Tag: Rebecca Long-Bailey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.122 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what estimate his Department has made of the effect of reducing the income disregard on the household income of a tax credit claimant family with (a) two earners and two children, (b) one earner and two children, (c) two earners and one child and (d) one earner and one child whose income rose by £5,000 during the year.

Damian Hinds

Reducing the income rise disregard to £2,500 brings forward some of the benefits of Universal Credit, so that tax credit entitlement reflects claimant’s recent earnings. It makes the system fairer so claimants on similar incomes will receive similar awards. The effect of reducing the income rise disregard on a family claiming tax credits will depend on the household’s income level before it increased.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will exempt adults with disabilities whose partner is unable to share the same bedroom due to that disability from the under-occupancy penalty.

Justin Tomlinson

The Courts recently accepted that disability in itself does not mean that couples are unable to share a bedroom and administering an exemption would be extremely challenging.

Instead, to help people with difficult situations, the Government has provided additional Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) funding. Since the introduction of this policy DHP funding has been as follows:

• £180 million was provided in 2013/14
• £165million was provided in 2014/15 and £125 million in 2015/16.
• We have already announced a further £800 million in DHP funding for the next 5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 17211, how much revenue has been recovered by actively targeting operational and intelligence activity to tackle the issues of online VAT fraud in the last six months.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is actively targeting operational and intelligence activity, as well as a range of other options, to tackle this issue. The work is ongoing and therefore the information requested is only available at disproportionate cost. As part of the approach to tackling this particular type of tax evasion HMRC launched the e-marketplace campaign, the results of which are available on gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the police take to ensure the safety of people sleeping rough.

Karen Bradley

The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. One person without a home is one too many, which is why we will increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

We also want to help local authorities provide advice and assistance to those at risk of homelessness which is why we have protected the homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the provisional local government finance settlement, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. We have seen forces make significant changes to frontline policing to reflect the priorities of local people, including the most vulnerable. For example, several forces have established multi- agency teams to work collaboratively with other local public and voluntary sector services to tackle rough sleeping.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many wholesalers have registered for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme to date.

Damian Hinds

The application window for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) closes on 31 March. HMRC is using appropriate channels to ensure customers who need to apply are aware of their obligations in good time to enable them to meet that deadline.

Once the application window has closed, HMRC will assess the applications it has received. Appropriate action will then be taken to enforce the requirements of the new scheme.

HMRC has been ramping up communications for AWRS over the last 12 months. It has issued several press notices and articles including regional and national media as well as specialist press and social media. HMRC is also working through key stakeholders and representative bodies associated with the alcohol business sectors to issue partnership marketing, giving a reach of 55,000 businesses. In February I wrote to individual businesses that may need to apply for AWRS to remind them of the deadline.

The HMRC communications approach to this scheme is designed to ensure messages reach everyone who needs to receive them. If, however, analysis of applications after the deadline reveals a particular category of customers ‘missing’ to a significant degree from the applications received, and there is evidence that the programme of extensive communications failed to reach them, HMRC will explore whether there are any implications for the way in which follow up action is taken for that particular group.

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 Treasury report entitled, Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates, published on 16 March 2016, what impact assessment has been undertaken on 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 he is taking to ensure the enactment of UN Security Council Resolution 2248 on Burundi, passed on 12 November 2015.

James Duddridge

Under the UK’s Presidency the UN Security Council approved Resolution 2248 which provided for the deployment of a UN team to Burundi. We are now working with our partners on the UN Security Council to agree a deployment of UN police to Burundi. The force will be tasked with monitoring the situation, promoting respect for human rights and advancing the rule of law – all with the aim of creating conditions that will allow a political dialogue to go forward. We want the UN police to work closely with the African Union’s deployment of 200 military and human rights observers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has conducted on the effect on levels of food waste in hospitals of changing provision of food from in-house kitchen preparation to a cook-chill or cook-freeze system.

George Freeman

The Department has not conducted research on the subject requested. Data on unserved patient meals was collected through the Estates Returns Information Collection until 2013-14, but it excluded data on waste generated during food production and waste from uneaten patient meals. The question was removed from the 2014-15 collection onwards as the data did not present an accurate picture for all food waste.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason her Department has increased the small claims limit for minor whiplash claims.

Sir Oliver Heald

The government remains concerned about the number and cost of low value personal injury claims and has announced robust new measures to tackle them – including raising the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000. This change has not yet been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made by the Emerging Industry Action Group.

Anna Soubry

The Emerging Industry Action Group for the sharing economy held its first meeting on 12th November 2015. Businesses from across the sector have agreed to participate in the group and attended the meeting to set out their views on the key challenges and opportunities for both businesses and the Government in making the UK one of the best places to start and grow a sharing economy business.