The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking with his global counterparts to achieve global abolition of the death penalty.
Mr David Lidington
I refer the Right hon. Member to my answer of 27 January (question 23192) to the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins). https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/29682
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many complaints his Department has received on the sale of electoral roll data by credit reference firms.
John Penrose
Available records show that in the last calendar year the Cabinet Office received one letter of complaint about access to the electoral register by credit reference agencies, and nine letters of complaint about the sale of the edited electoral register.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish (a) the criteria used to select organisations invited to attend and (b) the organisations that attended personal independence payments consultation stakeholder events in January 2016.
Justin Tomlinson
The Department held stakeholder events in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and London. These were public meetings open to anyone who wished to attend; this was publicised on Gov.uk. Representatives of the following organisations requested to do so:
Aberdeen City Council
Action for Blind People
The Action Group
Carers Support (Bexley)
Cheshire Centre for Independent Living
Citizens Advice Bureau
Coventry Law Centre
Child Poverty Action Group Scotland
Community Navigator Services
Crohn’s and Colitis UK
Deaf Sector Partnership/Scottish Council on Deafness
DeafBlind Scotland
DeafBlind UK
Deafconnect
Elcena Jeffers Foundation
Enable Scotland
Enfield Disability Action
Gateway Housing
Glasgow City Council
Housing Options Scotland
Inclusion Scotland
Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living
Macmillan Cancer Support
Maggie’s Centres
Motor Neurone Disease Association
Multiple Sclerosis Scotland
Multiple Sclerosis Society
National AIDS Trust
Royal National Institute of Blind People
Scope
The Scottish Government
Sense
South Lanarkshire Council
Spinal Injuries Association
Social Security Advisory Committee
Swansea Council
Welfare Benefits Unit
Welsh Government
West Lothian Council
Wolverhampton City Council
Departmental officials also held one-to-one meetings with Scope, RNIB, Disability Rights UK, the Disability Benefits Consortium (an umbrella group of over 60 organisations), and Scottish and Welsh government officials. A meeting was also held specifically for members of the PIP Implementation Stakeholder Forum Working Group. Meetings were also held with both assessment providers, Atos and Capita, to discuss the impact of any policy change on the delivery of assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-04-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions UK Government officials have prepared briefings or provided information to representatives of British overseas territories and Crown dependencies to assist in their dealings with the European Commission in the most recent period for which information is available.
James Duddridge
The UK is responsible for the international relations of the Overseas Territories, which have a specific status within the European Union Treaties. The Overseas Association Decision is the instrument which sets out the relationship between the European Union and the Overseas Territories of the Member States. In 2015 I attended the annual Forum bringing together Territory leaders, senior representatives from the European Commission and the Member States. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials meet approximately six times a year with the Territories and the Commission to take forward cooperation under the Overseas Association Decision. Other government departments provide officials when required if the subject matter falls within their area of competence.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for the international relations of the Crown Dependencies which have a special relationship with the European Union under Protocol 3 to the United Kingdom’s Treaty of Accession to the European Community.
United Kingdom Government officials meet regularly with Crown Dependency and Overseas Territory representatives to discuss forthcoming business; information sharing is a matter of routine. The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories make their own preparations for meetings with the European Commission but Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials assist when asked to do so. Support is also available from other government departments and the UK Permanent Representation to the European Union should it be required.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s future position in the league table of broadband targets in the EU and OECD countries if a target of 10 megabits per second were achieved by 2020.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
It is too early to assess what the impact of the proposed 10 megabit Universal Service Obligation (USO) will have on the UK’s future position in EU and OECD broadband league tables. The contracts we have put in place with Openreach mean that the more homes and businesses that sign up for superfast broadband, the more money Openreach has to return to local authorities to extend the roll out of superfast broadband further. So far, Openreach has confirmed more than £200 million of savings that can be reinvested, over and above the £1.7bn of public funding already allocated. We expect more funding to be confirmed in due course. We will be reinvesting that funding in order to extend superfast broadband to as many additional homes and businesses as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-07-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 27 June (HL Deb, col 1352), what assessment they have made of whether, when referring to cases such as the Rotherham sexual abuse case, it is more accurate and appropriate to refer to the perpetrators as Muslim” or “Islamist”
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Tackling cases of child sexual exploitation, including those that have occurred in Rotherham, is a top priority for this Government. People who abuse children must be stopped – their race, age or gender is irrelevant.
Child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion.
The previous Home Secretary launched the report ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ in March 2015. This report sets out a national response to the failures we have seen in Rotherham and elsewhere, where children were let down by the very people who were responsible for protecting them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in a case where an applicant has been refused employment and support allowance (ESA), the disallowance has been confirmed following mandatory reconsideration and an appeal against the refusal has been submitted, in what circumstances ESA is payable pending the outcome of the appeal.
Penny Mordaunt
Employment and Support Allowance can be paid at the assessment phase rate pending the appeal hearing as long as the conditions of entitlement are satisfied. Employment and Support Allowance is not payable pending an appeal where a claimant has previously been found fit for work following a Work Capability Assessment and makes a repeat claim for benefit and is found to be fit for work again.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department has given to micro-businesses in adapting to new automatic enrolment pension schemes.
Justin Tomlinson
We are committed to supporting small and micro-businesses to adapt to their new automatic enrolment duties. Together with The Pensions Regulator, we have launched a new broadcast-led communications campaign to raise awareness of automatic enrolment amongst small employers.
The Pensions Regulator has also recently launched a new interactive and simplified online step by step guide to automatic enrolment, designed to meet the specific needs of employers who may not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. Employers using the website can access tailored information relevant to their circumstances. The Pensions Regulator also provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties. To raise awareness and understanding, the Regulator has had over 500 meetings with intermediary firms and spoken at over 300 events around the UK during the last year
The Regulator sends a series of letters to every employer starting at least 12 months before their staging date, which is the date that the law applies to them. These letters set out what an employer needs to do and by when to comply with the law and signposts to the relevant information on the Regulator’s website.
To help employers adjust to the costs of automatic enrolment the minimum employer contribution level starts at 1% and increases gradually to 3% by October 2018. In addition, to ensure that all firms have access to quality, low-cost pension provision, The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government and has a public service obligation to accept any employer that chooses NEST for automatic enrolment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new social rented homes he plans will be funded by the resources identified for housing in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Brandon Lewis
Through the Spending Review the Government has committed to investing £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts, doubling our investment from 2018-19.
This funding includes £1.7 billion for around 100,000 homes for affordable or intermediate rent, which will be delivered between 2015 and 2021.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for the Government’s policy on the Low Commission’s reports, Tackling of the findings of the Advice Deficit, published in 2014, and Getting it Right in Social Welfare Law, published in 2015.
Mr Rob Wilson
Government is supporting, free, independent and social welfare advice, including through the Advice Services Transition Fund (ASTF).
The ASTF is supporting the sector to be able to respond with confidence to the challenges presented by the changing funding environment. The ASTF is a transformational fund and, rather than providing running costs, it is designed to support more collaborative and sustainable ways of working.
We are working with the Big Lottery Fund to ensure that learning from the fund is identified and shared across the advice services sector.