Tag: Lord Kinnock

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide all factual evidence they have, together with their sources, that UK in-work and out-of-work benefits are a factor in encouraging immigration to the UK from other EU member states.

Lord Freud

The benefits system is one of a range of factors attracting migrants to Britain. Net migration to the UK stood at 336,000 in the year to June 2015 according to the November 2015 Migration Statistics Quarterly Report from the Office for National Statistics, and EU nationals are a significant contributor to recent increases. Meanwhile, an analysis of administrative data held by the Department for Work and Pensions showed that between 37% and 45% of all recent EU migrants were in households supported by the benefits system as of March 2013.

The Government has already introduced tough new measures to ensure that EU jobseekers will have no access to means-tested benefits whatsoever as Universal Credit is rolled out.

And now we want to ensure that the welfare system plays no part in the migration decisions of any EU national. The Prime Minister is therefore pursuing further reforms to ensure that EU migrants who come to the UK for low-paid work cannot claim in-work benefits until they have lived here and contributed to our country for a minimum of four years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions the Chancellor of the Exchequer has had, during and since his recent official visit to China, with the government of China and Chinese industrialists about steel production and trade; whether, in those discussions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has raised the issue of steel products dumping; and if so, what response he has received.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

There has been very substantial ministerial engagement with the Chinese government in recent months, both here and in China.

During the course of those meetings, developments in the steel market were discussed on numerous occasions,including in discussions between the Prime Minister, Chancellor and President Xi during the State Visit. It was also raised by the Business Secretary.

Our relationship with China includes regular discussions of the market reforms needed to underpin growth in both our countries. This Chinese State Visit is delivering over £30bn of trade and investment deals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what figures for household debt in the United Kingdom were provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility in each year from 2010–11 to 2013–14 and estimated for 2014–15; and what is the percentage represented by such debt of (1) national income, and (2) disposable income, in each year.

Lord Deighton

The OBR publish figures for household debt, GDP and disposable income on their website alongside their Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

In 2010-11 total lending to households in the United Kingdom or debt liabilities was estimated to be £1.53 trillion in the National Accounts produced by the Office for National Statistics, this is equivalent to 102% of annual Gross Domestic Product and 152% of household disposable income in that year. In 2011-12 the figure was 1.53 trillion (99% and147% respectively), and in 2012-13 the figure was 1.54 trillion (98% and 143%). These data are not yet available for 2013-14. In their March 2014 Economic and fiscal outlook the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast these figures to be 1.66 trillion in 2014-15 (97% and 144% respectively).