Tag: Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate how many jobs have been created in Yorkshire since May 2015.

Mr Rob Wilson

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

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on supporting access to mobile digital technology for farmers.

Rory Stewart

Improving mobile connectivity across the country is a key priority for the Government. Defra works closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on this, with a key focus on rural and hard to reach areas. Defra Ministers are directly involved through meetings with DCMS Ministers and the Digital Implementation Taskforce.

4G mobile rollout in the UK has been one of the fastest in Europe; 90% of premises now have 4G coverage from at least one operator. Two legally binding licence obligations will help deliver improved mobile coverage across the UK. Telefonica will provide indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises by the end of 2017. This complements the obligation on each of the UK’s four mobile network operators to provide voice and text coverage to at least 90% of UK landmass, also by the end of 2017.

To facilitate rollout, the Government is reforming the Electronic Communications Code to make it cheaper for the industry to provide coverage and is introducing reforms to the planning regime to allow, amongst other things, taller masts and to enable upgrades of communications infrastructure.

January 1, 2023

Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent by his Department on private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in the last financial year.

Mark Lancaster

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) was reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. Since then, our reforms have reduced costs by around £30 million per annum along with an associated reduction in claimants. Work continues to further reduce the cost of the allowance, whilst ensuring funding goes to those who really need it, with the latest governance changes taking effect on 1 September 2016.

The requested information is provided in the following table.

Continuity of Education Allowance, Number of Claimants and Cost (UK and Overseas) by Financial Year (FY)

	FY 2015-16
UK Claimants	3,040
Overseas Claimants	630
Total Claimants	3,670
UK Cost (£ million)	67
Overseas Cost (£ million)	13.8
Total Cost (£ million)	80.8

Note: all numbers are rounded

January 1, 2023

Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of tax credit claimants who will be eligible for the Government’s planned 30 hours of free childcare per week; and what the average reduction in childcare cost will be for each such claimant.

Damian Hinds

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear, the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

As announced at Summer Budget, the Chancellor announced that free entitlement childcare would be doubled from 15 hours to 30 for working parents. This will not be rolled out until September 2017, with early implementation in some areas in September 2016.

Information about the age, gender and number of children in receipt of tax credits can be found in HMRC’s Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics, April 2015. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-tax-credits-provisional-statistics-2013-to-2009

“

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of an existing tax credit claimant in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20 of proposed changes to tax credits, assuming they are migrated to universal credit at the start of 2018 and experience a change in circumstance and lose their transitional arrangements.

Priti Patel

At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average change in income for an individual as of the result of the delay in qualifying for pension credit resulting from the introduction of the revised state pension age timetable in the Pensions Act 2011.

Justin Tomlinson

Pension Credit was designed to provide income related support for people without sufficient provision for their retirement and as such the qualifying age for both men and women has been linked to women’s State Pension age since its introduction.

The information requested is not available. Any change in an individual’s income would be dependent on their specific circumstances.

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on selecting a route for high speed rail across the Pennines.

Andrew Jones

In the recent 2016 Northern Transport Strategy Spring Update, Transport for the North published some of the emerging options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including new lines and major upgrades across the Pennines.

By the end of the year, Transport for the North and the Department for Transport will have established a more detailed view of the potential route options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, their capabilities, and their costs and benefits, providing the evidence base for prioritising route options.

January 1, 2023
Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-07-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.15 of the Budget 2016, on funding for mesothelioma research, what criteria his Department used to make its decision on awarding that funding to four institutions centred around Imperial College.

Greg Hands

The award of £5 million for Mesothelioma to establish a National Centre for Mesothelioma Research was in response to an application for charitable funds in order to urgently address the anticipated imminent high mortality rate amongst Royal Navy Veterans and dockyard workers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has made a series of Banking Fines announcements since October 2012. Throughout all of these his intention has always been that the fines would be allocated to good causes including Military and Emergency Services charities and related good causes that represent the ‘best of values’. This award was committed by the Chancellor in accordance with his intent for the use of LIBOR fines articulated above.

The National Mesothelioma Centre, to which the funds have been committed, will be a collaboration between four leading institutions which have a major interest in the treatment of mesothelioma: the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College, the Royal Brompton Hospital, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and the Royal Marsden Hospital. Scientists at NHLI and ICR have considerable expertise in the discovery of the genetic mutations which cause cancer, including mesothelioma, and in particular in the identification of ‘driver’ mutations which can be potential targets for new treatments. ICR has considerable experience of pulling through novel therapies into clinical practice. Their NHS partner hospitals – Royal Brompton and Royal Marsden Hospitals as national specialist centres have mesothelioma patients referred to them from across the UK. This collaboration will form the hub of the Centre whose spokes will engage all other hospitals in the UK to which mesotheliomas are referred and treated. This will thus form the basis of a network to enable rapid evaluation of potential new treatments. The funds therefore have been committed to establish a National Centre for Mesothelioma research, rather than to just 4 specific hospitals/research centres.

Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor, the driving force behind the application, has, as per his original intention stated in his funding application, engaged across the Mesothelioma community, with a view to forming a steering group for the centre. Those he has contacted include: the British Lung Foundation, who have offered to fund raise with the centre for further resources for mesothelioma research; Ms Liz Darlison, of Mesothelioma UK; the June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund; and the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum; Dr Robert Rintoul from Cambridge University; Prof Anne Willis and Marion Macfarlane and Dr John Le Quesne from Leicester University; and Prof Luciano Mutti from Manchester University. They have all expressed their support for the intention that these funds be used as a platform to foster collaborative research into an effective treatment for mesothelioma across the UK.

The grant to the National Mesothelioma Centre is subject to standard grant terms and conditions including a reporting requirement to ensure that the funds are used as intended. It is not policy to publish all documentation relating to LIBOR awards, due to the large number of applications and associated correspondence.

January 1, 2023