Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what review his Department has conducted of homelessness in the West Midlands; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

One homeless family is one too many. We have provided more than £500 million to local authorities to prevent homelessness since 2010, which has resulted in 935,800 households, including 121,400 in the West Midlands region, being prevented from becoming homeless. The Department will continue to work with local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that men make use of mental health services when they need them; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

We have committed to achieving parity of esteem for mental and physical health and improving access to mental health services for all people. We are implementing the first waiting times for mental health services to ensure more people have access to care when they need it and we have increased access to talking therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.

We know that men can sometimes be a hard to reach group for some mental health issues such as reducing the risk of suicide and reducing stigma and encouraging men to seek help for their mental health problems.

We continue to provide financial support to the Time to Change programme which aims to reduce the stigma around mental health and we provide financial support to the National Suicide Prevention Alliance, which involves organisations from across Government, industry and the community, voluntary and charitable sectors to support delivery of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. Men are highlighted as a high risk group within the National Strategy for whom our suicide prevention activities should be prioritised.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase (a) income tax and (b) corporation tax receipts; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

The Government wants to deliver a low tax, high wage economy.The personal allowance has been increased from £6,475 in 2010-11 to £10,600 in 2015-16, and the headline rate of corporation tax has been cut from 28 per cent to 20 per cent since 2010.

The Government has committed to going further in this parliament by raising the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000.Corporation tax will be cut to 18 per cent by 2020, benefitting over a million companies.

Due to the strength of our economy, tax receipts are growing strongly. Onshore corporation tax receipts have risen nearly 30% since 2010.Income tax receipts are £8bn higher in the first 10 months of 2015 compared to the first 10 months of 2014. In its most recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook the Office for Budget Responsibility have raised their forecast for receipts over the parliament.

At the same time the government has taken a number of steps to clamp down on avoidance and evasion. For instance it will invest over £800m in HM Revenue and Customs to help them to tackle evasion and non-compliance over the course of the parliament. These measures are forecast to raise £7.2bn by 2020-21.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department plans to spend on domestic counter-terrorism operations in each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes

The Government protected counter-terrorism police funding over the last 5 years and the Strategic Defence and Security Review and Spending Review both confirmed a real terms increase to counter-terrorism police funding to invest in new capabilities.

The Spending Review announcement set the overall budget for the Home Office. Officials are now going through the detail and will continue to provide advice to the Home Secretary on individual allocations and spending commitments. We anticipate that funding allocations for counter-terrorism will be confirmed in the New Year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK police and intelligence staff are based in (a) Europe and (b) Turkey; and if she will make a statement.

Mike Penning

For national security reasons we do not disclose details of intelligence officers or counter terrorism police deployed or based abroad.

In respect of wider policing we do not hold details of all overseas deployments by police forces. We only hold details of those deployments which provide assistance to an international organisation, foreign government or police service and therefore require authorisation from the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Home Secretary under the provisions of Section 26 of the Police Act (1996).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20540, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the distribution of Syria crisis response funds in (a) Lebanon and (b) Jordan; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

To date, the UK has allocated £304 million in Lebanon and £193 million in Jordan to support Syrian refugees and vulnerable host communities. This allocation has effectively delivered humanitarian and development support where needs are greatest and most unmet across both countries. For example, as of June 2015 in Jordan and Lebanon respectively, 1,684,800 and 2,032,500 food rations have been delivered providing food for one person for one month.

The effectiveness of the UK’s humanitarian response in Jordan and Lebanon is assessed regularly through progress reports from funded agencies monitoring their achievements against plans outlined in their funding agreements. Progress is followed up through regular discussions and periodic field monitoring visits to project sites by DFID staff based in our Embassies in Amman and Beirut and from our headquarters in the UK. In addition, projects are formally reviewed on an annual basis and in some cases we also commission independent evaluations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees were resettled in each (a) region and (b) parliamentary constituency in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Harrington

The Home Office is committed to publishing data on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 25 February 2016 and will cover the period October – December 2015.

This information will not show where refugees have been resettled, as resettlement under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme by local authorities is voluntary. It is a matter for each local authority to decide whether they want to publish the fact of their participation and the numbers of refugees they take.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of finance options available to doctors to cover their training costs; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department of Health have joint responsibility for the funding of students on medical courses. For the first four years of the five or six year undergraduate degree, medical students receive the same maintenance and tuition fee loans as mainstream students under the BIS Education (Student Support) Regulations.

In the fifth year of study funding is provided by the National Health Service Bursary Scheme and eligible medical students can receive a means tested NHS Bursary and a non-means tested grant of £1,000. The NHS will also meet the cost of their tuition, so medical students do not have to pay tuition fees in the final years of their course.

Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for determining the amount of funding available to students via the NHS Bursary Scheme.

HEE also support doctors in training by funding clinical placements for undergraduate students which is paid directly to the NHS providers at an agreed national tariff price, and postgraduate training at 50% of trainee salary and a placement fee of £12,400.

Funding support is reviewed on an annual basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the affordability of public transport for people in full-time education; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The legislation which regulates the bus industry does not require bus operators to offer reduced fares to young people. However, bus operators in most areas do offer discounted travel tickets to various groups of young people on a commercial basis. Government recognises the importance of accessible transport to all young people and we are working with the sector to encourage operators to continue to improve their offers.

Whilst there is no requirement for local authorities to provide free transport for 16-19 year olds attending further education, some local authorities do also provide discretionary travel concession schemes for young people.

Current estimates indicate that around 50% of young people aged 16 to 19 receive at least a third off standard bus fares.

In terms of rail services, young rail passengers are able to purchase a 16 – 25 Railcard where they can save a third on most standard class rail fares.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received in the last year from (a) Christian, (b) Jewish and (c) Muslim faith schools on the Counter Extremism Strategy used in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

This Government believes all children should be educated in a safe environment, whether in a school or out of school.

Department officials have briefed representatives of faith schools, including Christian, Jewish and Muslim schools, on matters relating to the Government’s Prevent and Counter-Extremism strategies. The Department received a number of queries from both faith schools and non-faith schools on how to implement the Prevent duty. The Department has issued practical advice to schools to help them understand their role under the new Prevent duty, and also launched a dedicated counter-extremism helpline in 2015 to enable front line staff, governors, and others to raise concerns directly. The Department has combined all its existing advice in the new Educate Against Hate website[1], which was launched by the Secretary of State on 19 January.

The Department recently completed a call for evidence on proposals for the registration and inspection of out-of-school settings providing intensive education which were announced in the Counter-Extremism Strategy. Over 3,000 people, including representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, completed the response form, either online or manually. The Department received a significant number of further representations to the consultation by email and post. All responses and representations are being logged, analysed and verified.

We will be publishing a response to the consultation in due course, in line with Cabinet Office guidance.

[1] http://educateagainsthate.com/

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