Tag: Parliamentary Question

Mark Reckless – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Reckless on 2014-01-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate by country of residence of the child he has made of the number of migrants residing in the UK who claimed benefits on behalf of children living abroad during 2013.

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.

01/12/2022

Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what areas of policy were transferred from unanimity to qualified majority voting by the Lisbon Treaty; whether the United Kingdom has opt-outs from any of those areas; and, if so, from which areas.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

51 provisions were transferred from unanimity to qualified majority voting by the Lisbon Treaty. These were published in the Explanatory Memorandum on the Lisbon Treaty of 17 December 2007 as amended by a Written Ministerial Statement by the then Minister for Europe on 20 February 2008, Official Report, column 53WS. Of these, the following 16 provisions either did not apply to the UK due to its opt-outs or would only apply if the UK decided to exercise its justice and affairs opt-in:

1) Provisions enabling repeal of the aspects of this article related to state aids policy and the effect of the past division of Germany
2) Provisions enabling repeal of this Article (on transport policy as it affects areas of Germany affected by its past division)
3) Appointment of European Central Bank (ECB) executive board (UK opt-out)
4) Social security
5) Use of the euro
6) Measures relating to the Broad Economic Guidelines and excessive deficit procedure
7) Procedure for entry into the euro
8) Mechanism for peer review of Member States’ implementation of policies in this area
9) Border checks
10) Immigration and Frontier Controls
11) Judicial co-operation in Criminal Matters
12) Minimum rules for criminal offences and sanctions
13) Crime prevention
14) Eurojust
15) Police co-operation
16) Europol

01/12/2022
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to prevent pub closures.

Anna Soubry

This Government is committed to supporting a fair and flourishing pubs sector. We have scrapped the beer duty escalator, and at Budget 2015 we cut beer duty for the third year in a row. Through the Community Right to Bid, we are giving communities in England a fairer chance to bid to buy and run their pub by listing it as an Asset of Community Value. We are introducing a statutory Pubs Code and an independent Adjudicator to govern the relationship between large pub-owning companies and the thousands of tenants that run tied pubs across England and Wales. These measures will help to ensure the pubs industry continues to thrive, to the benefit of all those who work hard to make the pub the mainstay of our communities.

01/12/2022
Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of limiting (a) child tax credit and (b) the child element of universal credit on parents (i) in BME communities, (ii) who are considering fostering or adoption and (iii) who are the victims of domestic violence.

Damian Hinds

The government is committed to a fair tax and welfare system and wants to move from a low wage, high tax and high welfare economy to a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society. The intended impact of these reforms is to incentivise work and ensure work always pays.

The government has fully assessed the impacts on equalities of the measures announced at Summer Budget, meeting our obligations as set out in the Public Sector Equality Duty.

01/12/2022
Julian Lewis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral Answer given on 19 October 2015, which moderate, non-Islamist groups with credible ground forces, other than Kurds, are fighting Daesh in Syria.

Michael Fallon

There are a number of moderate opposition forces focused on fighting the Assad regime. Many are also fighting ISIL in areas of strategic importance, for example north of Aleppo. The vast majority of these opposition groups are Islamist.

01/12/2022
Stephen Hammond – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by her Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate she has made of the potential liability of her Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.

Andrea Leadsom

Negotiations on the proposed General Data Protection Regulation are still continuing and our negotiating position has taken into account the likely impact on Government Departments, NDPBs and agencies. Once the outcome of negotiations involving the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Commission are complete, and the Regulation has been adopted, the liabilities will be further assessed. There will then follow a maximum implementation period of two years. Between now and then, Government departments who will be affected by the Regulation are closely involved in work led by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport to consider the implications of the text as it develops through the negotiating process.

01/12/2022
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many big cat sightings have been reported in each of the last five years.

Rory Stewart

A total of 26 sightings of big cats in the wild have been reported to Natural England since 1 January 2010. This figure is broken down as follows:

2010 – 6

2011 – 4

2012 – 4

2013 – 6

2014 – 1

2015 – 5 (to date)

Please be aware that the above are only reports received and logged by Natural England. Other parties such as the Police may hold further records.

01/12/2022
Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Saudi Arabian counterparts on the case of Karl Andree.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Ministers and senior officials have raised Mr Andree’s case with the Saudi Government repeatedly since he completed his sentence in August 2015. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised this case at the highest levels on 29 September. I spoke to the Saudi Arabian Ambassador on 17 September and wrote to him about the case on 24 September. I had a meeting with Mr Andree’s two sons and Margot James MP on 15 September 2015 to discuss their concerns. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) also wrote a letter to the Saudi Government on 13 October. Officials at our Embassy in Riyadh have also raised the case with the Saudi authorities on numerous occasions. We are actively seeking his release as soon as possible.

01/12/2022
Liam Byrne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish an update to the Government’s alcohol strategy, Cm 8336, published in March 2012.

Mike Penning

The Government is continuing to work to achieve the outcome of the Alcohol Strategy published in 2012. There are no plans to publish an update at the current time.

01/12/2022
Robert Neill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Neill on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons his recent assessment of NHS England’s performance against the Mandate in 2014-15 did not address NHS England’s performance in meeting the requirement contained in the Mandate to ensure that people have access to the right treatment when they need it.

George Freeman

The Secretary of State’s annual assessment of NHS England’s performance in 2014-15 sets out specifically his evaluation of NHS England’s performance in meeting the access standards set out in the NHS Constitution.

In addition, the Secretary of State’s annual assessment sets out that he agrees with NHS England’s own assessment, as set out in its annual report for 2014-15, that it has made good progress against delivering its objectives in the mandate, which includes ensuring that people have the right treatment when they need it.

01/12/2022