Tag: Lord Kennedy of Southwark

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the logbook loans industry.

Lord Deighton

The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, including logbook lenders, by transferring responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.

The Government is very concerned about evidence of consumer detriment in the logbook loan sector, as highlighted in the FCA’s recent research paper.

The FCA has identified logbook lenders as a higher risk industry, and as such they will be in the first phase of firms to require full authorisation. Logbook loan providers are also required to meet the FCA’s binding rules, and the FCA has said that it “won’t hesitate to take action” if they do not put their customers first.

In addition, the Government has asked the Law Commission to look at how to bring the highly complex legislation underpinning logbook loans up to date.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the progress of the Credit Union Expansion Project.

Lord Freud

The DWP Credit Union Expansion Project contract began in May 2013. Around 80 credit unions are currently participating in the project. ABCUL has started delivering the Automated Loan and decision tool to participating credit unions and feedback is that the tool is ensuring loan decisions are faster, consistent and more efficient to deliver. Procurement of an IT banking platform is also being progressed but much remains to be done particularly on achieving sufficient growth for Credit Unions, and DWP continue to support and monitor the project closely

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes local authorities are required to make to their information technology services in order to remain connected to the gov.uk secure network.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a new and trusted single network for government. Ninety-eight per cent of local authorities have already transitioned to PSN, with the remainder due to transfer before the end of summer.

The Cabinet Office is supporting local authorities as they transition to PSN by providing guidance, project managers and information assurance specialists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice has been issued to local authorities to make the required changes to their information technology services to remain connected to the gov.uk secure network.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a new and trusted single network for government. Ninety-eight per cent of local authorities have already transitioned to PSN, with the remainder due to transfer before the end of summer.

The Cabinet Office is supporting local authorities as they transition to PSN by providing guidance, project managers and information assurance specialists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made by each local authority in the United Kingdom in making changes to their information technology services to remain part of the gov.uk secure network.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a new and trusted single network for government. Ninety-eight per cent of local authorities have already transitioned to PSN, with the remainder due to transfer before the end of summer.

The Cabinet Office is supporting local authorities as they transition to PSN by providing guidance, project managers and information assurance specialists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many hospital beds per head of the population there were in (1) England, (2) London and (3) Lewisham, in each year from 2008–09 to 2013–14.

Earl Howe

Hospital beds data per head of population are not collected centrally.

Hospital beds data are collected for each National Health Service trust and NHS foundation trust.

Population estimates and projections are available for local NHS commissioning bodies; primary care trusts (PCTs) up to 2011 and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) from 2012. These data can be aggregated up to larger areas such as strategic health authorities (SHAs) up to 2011 and local area teams from 2012.

A table has been placed in the Library which shows the estimated hospital beds per 1,000 population in England and London each year from 2008-09 to 2013-14.

It is not possible to show the hospital beds per head of population in a local commissioning body such as Lewisham, because this would be based on the assumptions that the beds in a trust are available only for the population of the local commissioning body and that this population only uses these beds. These assumptions will not reflect reality as trusts serve populations from outside their commissioning areas and patients will access services in hospitals outside their local commissioning area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people registered for unemployment benefit in each year from 2008–09 to 2013–14 in (1) the United Kingdom, (2) London as a whole, and (3) each London borough.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure that war memorials around the United Kingdom are kept in good condition.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

There is a wide range of support available for the repair, conservation and protection of war memorials from the Memorials Grant Scheme run by DCMS, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the War Memorials Trust, English Heritage and others. In addition, the Government has announced an additional £5 million to ensure that war memorials and significant burial sites are in a good condition for the centenary. Further details will be announced in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much sand and gravel is used each year to protect the United Kingdom coastline.

Lord De Mauley

The Environment Agency holds this information locally and it would be disproportionately costly to collate the records to answer this question accurately in the time allowed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the marine aggregate industry.

Lord De Mauley

The UK Marine Policy Statement (MPS) is the framework for preparing Marine Plans and taking decisions affecting the marine environment. The MPS sets out the policy objectives for key activities taking place in the marine environment. This includes an assessment of marine aggregate resources, potential impacts from extraction activities and issues for consideration by decision-makers. Within English waters marine aggregate extraction activities are regulated by the Marine Management Organisation.

Government, regulators, The Crown Estate and the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) have collaborated on an extensive programme of research (over £25 million in ten years) into understanding and minimising the environmental impacts of aggregates dredging. Following the completion of that programme BMAPA and The Crown Estate recently commissioned and published Aggregate Dredging and the Marine Environment – an overview of recent research and current industry practice. The report is available on The Crown Estate website at www.thecrownestate.co.uk

The marine aggregate industry has and continues to engage constructively with Government and regulators in developing marine plans and licensing policy and Marine Conservation Zones.

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