Tag: Neil Coyle

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the safety of users of private hire vehicles.

Andrew Jones

The legislation that provides for licensing of private hire vehicle services aims to safeguard passengers by ensuring that drivers and vehicles are fit for purpose. This legislation allows local licensing authorities the discretion to set standards that they deem to be appropriate for their area. To help licensing authorities set standards the Department has issued best practice guidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35165, on Personal Independence Payments, what changes his Department has put in place to take account of the finding that 75 per cent of successful appeals resulted from additional oral or documentary evidence being submitted.

Justin Tomlinson

The 75% can be broken down as follows:

Cogent oral evidence – 66%

Cogent documentary evidence supplied at the appeal – 9%

These figures are from internal DWP systems, where only one of possible multiple reasons can be recorded, and are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard.

The Department encourages claimants to provide as much relevant evidence as necessary to support their claim. The “How your disability affects you” form and accompanying guidance sets out the range of information that can help the Department reach a decision. The guidance for Health Professionals also sets out sources of further evidence which could help inform their advice to the Department.

At the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, again claimants are encouraged to provide any further evidence about their disability. Following the first independent review of Personal Independence by Paul Gray, the Department is reviewing all communications (including those used by Assessment Providers) it has with claimants throughout the claim, assessment and reconsideration process to ensure that claimants clearly understand the importance of providing sufficient evidence to support their claim and application.

Further, once a claimant has submitted their claim, the Department has created a new Standard Work Instructions (SWI) for its decision making staff to gain further evidence, where appropriate. For Mandatory Reconsideration, the SWI puts a process in place to establish what the areas for dispute are, consider any gaps in the evidence, ensure any expected further medical evidence is received and referring that to the Assessment Provider. “

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what savings his Department expects to accrue to the public purse as a result of transferring attendance allowance funding to councils; and whether those savings will be retained centrally or used for other benefits expenditure.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government announced in December that it would consider giving more responsibility to councils in England to support older people with care needs – including people who, under the current system, would be supported through Attendance Allowance.

Any new responsibilities would be matched by the transfer of the equivalent spending power – this is a reform policy, not a savings measure. We are not considering any changes for existing Attendance Allowance claimants and, should devolution proceed, everyone already claiming Attendance Allowance at the point of devolution will continue to receive it.

The Government is currently consulting on the implementation of commitments on 100% business rates retention for councils in England. The consultation seeks views on options for devolving new responsibilities to local government as part of those reforms, and this is one of the options about which we are consulting. The consultation document is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/self-sufficient-local-government-100-business-rates-retention

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to update guidance to Jobcentre Plus staff on claimants that report suicidal thoughts; and how such existing guidance is made available to those staff.

Priti Patel

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) takes seriously any declarations of intention to attempt suicide or self harm that are made by its customers. There is a clear, detailed action plan that staff must follow if a customer declares an intention to kill or harm themselves and DWP provides guidance to help its staff deal with these incidents. The policy, procedures and guidance are reviewed regularly to ensure that they continue to meet their objectives and to identify areas for improvement.

DWP raises staff awareness through its own internal communication channels whenever guidance is reviewed and updated. This messaging ensures that related products such as learning and development for staff are also reviewed and updated concurrently.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Post Office has spent refurbishing the premises of the Crown Post Office in Walworth Road since January 2010.

George Freeman

Post Office Limited runs and manages its directly managed Crown post offices. Arrangements for employees of these offices and changes to the Crown network are the operational responsibility of the Post Office.

I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority funding on levels of homelessness.

Mr Marcus Jones

This Government has always been clear that we are committed to supporting the most vulnerable people in our society. One person without a home is one too many. During the last Parliament the Homelessness Prevention Grant and our investment in homelessness programmes helped prevent 935,700 households from becoming homeless.

We have protected the homelessness prevention funding that local authorities receive, totalling £315 million by 2019-20. This builds on our commitment to increase central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the next four years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to improve support resources available to students who have been victims of sexual assault.

Karen Bradley

The Government is providing £80 million of dedicated central government funding over the course of this Parliament to tackle violence, including sexual assault, against women and girls. This includes central funding for rape support centres and £1.7 million per year up to 2017 to part-fund 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers who provide appropriate and independent support for victims. These services support all victims of sexual assault including students.

At the request of the Secretary of State for Business, Universities UK set up a taskforce in September 2015 to bring together relevant stakeholders to explore what more can be done by the higher education sector to prevent, and respond effectively, to incidents of violence and sexual harassment against women, hate crimes and other forms of harassment. The taskforce is considering a range of potential measures, and its work includes an analysis of the nature and scale of the problem. The taskforce is expected to report in the Autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timetable is for the Specialised Services Committee of NHS England announcing its position on commissioning pre-exposure drug prophyaxis for HIV for the at-risk population.

Jane Ellison

The outcome of this decision is expected at the end of May and NHS England will be communicating with stakeholders following the meeting of the Specialised Services Committee.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on delivering 750 more charging points in UK towns and cities by 2020 through the Go Ultra Low City scheme.

Mr John Hayes

As well as delivering over 750 chargepoints, the Go Ultra Low City Scheme will establish exemplar cities, see local authorities use local powers to encourage uptake, and test new technological solutions. Since the winners were announced in January 2016, the Government has agreed robust delivery plans with all winning cities to deliver the agreed outputs by 2020. Oxford City Council, Milton Keynes, the North East Combined Authority and Nottingham City Council have already begun the process of public chargepoint procurements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of personal independence payment assessments undertaken each week was in September and October 2015.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.