Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mary Glindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mary Glindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of child maintenance cases resulted in complaints in the (a) 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, (b) 1993 legacy scheme and (c) 2003 legacy scheme; and what proportion of complaints were upheld in each year since 2010.

    Priti Patel

    From 10 December 2012 the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme was opened to new applications with at least 4 qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. From the 29 July 2013 the scheme then opened to new applicants with at least two qualifying children with the same two parents named in the application. From November 2013 the scheme opened to all new applicants.

    For the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme in 2013-14 and 2014-15 the proportion of complaints received against the total caseload was 0.7% and 1.7% respectively.

    Following the launch of the 2003 Scheme for the years 2003-4 and 2004-5, the proportion of complaints received against the CSA caseload was 4.9% and 6.0%, respectively.

    For the 1993 Scheme (excluding complaints managed off system), which had been in operation for 17 years, and which had not admitted new cases since March 2003, the proportion of complaints received against the live caseload in the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 was 1.5%, 0.9% 0.7% 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.

    For the 2003 Scheme (excluding complaints managed off system), which had been in operation for seven years, and which had a reduced inflow of new cases following the introduction of the 2012 system, the proportion of complaints received against the live caseload in the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 was 1.9%, 1.6%, 1.4%, 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively.

    Figures show the number of complaints received against the live/total caseload. There will be cases which have more than one complaint.

    For the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, information on complaints upheld is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Data on complaints upheld includes fully and partially upheld complaints, but cannot be split between 1993 and 2003 Schemes. In the years from 2010-11 to 2014-15, the percentage of complaints upheld was 50.1%, 49.0%, 49.1%, 43.2%, 44.0% respectively.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the Road User Satisfaction Report to be published for (a) Northwest Area 12, covering parts of Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire, (b) Northwest Area 13, covering parts of Cumbria and Lancashire and (c) North East and Yorkshire Area 14, covering parts of Durham and Northumberland; and for what reason those reports were not published at the same time as the other regional reports.

    Andrew Jones

    The Area User Satisfaction Survey (ARUSS) runs continually throughout the year across England. Results are provided for each area every 6 months on a rolling basis.

    Area 12 and Area 14 (Yorkshire and the North East)

    The report covering the period June 2015 to November 2015 will be available at the end of December 2015 and published on the Highways England website.

    Area 10 and Area 13 (North West)

    The report covering the period July 2015 to December 2015 will be available at the end of January 2015 and published on theHighways England website.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what baseline data collection her Department plans to undertake in Somalia and Zimbabwe to measure progress against the Sustainable Development Goals in those countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    In Somalia, one of the costs of protracted conflict has been the loss of national capacity to produce credible statistics. We are working with the UN and others to help rectify this, but it will be some time before proper baselines can be set across all of the SDGs. For now, we expect some progress to be made soon on the first five (covering poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality).

    In Zimbabwe, DFID has supported a number of data collections which will be used to help measure a baseline for SDG delivery. These include the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the 2016 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), and other data collections on Agriculture (including the Agriculture and Livestock Survey). DFID will also support a 2016 survey on Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure (PICES).

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government recognises the killing of the Yazidis by Daesh as genocide.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    I condemn the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population in Iraq and Syria who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality.

    It is a long-standing policy of successive governments that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.

    Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many warrants for the purposes of establishing whether women are being trafficked have been excluded by her Department in each local authority in Lancashire in each month in 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the timing of the referendum taking place in Darfur between 11 and 13 April, in the light of the levels of violence in Jebel Marra, Central Darfur.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We remain concerned by the timing of the Darfur referendum due to ongoing violence and the absence of a peace agreement. The continued fighting and level of civilian displacement in Jebel Marra is particularly troubling, and brings in to question the viability of holding the referendum at this time. We have raised such concerns with the Government of Sudan. We have also pressed for full humanitarian access to be granted, including at the UN Security Council and bilaterally as part our recent strategic dialogue with the Government of Sudan, led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Africa Director. Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum are monitoring the situation closely.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she made of the effect of a vote to leave the EU on school language exchange programmes.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has not made any assessment of the effect that a majority leave vote in the European Union Referendum would have on school language exchange programmes.

    It is the Government’s view that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed European Union. A vote to leave the European Union would put this at risk.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to protect birds of prey.

    Rory Stewart

    All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which provides a powerful framework for the conservation of wild birds, their eggs, nests and habitats. The Government is committed to ensuring the protection afforded to wild birds of prey is effectively enforced. There are strong penalties for offenders, including imprisonment.

    Raptor persecution is one of six national wildlife crime priorities and is subject to a prevention, intelligence and enforcement plan.

    The National Wildlife Crime Unit, which is part funded by Defra, monitors and gathers intelligence on illegal activities affecting birds of prey and provides assistance to police forces when required.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what contingency plans the Government has in place for winter 2016-17 to support pensioners and other vulnerable people in the event of a prolonged spell of below average temperatures.

    Jesse Norman

    The Government has various policies in place that will support pensioners and other vulnerable people with their energy bills throughout winter 2016/17,irrespective of temperature.

    The Warm Home Discount scheme provides eligible households with a £140 energy bill rebate. This winter, over 2 million low income and vulnerable households, of which over 1.2 million are pensioner households, will be helped under the scheme.

    Over 12 million pensioners receive the Winter Fuel Payment of up to £300 each winter while people on certain benefits, including Pension Credit, receive a £25 Cold Weather Payment for each seven day period of freezing temperatures.

    The Government is also reforming the Energy Company Obligation to have a greater focus on vulnerable and low income households. It will have a value of £640m a year, will run from 2017 until 2022, and and homes helped under the new obligation could see their energy bills fall by up to £300 per year.

    In addition, we are providing £1.3m to fund the Big Energy Saving Network and running the Big Energy Saving Week again. This is a grant scheme that supports vulnerable consumers to take action to reduce their energy costs by switching supplier and taking up energy efficiency, through outreach by trusted and trained community and third sector organisations.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve the retention of students who have the potential to succeed in higher education but face financial difficulties.

    Joseph Johnson

    Continuation rates for students in publicly-funded institutions are at a record high, with 94.3% of young full-time first degree entrants to higher education in English HEIs in 2012/13 continuing after their first year and, 90.0% of full-time first degree starters of all ages in English HEIs in 2012/13 were expected to receive an award or transfer. Improvements in these areas have come at a time of considerable expansion in student numbers and increasing diversity in the backgrounds of students.

    Institutions wishing to charge higher fees must agree access agreements with the independent Director of Fair Access. In these, institutions set out what more they will do to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds and help them to complete their studies and progress to post-graduate study or employment. In 2016/17, institutions expect to spend £425m on financial support through their access agreements.

    The Higher Education Green Paper set out further steps to encourage universities to improve retention rates, including for students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups, through a Teaching Excellence Framework.