Tag: Jeremy Lefroy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to formalise the children’s hospice grant for 2017-18.

David Mowat

The Department provided grant funding in 2013-16 to Together for Short Lives, the organisation supporting children’s hospices, to support the Transition Taskforce. The Taskforce provides guidance and training that supports good transitions locally between children’s and adult services for those with life-limiting conditions or needing palliative care.

NHS England is continuing to prioritise funding for the children’s hospice grants programme at the current level. NHS England has been engaging with children’s hospices through Together for Short Lives prior to a consultation on the allocation method for the 2017-18 grant.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to recover costs from overseas patients and their insurers for NHS treatment.

Alistair Burt

National Health Service hospitals have a legal duty to make representations and recover funds from those overseas visitors who are not exempt from charge for their hospital treatment; this should be from the patient directly or via their insurance company.

The Department’s Visitor and Migrant National Health Service Cost Recovery Programme aims to ensure that the NHS receives a fair contribution for the cost of healthcare it provides to non-United Kingdom residents and improve the amount of costs recovered from them or their home countries, to ensure the NHS is sustainable.

Since the launch of its implementation plan in July 2014 the Cost Recovery Programme has achieved much progress including:

– the launch of the European Health Insurance Card reporting incentive scheme in October 2014 to improve the reporting of EHIC details of visitors and students from the European Economic Area (EEA) who access NHS care, for which the UK is entitled to reimbursement;

– updated Charging Regulations from April 2015, reducing the number of exemption from charge categories for non-residents and realigning the Regulations to the principle that the NHS is a residency-based healthcare system;

– requiring chargeable patients from outside the EEA to be charged at 150% of national tariff, in tandem with the launch of a risk sharing arrangement with commissioners, thereby encouraging providers to both identify and recover costs from these patients to access the extra funding available; and

– the introduction of the health surcharge in April 2015 which now means nearly all individuals who require a visa to remain in the UK for more than six month’s pay an annual surcharge as a contribution towards their healthcare costs.

Furthermore, those with outstanding debts to the NHS of £1,000 or more and who are subject to immigration control can, since 2011, have applications for new visas or extensions of stay refused because of that debt, to encourage them to pay it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to commence Section 154 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, on fixed penalty notices for leaving litter.

Rory Stewart

No timetable has been set for when Section 154 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 will be commenced.

Defra has announced plans for a new litter strategy and we are working with industry, experts and councils across England to improve the way we all tackle the scourge of litter. The litter strategy will promote affordable and replicable ways to influence littering behaviour and reduce littering. This will include work on ways to deal with littering from vehicles.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in Stafford constituency.

Anna Soubry

The Government is working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business by supporting businesses across the country. In Stafford, 42 Government backed Start-Up Loans have been drawn down since September 2012 with a value of over £218,000. A Regional Growth Fund award of £4m made in 2011 has attracted private investment of £56.5 million, delivering 1,600 jobs. Since May 2010, 26 loans have been drawn down in Stafford, worth over £2.6 million, from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Businesses in Stafford also have access to the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub which was live from September 2014, which is one of a network of 39 Growth Hubs set up across England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her Department’s policy to support the G7 Initiative on Climate Risk Insurance.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK supports the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative and is committed to contributing to meeting the collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

UK support under the Initiative includes contributions to the African Risk Capacity and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative. In September the Prime Minister announced that the UK would provide at least £5.8 billion of climate finance over the next five years which will include support for climate risk insurance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers in Stafford constituency who are eligible for payments under the Basic Payments Scheme 2015 had not been paid by 31 March 2016.

George Eustice

As of 31 March 2016, the Rural Payments Agency had paid 168 (80%) of the 211 eligible Basic Payment Scheme 2015 claims received in Stafford constituency. To date 191 had been paid and the agency has announced that those customers who do not receive a claim payment in April will be provided a bridging payment. Bridging payments will be around half of their claim value.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the level of access to credit for businesses in Stafford constituency in the last 12 months.

Anna Soubry

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 contained two specific policies to support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in accessing finance.

The first requires major banks to refer SMEs they reject for finance to designated ‘finance platforms’ that can help match SMEs with alternative finance providers. This will ensure that viable SMEs, including businesses in Stafford, that may not fit the major banks’ risk appetite can still get the finance they need to grow and expand. Three platforms have recently been designated by HM Treasury on the advice of the British Business Bank and are expected to come into operation later this year.

The second requires the major banks to share information on their SME customers, with the SME’s permission, with other lenders through designated Credit Reference Agencies. This will improve the ability of challenger banks and alternative finance providers to conduct accurate risk assessments and level the playing field between providers and make it easier for SMEs to get finance from providers other than their bank.

The Government is supporting the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Crowdfunding sectors, which provide alternative sources of finance for both businesses and individuals. The British Business Bank, for example, has invested £100m in SMEs via five P2P platforms.

In addition, the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme has facilitated over £2.6 billion of bank lending and other finance to over 25,000 SMEs. Since the start of the scheme, 45 EFG loans have been drawn down in Stafford worth over £5 million. Government has also provided loans through the Start Up Loans Company to help new businesses in Stafford. 42 start up businesses in Stafford have secured a loan from the Start Up Loans Company, with a total value of over £218, 000.

More widely, credit conditions for business continue to improve with net lending to SMEs in 2015 positive across the complete year, the first time this has happened since the financial crisis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the conduct of the first round of the general elections in the Central African Republic.

James Duddridge

I welcome the holding of presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic on 30 December. The people of the Central African Republic showed a strong determination to move towards a democratic future by turning out to vote in large numbers. The holding of elections, which passed off peacefully, is a huge achievement. It was however unacceptable that many refugees, largely from Muslim communities, were unable to vote in the elections.

We will work with international partners and the newly elected President to ensure that an inclusive government is appointed which is representative of Central African Republic groups, regions and refugees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many payments under the Basic Payments Scheme 2015 had not been made to farmers in Stafford constituency by the Rural Payments Agency by 31 March 2016.

George Eustice

As of 31 March 2016, the Rural Payments Agency had paid 168 (80%) of the 211 eligible Basic Payment Scheme 2015 claims received in Stafford constituency. To date 191 had been paid and the agency has announced that those customers who do not receive a claim payment in April will be provided a bridging payment. Bridging payments will be around half of their claim value.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fines of what total monetary value were written off by HM Courts Service in Staffordshire in each year since 2011-12.

Caroline Dinenage

Due to the limited management information that can be extracted from the Libra system it is not possible to identify how many financial impositions have been cancelled.

The table below shows the total value of financial impositions cancelled in Staffordshire in each of the year since 2010-11.

Year	Total Value Legally Cancelled regardless of Imposition date	Total Value Admin Cancelled regardless of Imposition date
2010-11	£1,237,941	£722,603
2011-12	£1,181,416	£692,066
2012-13	£1,256,081	£924,630
2013-14	£1,406,722	£835,113
2014-15	£1,320,535	£656,536
Apr 2015 – Dec 2015	£1,154,484	£410,937

The data for January 2016 to March 2016 is not included as the data has not been published yet.

A legal cancellation can be applied when an imposition has been cancelled in court by a Judge or Magistrate, for example if an appeal is successful or if some of the original amount imposed is remitted after the offenders financial circumstances have been reconsidered.

Financial impositions are only administratively cancelled after all attempts to collect the amount outstanding have been made, and in accordance with a strict cancellation criteria. Any imposition which has been administratively cancelled still retains legal status and can be written back at any time if more information is found which will enable collection, for example if a new address for the offender is discovered. We periodically review administratively cancelled accounts.