Tag: Jake Berry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many cases of child benefit fraud his Department is investigating.

Nicky Morgan

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) approach to Child Benefit error and fraud is to verify all new claims and, on a risk basis, to check existing claims for incorrect information against data from other systems. Where HMRC consider that a claim may not be correct, they open an enquiry. Where the enquiry determines that the claim is incorrect, the claim or part of the claim is terminated.

Child Benefit compliance enquires are carried out continually throughout the year and as at 31 March 2014, HMRC had 3565 ongoing cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce absences from school due to bullying.

Elizabeth Truss

The Government has made tackling all forms of bullying a top priority. It is never acceptable for a child to be bullied, victimised or harmed in any way and the Government does not want any young person to be absent from school due to the effects of bullying.

All schools are required, by law, to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Ofsted now holds schools clearly to account for their effectiveness. Under the current Ofsted framework, school inspectors consider pupil behaviour and safety, which includes how well schools prevent bullying, harassment and discrimination.

In the Education Act 2011, we strengthened teachers’ powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour, including bullying. They can now issue same day detentions, confiscate banned items and search for, and if necessary delete, inappropriate images on mobile phones which might be linked to cyberbullying.

We are also providing £4 million of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four organisations: Beatbullying, the DianaAward, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau, to develop effective measures in school to prevent and tackle bullying.

Good schools create a positive ethos with clear expectations about pupil behaviour that prevent bullying from happening in the first place and deal with it quickly if it does occur.

We recognise the effect that bullying can have, that is why on 17 March 2014 we published a factsheet to help schools identify and support pupils which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken in the last 12 months to reduce the burden of administration for the police.

Damian Green

This Government has acted so that the police focus on fighting crime and not processing paperwork. Our work which has already taken place to reduce bureaucracy could see up to 4.5 million hours of police time saved across all forces every year – the equivalent of over 2,100 officers back on the beat.

In the last 12 months we have established the Police Innovation Fund to support innovative delivery approaches to policing and free up officer time to fight crime. We have extended the use of police-led prosecutions, reducing bureaucracy for officers dealing with high-volume offences. We have also introduced an improved approach to dealing with Missing People so resources are deployed more intelligently.

We are producing digital case files to improve file build and reduce paperwork and we are supporting all forces to develop digital solutions so officers can submit information via mobile devices and not have to return to the station to fill in forms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to reform anti-social behaviour orders; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker

The Government’s reforms are contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and
Policing Act 2014. The Act will introduce two new powers, a civil injunction
and the Criminal Behaviour Order, to replace Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.
Unlike Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, the new powers will not focus solely on
enforcement but can include positive requirements to ensure individuals address
the underlying causes of their behaviour.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are home-schooled in (a) Lancashire and (b) Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

Elizabeth Truss

The information requested is not held by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the number of properties in (a) Rossendale and Darwen constituency and (b) the North West which do not have mains gas access and which use domestic heating oil.

Michael Fallon

Estimates for the number of households which do not have mains gas and which use domestic heating oil are not available. However, the number of households that did not have access to a mains gas supply in the Rossendale and Darwen constituency can be estimated by combining figures for the lower layer super output areas that most closely match this area.

In 2012, there were approximately 1,100 households (three per cent) which had no access to mains gas. The number of households that did not have access to mains gas in the North West is estimated to be 156,000 (five per cent of households within the North West).

These data are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lsoa-estimates-of-households-not-connected-to-the-gas-network.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been allocated to Lancashire County Council to repair potholes in (a) Lancashire and (b) Rossendale.

Mr Robert Goodwill

From the £200 million to help fix potholes on the local road network announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the March 2014 Budget, £168 million will be for local authorities in England. This funding will be made available through a bidding exercise and it will be for Blackburn and Darwen Council to submit a bid to the Department. Guidance on how councils can apply for this funding will be made available in the coming weeks.

The Department for Transport has agreed to provide £90.1 million to Lancashire County Council for road maintenance during the financial years from 2011/12 to 2014/15. This funding can be used to help repair potholes.

Rossendale falls within Lancashire County Council’s area of responsibility and we do not allocate any funds directly to the Borough Council for road maintenance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been allocated from the £200 million fund to repair potholes to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to repair potholes in Darwen.

Mr Robert Goodwill

From the £200 million to help fix potholes on the local road network announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the March 2014 Budget, £168 million will be for local authorities in England. This funding will be made available through a bidding exercise and it will be for Blackburn and Darwen Council to submit a bid to the Department. Guidance on how councils can apply for this funding will be made available in the coming weeks.

The Department for Transport has agreed to provide £90.1 million to Lancashire County Council for road maintenance during the financial years from 2011/12 to 2014/15. This funding can be used to help repair potholes.

Rossendale falls within Lancashire County Council’s area of responsibility and we do not allocate any funds directly to the Borough Council for road maintenance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many empty homes there are in (a) Rossendale and (b) Darwen.

Stephen Williams

Data on vacant dwellings by tenure and district, including Rossendale and Blackburn with Darwen, can be found in live table 615 which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants

This table brings together figures on vacant dwellings in England drawn from several separately published sources.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people normally resident in Rossendale and Darwen constituency were prosecuted for offences relating to fraudulent claims for jobseeker’s allowance in each of the last five years.

Esther McVey

The information requested is not readily available because the data is not collated in a format for Rossendale and Darwen Constituency only. This information could only be provided by examining individual investigation files which would incur disproportionate cost.