Claimants) Amendment Regulations 2014 since those Regulations were brought into force.

Priti Patel

It is the responsibility of Jobcentre Plus managers to monitor the appropriate application of easements to Jobseeker’s Allowance conditionality. In doing so, they use an assurance framework to assess the quality of work coach interviews and Claimant Commitments to make sure they appropriately reflect individual circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what steps his Department plans to take to assist local authorities for which the cost of providing temporary accommodation exceeds their pre-allocated share of funding.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced that funding of the Temporary Accommodation management fee will be devolved to local authorities from 2017/18, giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they use this funding. Current levels of funding will be maintained and, in addition, councils will receive £10 million a year more. The Department for Communities and Local Government will set out the precise detail of how the new funding will be distributed in 2016/17. The Department will work closely with local authorities and other partners to ensure that funding will be allocated in order to most effectively help councils tackle homelessness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his estimate is of the notional average weekly change in benefit which working families currently claiming housing benefit would face as a result of removing the family premium from the calculation of their housing benefit entitlement.

Justin Tomlinson

This policy only applies to new claims to Housing Benefit (HB), or those who have a first child while claiming HB. The impact for working families will not be as much as the premium itself because of the income taper, which reduces the impact on average to around £10.63 per week.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff are employed by the Fit for Work service as case managers; and whether the Government plans to increase this number.

Justin Tomlinson

At 30th November 66.7 full-time equivalent staff are employed by the Fit for Work Service as case managers in England and Wales and 24.8 in Scotland. It is expected that numbers will increase in line with demand.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to reform the (a) work allowances and (b) taper rate within universal credit during the current Parliament.

Priti Patel

There are no plans to amend the work allowances and taper rates beyond those set out by the Government at the 2015 Autumn Statement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which assets his Department plans to decommission over the next 12 months.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Ministry of Defence manages a wide range of assets to support the UK Armed Forces. A list of equipment due to be decommissioned in the next 12 months is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, the following major equipment platforms are planned to be taken out of service in 2016:

Sea King Mk3, 3a, 4 and 5;

RFA Black Rover – Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fleet Support Tanker.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 27 January 2015 to Question 221410, when he expects the concept phase of the development of a collision warning system for the Typhoon aircraft to be complete; and when he expects an investment decision to be made.

Mr Philip Dunne

We remain committed to reducing the risk of aircraft-to-aircraft collision through exploiting technology and reviewing operating procedures on Typhoon aircraft.

Two possible equipment solutions have been demonstrated and will be part of formal assessment in the coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23290, whether it is his policy for the House to be given an opportunity to debate in advance any decision to (a) launch airstrikes against ISIL/Daesh targets outside Syria and Iraq and (b) deploy UK military personnel, embedded within other nations’ armed forces, on military operations against ISIL/Daesh targets outside Syria and Iraq.

Michael Fallon

The Government is committed to the convention that, before UK troops are committed to conflict, Parliament should have an opportunity to debate the matter, except when such action is necessary in an emergency. The Government will inform the House of any exceptional operation where there has not been prior debate in Parliament, as the Prime Minister did on 7 September 2015 in relation to the precision airstrike that took place on 21 August 2015.

The embedding of UK forces in the armed forces of allies is a valuable and commonplace activity governed through long standing and frequently reciprocal international arrangements. Although it is not policy for the House to be given the opportunity to debate their deployment we are committed to continued transparency about UK Service personnel embedded in other nations’ armed forces on operations and I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 17 December 2015 (Official Report, column 97-98WS) which updated the House on this.