Tag: Lord Greaves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what type and proportion of tenancy deposits in other than assured shorthold tenancies are protected by tenancy deposit schemes.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Housing Act 2004 only requires deposits taken specifically in relation to assured shorthold tenancies, the most common form of tenancy, to be protected in a Government approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.

The Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England are currently protecting over 3 million deposits on behalf of tenants, helping to raise standards in the private rented sector and ensuring that tenants are treated fairly at the end of the tenancy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether train operating companies (TOCs) are required to make available split ticketing options when they are cheaper for a journey than the purchase of a single ticket; if so, what action they are taking to make sure that this happens in all cases; and if not, whether they will recommend it to the TOCs.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Rail passengers should always be able to get the best deal and the industry must work harder to make this a reality. We are aware that there are a number of routes in England for which it can be cheaper to purchase two or more tickets for individual parts of the route than a through ticket for the entire journey. Anyone is entitled to purchase two or more separate tickets for their journey so long as the train they are travelling on stops at the stations indicated at the end of each ticket.

Train operators are obliged to sell the most appropriate through fare based on the information the passenger gives them. This will depend on what time the passenger wants to travel and how flexible they need to be. The National Rail Conditions of Carriage, which form the basis of the contract you enter into when you buy a rail ticket, allow passengers to use combinations of tickets. However, it is vital that industry improve information available to passengers and the Rail Minister will be raising this with the Rail Delivery Group as a priority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to assist the organisations and volunteers in the UK taking action to help refugees (1) in the Calais area, (2) in the Dodecanese islands, and (3) elsewhere in Europe.

Baroness Verma

The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. The UK has pledged over £1.12 billion, our largest ever humanitarian response to a single crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US and have done more than any other European country.

The UK’s priority is to stop the deaths of migrants making perilous journeys. We believe the right approach is to support people to stay in a place of safety in their home or host countries. To this end we are increasing our work to support longer term stability and resilience-building inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.

We are providing £15 million to organisations working in Europe, which includes immediate humanitarian support to migrants and refugees who have made the journey to Europe. Our package of support includes life-saving aid to protect the most vulnerable people, as well as support to governments in managing registration in Europe and the Western Balkans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the reasons for closing the Routes into Languages project, what research informed that decision, and what assessment they have made of the consequences of closing that project.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Routes into Languages is a Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) funded project. The project’s steering group will consider the future of the programme as part of HEFCE’s budget process, taking account of the grant letter to be provided by the Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) Secretary of State.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications for planning consent for national infrastructure projects have been made since responsibility for determining them passed to the Secretary of State; and whether they will list them by date, decision and the time each one took between the application being made and the decision issued.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

70 applications for development consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects have been made since responsibility for determining them passed from the Infrastructure Planning Commission to the Secretary of State in 2012. Of these, there have been 46 decisions in total. 45 were taken by the Secretary of State and 1 by the Infrastructure Planning Commission.

Of these decisions, the Secretary of State granted development consent for 43 projects and declined 2 applications. The Infrastructure Planning Commission granted development consent for 1.

Of the 70 applications, 4 were withdrawn before they reached the decision stage. 20 applications are currently going through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning process. Details of all the applications including the time each one took between application and decision are set out in the attached table.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the expenditure on the provision of English courses for speakers of other languages (1) in further education colleges and other public sector bodies, and (2) in other ways, in each of the last 10 years, including the current academic year; which bodies will deliver the extra language tuition to be provided from the £20 million announced by the Prime Minister; and when that extra tuition will commence.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The table below shows estimated funding for adult skills budget ESOL provision from 2009/10 onwards. We do not hold data before 2009/10 or collect data by the status of the providers.

BIS funding for ESOL is allocated by the Skills Funding Agency as part of a provider’s adult skills budget. In addition, there are a number of ESOL courses funded through the Agency’s community learning budget, but we do not collect data which enables us to provide a breakdown of the expenditure on these. SFA-funded providers which deliver ESOL include Further Education colleges, local authorities and a few other providers. The Department for Communities and Local Government funds a range of organisations contracted to deliver their current community-based English language projects.

Our new £20 million community-based English language training offer will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey’s Review and the learning from the six community projects we have funded as part of our current integration programme. In particular, we will work with Louise Casey to identify the most isolated communities in England to make sure this programme is targeted at those women who need it most and on the detail of how it will be delivered. We are working towards as early a launch date as possible for the programme in 2016-17.

YEAR	BIS ACADEMIC YEAR ESTIMATED FUNDING* (Adult Skills Budget)	DCLG FINANCIAL YEAR FUNDING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROJECTS
09/10	£203m
10/11	£169m
11/12	£117m
12/13	£128m	£0.12m
13/14	£120m	£2.14m
14/15	£104m	£3.66m

*Funding values are estimated using data from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Estimated funding provides an indication of the level of government funding and should not be treated as actual spend.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government for each government-approved tenancy deposit scheme for assured shorthold tenancies, what is the average time taken to (1) return deposits, and (2) resolve disputes regarding deposits; what proportion of cases of dispute remain unresolved after (1) three months, (2) six months, and (3) 12 months; what proportion of deposits are (1) returned in full, and (2) not returned at all, and of those what proportion are not disputed; and what is their estimate of the proportion of tenancies in which a deposit is not protected.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Tenancy Deposit Schemes in England currently protect over 3 million deposits on behalf of tenants, helping to raise standards in the private rented sector and ensuring that tenants are treated fairly at the end of the tenancy.

At the end of September 2015, over 11.5 million deposits had been protected by the tenancy deposit schemes and less than 1.5 per cent of these had gone to adjudication. Tenancy deposit schemes are required to deal with disputed cases within 28 days. An adjudicator’s decision is final and can only be challenged through the courts. Information is not collected on such court cases. A breakdown by scheme of the average time taken to return deposits, resolve disputes and the award of decisions are set out in the attached table.

My Department has not made an assessment of the proportion of tenancies in which a deposit is not protected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what projects are currently included under the Northern Powerhouse label.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Northern Powerhouse is a long-term project to help address the productivity gap in the North and ensure we build an economy that works for everyone. It covers a huge range of policy functions including investing in transport, supporting international trade, devolving powers from Whitehall to local areas and much more beyond. Please see attached for a list of examples.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government  what measures they are taking to help to prevent sexual predators taking advantage of refugees, including children, (1) in the UK, and (2) in the rest of Europe.

Lord Bates

Any child who arrives in the UK unaccompanied, either as a result of resettlement or via another route, would be expected to receive the same protection and support as a child who is resident in the UK, under the provisions set out in the Children Act 1989, as amended, and related statutory guidance.

In Europe, the UK, through the Department for International Development, has committed funding to humanitarian organisations which are working to assist and protect vulnerable people, including children.

This includes funding to the Red Cross, UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration, as well as humanitarian NGOs working in southern Europe and the Balkans. These programmes have specific activities which identify unaccompanied children to ensure that they are referred to appropriate services, including psychosocial support and child-friendly safe spaces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current backlog of applications for land registration at the Land Registry, and how long is the average delay in registration.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There are approximately 234k applications awaiting completion at Land Registry, 93k of which cannot be processed as they are awaiting replies to queries sent to the originating conveyancer or solicitor, or notices sent to the registered proprietor(s) of the land or property. This leaves 141k applications available for Land Registry to process. Registration takes place after the transaction has been completed and the priority of all of these pending applications is protected upon receipt. Last year, Land Registry received 5.9m applications for registration.

The average number of days taken to complete all applications for registration is 11 days, with applications to update an existing register taking an average of just under 7 days, and applications that result in the creation of new registered titles taking an average of 42 days to complete.