Tag: Rebecca Long-Bailey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, when he plans to publish further information on transitional protection for universal credit recipients; whether his policy is to guarantee that such protection entails no loss of income for recipients compared to income from tax credits; and whether he plans for such protection to apply to (a) new applicants and (b) people who experience a change in circumstances.

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 without a change of circumstances by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection so that their income is not reduced as a result of the transfer.

We will bring forward regulations for transitional protection in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Salford and Eccles constituency are in receipt of (a) pension credit and (b) the carer addition.

Justin Tomlinson

The number of claimants in receipt of Pension Credit in Salford and Eccles constituency as at May 2015 is 4,750, of which 440 are also in receipt of the carer addition.

Source: DWP, 100% data.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten; some additional disclosure control has also been applied. May 2015 is the latest available data.
2. STATE PENSION AGE: The age at which men and women reach State Pension age is gradually increasing. Under current legislation, State Pension age for women will equalise with State Pension age for men at 65 in 2018. Both men’s and women’s State Pension age will increase from 65 to 66 between December 2018 and October 2020. The Pensions Bill 2013-14 contains provision for a State Pension age of 67 to be reached by 2028. For more information see:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207966/espa.pdf.

3. Parliamentary Constituency of claimant (Westminster) these constituencies are used for the Westminster parliament.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what contingency plans he has to respond in the event that the Burundian government does not peacefully accept the presence of 5,000 peacekeepers proposed by the African Union in December 2015.

James Duddridge

The UK’s immediate priority is to continue to put pressure on the Burundian government to halt the violence and engage in dialogue without preconditions. I wrote to the Burundian Foreign Minister on 5 January pressing the Government to do this. In the event of a serious deterioration on the ground and the Burundian government not accepting the African Union peacekeepers then we would support the African Union in planning for an intervention without approval. We also continue to work with the UN to ensure that the UN Department of Peacekeeping prepares a contingency plan. I intend to raise these issues with the Burundian Foreign Minister during the African Union Summit at the end of this month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which national homelessness prevention and reduction schemes received direct funding from central government (a) in 2015-16 to date and (b) in each financial year since 2009-10; and what the cost of these schemes to the public purse was in those years.

Mr Marcus Jones

Since 2010 we have invested over £500 million to enable local authorities and the voluntary sector to support those vulnerable and at risk of homelessness. Our initiatives have included funding:

• Crisis – £14 million funding to support their Access to Private Rented Sector scheme, which has helped created 10,000 tenancies.
• Homeless Link – over £30 million, £20 million of which went to their Homelessness Transitional Fund, which provided support to 115 areas to ensure that more rough sleepers are found quicker and given the help they need.
• Help for Single Homelessness Fund – £8 million to help improve local authority support for 22,000 single homeless people.

The Government has provided £470 million funding for homelessness prevention over the last Spending Review period. Salford City Council was allocated the following amounts based on the homelessness prevention funding formula within the Local Government Finance Settlement:

• 2014-2015: £70,591
• 2015-2016: £70,319

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-03-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government’s memorandum submitted to the Lords Secondary Legislation Committee on 28 January, how many of the 800,000 tax credit claimants with a reduced award to an income rise above the new level of disregard are in receipt of child tax credit.

Damian Hinds

From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-03-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.19 of the report, Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates, published on 16 March 2016, what consultation with industry his Department undertook when considering which technologies will be added or removed from the list of qualifying technologies for the first-year allowance scheme for energy-saving and environmentally-beneficial technologies.

Damian Hinds

At Budget 2016, the Government announced changes to 100 percent enhanced capital allowances for energy-saving and environmentally-beneficial (water-efficient) technologies.

Each autumn, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) consult manufacturers and suppliers. DECC and Defra then recommend to Treasury Ministers updates to the schemes.

Details of the changes will be set out in Treasury Order 2001/2541 for energy and 2003/2076 for water in the next few months. As is routine, an impact assessment will be published alongside the Order.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to prevent atrocities, such as the Gatumba massacre, from taking place in Burundi.

James Duddridge

The UK is playing a leading role in trying to build a strong and coherent international response to the crisis in Burundi. I visited Burundi in December 2015 and have consistently urged the Government of Burundi, in the strongest terms, to end the violence and engage in inclusive dialogue. Through the conflict, stability and security fund, we will be increasing our efforts on the ground which will include deploying a Burundi coordinator to Bujumbura.

DFID offices in Kigali and Dar Es Salaam have stepped up their analysis and coverage of the crisis to ensure they can respond to an evolving situation and increasing humanitarian assistance as necessary. My Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, Nick Hurd MP, has visited the Burundi refugee camps in Tanzania and DFID has provided £14.25 million in Tanzania and £6.9million in Rwanda to support refugees.

In March I addressed the UN Security Council and regional leaders of the Great Lakes, highlighting the need for urgent action in Burundi. British Ambassadors and High Commissioners across the region continue to lobby their host Governments on the importance of taking action to resolve the situation in Burundi.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to investigate the handling of recent protests in Oromia, Ethiopia.

James Duddridge

We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia, including the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and about those detained under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. We have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January and Her Majesty’s Ambassador last raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam on 26 April.

I met with Dr Tedros at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. I raised the UK’s concerns with regards to the human rights situation. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of Ethiopia both through our bilateral engagement, most notably through our ongoing Human Rights Dialogue, as well as jointly with our international partners.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia. We will not pre-judge the outcome of their investigation and we await the publication of their report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action. We will take a view on what further lobbying, if any, might be appropriate following the publication of the EHRC report.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of eye clinic liaison officers.

David Mowat

The Government fully appreciates the impact that sight loss can have on a person’s life and the importance of information being available for those newly diagnosed with sight loss, including signposting patients to appropriate support and rehabilitation services.

Eye clinics and their staffing, including eye clinic liaison officers, are commissioned and funded by individual clinical commissioning groups on the basis of local assessments of need.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-11-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total on-flow and off-flow for tax credits was for claimants in Salford in the most recent (a) three and (b) six months for which data is available.

Damian Hinds

The answers are only available at disproportionate cost.