Tag: Rushanara Ali

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on benefits eligibility of the conclusion in the University of Hull report, entitled Mapping hunger, published in April 2016, that food bank use is highest in areas with people in skilled manual work or where more people are unable to work due to long-term sickness or disability.

Justin Tomlinson

This government is determined to move to a higher wage society, introducing the new National Living Wage that will benefit over 1 million workers directly this year, and spending £80 billion on working age benefits to ensure a strong safety net for those who need it most. We are also committed to supporting people with disabilities and currently spend a record £50 billion a year doing so.

There are no plans to amend our reforms that are ensuring that work always pays and are restoring fairness for hardworking taxpayers. As the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger noted, the reasons why people use food banks can be complex and are frequently overlapping. Their use cannot be attributed to a single cause.

Our welfare system provides a strong safety net to those who need extra support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to make the entitlement to an early education place a legal requirement.

Mr Sam Gyimah

English local authorities have a statutory duty under section 7 of the Childcare Act 2006 to secure a free early education place of 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year for all three- and four-year-olds and two-year-olds who meet the eligibility criteria. The early education entitlement is not a legal requirement for parents, and we know that the current model is extremely successful, with 99% of four-year-olds and 94% of three-year-olds taking up a place. And, Based on survey data collected from local authorities in the autumn of 2015 it is estimated that 182,000 two-year-olds – around 72% of eligible children – have taken up a place on the two-year-old programme.

The Secretary of State has a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2016 to secure an additional 15 hours a week of free childcare for 38 weeks of the year for working parents of three- and four-year-olds.

The Secretary of State will discharge the duty in clause 2 of the Childcare Act, the duty to secure 30 hours of free childcare for working parents, through all local authorities in England. Local authorities will, therefore, be required to secure childcare provision free of charge to qualifying children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to monitor the provision and use of food banks.

Priti Patel

There are no plans for my Department to monitor the use of food banks. This is because as the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger noted that the reasons why people use food banks can be complex and are frequently overlapping. Their use cannot be attributed to a single cause.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-04-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in HM Revenue and Customs funding on efforts to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.

Mr David Gauke

In the last Parliament, more than 40 changes were made to tax law, closing down loopholes and introducing major reforms to the UK tax-system. These measures are estimated to have raised over £12 billion by the end of 2015-16.

At Summer Budget 2015, the government gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an extra £800 million to fund additional work to tackle evasion and non-compliance by 2020-21. This will enable HMRC to recover a cumulative £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years by tackling evasion and non-compliance. It is committed to raising an additional £5 billion a year through tackling tax avoidance, aggressive tax planning, tax evasion, non-compliance and imbalances in the tax system by 2019-20.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the UK’s trade relationship with (a) Bangladesh and (b) other Commonwealth countries of BHS going into administration.

Anna Soubry

We have made no specific assessments.

Bangladesh is the second largest manufacturer of garments around the world after China, at $26 billion per annum and ready-made garments make up around 81% of total merchandise exports from Bangladesh. If business is lost to Bangladesh from BHS, it is unlikely to have a significant impact at the national level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of students supported by universities through the Student Opportunity Allocation fund have disabilities.

Joseph Johnson

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates the Student Opportunity Fund to Higher Education providers as part of the teaching grant.. Although the different elements of the fund are calculated on the basis of the number of students within an institution with particular characteristics, institutions have been able to use the funding in whichever way they feel is most appropriate for their students. Therefore, there is no centrally collected data on the numbers of students supported by the fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding Circle Housing Group and its subsidiaries have been provided by (a) the Homes and Communities Agency, (b) the Greater London Council and (c) other government agencies in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis

The Government has provided Circle Housing Group and its subsidiaries with the following grant funding to develop affordable housing:

a.) Through the Homes and Communities Agency:

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	Total
Grant	£25.3m	£5.3m	£5.5m	£8.8m	£4.6m	£2.2m	£51.7m

b.) Through the Greater London Authority:

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	Total
Grant	£50.3m	£86.4m	£38.1m	£10.2m	£15.6m	£5.1m	£205.7m

c.) We are not aware that any funding has been provided to Circle Housing Group and its subsidiaries through other government agencies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many cases referred to the Housing Ombudsman since 2015 have (a) not yet been concluded and (b) been awaiting consideration for more than 12 months.

Brandon Lewis

There are no cases which have awaited consideration for more than 12 months. Six cases over 12 months old have not yet been determined but are under active consideration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many students are supported by universities through the Student Opportunity Allocation fund.

Joseph Johnson

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates the Student Opportunity Fund to Higher Education providers as part of the teaching grant.. Although the different elements of the fund are calculated on the basis of the number of students within an institution with particular characteristics, institutions have been able to use the funding in whichever way they feel is most appropriate for their students. Therefore, there is no centrally collected data on the numbers of students supported by the fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will instruct the Homes and Communities Agency regulator to investigate concerns raised by Tower Hamlets Council on tenants of Old Ford Housing Association suffering serious detriment as a result of Circle Housing Group’s failure properly to manage its gas repairs contract with Kier Group during the winter of 2015-16.

Brandon Lewis

The Social Housing Regulator is statutorily independent, the Secretary of State cannot, therefore, intervene in this matter.

The Social Housing regulator is aware of the issue and as is normal practice is working closely with Circle as it continues to recover its repair service. The Regulator currently has sufficient assurance of Circle’s intention to address the issues and its progress in doing so, such that the Regulator considers it does not need to apply enforcement powers at this point. The Regulator will of course continue to examine any new information.