Tag: Gregory Campbell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government has taken significant steps to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market. These include increasing the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3% per month; investing £38m in the sector through the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Credit Union Expansion Project; ensuring that universal credit and pensions payments can be paid into any credit union account; providing £500,000 to help armed forces personnel access credit union services; and changing legislation to allow credit unions to admit corporate members.

The Government has also provided £650,000 to fund the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘LifeSavers’ project. This project forms partnerships between primary schools and local credit unions, raising awareness of the credit union movement and encouraging more junior savers to become members.

In addition the Government has also introduced an amendment to the Bank of England Bill 2015 to support financial mutuals. It amends the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority’s General Regulatory Principles to ensure that both regulators take account of the differences between mutual societies and other types of firm (where appropriate) whenever they are discharging their general objectives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people she expects to leave the UK in April 2016 because the term of their Tier 2 visa will expire.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office has not made an estimate of this particular figure. Applicants may apply for settlement if they meet the qualifying criteria, or to extend their stay in Tier 2 up to a maximum of six years, or to switch into another immigration route for which they are eligible.

The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This is available on the gov.uk website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the success rates of the troubled families programme in reducing re-offending among young adults.

Greg Clark

Information published by my Department on 22 June 2015 shows that, during the original Troubled Families Programme (2012 to 2015), 104,733 were turned around through achieving reductions in youth crime, and/or anti-social behaviour, combined with satisfactory levels of school attendance.

Under the provisions of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, I will be reporting annually on the progress and impact of the new Troubled Families Programme which aims to reach up to an additional 400,000 families.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many insurance claims have been lodged as a result of accidents occurring during participation in the National Citizen Service since the establishment of that scheme.

Mr Rob Wilson

The National Citizen Service Trust works with the Cabinet Office to deliver (NCS) in England. There have been no accidents that the NCS Trust is aware of where insurance claims have been lodged.

The NCS delivery partner within Northern Ireland, Co-operation Ireland, has also confirmed that it has not received any correspondence from insurance companies in regards to claims relating to NCS accidents.

The Cabinet Office coordinated a pilot programme in Wales in 2014 and is not aware of any resulting insurance claims by participants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the implications for border security arrangements of recent gangland-related murders in the Irish Republic.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

There are long-established and effective working relationships between the police and intelligence agencies of the UK and Ireland to mitigate threats in both countries. The UK Government takes protecting our border security very seriously and there is a high level of co-operation and on-going work with the Irish Government strengthening the external border of the Common Travel Area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-03-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on financial institutions’ plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers.

Harriett Baldwin

HM Treasury has not received any representations on financial institutions’ plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers.

The levels of interest being paid to savers and their disclosure was explored as part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Cash Savings Market Study report, which was published in January 2015. The report found that competition in the cash savings market was not working well for many consumers and, in response, the FCA has consulted on and will subsequently be introducing new rules from 1 December 2016 designed to both improve competition and the information savers receive. As part of these new rules, firms will need to make it clear to consumers what interest rate they are getting for their account.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Northern Ireland Executive has been allocated for the improvement of broadband delivery for 2016-17.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The UK government will provide funding of £1,101,613 for superfast broadband projects in the financial year 2016-17 to the Department of Enterprise Trade & Investment Northern Ireland. In earlier years, the government has transferred a total of £4,712,552 of BDUK funding to the Northern Ireland Executive for investment in superfast broadband.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Vietnamese counterpart on the reported arrest of two people on 14 May 2016 for distributing hymnals in Southern Laos.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised human rights concerns with the Vietnamese Foreign Minister during his recent visit to Vietnam. The EU Human Rights Dialogues held with each country also provide an opportunity to raise individual cases of concern.

Our Embassies in Laos and Vietnam are investigating the case in question.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans Innovate UK has to develop a business plan across the UK for liaison with universities on the promotion of greater innovation in private sector small and medium-sized enterprises.

Joseph Johnson

Innovate UK published its 2016/17 Delivery Plan in April 2016. This sets out measures to nurture high-growth potential SMEs and to work with universities and the research base across the UK to turn scientific excellence into economic impact. It includes joint programmes to promote collaboration between SMEs and the academic sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been banned from attending Premiership and Championship matches in England over the last five years.

Brandon Lewis

The Home Office annually publishes statistics on football banning orders imposed in England and Wales. The table below contains published statistics for the last five football seasons, detailing the total number of extant football banning orders and the number of new football banning orders imposed. A football banning order imposed in England and Wales prevents the individual from attending all matches in the Premier League and Football League. The statistics for season 2015-16 will be published on 24 November. Please refer to the table attached for detailed statistics.