Tag: Ian C. Lucas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, from which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices staff will be redeployed to the proposed new Liverpool HMRC office.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions for domestic violence have been recorded in (a) Wrexham, (b) North Wales and (c) Wales in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Mike Penning

This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting which was most recently held in November 2015. The UK continues to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet its human rights obligations and to honour all conventions to which it is a party. We welcome the progress made by Bahrain on their reform programme particularly in the areas of youth justice, the establishment and increasing effectiveness of the Ombudsman’s office, the Prisoner and Detainees’ Rights Commission and the reformed National Institute of Human Rights. We continue to work with the Government of Bahrain to ensure momentum and progress on its reforms, for the benefit of all Bahrainis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26844, whether the maximum customer travel of one and a half hours or 65 miles for an interview for a passport application refers to a one-way journey or round trip.

James Brokenshire

Please accept my apologies for an error which was made in the response to question 26844.

Under the planned changes to HM Passport Offices the vast majority of passport application interviewees will see no change to their travel time. In a small number of cases passport application interviewees will have to travel further but this should not be more than 65 miles or one and a half hours additional one-way travel from their previous closest office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the size of the Liverpool HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office will be at the end of the period of reorganisation of HMRC offices.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations his Department has made to the Office of Road and Rail on the allocation of rail paths to Manchester Airport in the last five years.

Andrew Jones

The Department has monthly trilateral (Department for Transport, Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Network Rail) meetings in order to deliver the existing requirements of the current franchise agreements throughout the last 5 years, especially in connection with the bi-annual timetable changes.

Last month, the Department wrote to the ORR in connection with the application from Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) for additional train paths to and from Manchester Airport. The letter acknowledged that the ATW proposal offered passenger benefits but also noted that, on conclusion of the Northern and TPE franchise competitions, there were likely to be other competing pressures for train paths on the route between central Manchester and the Airport. The purpose of the letter was to draw ORR’s attention to the likelihood of such pressures emerging, and to observe that ATW’s application should be considered alongside the proposals from the successful Northern and TPE bidders to ensure that maximum passenger benefit is obtained from the train paths available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for legal aid were (a) made by and (b) granted to victims of people charged with domestic violence in each local authority area in the North West Police Authority in each year since 2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The LAA does not routinely collect information on whether applicants for legal aid are victims of people charged with domestic violence.

Prior to 2013, when people applied for legal aid they were not asked to declare whether domestic violence had occurred. Since 2013, applications for legal aid do not routinely request this information. Therefore the data requested is not available.

People seeking protective injunctions, like non-molestation orders, remain eligible for legal aid. Legal aid also remains available in private family cases that involve domestic violence. We have listened closely to any concerns about how the system has been operating, and made changes in response, such as making it easier to prove abuse and so get legal aid.

The number of applications which require Domestic Violence evidence received and granted following LASPO, and figures for civil representation in the ‘Domestic Violence’ category both pre and post LASPO, are published in the official statistics on legal aid published quarterly on the Gov.uk website at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average travel time is for customers attending a first-time passport application interview; and what she estimates the average travel times will be after the proposed closure of interview offices in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.

James Brokenshire

HM Passport Office does not collate any information on average travel times for applicants.

In 2015, HM Passport Office interviewed 222,264 adult customers applying for their first passport. Under the planned changes to HM Passport Offices the vast majority of passport application interviewees will see no change to their travel time. In a small number of cases passport application interviewees will have to travel further but this should not be more than 65 miles or one and a half hours from their previous closest office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-11-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria his Department used to select sites for HM Revenue and Customs regional offices.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced the planned locations of its future Regional Centres based on a number of key principles that will enable it to deliver more for less. In addition to cost, HMRC has taken account of the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, and the need to retain the staff and skills it requires to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

HMRC estimates that Liverpool will be home to between 2,800 and 3,100 full time equivalent employees. Consolidation into the Regional Centre is expected to begin in 2019-20. HMRC plans to open the Regional Centre in Cardiff in 2019-20. It is likely that the office at Plas Gororau in Wrexham will close in 2020-21. HMRC will be holding one-to-one discussions with each of its people to discuss the next steps.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on achieving the goals of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK Government is fully committed to global polio eradication and is the third largest donor to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, providing £300 million for 2013 to 2019.

UK funding has contributed, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, to a greater than 99% decrease in polio cases since 1988, with no cases reported in Africa for over a year. Only two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are now reporting cases of wild polio, meaning we are now closer than ever to global eradication.