The comments made by Simon Hart, the Conservative Party chief whip, on 11 January 2023.
Andrew Bridgen has crossed a line, causing great offence in the process. As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme. The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that we have. Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives. I am therefore removing the whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are special procedures for universal credit applications for prisoners with mental health issues.
Priti Patel
Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.
Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.
Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.
Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.
The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target timescale is for people leaving prison from application to receipt for universal credit; and how many and what proportion of applications take longer than that timescale.
Priti Patel
Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.
Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.
Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.
Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.
The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve safety for horses and riders on roads.
Andrew Jones
Rule 215 of The Highway code gives specific advice on approaching and overtaking horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles safely and with consideration. The theory test contains questions about how drivers should interact with horse riders and the hazard perception test includes a number of clips where horse riders are the hazard.
The “Have Some Horse Sense on the road campaign was launched as part of the THINK! Road Safety Campaign and encouraged drivers to approach horses slowly and give them a wide berth when overtaking. This has been supplemented more recently by the THINK! Rural Roads campaign which reminds drivers to take particular care when driving along country roads.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will raise the threshold for carer’s allowance to take into account increases in the national minimum wage.
Justin Tomlinson
The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance which is not linked to the number of hours worked is currently £110 per week (net of certain expenses). It was increased to £110 in April 2015 – an increase of nearly 8%, which far outstripped the growth in earnings.
The Government keeps the earnings limit under review and keeps under consideration whether an increase in the threshold is warranted and affordable.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the dairy crisis on (a) jobs in the industry, (b) local economies, (c) supply chains and (d) the environment.
George Eustice
The dairy industry in Britain has had a very tough year. A slowdown in global markets, low farm-gate prices, and a strong pound increasing imports, have all contributed to this. The UK average farm gate milk price for March 2016 is 22.38p per litre. This represents a 10.5% decrease on March 2015 and continues the downward trend seen since November 2013.
There were 281 fewer registered dairy producers in England and Wales in April 2016 compared with April 2015 (a 2.8% reduction). This continues the long-term trend which has resulted in dairy producer numbers falling while the average herd size and annual yields per cow have increased. In the year ending February 2016, forecasts suggest that incomes on dairy farms in England fell by 45% to an average of £45,000 per farm. Average incomes on Welsh dairy farms fell by around 40% to £42,000 in the same period. Expert commentators such as Rabobank expect the current cycle of low prices to be maintained through most of 2016.
The Government continues to work closely with the UK farming unions, Dairy UK and Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) to assess the difficult market situation and what we can do to help the industry to recover. For example, we are currently drawing up practical options for creating new derivatives markets, co-operating closely with the AHDB’s volatility forum, farmers, processors and the finance sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many penalty charges have been issued for motorway middle lane offences since the legislation governing those charges came into force.
Mike Penning
The Home Office publishes data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for motoring offences each year, as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical bulletin. However, data are not held specifically on motorway middle lane offences. These would be captured under the broader category of careless driving offences, which also includes offences such as tailgating and aggressive driving.
The published data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-06-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22080, when the Environment Agency will be consulting on the proposals to modernise the rod licence service.
George Eustice
The Environment Agency advertised its proposed changes to the rod licence structure and duties on 6 May 2016 in the London Gazette, Welsh newspapers and in the angling press. The Environment Agency also consulted stakeholders through focus groups, newsletters, publications, websites, telephone calls and their stakeholder forum, the England Fisheries Group, prior to advertising the changes in England and Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-01-20.
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how many P11D forms for 2014-15 were incorrectly issued by IPSA.
Mr Charles Walker
As a result of an mail merge error, IPSA issued incorrect P11D forms for 2014-15 to 536 MPs. The correct P11D information for all 650 MPs was sent to HMRC.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-01-20.
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what discussions the Committee has had with IPSA on the reissuing of the P11D forms for hon. Members for 2014-15.
Mr Charles Walker
I have received confirmation from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority that in 2014-15, an error with the mail merge used to create P11Ds resulted in incorrect forms being sent to Members.
I understand from IPSA that they have taken steps to improve the quality checking process, and that staff will receive additional training in the production of P11Ds. In the longer term, IPSA is planning improvements to its information management systems which should reduce the likelihood of data discrepancies, like the one that led to this incident, occurring.