The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-04-14.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have had their tax credit payments stopped as a result of in-year adjustments in the last 12 months.
Damian Hinds
The latest published National Statistics for 2013/14 can be accessed here:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the overall effect of changes to housing legislation and housing-related benefits which have come into force since 2010.
Brandon Lewis
Government interventions are reinvigorating the housing market. The number of new homes delivered last year was up by 25 per cent on the previous year, the highest year on year rise for 28 years. Completions are up and housing starts at their highest annual level since 2007, with more than 277,000 affordable homes delivered since April 2010 .
We have announced a doubling of the housing budget to more than £20 billion over the next five years to support the largest housing programme by any Government since the 1970’s
Between 2000/01 and 2012/13, the Housing Benefit bill more than doubled to £24 billion and the cost to the taxpayer increased 50%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-02-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of whether a five per cent VAT rate could continue to apply to solar PV and solar thermal within the terms of the EU’s VAT directive and the judgment of the European Court of Justice on that matter.
Mr David Gauke
The Government has recently consulted on this matter, the results of which will be announced shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which branch of the NHS has responsibility for funding the diagnosing of (a) autism and (b) Asperger’s syndrome.
Alistair Burt
Clinical diagnosis of autism and Asperger syndrome would usually be made by National Health Service paediatric, psychiatric or mental health services, commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. The exception would be where a diagnosis was made by a specialised service, which would be commissioned by NHS England. Professionals funded by local authorities (such as educational psychologists) may also make a diagnosis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the homelessness prevention grant will continue to be paid to local authorities after the phasing out of the core local government grant.
Greg Hands
We want a radical reshaping of the relationship between central and local government, ending the merry go round of clawing back local taxes into Whitehall and handing them out again in the form of grants. We will do this by giving local government full retention of its Business Rates by 2020, meaning all income from local taxes will go towards funding local services. We will work closely with the sector over the coming weeks and months to ensure local people have more control over how their money is spent. This will mean looking at the grants that currently go from central government to local authorities, and the range of responsibilities central government asks local government to deliver. There will still be redistribution between councils so that councils don’t lose out just because their area starts from a weaker position. We will set out more detail at the Spending Review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the homelessness prevention grant.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Homelessness Prevention Grant is part of our £500 million investment in local authority and voluntary sector homelessness services. It has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless since 2010.