The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people started to receive universal credit in March 2014.
Esther McVey
Statistics on how many people started Universal Credit in March 2014 can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses; and if he will make a statement.
Michael Fallon
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has put in place a robust framework to reduce the burden of regulation on all businesses, particularly small business.
In January 2011, we brought in the One-in, One-out rule. This required departments wanting to introduce new regulation which generated costs for business to first identify a corresponding cut in regulation elsewhere with the same value. In January 2013 this was increased to a more demanding One-In, Two-Out rule so that departments now need to find £2 of savings for every £1 cost they introduce. To date, as set out in the 7th Statement of New Regulation published on 17 December 2013, we have cut the annual cost of domestic regulation by £1.19 billion.
We are also reducing the stock of regulation through the Red Tape Challenge, with over 3,000 regulations now having been identified to be scrapped or improved. When fully implemented, we expect that these changes will bring estimated annual savings to business of over £850 million.
Specifically to help small business, in April 2011 we introduced a moratorium exempting micro and start-up businesses from new domestic regulation for three years. From 1 April 2014 this was extended to include small businesses (with up to 50 employees) through the introduction of the Small and Micro Business Assessment (SaMBA).
Measures that this Department has introduced specifically to reduce the burden of regulation on small businesses include giving small and medium-sized enterprises the flexibility to determine the most appropriate set of accounting rules for them, along with flexibility in how they submit their company reports through regulatory changes to audit rules. We have also extended the qualifying period of unfair dismissal to two years and introduced a new employment status of employee shareholder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he last reviewed the level of income disregard threshold for employment and support allowance.
Esther McVey
The occupational pension income threshold for Employment and Support Allowance was last reviewed as part of the 2014/15 annual uprating exercise. It was decided that no change would be made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2014-04-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on the future of HM Revenue and Customs’ centres in Northern Ireland.
Mr David Gauke
HMRC has recently announced its intention to consult on the proposed closure of 12 of its general offices across the United Kingdom. This process will start in June 2014 and will include one office in Northern Ireland; Custom House, Newry.
HMRC officials and I met with you and three parliamentary colleagues representing Northern Ireland interests on 15 January 2014. At this meeting HMRC officials advised that none of its general offices will close until at least 2015.
As already announced on 12 February, HMRC will be closing its 10 Northern Ireland Enquiry Centres later this year. This is as a result of HMRC introducing a new service, supporting customers who need extra help getting their tax and benefits right. This service will offer customers who need extra help more in-depth support on the phone and a mobile advisory service if they need a face-to-face appointment. HMRC will roll out the new service across the UK from 31 May 2014, followed by the closure of Enquiry Centre network by 30 June 2014.
HMRC has widely consulted with third parties on the Enquiry Centre closures and piloted the new service in the North East of England
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Metcalfe on 2014-06-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal measures he has introduced to reduce taxes on families.
Mr David Gauke
This government appreciates that times are tough and budgets are squeezed for families, which is why we have taken continued action to help ease the burden on hard working families.
Measures have included raising the Personal Allowance to £10500; abolishing the previous government’s fuel duty escalator, and introducing a further 2 years of Council Tax freeze funding in 2014/15 and 2015/16 for local authorities which choose to freeze Council Tax.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the names and causes of death of all UK service personnel who died in the course of or in connection with operations in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 2007.
Mr Mark Francois
A definitive central list of those Service personnel who lost their lives on operations in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 2007 has not been formally produced to date, though the respective regimental or service histories and records are available, together with Defence’s central data and the Armed Forces Memorial lists maintained by the tri-Service Joint Casualty and Compassionate Cell. The Department intends to produce a single centrally collated document in due course, however, which will be made available through gov.uk once complete.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thomas Docherty on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether export licences to Syria have been granted for the period since 1 July 2012; and if he will describe any such material so exported.
Michael Fallon
Five Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) and one Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) have been granted.
The information provided relates to goods or services that have been licensed for export. The licences were granted to international and humanitarian organisations to support and protect staff working in these organisations. The six licences granted authorise export of the following:
SIEL for: components for body armour;
SIEL for: NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protective/defensive equipment;
SIEL for: body armour, components for body armour, military helmets;
SIEL for: body armour, military helmets;
SIEL for: components for all-wheel drive vehicles with ballistic protection;
OIEL for: cryptographic software; equipment employing cryptography.
The licences were granted to international and humanitarian organisations to support and protect staff working in these organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) Palestinians and (b) Jews displaced from their country of origin in the Middle East since 1984.
Hugh Robertson
We have not made an estimate on this issue and do not keep records of this type.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effects of the shadow banking sector on the UK economy.
Andrea Leadsom
When appropriately conducted, shadow banking can benefit the economy by increasing the availability of credit to a range of individuals or firms, and provide a valuable alternative to bank funding. It provides credit and liquidity to the real economy and can improve efficiency and drive innovation in the financial system through firms developing expert knowledge in a particular area.
However, the Government is aware of the risks shadow banking activities pose to financial stability when things go wrong. The crisis showed that some shadow banking entities created pro-cyclical build-ups of leverage, did not fully transfer credit risk, were susceptible to rapid sell-offs, and were very complex. It also became clear that the shadow banking sector had very complex interconnections with the traditional banking system.
Recognising the need to improve the transparency and supervision of the shadow banking sector, the Government has taken steps to improve the way shadow banking entities are regulated.
Domestically, the Government has created new Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. In September last year, the Committee agreed as one of its medium term priorities the identification and management of potential systemic risks from shadow banking.
At the international level, the Government is actively supporting the effective regulation of the sector in EU policymaking, and the UK is instrumental in shaping the global regulatory response at the Financial Stability Board.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir John Randall on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make a comparative assessment of the sources, reliability and mutual compatibility of the statistics on the number of human trafficking victims from Albania given in parliamentary written answers and in the annual reports of the National Crime Agency.
Karen Bradley
A comparative assessment has been made.
Parliamentary questions regularly ask for specific details about suspected
victims of trafficking referred to the trafficking victim support service
operated by The Salvation Army.
The source of this data is The Salvation Army records.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) publishes statistics each year on the number of
potential victims who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism.
The source of this data is the NCA records.
The two sets of figures measure slightly different things but are mutually
compatible.
Not all of the potential victims who are referred to the National Referral
Mechanism will then be referred to The Salvation Army for victim support. Some
might not receive a positive reasonable grounds decision and others might not
want Government-funded support.
We would therefore expect the number of cases referred to the National Referral
Mechanism, reported by the NCA, to be higher than the number of cases referred
to The Salvation Army for victim support, reported by the regular Parliamentary
questions.
This is borne out by our comparative assessment. The table below lists the PQs
that have requested data about the numbers of potential victims referred to The
Salvation Army, and lists the number of Albanian victims supported each month.
In total, this data indicates that there were 139 Albanian adult victims
referred to The Salvation Army for victim support in 2013 in England and Wales.
This is lower than the 208 potential adult Albanian victims who were originally
referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2013 from England and Wales, as
reported in the NCA’s annual report.
|
Month |
MP |
Hansard Reference |
No. of Albanian Victims Supported |
|
January |
Tony Baldry |
14 February 2013, c866W |
5 |
|
February |
Amber Rudd |
11 March 2013, c33W |
9 |
|
March |
Margot James |
3 June 2013, c925W |
7 |
|
April |
Robert Buckland |
3 June 2013, c927W |
14 |
|
May |
David Simpson |
19 June 2013, c712W |
10 |
|
June |
Chris Ruane |
10 July 2013, c276W |
9 |
|
July |
Fiona Bruce |
6 February 2014, c325W |
12 |
|
August |
Caroline Spelman |
28 October 2013, c358W |
9 |
|
September |
Peter Bone |
14 October 2013, c512W |
16 |
|
October |
Fiona Bruce |
3 December 2013, c613W |
23 |
|
November |
John Randall |
9 January 2014, c277W |
17 |
|
December |
Frank Field |
14 January 2014, c481W |
8 |
|
TOTAL |
139 |