Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans the Government has to maintain its fleet of M3 Amphibious Rig bridging vehicles after the withdrawal of UK troops from Germany.

Mr Philip Dunne

38 M3 Amphibious Rigs have been in service with the British Army in each of the last six years. No additional rigs have been loaned from the German Army during that time. The planned out of service date for the M3 amphibious rig is 2027; early work is under way to provide a wide wet gap crossing capability in future. No decisions have yet been made about future basing sites for the M3 Amphibious Rig.

The following table shows the number of recorded equipment failure reports (EFR) in each of the last six years.

Calendar Year in which EFR recorded	No of EFRs recorded in calendar year
2010	16
2011	0
2012	5
2013	1
2014	4
2015	0

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Earl Howe, House of Lords Official Report, 27 April 2016, column 1202, when the new crime registrar for the service police will be appointed.

Mark Lancaster

The post of Service Police Force Incident and Crime Registrar is currently being advertised internally to Ministry of Defence civil servants in accordance with civil service recruiting rules. The closing date is 28 June. In the event that no one suitable is identified, the position will be advertised more widely in the civil service before consideration for external recruitment. The date of appointment to the position is dependent on the outcome of the recruitment process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of universal credit in the four pathfinder areas have alternative payment arrangements in place to allow for the housing costs element to be paid directly to their landlord.

Priti Patel

The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the number of early education places for children (a) under the age of three and (b) aged three and four; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We have already made significant progress in ensuring that there are more childcare places available. There has been an increase of 230,000 places since 2009 and a significant increase in the take up of childcare provision in low- and middle-income areas.

This government has also supported providers by reducing bureaucracy and making it easier for providers such as childminders and schools to provide places. We continue to work with providers to increase the number of childcare places, for example by sharing good practice on working in partnership.

Subject to the will of Parliament, the Childcare Bill will introduce an entitlement to 30 hours of funded childcare for working parents of three- and four-year olds from 2017. New childcare places will be required for this age group, and the government wishes to encourage new providers to enter the childcare market and existing providers to expand. On top of the steps already being taken, such as the extension of the Childcare Business Grant Scheme, our planned Early Implementers will test provider capacity and market innovation and flexibility from 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release, Prison building revolution announced by Chancellor and Justice Secretary, published on 9 November 2015, what plans he has for relocating prison populations in prisons in central London that are planned for closure.

Andrew Selous

On 9 November the Chancellor and Secretary of State announced their intention to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to be rehabilitated, thereby enabling them to turn away from a life of crime. This will involve building nine new prisons and closing old and inefficient prisons which do not support the aims of a redesigned estate. No decisions have yet been made on where new prisons will be built.

We are currently considering which of our old and inefficient prisons will close. We will engage with stakeholders during the process of sale including valuation experts and potential developers in order to maximise the value achieved.

Any relocation of prisoners will be done with careful planning. Where staff are affected they will be managed through the process of change using processes deployed during previous closures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans that referral to welfare to work schemes will be voluntary for people with disabilities after the end of the current contracts for the Work Programme and Work Choice.

Priti Patel

Increasing disability employment is a key part of the Government’s aim to achieve full employment. That is why this Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap by creating the opportunity for a million more disabled people to work.

The Spending Review announced that a new ‘Work and Health Programme’ will replace Work Choice and the Work Programme when current contracts end, restructuring our current provision to providing the best possible support for claimants with disabilities or health conditions as well as those who are long term unemployed. The Department will work with stakeholders on the design, including the structure and how people will be referred to the programme.

The Government will publish a White Paper next year that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities and further reduce the disability employment gap.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of universal credit who receive support for housing costs are also subject to all work-related requirements.

Justin Tomlinson

The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people stopped claiming (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance in the most recent month for which figures are available; and what proportion of such people ended their claim after moving into work.

Priti Patel

The available information which shows the number of off-flows from the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimant count is published here:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

The available information which shows the number of off-flows from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is published here:

http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/flows/flows_off/tabtool.html

Guidance for users is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Individuals ending a claim for JSA are not required to inform the Department of their destinations and hence the destination information published on the NOMIS website is incomplete.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations which had planned, prior to the announcement in paragraph 1.125 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, to raise rents above any of the relevant local housing allowance rates between 2016 and 2020.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not hold information about the individual rent setting plans of local authorities or housing associations.

At Budget 2015 the Government announced its intention to reduce rents for housing association and local authority tenants, by 1% a year, for four years, from April 2016. This will help protect social tenants from rising housing costs, whilst protecting taxpayers from rising costs of subsidising rents through housing benefit. We expect local authorities and housing associations to be planning on this basis.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of capping housing benefit for social tenants at the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate on social housing supply.

Justin Tomlinson

Capping high social sector rents at the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate does not come into effect until April 2018 and then only where a new tenancy is taken out or a tenancy is renewed after April 2016 and the resulting social rent charged exceeds the appropriate Local Housing Allowance rate for the size of household in the area at that time

Because a range of factors will influence where and when a cap is applied, including behavioural responses from both claimants and landlords, it is not possible to assess the potential effect of the policy on social housing supply.