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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jessica Morden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jessica Morden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at what level tolls at the Severn Bridge will be set from January 2016.

    Andrew Jones

    An announcement regarding the toll levels for the Severn River Crossings is made by the concessionaire every year, and I understand they will announce in the coming weeks the 2016 toll levels. The Severn Bridges Act 1992 stipulates the level of increases in Severn tolls each year – in line with RPI during the concession period.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-10-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people currently receive Universal Credit, and at what cost to the public purse.

    Lord Freud

    The Universal Credit programme publishes official experimental statistics which are available on GOV.UK.

    The statistics to 10 September show that 125,877 people were on the Universal Credit caseload. Cost information for the current UC caseload is not available for publication.

  • Stuart Blair Donaldson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stuart Blair Donaldson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart Blair Donaldson on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he expects the Land Registry to publish data on which foreign companies own which land property titles in England and Wales.

    Anna Soubry

    My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister stated during a speech made in Singapore on 28 July that he has asked Land Registry from this autumn to publish data on which foreign companies own which land and property titles in England and Wales.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-02-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the average change in the level of household (a) borrowing and (b) debt between 2008 and 2013 in Mid Sussex constituency.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Mark Reckless – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mark Reckless – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Reckless on 2014-02-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the implementation of the so-called Eve’s Law.

    Damian Green

    The Government takes the issue of domestic violence very seriously and is committed to ensuring greater protection for victims of all forms of violence.

    The issue raised by the Eve’s Law campaign is complex and cuts across a number of justice jurisdictions, and into many areas of a victim’s interaction with the state and other agencies.

    Having considered the issues raised by the campaign this Department is not persuaded that primary legislation is the necessary and appropriate way forward. However, we are committed to taking action to improve the protection of personal information of victims and will identify opportunities in the cross-Government programmes that are tackling the priority issues of domestic and sexual abuse.

    I refer the Honourable Member to my response to questions raised in the House by Dan Jarvis MP, Honourable Member for Barnsley Central, regarding the Eve’s Law campaign, on 17 December 2013, and 14 January this year (Hansard 14 Jan 2014 : Column 480W, 17 Dec 2013 : Column 607).

  • Sarah Champion – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sarah Champion – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2014-01-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Integrated Offender Management model piloted in the London Borough of Islington on reoffending rates in that area.

    Damian Green

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office. Integrated Offender Management is an important approach to cutting crime and reoffending in local areas. One of the key strengths of the approach is that the local model should be responsive to local needs and priorities as identified by the agencies and the partners in the area. For this reason, we have not imposed any particular model of Integrated Offender Management on areas, nor do we performance manage from Whitehall the crime and reoffending outcomes that local partners in areas such as the London Borough of Islington may be achieving through their local approach.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-01-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many non-UK EEA nationals had dependants eligible to receive child benefit where the dependant is (a) in the UK and (b) outside the UK on 1 January 2014; and how much has been paid in such a fashion in each of the last three years.

    Nicky Morgan

    HMRC are not able to provide the information in the manner requested. HMRC do not record the nationality of the claimant receiving Child Benefit for children living in another member state.

    Published Child Benefit statistics provide annual estimates of the number of families and children claiming. The latest available (August 2012) show that there were 7.92 million families, responsible for 13.77 million children and qualifying young people receiving Child Benefit.

    The main purpose of Child Benefit is to support families in the UK. Consequently, the rules generally do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children who live abroad.

    Nevertheless, Child Benefit is a family benefit under EC Regulation 883/2004. This regulation protects the social security rights of nationals of all member states of the European economic area, including the UK, and Switzerland when they exercise their rights of free movement under EU law.

    HMRC holds information on the number of Child Benefit awards under EC Regulation 883/2004. As at 31 December 2013, there were 20,400 ongoing Child Benefit awards under the EC Regulation in respect of 34.268 children living in another member state.

    This is a fall of 3,682 (15.3%) awards in respect of 5,903 (14.7%) fewer children since 31 December 2012.

    The breakdown by member state is as follows:

    *We have withheld the number where it is fewer than 5, as there is risk that the information could be attributed to an identifiable person, which would prejudice their right to privacy and would therefore be a breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act.

    Child Benefit

    Country of residence of children

    Number of awards

    Number of children

    Austria

    23

    37

    Belgium

    75

    140

    Bulgaria

    186

    245

    Croatia

    *5

    *5

    Cyprus

    39

    61

    Czech Republic

    124

    203

    Denmark

    13

    23

    Estonia

    45

    65

    Finland

    12

    23

    France

    789

    1429

    Germany

    283

    495

    Greece

    44

    69

    Hungary

    136

    196

    Iceland

    *5

    *5

    Italy

    156

    273

    Latvia

    797

    1091

    Liechtenstein

    0

    0

    Lithuania

    1215

    1712

    Luxembourg

    7

    14

    Malta

    15

    22

    Norway

    30

    61

    Poland

    13174

    22093

    Portugal

    202

    309

    Republic of Ireland

    1231

    2505

    Romania

    230

    392

    Slovakia

    692

    1232

    Slovenia

    11

    21

    Spain

    600

    1019

    Sweden

    49

    95

    Switzerland

    77

    150

    The Netherlands

    142

    288

    Totals

    20400

    34268

    As announced in the 2014 Budget, to prevent EEA migrants claiming benefits they are not entitled to, the Government will increase compliance checks to establish whether EEA migrants meet the entitlement conditions to receive Child Benefit

    Under domestic law, in order to claim Child Benefit EEA Migrants must be present in the UK, ordinarily resident and have a right to reside in the UK and their children must live in the UK.

    The recent changes to migrants’ access to benefits announced by the Government sends a strong message that the UK benefit system is not open to abuse, as well as deterring those who may seek residence in the UK primarily to claim benefits.

    Strengthening compliance checks will help prevent EEA migrants from claiming, and continuing to claim, benefits they are not entitled to. Checks will be applied to both new claims and existing awards.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to increase enforcement rates for the national minimum wage.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law. In 2014/15, HMRC conducted 2,204 investigations into potential NMW non-compliance, totalling £3,291,529 of arrears for 26,318 workers.

    This is up from 1,455 investigations conducted in 2013/14, totalling £4,645,547

    of arrears for 22,610 workers.

    Building on our existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW. These include:

    • increasing penalties from 100% to 200% of the arrears employers owed.
    • the setting up of a dedicated team in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) focused on tackling the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance.
    • increasing the enforcement budget in preparation for the National Minimum and Living Wage from April 2016.
    • the creation of a statutory Director of Labour Market Enforcement and Exploitation.
  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people from a working class background were recruited onto the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme in each year since its inception.

    Matthew Hancock

    To govern modern Britain, the Civil Service needs to look and sound likemodern Britain. We need access to the broadest possible pool of talent, drawing on peoplefrom all backgrounds and all parts of the country.

    The Civil Service is implementing a number of initiatives to recruit individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds onto the Fast Stream and Fast Track Apprenticeship schemes, including internship programmes, schools and colleges mentoring and discovery days, work experience programmes and engagement with universities with a high representation of lower socio-economic students.

    Information on the socio-economic status of recent appointees to the SCS was published in 2014,and the socio-economic status of Fast-Stream applicants has been published since 2011.

    In 2015 16.8% of new joiners to the Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, up from 8.5% in 2013/14. From 2015 this data will be published as part of the Fast Stream applicants publication.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what forecast he has made of whether the total stock of local authority homes will increase or decrease in the next five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst we have made no forecast of what the stock of council homes will be over the next 5 years, I do note that more council houses have been built since 2010 than were built in the entire 13 years of a Labour Government.