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Tag: Joanna Cherry

  • Joanna Cherry – 2023 Comments on Gorgie City Farm and Energy Bills

    Joanna Cherry – 2023 Comments on Gorgie City Farm and Energy Bills

    The comments made by Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, in the House of Commons on 9 January 2023.

    Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)

    A much-loved institution in my constituency, Gorgie city farm, is facing closure. Its energy bills for 18 months were previously £17,000, but its last bill for just eight months was £27,000—an increase of over 300%. Can the Minister not see that what he is offering is a drop in the ocean for charities like Gorgie city farm? How does he expect fantastic community institutions, such as the city farm in my constituency, to survive crippling costs when what is on offer is such a drastically reduced package?

    James Cartlidge

    I am grateful to the hon. and learned Lady for mentioning the charity in her constituency. As I said, I appreciate that the energy increase has been a challenge for every type of SME, charity and institution up and down the country. I am sorry to hear about the challenges for Gorgie city farm, which I have not had the pleasure of visiting but it sounds fascinating. Charities have shown huge resilience over the past two years and will continue to receive support with their energy bills from the latest iteration of the discount scheme. I emphasise that there is wider support to help them with their costs, including a reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% and an exclusion from the main rates of the climate change levy on some of the energy they use. The key point is that we are announcing a scheme that is still universal in nature and still includes charities. It is not as generous as before, but when we engaged with stakeholders about the £18 billion six-month scheme, what was interesting was the number of them who remarked that they had not expected that scheme to continue at that level of generosity. They could see the issue about sustainability for the taxpayer, which we all have to understand and address. It is in all our interests, and in the interests of every single business and charity, that this country has sustainable public finances.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many requests have been made for paper copies of tax return forms in the last 12 months.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs does not hold easily accessible data regarding the number of requests made for paper copies of tax returns forms in the last 12 months.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken for HM Revenue and Customs to respond to a request for a paper tax form was in the last 12 months.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs does not hold this information.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on single tier pensions on people contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Contracting out of additional State Pension for Defined Benefit schemes will end on the introduction of the new State Pension from 6 April 2016. The impact on individuals is set out in the Updated impact of the single-tier pension reforms (July 2014) and can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332996/single-tier-pension-impact-assessment-update-july-2014.pdf

    “

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve the availability of off-patent drugs for novel uses through non-legislative measures.

    George Freeman

    Clinicians can already prescribe off-patent drugs off-label on clinical grounds if they judge this is the right thing to do to meet the individual clinical needs of their patients.

    The Government is keen to accelerate the adoption of innovative medicines and increase the innovative use of existing medicines where the evidence reports clinical benefits and cost effectiveness to patients. To that end, we are seeking a number of initiatives to provide innovation but whilst supporting the aims of the Private Member’s Bill on this subject, we do not believe the proposed mechanism is either practicable and desirable.

    We are working with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the General Medical Council and the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency to ensure that there is better information available to support clinicians who wish to prescribe off-patent drugs for off-label indications, and to ensure that new evidence is picked up more quickly and reliably and translated into clinical practice and can be fed through into licensing applications.

    A huge amount of work is also going on in the Accelerated Access Review which will support the “pull” of innovation through to clinical practice.

    As part of the debate on the Access to Medical Treatments Bill, we are working with officials in the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre to see how the power in the Bill, if it were to pass, could address the lack of provision of information on new uses for existing medicines via the power to create a database of innovations in order to support evidence-based prescribing.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that parents who are the sole carer for disabled children aged over 18 will not lose out on vital income as a result of the reforms of tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    As announced at Summer Budget, families will no longer be able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for third or subsequent children in a family where the child is born after April 2017.

    Third or subsequent disabled children born after April 2017 will still receive the disabled child element and the severely disabled child element in Child Tax Credit and the disabled child addition in Universal Credit, but not the child element.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to include the new wage rate recommendations published annually by the Low Pay Commission in calculation of the national living wage.

    Nick Boles

    The independent Low Pay Commission will recommend future National Living Wage rates as well as continuing its current role in recommending National Minimum Wage rates.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Burundi on (a) ending political violence and unrest and (b) alleged extra-judicial killings, torture, lack of freedom of expression and other human rights abuses in that country.

    James Duddridge

    I am extremely concerned about the situation in Burundi. During my visit to Bujumbura in December 2015 I emphasised to the Burundian Government that killings, torture and other abuses must stop and that they must take action to end impunity. I underlined the need for media, opposition and civil society to be allowed to operate freely and that all sides must renounce violence and participate fully in the dialogue. I repeated these messages in my letter to the Burundian Foreign Minister in May. Our Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region reiterated these points in meetings with Burundian ministers in Bujumbura last week and during her visit to Arusha in May for the second round of the dialogue facilitated by former Tanzanian President Mkapa.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Joanna Cherry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability of the child support system for people who are self-employed.

    Priti Patel

    Even after parents have separated they continue to have financial responsibility for their children. We believe that the calculation for Child Maintenance is reasonable and proportionate, being based on the level of the non-resident parent’s income, regardless of whether they are employed or self-employed.

    The formula for the Child Maintenance Calculation is based primarily on the non-resident parent’s gross taxable income, where possible using information derived from HMRC. The level of the calculation is intended to be an approximation of what the non-resident parent would spend if the child lived with them.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2022 Parliamentary Question on “The Crossing” Television Programme

    Joanna Cherry – 2022 Parliamentary Question on “The Crossing” Television Programme

    The parliamentary question asked by Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, in the House of Commons on 16 November 2022.

    Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)

    As we heard, on 24 November last year at least 27 people drowned while attempting to cross the channel in a dinghy, including a little girl. Five are missing and only two survived. A documentary called “The Crossing” that was shown on ITV on Monday night presented evidence that the tragedy happened in UK waters, notwithstanding multiple distress calls from the people in the dinghy while the French and UK coastguards passed the buck over many crucial hours. I understand that solicitors acting for the families of some of the deceased and one of the survivors passed evidence to that effect to the British Government in March this year. The normal political response to loss of life on that scale would be the prompt announcement of an independent public inquiry. Will the Minister tell me what it is about the people who drowned that means that no independent public inquiry has been announced into the circumstances of their drowning?

    Robert Jenrick

    The events of a year ago were very shocking and deeply tragic, and my sympathies go out to the individuals’ families and friends. As a result of that incident, I assure the hon. and learned Member that very significant further steps have been taken by British authorities to enable those crossing the channel in dangerous crafts to be helped ashore in the UK. We are at the point where, I think, 98% of boats that attempt the crossing and pass the median line are helped ashore by Border Force, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution or the Royal Navy. I pay tribute to those British authorities; I have met them and they do that difficult work superbly. We will not be able to secure the passage of everyone who chooses to get in an unsafe dinghy at the behest of people traffickers and cross the channel. The best advice is, “Do not make that dangerous passage. It is illegal and extremely perilous.” That is key: we should not encourage people to make that crossing in the first place. We cannot assure safe passage to everyone.