Tag: Karin Smyth

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to accelerate the reunification of families for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.

We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe.

We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes were completed in Bristol South constituency in each year from 2010 to 2014.

Brandon Lewis

Statistics on house building starts and completions are not available by parliamentary constituency.

These statistics for England and for each local authority district, including Bristol, are published in the Department’s live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link:

http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

The house building statistics exclude other sources of housing supply such as conversions.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of personal assistants who provide care to people formerly in receipt of the Independent Living Fund who will be entitled to pension scheme auto-enrolment; and what guidance his Department has issued to employers of such employees on that matter.

Justin Tomlinson

All personal care assistants that meet the eligibility criteria for automatic enrolment will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme by their employer. In order to be eligible, staff must be between 22 and State Pension age and must earn more than £10,000 per year (which is £192 per week).

We are working with The Pensions Regulator to ensure that employers of personal care assistants are supported with their automatic enrolment duties. The Regulator has tailored its online Step by Step guide and offline communications specifically to employers of personal care assistants. Furthermore, the Regulator provides information that will help employers of personal care assistants to choose a pension scheme. Finally, the Regulator has a dedicated Industry Liaison team who engage with providers, employers, intermediaries, charities and user-led organisations to raise awareness and understanding of automatic enrolment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will take steps to provide additional support for people who need to dispose of a property after the death of a relative by reviewing existing council tax liabilities.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government provides an exemption from council tax for up to 6 months to people who have inherited properties which are left empty due to the death of the occupier. This applies after the granting of probate, or after letters of administration have been signed. Local authorities additionally have discretion to offer discounts of between 0% and 100% for empty homes. Authorities can also defer payment of council tax until the proceeds of a sale are made available.

The Government has no plans to change this support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people resident in Bristol South constituency were deported in each year from 2005 to 2014.

James Brokenshire

The information requested is set out in the table below:

Year	Total
2006	14
2007	13
2008	20
2009	14
2010	16
2011	30
2012	10
2013	15
2014	10
Total	142

Caveats

Bristol South constituency postcodes taken from the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) (Office for National Statistics)

Data is based on the last recorded address on CID at the time of departure, incorrect/incomplete postcodes will not have been matched

Removal figures uses Management Information based on the Historical Removal report.

Figures provided from 2006 onwards as earlier data is not captured due to the unreliability of CID data at that time.

The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make it her policy to continue to invest in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK is currently reviewing all core contributions through the Multilateral Aid Review. We are committed to remaining a world leader in tackling global diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. We will continue to invest in the Global Fund, which has saved 17 million lives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase GP recruitment in South Bristol.

David Mowat

The Government has committed to increasing the primary and community care workforce by 10,000 by 2020, including an additional 5,000 doctors in general practice.

NHS England advises it has invested £10million to kick start a range of initiatives to expand the general practitioner (GP) workforce, set out in a joint action plan developed with Health Education England (HEE), Royal College of General Practiioners and British Medical Association. Achievements to date include , a new national induction and refreshers scheme was launched in 2015.

Further measures to boost the general practice workforce are set out in the General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016.

HEE’s confirms it is working to maintain a high fill rate of Bristol’s programme for Postgraduate Training pre Certificate of Completion of Training and to continue to produce high calibre GPs leaving the Bristol Programme upon completion of their training. HEE advises it is doing this by:-

― Continuing to offer high quality training placements throughout the Bristol region;

― Promoting new initiatives such as the Global Health Programme and Leadership and Excellence Extensions of Training opportunities; and,

― Maintaining existing Scholarship programme for trainees in their final year to gain extended skills in primary care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees the Government plans to resettle in the Bristol City Council area.

James Brokenshire

Resettlement under the government schemes is voluntary on the part of local authorities. We are grateful to those who take on this role and will continue to work in partnership with them.

We do not disclose the details of where refugees are resettled upon their arrival in the UK under the Government resettlement schemes as this may undermine the privacy and recovery of this vulnerable group of people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place in the Library a copy of the communication between Ministers and officials in his Department about NHS England’s decision to change the amount of NHS performance data published the Winter Daily Situation Reports for 2015-16.

Jane Ellison

In line with previous requests of this nature, copies of communications on this issue are not proposed to be placed in the Library, as all communications from officials were for the purpose of providing advice to ministers for their consideration and deliberation. Releasing this information would be likely to inhibit the continued free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

Based on clinical advice from the NHS England National Medical Director Sir Bruce Keogh, the Secretary of State agreed with the recommendation to standardise reporting arrangements. The recommendation came from Sir Bruce Keogh’s review of waiting time standards published in June 2015. The overall approach was agreed in September by the respective chief executives of NHS England, TDA and Monitor with the Secretary of State for Health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure incentives and support packages meet the needs of small businesses in order to increase their ability to take on apprentices.

Robert Halfon

We want to continue to support small employers to take on younger apprentices and so propose that employers with fewer than 50 people working for them will be able to train 16 to 18 year old apprentices at no cost.

We propose to extend this to small employers who take on a 19 to 24 year old apprentice who was formerly in care or has a Local Authority Education, Health and Care plan. The government will pay 100% of the apprenticeship training costs for these individuals. Further funding detail and provisional funding rates were published in August.

Since April, employers have not been required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for almost all apprentices aged under 25 up to the Upper Secondary Threshold (£827 per week in 2016-17).

This change makes the business case for apprenticeships even stronger, reducing the cost of employing a young apprentice by over £500 a year on a salary of £12,000, and over £1,000 a year on a salary of £16,000.