Tag: Meg Hillier

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many disclosure and barring applications have been sent to the Metropolitan Police in each year of the last five years; and what the average time taken by the Metropolitan Police to process checks for Disclosure and Barring Service applications was in each of those years.

Karen Bradley

The number of applications that the Disclosure and Barring Service sent to the Metropolitan Police in each of the last five years is set out in the follwoing table, together with the Metropolitan Police’s average processing time for each of those years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and (b) Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) hearing centres have closed in (i) London and (ii) the UK in the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara

No First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) or Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) hearing centres in London, or the UK, have closed within the last five years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and (b) Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) hearing centres are projected to close in (i) London and (ii) the UK in the next five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara

There are currently no plans to close any First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum hearing centres.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department provides for community solar projects.

Andrea Leadsom

This Government is proud to support the community energy sector. We have provided £2m to support over 100 community groups through the Urban and Rural Community Energy Funds and community solar projects are able to access funding. We also provided £885,000 to Bristol City Council to develop a Local Authority Best Practice Programme, including community solar projects. The DECC-funded online Community Energy Hub helps communities across the UK share knowledge and information on community energy projects.

Community solar projects, up to 5MW in capacity, can also currently seek support through the Feed-in Tariff scheme. The scheme provides a generation tariff for the electricity generated by the installation and a tariff for electricity exported to the grid. These payments are in addition to bill savings for those projects that consume electricity generated onsite.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the funding received by police forces operating in areas where crime levels are rising.

Mike Penning

Police reform is working and crime is falling. According to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales, crime has fallen by more than a quarter since 2010. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 1981.

The Government has protected overall police spending in real terms over the Spending Review period, when precept is taken into account. This is an increase of up to £900 million in cash terms by 2019/20. Funding allocations for individual police force areas were published in the Provisional Police Grant Report on 17 December.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the purchase of the Kingsland Fire Station site for use by the Hackney New Primary School; and how much accrued to the public purse from the sale of that site.

Nick Gibb

The Government purchased the Kingsland Fire Station, 333 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DR for the sum of £16,000,000 (exclusive of VAT) from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority in October 2015. The site has not been sold on.

The purchase, which was funded from the Department for Education’s budget, was made in the name of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; this is a long standing convention whereby the seal of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is held equally across all government departments and used for Land Registry Title purposes.

We do not have the details of any gain made by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority from the sale of the site; that could only be answered by the Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to enable special circumstances to be taken into account when making the decision to withhold housing benefit from people who are away from their homes for a period of more than four weeks.

Justin Tomlinson

The temporary absence rules allow Housing Benefit to continue where under the normal conditions of entitlement it would not do so. They are therefore extensions of entitlement rather than withdrawals of it.

It is the intention from April 2016, that Housing Benefit claimants who leave Great Britain for longer than 4 weeks will no longer be able to get Housing Benefit while they are away. This aligns the Housing Benefit rules with other benefits including Universal Credit.

We intend that the period of 4 weeks could be extended in exceptional circumstances (for example, if their reason for being abroad is due to the death of a family member).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to enable special circumstances to be taken into account when making the decision to withhold pension credit to people who are away from their homes for a period of more than four weeks.

Justin Tomlinson

It is the intention to amend the Pension Credit temporary absence from Great Britain rules from April 2016. The temporary absence rules allow entitlement to Pension Credit to continue where under normal conditions it would not do so.

We are planning for a general rule which will allow Pension Credit to remain payable for absences not exceeding four weeks. We intend to have exceptions to the general rule to cater for bereavement or medical treatment. Where the absence from Great Britain is in connection with a bereavement concerning a partner or close relative then entitlement to Pension Credit may continue for absences not exceeding eight weeks. Where the absence from Great Britain is in order to receive medical treatment then entitlement to Pension Credit may continue for absences not exceeding 26 weeks.

These changes do not affect the Pension Credit rules covering absences from home within Great Britain.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 20730, what change there has been in the level of overall police spending in real terms over the Spending Review period when precept is not taken into account.

Mike Penning

Overall central Government funding to the police (excluding funding for counter-terrorism policing) will reduce by 1.4% in real terms over the Spending Review (SR) 2015 period. This is equivalent to a £500 million (6.2%) cash increase over the period.

When precept is taken into account, this amounts to a flat cash protection for policing over the SR period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral contribution of 20 October 2015, Official Report, column 813, what discussions he has had with ministers in the Turkish government on ensuring that freedom of the press is upheld in that country as it relates to citizens of any country.

Mr David Lidington

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and officials regularly encourage Turkey to continue to work towards the full protection of fundamental rights, including the principles of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. I discussed these issues, in the context of Turkey’s accession to the EU, when I last met my Turkish counterpart in August this year.