Tag: Karen Lumley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent increase in probate fees on the number of people who seek to avoid such fees by moving property into joint names to remove the need for a grant of probate.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government published a consultation on proposals to reform fees for applications for a grant of probate on 18 February. Alongside the consultation, an impact assessment was published which included a sensitivity analysis that accounted for a range of fee avoidance behaviours. This will be reviewed again in the Government response. The consultation will run for six weeks, closing on 1 April.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23178, what recent progress the Government has made on planning to enact section 165 of the Equality Act 2010 on alternative means of ensuring that wheelchair users are able to access taxis.

Andrew Jones

The Government is continuing to actively consider how best to address problems wheelchair users face when using taxis and private hire vehicles, including the possible commencement of Section 165 of the Equality Act 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new Apprenticeship Levy on the number of apprenticeship start-ups from September 2016.

Nick Boles

The Department does not produce forecasts for apprenticeship starts. Apprenticeships are paid jobs and their availability is dependent on employers offering opportunities and hiring apprentices.

The levy will fund a step-change in apprenticeship numbers and quality – delivering on our commitment to 3 million new apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. It will put apprenticeship funding on a sustainable footing and improve the technical and professional skills of the workforce.

It will encourage employers to invest in their apprentices and take on more. Employers in England who pay the levy and are committed to apprenticeships training will be able to get out more than they pay in to the levy through a top-up of additional funding to their digital accounts. The government will apply a 10% top-up to monthly funds entering levy paying employers digital accounts, for apprenticeship training in England, from April 2017. Apprentices who have been accepted on to an apprenticeship before April 2017 will be funded for the full term of the apprenticeship under the terms and conditions that were in place at the time their apprenticeship started.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the extent of changes in the workload of teachers arising from the new Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 testing regime.

Nick Gibb

The removal of unnecessary workload is a priority for this Department and is considered carefully when introducing any significant change for schools. Our primary assessment reforms have been designed to put arrangements for the majority of classroom assessment back into the hands of the school and to reduce the tracking burdens that national curriculum levels previously encouraged. We believe schools are best placed to decide how to assess pupils in line with their curriculum and that over time this should lead to a reduction in workload for teachers.

Following the introduction of the new national curriculum and the removal of levels, we have developed new forms of statutory assessment at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2. The duty to report assessment at these points remains unchanged from previous years. We do recognise, however, that in this first year of the new forms of assessment teachers will be adapting their approach. Significant reforms like take time to embed and the best way to prepare pupils remains to focus on teaching the core knowledge set by new national curriculum, which schools have been doing since September 2014.

Throughout the introduction of our important reforms to primary assessment, we have worked closely with teachers and head teachers and continue to listen to the concerns of the profession as the details of the new arrangements are finalised. We are working constructively with the teaching profession and their representatives to find solutions to some of the remaining issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department holds statistics on the prosecution of motorists for (a) speeding and (b) other motoring offences in supermarket car parks.

Mike Penning

The Home Office does not collect data on prosecutions for motoring offences. Data on prosecutions for motoring offences are held by the Ministry of Justice and are published in their quarterly Criminal Justice Statistics publication. However it is not possible to separately identify motoring offences committed in supermarket car parks. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The publication can be accessed at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that British manufacturers have fair access to the tendering process to promote the use of UK parts in foreign-made railway trains on the UK rail network.

Claire Perry

We are encouraging SMEs, new entrants and innovators to work with the industry to identify and take advantage of initiatives benefitting the supply chain and improving access to the market to ensure that the UK remains competitive and develops the capacity for orders at home and abroad. It should be noted that over 2,000 railway vehicles are currently on order (being manufactured or to be manufactured) in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he holds information by parliamentary constituency on the number of people affected by transitional arrangements for women born after 6 April 1951 caused by the change in the state pension age.

Justin Tomlinson

Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953 were affected by State Pension age equalisation under the Pensions Act 1995.

The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the equalisation of State Pension age, and included transitional arrangements limiting State Pension age delays, affecting women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 December 1953. It also brought forward the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 which affected women born between 6 Dec 1953 and 5 April 1960.

Information on the numbers affected by parliamentary constituency is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, a population breakdown of women by age at mid-2014 (women with birthdates in 1951 would have been aged 62 or 63 at this point) by constituency can be found in the Office for National Statistics’ data set of Parliamentary Constituency Mid-year Population Estimates for England and Wales:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/parliamentaryconstituencymidyearpopulationestimates

For Scotland:

http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/population/population-estimates/special-area-population-estimates/spc-population-estimates

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue has been retained as a result of refunds for cancelled vehicle tax only being given for any full months of remaining tax since October 2014.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has always issued refunds of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for any full, unexpired months remaining. This is a legal requirement and did not change when the paper tax disc was abolished in October 2014.

In the financial year 2014/15, the DVLA collected £6 billion in VED and paid £216 million in refunds. The amount of VED refunded in the previous financial year was £197 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department maintains central records on the number of council tenants who are evicted from their tenancies and the reason for those evictions.

Brandon Lewis

The Department collects and publishes statistics on local authority tenant evictions and reasons for eviction. The information is published in the annual Local Authority Housing Statistics tables on rents, lettings and tenancies, which are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-data

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters of complaint to HM Revenue and Customs have been responded to within 28 days in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs uses a 15 working day response target for complaints. As at the beginning of October, for the year to date the Department’s 15 day response performance stands at 75%.