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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the evidential basis was for the decision to change the Access to Work scheme in regards to deaf people having to employ a full-time salaried support worker.

    Mike Penning

    The Access to Work programme has not been changed in this way. No customers are required to employ a full-time support worker, their employers and support providers and we are not prescriptive on this.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues the HM Revenue and Customs’ Scrutiny Committee has addressed since its establishment in 2013.

    Mr David Gauke

    The remit of the Scrutiny Committee is to advise the Board and Principal Accounting Officer on issues referred by the Board for in-depth review, challenge or assurance. Since its establishment in 2013, the Committee has reviewed the departmental security strategy as well as the department’s complaints handling processes.

  • Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Harrington on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve support for carers.

    Norman Lamb

    Carers are central to the Government’s reform of social care and support, with significant improvements in the Care Act which extends carers rights to an assessment which will be based on the appearance of a need for support. For the first time, local authorities will be required to meet carers’ eligible needs for support.

    We have provided £400 million to the National Health Service over four years from 2011 for carers to have breaks from their caring responsibilities. For 2015-16, the carers’ breaks funding will be in the Better Care Fund.

    We have also provided more than £2 million in recent years to the professional bodies such as the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, Carers UK and the Carers Trust to develop initiatives to raise early awareness of carers among healthcare professionals and to help identify and support carers. We have committed more than £1 million in 2014–15 to enable these organisations to build on this work and to develop new initiatives.

    We set out our vision for transforming primary care in Transforming Primary Care: Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most. It recognises the importance of involving and supporting carers and sets out a clear expectation for general practitioners to identify carers as a matter of course.

    Carers are also central to the work that NHS England is leading to improve the quality of life of people with long term conditions. Their action plan, NHS England’s Commitment to Carers includes a series of commitments around eight priorities, including raising the profile of carers.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received about the publication of personal and business lending data by postcode; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In July 2013 the Government announced that it had reached an agreement with the major UK banks to publish lending data across 10,000 individual postcodes.

    The first dataset was published in December 2013 and shows the outstanding stock of lending that has been committed to customers across three categories; loans and overdrafts to SMEs, mortgages and unsecured personal loans (excluding credit cards).

    The data will allow challenger banks, smaller building societies, credit unions and community development finance institutions (CDFIs) to find areas where there is a lack of lending so they can offer finance to those customers who are crying out for support to help their business grow.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications processed by the Passport Office between 1 January and 31 May 2014 which missed the three week target for processing.

    James Brokenshire

    Table A sets out the requested information in respect of how many telephone
    calls were received during the requested periods.

    Table B shows income received in fees for premium and fast track services.

    Table C provides information on the number of full time equivalent staff
    employed by HM passport Office on 31 December for each of the years from 2010 –
    2013.

    Table D sets out the number of first time passport applications and the number
    of passport renewals received during each month between January 2013 and May
    2014.

    In the period between 1 January and 31 May 2014, 31,188 straightforward
    passport applications processed by Her Majesty’s Passport Office were not
    processed within the 3-week target.

  • Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cases funded by legal aid against his Department where public interest lawyers have represented clients were won by his Department in each of the last 10 years.

    Anna Soubry

    It is not possible to give a definitive answer to this question, since in a number of cases where there were multiple issues before it, the Court found for the claimant on some issues and for the defendant on others.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to encourage insurance companies to set travel insurance premiums for the elderly based on their state of health rather than their age.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Insurers take into account a range of different factors when considering risk and decisions concerning the pricing of insurance products are a commercial matter for individual insurers. The Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.

    The insurance industry recognises that older people can face difficulties finding appropriate travel insurance and in 2012 signed an agreement, endorsed by the Government, to re-direct older customers to an alternative insurer or to a specialist insurance broker where they cannot provide insurance themselves.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he or officials of his Department have had on the effects of digestion of sycamore tree seeds on horses; and what estimate he has made of the number of horses that have died as a result of ingesting such seeds.

    George Eustice

    Digestion of sycamore seeds can cause equine atypical myopathy. However, like many other equine illnesses, such as strangles and equine influenza, this is not a notifiable disease so there has been no need for active government intervention.

    Defra works closely with the Animal Health Trust (AHT) and the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) in identifying cases of this emerging condition in the British equine population. This includes monitoring scientific developments and inclusion of data in the joint Defra/AHT/BEVA Equine Quarterly Disease Surveillance Report published on the AHT’s website.

    This type of surveillance and communication enables private veterinarians to advise horse keepers to avoid pasture containing sycamore trees during high risk periods and to provide additional forage on fields where grazing is poor. This should be sufficient to mitigate against this illness. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep in touch with the equine veterinary profession to be aware of developments.

  • David Winnick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Winnick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will arrange for replies to be sent to the hon. Member for Walsall North to his letters to (a) the Chief Operating Officer, Pension, Disability and Carers Service of 7 April and 7 May; and if he will arrange for a substantive reply to be sent to that hon. Member to his letter to the Chief Executive, Capita-PIP ref PIP100 34851/101 of 7 April 2014 on behalf of a constituent.

    Mike Penning

    A reply to all of the issues that you raised in both of your letters will be sent to you by one of our Directors by 13 June 2014.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many marriages were reported to the Home Office as suspicious or sham in each year since 2009.

    Karen Bradley

    Sections 24 and 24A of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 place a duty on
    registration officers to submit a report to the Home Office where they have
    reasonable grounds to suspect that a marriage or civil partnership is a sham
    being entered into for immigration purposes. Table 1 shows the
    number of section 24/24A reports received in each year since 2009. Same sex
    marriages only came into effect this year there is therefore no data relating
    to this period, or for civil partnerships before 2011.

    The Home Office Intelligence Management System (IMS) records allegations from
    the public regarding immigration-related offences. Since 30 September 2012 we
    have recorded the following numbers of reports relating to sham marriage as set
    out in Table 2.
    These figures relate to reports identified by the public as possible sham
    marriage.

    Table 1

    Year

    Number of section 24/24A reports

    Of which refer civil partnerships

    2009

    561

    2010

    934

    2011

    1,741

    28

    2012

    1,891

    28

    2013

    2135

    25

    Table 2

    Year

    Number of reports relating to sham marriage recorded on IMS

    2012 (from 30 September)

    984

    2013

    6909